History – Themed Courses for Fall 2024:
Board the Titanic to experience its fateful maiden voyage in 1912, its collision with an iceberg, and its dramatic sinking in the wintry North Atlantic. We will cover the Edwardian era and Gilded Age as societal contexts for this disaster, follow the ship as it is built in Northern Ireland, and experience the excitement mixed with sadness at the discovery of the wreck in 1985. The course will highlight maritime engineering and materials findings over the last quarter century that explain the structural weaknesses and design faults that led to the ship’s demise. We will also consider the human hubris and errors, along with the unique environmental factors that combined to spell doom for the Titanic and most of its crew and passengers.
Michael Knapp is a retired researcher and intelligence analyst who worked as a civilian and US Army officer for the US Government for 44 years.Â
