The Britannic Stage 5 Comprehension PDF

STAGE 5 Unit focus: The Titanic Text focus: Information Text The Britannic The White Star Line was shocked by the disaster that struck the RMS Titanic in 1912, but they weren’t deterred from building more passenger ships. Work had started on one of their new liners in 1911, but the design was drasti...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: The Titanic Text focus: Information Text The Britannic The White Star Line was shocked by the disaster that struck the RMS Titanic in 1912, but they weren’t deterred from building more passenger ships. Work had started on one of their new liners in 1911, but the design was drastically changed after the Titanic disaster. Perhaps learning from their over-confidence, the name was also changed from Gigantic to Britannic. The design of the hull was altered to make it less vulnerable to icebergs. One other lesson learned from the tragedy in 1912 was that lifeboats were to be provided for all passengers. White Star Line seemed to have learned some valuable lessons and implemented them all in the Titanic’s sister ship. When it launched in 1914, HMHS (His Majesty’s Hospital Ship) Britannic was the largest ship in the world. Unfortunately, before it could ever be used to take paying passengers, it was requisitioned (taken over) by the British government. They wanted it to use as a hospital boat throughout World War I. During this time, Captain Charlie Bartlett successfully completed five journeys back to England, bringing wounded soldiers back home from all over the world. However, tragedy was to strike again for the White Star Line and the British government. On November the 21st, 1916, Captain Bartlett was on his way to pick up more wounded soldiers from Lemnos, in Greece. Sometime around 8:15am, an explosion ripped through the hull of the ship. It was originally thought to have been a torpedo from a German ship, or a mine. Later on, it was suspected that a mine, set by a German U-boat, had caused the damage. The damage to the ship was extensive, but the engineers had learned from the disaster aboard the Titanic. This time, only 6 of the compartments flooded and their watertight design held. As a result, the ship stayed afloat for a much longer time than the Titanic had. Eventually, though, the ship tilted to one side (listed), and water began to pour through open porthole windows that had been opened to give the wounded some fresh air. Captain Bartlett recognised that the ship would eventually sink, and so he ordered it to run at full speed to try to ground it closer to shore. This forced more water in through the open windows and Rea e um http://www.literacyshedplus.com C u r r ic ul Th all resources ©2020 Literacy Shed A ding ro und hastened the demise of the ship. On top of this, some of the crew decided to launch lifeboats without orders from the captain. Unfortunately, the ship was still at full speed, and the lifeboats were sucked into the propellers, killing all of those who’d attempted to flee. Less than 30 minutes after the failed evacuation, the captain realised that the ship was doomed and killed the engines. An order was sent to evacuate using the remaining lifeboat, and nearly 1,100 people escaped to safety. In fact, nearly all of the 30 people killed in the disaster were aboard the early lifeboats, sent out in panic and haste. By 9:07am, the Britannic had sunk; it had taken less than an hour from the explosion, largely due to the open windows. SUMMARY FOCUS 1. What lessons had the White Star Line learned from the Titanic 2. Why didn’t the Britannic ever take passengers? 3. What happened that meant more water was able to enter the ship? 4. What was the captain’s first idea to try to save the ship? 5. Why were the first lifeboats doomed? V R I V R VIPERS QUESTIONS Which word means that the government took over control of the ship? When did work start on building the Britannic? Why do you think the name was changed from Gigantic? If something was “sent out in haste”, what does it mean? At what time did the Britannic sink? all resources ©2020 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com