Top 20 Interesting Facts About Titanic...
Titanic – the iconic vessel that came to a very tragic end. But how much do you know
about this world-famous ship? It’s time to find out in our twenty top Titanic facts!
1) Titanic was built by a company called White Star Line. She was completed and ready for
the ocean on 31 March 1912, after three years in construction in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
2) And she was no ordinary ship, Titanic was the most impressive and luxurious ship of
her time! She was the biggest, too, measuring 28 meters wide, 53 meters tall and 269 meters
long — that’s about the length of three football fields!
3) On 10 April 1912, Titanic set out on her maiden voyage (first big journey), taking
people from Southampton, England, to New York, USA. On route, she called by Cherbourg in
France and Queenstown in Ireland to pick up more passengers.
4) Titanic’s full title was RMS Titanic. Any idea what RMS means? It stands for ‘Royal
Mail Steamer’. As well as passengers, the ship carried nearly 3,500 sacks of letters,
packages, and documents.
5) There were over 2,200 people on board Titanic, 900 of which were crew members. The passengers
included holidaymakers, businessmen and people hoping to start a new life in America.
6) Life onboard Titanic depended on who you were and how much money you had…
First-class: the wealthiest people traveled in first class, located at the top of the
ship, They slept in private, spacious suites and enjoyed delicious food in an elaborate
dining room. They had access to lots of facilities, like cafes, a swimming pool, squash courts,
barbershop, and a reading and writing room.
Second class: not too shabby, either, second class accommodation consisted of cabins with
two or four beds and a sofa, storage facilities, a sink, and a mirror. Second class passengers
could also enjoy an outdoor promenade, relaxation room, library and dining room.
Third class: the third class facilities were much more basic, but they were still far better
than those on other boats at that time. Located at the bottom of the ship, cabins slept up
to ten people and each had a sink and mirror. There was also a dining room where food was
served three times a day. But the big downside? All 700 third-class passengers had to share
two bathtubs!
7) For four days, Titanic made good progress across the Atlantic, powered by three coal-burning
engines. But it was no easy job to keep her moving. Each day, the ship’s 175 ‘firemen’
shoveled 600 tonnes of coal into the furnaces — that’s the weight of 100 elephants!
8) Titanic was also known as the ‘Ship of Dreams’, and White Star Line claimed she
was the safest ship of all time. To make sure she wouldn’t sink, her hull was made up
of 16 separate sections. If two, or even three sections were damaged and water got in, the
ship would still have time to sail to safety. 9) Just before midnight on day five, in the
freezing cold North Atlantic Ocean, an iceberg loomed out of the darkness. Too big to quickly
change direction, Titanic scraped along the side of the ice, tearing holes in at least
four sections of the hull. 10) The Captain of Titanic – Edward John Smith – and his
crew knew that the collision meant disaster; Titanic would sink in just a few hours. Distress
signals were sent out to nearby ships and passengers were ordered to get to the lifeboats,
fast!
11) But there was one very big problem. Titanic only carried twenty lifeboats — only enough
to hold around half of the people on board! What’s worse, the first lifeboats were launched
half-empty, wasting precious spaces. In panic, many people jumped into the ocean to escape
the sinking ship!
12) As Titanic sank, the bow (the front) went down first, causing the stern (the back) to
rise out of the water and into the air. At around 2 am, this tilt caused the ship to
break in two, sending all those still onboard into the freezing cold ocean…
13) In the -2°C waters, most passengers who went into the sea would have died from the
cold within 15 minutes. Some managed to survive a little longer by treading water or clinging
onto bits of floating wreckage.
14) The first ship to respond to Titanic’s distress signals was called the RMS Carpathia.
But despite setting out immediately and traveling at top speed, she didn’t arrive until around
3.30 am — over an hour after the Titanic had sunk.
15) On arrival at the disaster, the RMS Carpathia rescued those who had made it into the lifeboats.
There were around 705 survivors in total, and all were transported safely to New York,
USA.
16) But tragically, more than 1,500 people lost their lives on the Titanic. In the days
following the wreckage, ships headed out to the disaster area and recovered 300 bodies
from the water. These were either buried at sea or taken to Halifax in Canada (the nearest
major port) to be identified.
17) Despite many attempts to find the wreck, Titanic remained hidden from the world for
around 70 years. It wasn’t until 1985 that she was seen again — when oceanographer
(a sea scientist) Dr. Robert Ballard set out on a deep-sea mission in the Argo, a robot
submarine. The team discovered Titanic on the seabed, nearly 600km off the coast of
Canada.
18) Since then, there have been many expeditions to Titanic – and over 6,000 interesting
items have been salvaged from the wreckage. These can be seen today in museums around
the world and include jewelry, perfumes, plates, clothes, furniture, and even lunch menus!
19) The longest living survivor from Titanic was Millvina Dean, who lived to be 97 years
old. She was just a baby when she, her mother and brother made it into one of the lifeboats.
Millvina lived to tell the tragic tale until 2009 when she passed away.
20) There have been lots of documentaries and movies made about Titanic. The first was
a silent movie called Saved from the Titanic, made just one month after the disaster. The
most popular today is the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, which became one of the highest-earning
movies of all time!
So, now you know all about this incredible ship and its tragic tale. What did you think
of our twenty Titanic facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!