Different Facts about the Titanic and its tragic story are the most curious and searched topic till today. How the great ” The unsinkable ” ship was wrecked and doomed on its maiden voyage gives birth to many mysterious facts.
Titanic originally named Royal Mail Ship Titanic or RMS titanic ship set sail on 1st April 1912 in the water of the North Atlantic Ocean but the luxury steamship titanic sank on 15th April 1912. RMS Carpathia was the first ship to come to the rescue of the stricken ship, but it took almost three and a half hours, hence they were not able to save many people.
More than 20 Astonishing Facts About the Titanic Ship
1. Titanic was remarked as The Largest Ship of Its Age
Around the year 1912, the Titanic was the largest and most opulent passenger ship in the entire world. It marks the marvellous architecture of updated technology and was called the largest man-made object that can move on the earth at that time. It is one of the astonishing facts about the titanic.
The Titanic measures about height 882 feet in length, 92 feet wide, and weighs about 46,000 tons. This unparallel size was the result of the competitive feeling between her owners at the white star line and Cunard line.
To match Titanic’s huge structure and grandeur, one purely decorative stack was added. The original design of Thomas Andrews has only three stacks for functionality but the fourth was made for aesthetics and just ventilation.
2. Titanic’s Sister Ships
Two sister ships were built alongside the Titanic because it was very costly to design the Titanic solely because of its size and the new equipment required. They are –
(a) RMS Olympic was the first one to get constructed and was introduced on 20 September 1910. Covering the period of the next 12 months, it was the largest one in the world. Improvisation like the introduction of a watertight inner skin and lifeboats for all passengers were made in this.
The Olympics behaves as a troop ship and carried soldiers of Canada to the European front. In October 1914, she rescued soldiers from the sinking British battleship, Audacious during the world war. Among the three, she was the only woman to live for more than half a decade.
(b) The Britannic was the third and greatest ship. Its production starts post the Titanic disaster. She served as a British hospital ship but sank in 1916 after being hit by a mine.
3. The Titanic was Constructed During the Prestigious age of Shipbuilding”
The Titanic and its sister ships were designed at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland for the White star line are one of the facts about the Titanic. It took almost 26 months, 15,000 men and costs around 1.5 million euros to build Titanic at that time. That period was considered the “Golden age of Shipbuilding”.
Three huge propellers powered the ship through the sea. Watertight compartments were designed specifically to protect the passengers and crew members. If water got through, the metal doors of the compartments would get automatically close after 30 seconds.
4. Titanic was Jinxed at The Beginning
Even before the Titanic ship left Southampton, people died on this ship. During the construction period of the Titanic at the shipyard, 28 serious accidents and 218 minor accidents were reported. 8 workers were killed by sustaining injuries falling from the ship or the surrounding staging.
James Dobbin, who was only 43-year-old shipwright was killed on the launch day of the Titanic. On 31 May 1911, at 12.10 the massive ship slid from the yard over the river Lagan in front of 10,000 spectators. It was reported that Dobbin was in pieces while excluding the timber stays which were keeping the ship upright.
5. Titanic was Having The Capacity for Around One Thousand More People
The maximum capacity of Titanic was around 3,500 of which 1000 could be crew, but on board, 2,200 people were there in 1912. Among them, 908 crew members, fewer passengers consisting of 324 first-class passengers, 284 second-class passengers, and 709 third class-passengers were there.
In 1912, when the Titanic sank most of the people between 1600-1700 died including Captain Smith.
6. Titanic was an Epitome of Luxury
Titanic was big and beautiful, and the first class of Titanic was a luxurious place and one of the classy facts about the Titanic. The ship had around 4 restaurants, a fine dining area, 2 libraries, reading rooms, 2 barber shops, and a photographic darkroom on board. The grand staircase was marvellous.
The restaurant served bone crockery of China given by Liverpool’s Stonier and Co. The restaurant had 50,000 pieces of expensive crockery and they served delicious and gourmet food like eclairs, oysters, and filet mignon.
The Titanic had its paper printed on board that is an Atlantic daily bulletin, including news, ship’s society gossip, and a menu of the day. For First class passengers on this luxurious ship, a warm swimming pool was kept aside, 1 shilling at a time. Baths of Turkey and electric baths each for 4 shilling at a time were also available.
