RMS Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner which was built by Harland and Wolff ship builders, in Belfast, for the White Star Line company. Before she sailed, many people thought it would be almost impossible for ships of this design to sink.
RMS Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches (269.06 m) long with a maximum breadth of 92 feet 6 inches (28.19 m). Her total height, measured from the base of the keel to the top of the bridge, was 104 feet (32 m).
At 78 feet 8 inches (23.98 m) high and 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) long, weighing over 100 tons, RMS Titanic's rudder was so large that it required steering engines to move it.
The Belfast slipway from which the Titanic was launched in May 1911 — 11 months before the liner sank — was smothered in 22 tons of soap and tallow to ensure a smooth passage. The launch took just 62 seconds.
The Titanic actually started off having enough lifeboats – they removed a bunch to make the ship look less cluttered.
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| RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912 |
FEATURES
RMS Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches (269.06 m) long with a maximum breadth of 92 feet 6 inches (28.19 m). Her total height, measured from the base of the keel to the top of the bridge, was 104 feet (32 m).
At 78 feet 8 inches (23.98 m) high and 15 feet 3 inches (4.65 m) long, weighing over 100 tons, RMS Titanic's rudder was so large that it required steering engines to move it.
The Belfast slipway from which the Titanic was launched in May 1911 — 11 months before the liner sank — was smothered in 22 tons of soap and tallow to ensure a smooth passage. The launch took just 62 seconds.
The Titanic actually started off having enough lifeboats – they removed a bunch to make the ship look less cluttered.
The most expensive first class tickets on the Titanic were $4350 (or £870) in 1912 money. That's over $100,000 today.
Provisions for the 2,229 passengers and crew on board RMS Titanic when she sailed in April 1912 included 200 barrels of flour, 40,000 fresh eggs, 2.75 tons of tomatoes and 100,000lb of fresh meat, poultry and game. Those in 1st and 2nd Class ate their main meal in the evening; 3rd Class passengers, were served their ‘dinner' at midday.
Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 when the liner left Southampton on the south coast of England. It called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading west to New York.
The life boat drill planned for April 14, 1912, was cancelled.
The Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean at 11.40 PM on April 14, 1912 and began to sink.
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal. It had been adopted as the international signal for distress earlier in 1912.
At 12:50 a.m. EST on April 15, 1912, junior wireless operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland, received a report from the Virginian that they were trying to reach Titanic, but had lost communication. Titanic's last signals at 12:27 a.m. were "blurred and ended abruptly."
There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, and an estimated 1,517 died - only 306 bodies were recovered.
Of the estimated 1,517 people who died on the sinking of RMS Titanic more than a third were from Southampton.
As the Titanic went under, the band played ragtime until the ship's bridge dipped underwater, then the bandmaster led his men in the Episcopal hymn, "Autumn". The male passengers formed up on deck and under the leadership of New York real estate tycoon Colonel John Jacob Astor sung the Welsh hymn "Nearer thy God to Thee".
A priest on the Titanic refused a lifeboat and instead, stayed behind to hear confessions and give absolution to those on the ship.
Colonel John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) was the richest person to die when the Titanic sank: he was worth an estimated $ 90 million (around $2 billion, or £1.5 billion, today). The year before he had caused a scandal when, as a 47-year-old divorced man, he married a teenage socialite. She survived the disaster at sea and four months later gave birth to their son.
Irish Titanic passenger Jeremiah Burke sent a good bye message in a bottle during the sinking. It subsequently washed up near his home, where his handwriting was recognized by his mother.
According to models, Titanic should have tipped over about an hour into the sinking, killing practically everyone. Miraculously a rare coal fire during the voyage required coal to be shifted to the opposite side of the ship, creating a list that offset the incoming water during the sinking.
The first pictures of the wreck of the Titanic were released on September 4, 1985, 73 years after it sank. The American-French expedition used a submarine 2.5 miles beneath the surface.
