A Disaster of Titanic Proportions Reading Answers

Dec 3, 2022

A Disaster of Titanic Proportions Reading Answers comprises 13 questions that are to be answered in 20 minutes. This IELTS topic comprises three types of questions, namely- true/false/not given, and no more than two words. For no more than two words, candidates must read the passage and understand the statement provided and answer within a word limit of two. They are required to choose from multiple options. For true/false/not given, candidates must IELTS read the passage and understand the statement provided. Candidates must read the IELTS Reading reading passage, identify keywords, and recognize synonyms to answer the question. There are more topics available that students can get from IELTS Reading practice papers.

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Reading Passage Questions

A. At 11:39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship. Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled: "Iceberg, right ahead!" The greatest disaster in maritime history was about to be set in motion.

B. Thirty-seven seconds later, despite the efforts of officers in the bridge and engine room to steer around the iceberg, the Titanic struck a piece of submerged ice, bursting rivets in the ship's hull and flooding the first five watertight compartments. The ship's designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out visual inspection of the ship's damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours.

By 12:30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier. The first lifeboat was successfully lowered 15 minutes later, with only 28 of its 65 seats occupied. By 1:15 a.m., the waterline was beginning to reach the Titanic's name on the ship's bow, and over the next hour, every lifeboat would be released as officers struggled to maintain order amongst the growing panic on board.

C. The dosing moments of the Titanic's sinking began shortly after 2 a.m., as the last lifeboat was lowered and the ship's propellers lifted out of the water, leaving the 1,500 passengers still on board to surge towards the stern. At 2:17 a.m., Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship's wireless operators, and the ship's band stopped playing. Less than a minute later, occupants of the lifeboats witnessed the ship's lights flash once, then go black, and a huge roar signaled the Titanic's contents plunging towards the bow, causing the front half of the ship to break off and go under. The Titanic's stem bobbed up momentarily, and at 2:20 a.m., the ship finally disappeared beneath the frigid waters.

D. What or who was responsible for the scale of this catastrophe? Explanations abound, some that focus on very small details. Due to a last-minute change in the ship's officer line-up, iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship's crew. Fleet, who survived the sinking, insisted at a subsequent inquiry that he could have identified the iceberg in time to avert disaster if he had owned the binoculars.

E. Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on California, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Jack Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. "Shut up, shut up, you're jamming my signal," Philips replied. "I'm busy." The Titanic's wireless system had broken down for several hours earlier that day, and Philips was clearing a backlog of personal messages that passengers had requested to be sent to family and friends in the USA.

Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship's speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead. It has been suggested that Smith was under pressure to make headlines by arriving early in New York, but maritime historians such as Richard Howell have countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.

F. One of the strongest explanations for the severe loss of life has been the fact that the Titanic did not carry enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Maritime regulations at the time tied lifeboat capacity to the ship size, not to the number of passengers on board. This meant that the Titanic, with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade's requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers.

Nevertheless, with lifeboats being lowered less than half full in many cases, and only 712 passengers surviving despite a two-and-a-half-hour window of opportunity, more lifeboats would not have guaranteed more survivors in the absence of better training and preparation. Many passengers were confused about where to go after the order to launch lifeboats was given; a lifeboat drill scheduled for earlier on the same day that the Titanic struck the iceberg was cancelled by Captain Smith to allow passengers to attend church

Solution and Explanation

Questions 1-6:
Complete the table below:
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the text for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1—6 on your answer sheet.

Time	Person	Position	Action
11:39 pm	1. Fleet	2. Lookout	A reported sighting of the iceberg.
3. 12:00 am	Andrews	Ship’s Designer	Reported how long the Titanic could stay afloat.
12:15 am	Smith	Captain	Ordered 4. lifeboats to be released.
2:17 am	Bride & Philips	5. Wireless operators	Relayed final 6. (Wireless) Message

(Guide: Candidates need to complete the table by placing not more than two words from the passage)

Question: 1

Answer: Fleet
Supporting sentence: Fleet picked up the phone to the helm, waited for Sixth Officer Moody to answer, and yelled “Iceberg, right ahead!”
Keyword: reported, iceberg, time, ship
Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: This is the right response since Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were the ones to observe a dark mass coming directly toward the front of the ship in the first paragraph, and Fleet informed Sixth Officer Moody of their discovery.

Question: 2

Answer: Lookout
Supporting sentence: At 11:39 p.m. on the evening of Sunday, 14 April 1912, lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee on the forward mast of the Titanic sighted an eerie, black mass coming into view directly in front of the ship.
Keyword: iceberg, Fleet, Lee, ship
Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: This is the right response because the opening line of the paragraph explicitly states that Lee and Fleet were both lookouts who had first discovered the iceberg, indicating that their intended role was that of a Lookout.