A normal room for 30 euros and a parlor suite for 875 euros were there. For Third class passengers, there were around 2 baths available. They had to pay between 3 euros to 8 euros for rooms. Many of them were stayed away in the 164-bed dormitory on deck G.
7. Titanic had many Rich People on Board
Among The first-class passengers on board, several rich people were there with an estimated overall $500 million in wealth, hence it is one of the facts about the Titanic.
John Jacob Astor IV alone attributes $87 million to the total wealth. He was one of the richest people in the world and the richest passenger on the titanic. He and his wife Madeleine were on their return journey on Titanic. Approximately $6 million worth of belongings sank with the Titanic.
8. Mail Delivery for The British Postal Service was The Official Responsibility of Titanic
There was a post office, and a room for the mail service on decks F and G, with 3,243 bundles of mail. To handle the work, 5 mail clerks were there on board. It was highlighted that during the sinking duration, the clerks were moving the mail sacks to the topmost decks.
9. A Scheduled Lifeboat Drill was Canceled Before the Sailing
Only one lifeboat drill was practised by the crew when the ship was in the dockyard. On 14 April, a day before the sailing of the Titanic, a lifeboat drill was cancelled and it is one of the facts about the Titanic.
While the sinking of the ship, panic situations were there, and the Titanic’s lifeboats were released without their maximum capacity. If the crew had been better instructed, they would have been able to save more people.
10. Titanic Sank on Its Maiden Voyage
The Titanic started its first-ever journey from South Hampton, England on April 10, 1912. Only after four days of sailing, while going to New York City, the doomed ocean liner struck the disaster and its fateful sinking occurred.
It was reported that approximately at the time 11.40 pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic was at full speed and along with trying to move away from the iceberg, it struck with that. The ship was scrapped on its starboard side under the waterline. This collision created a hole in the ship’s hull and water started to fill the Titanic.
The crew sent several desperate distress signals, but no help came early, and slowly Titanic sank into the cold water of the Atlantic region at around 2.20 am on April 15, 1912, about 400 miles from Newfoundland. The Titanic occupied more than two hours to sink in water and slipped beneath the ocean waves.
11. Titanic’s Musician Played the Band During the Hours of the Sinking of the Titanic
“The show must go on” quote was followed by Titanic’s musicians. Wallace Heartly, the bandleader believed in the ability of music. He and his team played the music during the sinking in the hope to calm down the passengers while they were evacuating the ship.
It was reported that they continued to play music for 2 hours and 5 minutes and died in great honour performing their duty. This is one of the facts about the Titanic which makes you salute them. One of the ship’s musicians Roger Bricoux was not declared dead until 2000.
12. Multiple Radio Warnings were Sent About the Iceberg
Latest radio technology overwhelmed the radio operators, as a result, several messages were just flying again and again, hence it is one of the bad facts about the Titanic. Before the disaster, the crew of the Titanic had been warned almost 6 times about the iceberg, but no response was there.
Titanic Chief Telegraphist Jack Phillips sent distress signals till the last hours until the Titanic sank.
13. All The Engineers on The Titanic Died
There were 35 engineers on the ship. All the Titanic’s engineers performed their duty bravely till the last hours of the Titanic’s sinking and went downwards with the ship like the ship’s band.
They battled violently with the situation and tried to maintain the Titanic’s functioning like radio, different lights, and pumps and helped many people to escape until the sinking of the titanic. They sacrificed their lives, but they could not save everyone.
14. Titanic’s Captain Edward John Smith Died too in The Disaster
Captain Edward Smith also went down with the ship. Different reports were there about Captain smith. Some claim that he was shocked and froze during the time of the disaster, considering this as his failure and hid in his cabin but some claim that he helped people with the lifeboats and performed his duty till the last hour of the titanic sinking.
Captain Edward Smith is criticized by some for failing to heed the iceberg’s warnings which resulted in the strike of the Titanic and for not properly overseeing the fillings of lifeboats and releasing them into the water without their full capacity, otherwise more people would have been rescued.
He is also lauded by some for performing his duty and motivating crew members in times of distress.
