- The Titanic was the largest ship built up to that point in time. It was 882.5 feet long, 92.5 feet wide, and 175 feet high.
- The Titanic had a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a squash court, and a dog kennel for the first class passengers.
- The last dinner served to the first class passengers at the Ritz Restaurant was a feast with ten courses, featuring oysters, caviar, lobster, quail, salmon, roast duckling, and lamb.
- The Titanic burned around 600 tonnes of coal a day and ejected nearly 100 tonnes of ash into the sea every 24 hours.
- The Titanic had 20,000 bottles of beer on board, 1,500 bottles of wine, and 8,000 cigars. They were just for the first class passengers.
- The iceberg that sank the Titanic was about 100 feet tall and came from a glacier in Greenland.
- The Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, and sank two hours and forty minutes later.
- The officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg.
- The Titanic was designed to withstand four forward compartments filling with water without sinking, but six flooded on the night she sank.
- There were only two bathtubs for over 700 third class passengers on the Titanic.
- There were not enough lifeboats to save all 2,200 people on board the Titanic. Most of the lifeboats that were launched were not filled to capacity.
- A lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on the Titanic on the day that it hit the iceberg, but it was canceled by Captain Smith for an unknown reason.
- The survival rate for men on the Titanic was about 20%. The survival rate for women was 74%, and the survival rate for children was 52%.
- Of the over 1,500 people who died when Titanic sank, only 337 bodies were recovered.
- The musicians on board the Titanic played music to calm the passengers as the ship sank. They all went down with the ship and were recognized for their heroism.
- The Titanic’s chief baker survived by getting drunk and stepping off the stern of the sinking ship. He paddled around until dawn and was rescued by a lifeboat.
- A priest on the Titanic stayed behind to hear confessions and to give absolution to the people left on the ship.
- The Titanic’s architect, Thomas Andrews, was last seen throwing deck chairs into the Atlantic in an attempt to save lives. It is believed that he went down with the ship.
- Of the 35 engineering staff on the Titanic, none survived. They all fought to keep the ship’s power on so that others could escape.
- It took over 70 years to find the Titanic’s wreck. It lies at about 12,500 feet under the ocean, approximately 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.
- Scientists believe that the wreckage of Titanic could vanish by 2030 due to bacteria eating away at it. The name of the bacteria is Halomonas titanicae.
- Of the 12 dogs aboard the Titanic, only 3 survived. They were all small dogs that were carried onto lifeboats by their owners.
- Dorothy Gibson, an actress who survived the sinking of the Titanic, later starred in the first motion picture based on the disaster. The film was called Saved from the Titanic and was released in May 1912.
- The Titanic was built in Ireland by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. It took about three years to complete and cost about $7 million (about $180 million today).
- Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is building Titanic II, a close replica of the original. It is set to sail in 2020. It will have modern safety features and enough lifeboats for everyone.
- Twelve cases of ostrich plumes were among the cargo on Titanic. They were worth about $2.3 million today and were used for making hats and other fashion accessories.
- The Titanic had four smokestacks, but only three of them were functional. The fourth one was added for aesthetic reasons and to make the ship look more impressive.
- The Titanic had a wireless telegraph system that could send and receive messages over long distances. It was used to send distress signals after the collision with the iceberg.
- The Titanic had a library, a barber shop, a gymnasium, and a post office on board. The post office had five mail clerks who sorted about 60,000 pieces of mail per day.
- The Titanic had a mascot, a cat named Jenny, who lived in the galley. She had a litter of kittens a few days before the voyage. She and her kittens survived by escaping on a lifeboat with some of the crew.
Summary of the Titanic’s story
The Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner that sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. It collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and broke into two pieces. Out of the 2,240 people on board, only about 700 survived. The Titanic was considered unsinkable because of its size and watertight compartments, but it did not have enough lifeboats for everyone. The Titanic’s story has become a legend of human tragedy and heroism, and has inspired many books, films, and a musical.
Summary of the 1997 Titanic movie by James Cameron
Titanic is a 1997 film that tells a fictional love story between two passengers of the RMS Titanic, a British luxury liner that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. The film is narrated by an old woman named Rose, who claims to be the woman in a drawing found in the Titanic’s wreck. She recalls how she boarded the ship as a young aristocrat engaged to a wealthy but cruel man named Cal. She meets Jack, a poor artist who won a ticket in a poker game, and falls in love with him. They face many obstacles, including Cal’s jealousy, Rose’s mother’s disapproval, and the social gap between them. When the Titanic collides with an iceberg, they try to escape together, but face more dangers and sacrifices. The film ends with Rose surviving on a lifeboat and Jack dying of hypothermia in the water. She later throws the Heart of the Ocean necklace, a valuable jewel that Cal gave her, into the ocean, symbolizing her freedom and love for Jack. The film is known for its spectacular visual effects, historical accuracy, emotional depth, and musical score.
Titanic’s construction and design
The Titanic’s construction and design were part of a project by the White Star Line to build three luxurious and fast ocean liners that would compete with its rival Cunard Line. The Titanic and its sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic, were designed by Thomas Andrews and built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. The Titanic was the largest ship ever built at the time, measuring 882.5 feet (269 meters) long, 92.5 feet (28 meters) wide, and 175 feet (53 meters) high. It had a displacement of 66,000 tons and could carry over 2,200 passengers and crew. The Titanic was divided into 16 watertight compartments and had four smokestacks, although only three were functional. The fourth one was added for aesthetic reasons. The Titanic had many features that made it luxurious and comfortable for its passengers, such as a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a squash court, a gymnasium, a library, a barber shop, a post office, and several restaurants and lounges. The Titanic also had a wireless telegraph system that could send and receive messages over long distances. The Titanic’s construction began on March 31, 1909, when the first keel plate was laid in the dry dock. It took about three years to complete and cost about $7 million (about $180 million today). The Titanic was launched on May 31, 1911, in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people. It was then towed to a fitting-out basin where it was outfitted with engines, boilers, funnels, propellers, furniture, and other equipment. The Titanic’s construction was completed on March 31, 1912, and it left Belfast for Southampton on April 2, 1912.
Titanic’s impact on popular culture
The Titanic was a British ocean liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people. The tragedy shocked and fascinated the world, and inspired many forms of artistic expression and interpretation. The Titanic has been portrayed in numerous books, plays, films, songs, poems and works of art, as well as memorabilia and museums. Some of the most famous examples are Walter Lord’s book A Night to Remember (1955), James Cameron’s film Titanic (1997), and Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Convergence of the Twain” (1912). The Titanic has also been seen as a symbol of various themes, such as technological hubris, social class divisions, romantic heroism, and the end of an era of optimism.
Walter Lord’s book A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember is a non-fiction book that was published in 1955 and became a best-seller. It is based on interviews with 63 survivors of the Titanic disaster, as well as other sources such as books, memoirs and articles. The book gives a detailed and vivid account of the events that happened on the night of April 14-15, 1912, from the moment the Titanic struck the iceberg to the rescue of the survivors by the Carpathia. The book also explores the various aspects of the Titanic’s story, such as the social class divisions, the heroism and cowardice, the myths and legends, and the aftermath of the tragedy. The book is widely regarded as a definitive and authoritative source on the Titanic, and has inspired many other works of fiction and non-fiction.