Question: 3

Answer: Midnight/12:00 am
Supporting sentence: The ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews, carried out a visual inspection of the ship’s damage and informed Captain Smith at midnight that the ship would sink in less than two hours.
Keyword: Andrews, ship designer, ship, afloat
Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: This is the appropriate response since Captain Smith was advised by ship designer Andrews that the ship can be in the water at midnight, or 12:00 am, as stated in the second paragraph.

Question: 4

Answer: Lifeboats
Supporting sentence: By 12:30 a.m., the lifeboats were being filled with women and children, after Smith had given the command for them to be uncovered and swung out 15 minutes earlier.
Keyword: 12:15 am, Smith, lifeboats, ordered
Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 3rd line
Explanation: This is the right response because it is stated very clearly in the second paragraph that Captain Smith immediately ordered the release of lifeboats after 15 minutes, and at 12:10, the lifeboats were being filled with passengers. Captain Smith was informed that the ship would be afloat for less than 2 hours at midnight.

Question: 5

Answer: Wireless Operators
Supporting sentence: At 2:17 am Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship’s wireless operators, and the ship's band stopped playing.
Keyword: 2:17 am, Brad, Philips, final
Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: Since Harold Bride and Jack Philps were relieved of their duties as wireless operators at 2:17 a.m. after the ship's band stopped playing, this is the right response.

Question: 6

Answer: (Wireless) Message
Supporting sentence: At 2:17 am Harold Bride and Jack Philips tapped out their last wireless message after being relieved of duty as the ship’s wireless operators, and the ship's band stopped playing.
Keyword: Philips, Bride, final, 2:17am
Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: This is the right response because, at 2:17 in the morning, Bride and Philips tapped the very last wireless message before the band stopped playing.

Questions 7-13:

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 7—13 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

(Guide: Candidates need to answer the questions by identifying the facts as True or False or Not Given)

The binoculars for the men on watch had been left in a crew locker in Southampton.

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: iceberg lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were making do without a pair of binoculars that an officer transferred off the ship in Southampton had left in a cupboard onboard, unbeknownst to any of the ship’s crew.
Keyword: binoculars, Southampton, crew locker, men on watch
Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: The offered remark is false because it is made plain in the paragraph that none of the crew members were aware that the binoculars had been left in a closet on board. The claim directly conflicts with the information presented above.

The missing binoculars were the major factor leading to the collision with the iceberg.

Answer: Not given
Explanation: The only information provided about the binoculars is that none of the crew members were aware of them. Fleet later insisted on a probe to determine whether he could have seen the iceberg if he had used the binoculars, but it is never mentioned as a major contributing factor for the collision. It is simply one of many possible causes for the catastrophe.

Philips missed notification about the ice from Evans because the Titanic’s wireless system was not functioning at the time.

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: Less than an hour before the Titanic struck the iceberg, wireless operator Cyril Evans on the California, located just 20 miles to the north, tried to contact operator Philips on the Titanic to warn him of pack ice in the area. “Shut up, shut up, you’re jamming my signal,” Philips replied. “I’m busy.”
Keyword: missed, Philips, iceberg, wireless
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: The claim is false because Philips did not miss the notification, as stated explicitly in the fifth paragraph. Instead, because he thought it would interfere with his signal and he had a backlog because the system had malfunctioned earlier that day for a few hours, he quickly picked up and cut the signal.

Captain Smith knew there was ice in the area.

Answer: True
Supporting sentence: Nevertheless, Captain Smith had maintained the ship's speed of 22 knots despite multiple earlier warnings of ice ahead.
Keyword: Captain, ice, sea
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, 3rd line
Explanation: This given statement is accurate because it is made clear in the passage that Captain Smith had received several warnings earlier about the presence of ice up ahead, but he still kept the ship's speed at 22 knots, demonstrating that he was aware of the presence of the ice through the warnings.

Howell believed the captain’s failure to reduce speed was an irresponsible action.

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: Richard Howell countered this perception, noting that Smith was simply following common procedure at the time, and not behaving recklessly.
Keyword: Captain, failure, reduce, speed, action
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, last line
Explanation: The statement is untrue because it is made clear in the passage that Howell did not believe that the Captain's failure to reduce speed was a careless one because he was merely following protocol and was under time pressure to make the deadline. The statement is in conflict with the information presented above.

The Titanic was able to seat more passengers in lifeboats than the Board of Trade required.

Answer: True
Supporting sentence: This meant that the Titanic,with room for 1,178 of its 2,222 passengers, actually surpassed the Board of Trade’s requirement that it carry lifeboats for 1,060 of its passengers.
Keyword: passengers, lifeboats, Board of Trade
Keyword Location: 6th paragraph, 3rd line
Explanation: This is the right response because the paragraph specifically states that the Board of Trade required ships to carry enough lifeboats for 1060 people, while Titanic had enough for 1178 passengers, exceeding the permitted BoT amount. As a result, the statement is accurate.

A lifeboat drill would have saved more lives.

Answer: Not given
Explanation: This is the right response because the passage only mentions that adding more lifeboats wouldn't have automatically resulted in more lives being saved without training. Whether the drill would have saved more lives cannot be said for sure.

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