15. Almost Two-thirds of the People on the Ship died in The Titanic’s Disaster but only 360 Bodies Were Recovered
It was reported that approximately 1500 people died when the Titanic was into the water including around 832 passengers and 685 members of the crew. In total, first-class passengers had the maximum rate of survival than the passengers of the second class and steerage passengers.
Among the dead people, there were famous millionaires like John Jacob Astor and Titanic designer Thomas Andrews.
Although 1500 people lost their lives on the ship, many of them became like an iceberg in the spine-chilling water carrying life jackets, but only 340 bodies were recovered. Numerous vessels were sent to recover bodies after the disaster. Among these, a cable ship named Mackay-Bennett carried 306 bodies from the nearby Halifax, they left around 100 bodies at the back since they ran out of preserving fluid.
16. Survivors of The Titanic
Almost 700 people tried to escape the doomed ship and withstand out of 2,240 passengers and crew members. The Titanic survivors were men and women, elderly people and young, rich and poor. This is one of the facts about the Titanic.
“Women and children first ” applied while the rescue of the people and while filling the lifeboats, so women and children were much more likely to survive than men. Approximately 74 per cent of women and 52 per cent of children survived with 20 per cent of men.
Among the survivors, some become famous like Millvina dean, Eva Hart, Molly Brown, and actress Dorothy Gibson. Eva Hart survived with her mother, whose name is Esther, but her father whose name is Benjamin died when the ship sank. She later described the utter devastation with painful statements.
Among the Titanic Survivors, six Chinese survivors were not mentioned in history. The survivor stories focus on the British and American survivors. The Chinese survivors faced harsh discrimination on their arrival in the United States and were later deported without mention despite surviving the Titanic sinking.
17. Binoculars may have Changed the Course of Disaster and Saved The Titanic
The RMS Titanic struck the iceberg and the ship sank, but if the crew had access to binoculars they would have been able to see the iceberg earlier and avert the disaster.
Frederick fleet and Reginald Lee, ship’s lookout said that binoculars could have helped them to see the iceberg earlier and they would have reacted fast enough and may have saved the Titanic.
The ship’s second officer with the key to the binoculars’ was replaced at the last minute and forget to hand over the case keys to the boarding crew members. This is one of the facts about the Titanic. The key to the case resurfaced at auction in 2010 and sold for over 130,000 dollars.
18. Reasons for The Great Titanic’s Death Toll
Few lifeboats lead to the death toll. The ship had maximum of lifeboats, much lesser than the ship could have carried. The original design of the ship included 48 lifeboats, but 28 were thrown away to make the board decks less crowded, otherwise, more people would have survived.
The ship consisted of around 3,500 cork-filled life jackets on board, but they did not help in the chilly water of the North Atlantic Ocean. When the Titanic went into the water, the temperature of the water was 28 degrees Fahrenheit which was less than freezing point, so it required only 4 to 5 minutes for people to get frozen to death despite having life jackets.
19. Titanic’s Wreck was Discovered in the Last 50 Years
3,700 meters below the surface of the Atlantic ocean lies the Titanic wreck. The wreck site was discovered in 1985 by Robert Ballard and his team. He was conducting a military operation to survey some nuclear submarine remains, after this task, he was allowed to search Titanic, which was his long-time passion and dream.
Debris From the ship is scattered in an area of 15 square miles. Most of the areas of the ship remain unexplored since they are inaccessible to underwater vehicles. After the discovery of the Titanic wreck in 1985 by Robert Ballard, a private American company called RMS Titanic Inc. salvaged approximately 5,000 artefacts from the wreck.
Titanic wreck is too fragile and cannot be brought to the surface, but artefacts like musical instruments from the ship’s band, the ship’s luxurious chandelier, the ship’s telegraph, the whistle of an officer who saved people during the sinking, clothing, jewellery, old currency, dishware, and section of the hull were recovered. The Titanic wreck is slowly disappearing due to metal-eating bacteria.
20. Titanic’s Legacy Continues
An inspiring legacy continues, Titanic’s sinking inspired many films and documentaries till today. The movie Titanic portrays the incident very beautifully.