The 1985 discovery of the Titanic stemmed from a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines, according to Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who found the infamous ocean liner. When Ballard announced a mission to find the Titanic, it was a cover story for a classified mission to search for the lost nuclear submarines. They finished before they were due back, so the team spent the extra time looking for the Titanic and actually found it.
Provisions for the 2,229 passengers and crew on board RMS Titanic when she sailed in April 1912 included 200 barrels of flour, 40,000 fresh eggs, 2.75 tons of tomatoes and 100,000lb of fresh meat, poultry and game. Those in 1st and 2nd Class ate their main meal in the evening; 3rd Class passengers, were served their ‘dinner' at midday.
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| The famous Grand Staircase, which connected Boat Deck and E Deck |
MAIDEN VOYAGE
Titanic's maiden voyage began at noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 when the liner left Southampton on the south coast of England. It called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland before heading west to New York.
The life boat drill planned for April 14, 1912, was cancelled.
The Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean at 11.40 PM on April 14, 1912 and began to sink.
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| The route of Titanic's maiden voyage. By Prioryman |
The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal. It had been adopted as the international signal for distress earlier in 1912.
At 12:50 a.m. EST on April 15, 1912, junior wireless operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland, received a report from the Virginian that they were trying to reach Titanic, but had lost communication. Titanic's last signals at 12:27 a.m. were "blurred and ended abruptly."
There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, and an estimated 1,517 died - only 306 bodies were recovered.
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| "Untergang der Titanic", as conceived by Willy Stöwer, 1912 |
Of the estimated 1,517 people who died on the sinking of RMS Titanic more than a third were from Southampton.
As the Titanic went under, the band played ragtime until the ship's bridge dipped underwater, then the bandmaster led his men in the Episcopal hymn, "Autumn". The male passengers formed up on deck and under the leadership of New York real estate tycoon Colonel John Jacob Astor sung the Welsh hymn "Nearer thy God to Thee".
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| John Jacob Astor IV in 1909. |
A priest on the Titanic refused a lifeboat and instead, stayed behind to hear confessions and give absolution to those on the ship.
Colonel John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) was the richest person to die when the Titanic sank: he was worth an estimated $ 90 million (around $2 billion, or £1.5 billion, today). The year before he had caused a scandal when, as a 47-year-old divorced man, he married a teenage socialite. She survived the disaster at sea and four months later gave birth to their son.
Irish Titanic passenger Jeremiah Burke sent a good bye message in a bottle during the sinking. It subsequently washed up near his home, where his handwriting was recognized by his mother.
According to models, Titanic should have tipped over about an hour into the sinking, killing practically everyone. Miraculously a rare coal fire during the voyage required coal to be shifted to the opposite side of the ship, creating a list that offset the incoming water during the sinking.
The first pictures of the wreck of the Titanic were released on September 4, 1985, 73 years after it sank. The American-French expedition used a submarine 2.5 miles beneath the surface.
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| The bow of the wrecked RMS Titanic, photographed in June 2004 |
The 1985 discovery of the Titanic stemmed from a secret United States Navy investigation of two wrecked nuclear submarines, according to Robert Ballard, the oceanographer who found the infamous ocean liner. When Ballard announced a mission to find the Titanic, it was a cover story for a classified mission to search for the lost nuclear submarines. They finished before they were due back, so the team spent the extra time looking for the Titanic and actually found it.
SURVIVORS
There are many remarkable stories of various victims and survivors including a man called John Harper who journeying on the Titanic to preach at the Moody Church in Chicago. When it sunk he found himself amongst 1500 others swimming frantically in the water. As he did so he drifted towards a young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris. Harper asked him between breaths, "young man, are you saved?" the man replied that he was not. The men drifted apart in the darkness before a wave brought them within speaking distance of each other and again a quickly weakening Harper yelled to him "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." At that John Harper slipped into his watery grave but the young man was rescued by the S.S. Carpathia.
Four years later the young man stood up in a Christian Endeavor meeting in New York and proclaimed in tears, "I am John Harper's last convert."