A requiem depiction of the launch, journey, sinking, and aftermath of the Titanic was written by Robin and RJ Gibb and was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
21. Some Anticipated Reasons for The Disaster of The Titanic
It is a fact about the Titanic that it sank after hitting the piece of ice in water. But why did “The unsinkable ” ship facilitated with new technologies succumb to the accident. There may have been more than one reason for this-
(a) Senan Molony, a journalist from an Ireland said that a black streak was seen in the images of the Titanic as it moved away from the port, this streak is proof of a fire in the coal bunker. This fire may have affected the ship and caused the sinking of the Titanic.
(b) It had been said that the ship’s speed was too fast and thus they were not able to control the ship after the iceberg was visible and in confusion, it would have taken a wrong fatal turn towards the iceberg which resulted in the disaster.
(c) Another possibility of the disaster is that the particles carrying a charge from the Northern lights could have created the confusion in the Titanic’s navigation system and obstructed its distress calls for help.
(d) Some claim that the disaster that occurred was a well-planned conspiracy and Titanic was into the water on a purpose.
According to this theory, an American who handled the finances, J. P. Morgan conspired to the sinking of the Titanic to eliminate his rival, John Jacob Astor IV. As per reports, Morgan earlier decided to be on the Titanic himself but at the last moment, he changed his plan and stretched his stay in Europe.
22. Some Famous RMS Titanic Passengers
While continuing the list of facts about the Titanic, the Famous Titanic has many famous personalities on board as it set sail from Southampton. Here are the most famous Titanic passengers:
(a) Molly Brown- The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Molly Brown was an American socialite and survivor who became famous as “the unsinkable Molly Brown”. She was renowned for her bold, charming personality and flashy outfits. She advocated and funded women’s and children’s rights and campaigned for education’s importance. Hence, it is one of the interesting facts about the Titanic.
She gained the title “the unsinkable Molly Brown” for her bravery during the sinking of the ship. It was reported that she helped people into lifeboats during the evacuation and helped steer her lifeboat when she departed the ship. Thereby, it is one of the less known facts about the Titanic.
(b) J. Bruce Ismay- A Coward of The Titanic
J. Bruce Ismay was the high-ranked officer on the Titanic and became infamous as the “coward of the Titanic” by the press as he famously jumped into the last available lifeboat to save himself, leaving many passengers behind in the ship.
Some claim Ismay was to blame for the sinking of the Titanic because it had been said that he forced the crew to increase the ship’s speed to get ahead of their scheduled arrival, which resulted in the tragic accident. He spent the rest of his life paying insurance claims to family members of victims of the Titanic.
(c) Millvina Dean- The Last Survivor
Millvina Dean is famous since she is the youngest survivor of the Titanic, as she was just 2 months old when the ship sank.
She Boarded the ship with her family as a third-class passenger. She, her mother, and her brother were among the first third-class passengers to board the lifeboat and her father lost his life in the disaster.
Millvina Dean was very active in commemorating the victims of the Titanic towards the end of her life. She died in 2009, at the age of 97, as the last survivor of the Titanic tragedy.
(d) Violet Jessop- Woman who Survived The Sinking Twice
Being of the surprising facts about the Titanic, it informs everyone that Violet Jessop, stewardess and nurse is the woman who survived the sinking of both the Titanic and later the Britannic.
At the age of 25, she survived the sinking of the Titanic while demonstrating the way to go down on lifeboats to women passengers and thus escaped the sinking.
She was undeterred by this tragedy and began working on the Britannic later on. This ship was hit by a mine and sank too, but Jessop escaped the sinking again. But she got a serious head injury that affected her for a lifetime.
(e) Dorothy Gibson – Actress and Survivor
She survived the tragic sinking. After that, she acted in the film “Saved from the Titanic”. It was the first film depicting the events of sinking, which got released just one month after the ship sank.
She became famous for wearing the same clothes and shoes in the movie which she had worn during the actual sinking. This movie is now in the memories only since the only print of the movie was destroyed in the fire and has now become one of the facts about the Titanic.
It is almost more than 100 years since the tragic RMS Titanic disaster on its maiden voyage, these facts about the titanic illustrate the tragedy, pain, and mystery regarding one of history’s most infamous disasters.