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| Arrival of Titanic's survivors at New York (artist concept) |
Charles Lightoller, the second officer of the Titanic, who survived by swimming from the sinking ship to a capsized raft, later in life sailed his civilian craft to Dunkirk and helped evacuate over 130 men.
Richard Norris Williams survived the Titanic sinking, but spent over 6 hours waist deep in freezing water and the rescue doctor recommended amputation of both his legs. He refused and proceeded to win his first tennis tournament a few months later and became Wimbledon doubles champion in 1920.
Frank Goldsmith, Jr., a Titanic survivor who later lived near Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) in Detroit, never took his children to baseball games because the roar of the crowd reminded him of the screams of people dying in the freezing water.
Charles Joughin, Chief Baker on the RMS Titanic, helped passengers board lifeboats (forcibly boarding those who thought it safer to stay on the ship), drank half a bottle of liqueur, then threw chairs overboard for use as flotation devices, rode the side of the ship down while it sunk. He spent 3 hours in the -2°c waters before he was rescued alive and survived.
Charles Joughin, Chief Baker on the RMS Titanic, helped passengers board lifeboats (forcibly boarding those who thought it safer to stay on the ship), drank half a bottle of liqueur, then threw chairs overboard for use as flotation devices, rode the side of the ship down while it sunk. He spent 3 hours in the -2°c waters before he was rescued alive and survived.
The occupants of the lifeboats of the RMS Titanic included a musical toy pig, two mysterious "orphans" and a Pekingese dog called Sun Yat Sen.
The chairman and MD of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), was the highest-ranking official to survive the Titanic disaster. The 1997 Titanic movie depicted him as a coward and, in 2012, his descendants spoke out for the first time to clear his name and reject claims that he had escaped on the first lifeboat and even dressed as a woman to secure his rescue.
The last remaining survivor of the Titanic went on to live to 97. At two months old, Millvina Dean was the youngest aboard the liner when it sank in 1912. Her mother and brother also survived, but not her father.
MOVIES
The earliest Titanic-based movie, Saved from the Titanic, was released just 29 days after the sinking. It featured an actress who was actually on the Titanic and survived. For her role, she wore the actual outfit she had on the night it sank. The actress suffered a mental breakdown shortly after its completion. No copies of this film remain.
The 1958 British film A Night to Remember is still widely regarded as the most historically accurate movie portrayal of the sinking.
The biggest budget movie portrayal of the sinking was James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which was released in the US on December 19, 1997. It became the highest-grossing film in history up to that time, as well as the winner of 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron.
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| Wikipedia |
Five weeks into the 1997 Titanic movie's run, 7% of all American teenage girls had seen the film twice.
Even when adjusted for inflation, the 1997 movie Titanic cost 50 per cent more than the original ship.
The 1997 movie Titanic goes on longer than the actual sinking of the RMS Titanic.
The collision scene of the Titanic hitting the iceberg in the 1997 Titanic movie is the same length as it took for the actual collision- 37 seconds.
When filming the 1997 movie Titanic they only built the port side of the ship. Scenes showing the starboard side were flipped in post production. As a result of this everything on the starboard side of the ship, from lettering to the buttons on costumes, had to be backwards during filming.
Kate Winslet, who played Rose in the 1997 Titanic movie, hates the song "My Heart Will Go On," and said it makes her feel "like throwing up."
FUN TITANIC FACTS
Futility: or The Wreck of the Titan, a novella about an ‘unsinkable' ocean liner called Titan that crashed into an iceberg and sank without enough lifeboats was written by Morgan Robertson in 1898 — 14 years before the Titanic sank.
'The Just Missed It Club' was for people who almost sailed on the Titanic. Two weeks after it sank, it had 118,337 members.
On April 15, 1912, a steward who hadn't yet heard about the Titanic sinking spotted an iceberg smeared with red paint and snapped a photo.
There are still over 100 unidentified victims from the Titanic.
The underwater wreckage of Titanic will disappear by 2030. It's being 'eaten away' by a microorganism "Halomonas titanicae". Also known as the "steel-munching bacteria', they have a special liking towards metals.
Sources Daily Mail, Daily Express
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