Titanic - 11 Interesting facts about the RMS Titanic

June 27, 2023
- General
- Ships
admin0 Comments

Titanic, browse through 11 Interesting facts about the RMS Titanic

The Titanic was built in Belfast, Ireland, 1909 by Harland & Wolff. She was a British-registered ship in the White Star line, which is owned by a United States, company in which Famed American financier John Pierpont Morgan was a major stockholder.

She derived her name from the TITANS of Greek Mythology and was the second of the three Olympic-class ocean liners – a trio built by Harland & Wolff. The first was RMS Olympicwhich launched 20 October 1910, arrived at Jarrow for scrapping 13 October 1935 after 25 years fruitful service. The third was HMHS Britannic.^[5] which was launched 26 February 1914, and sadly sunk by mine 21 November 1916.

The Titanic often carried postal mail. This is why the letters “RMS” are often used before the name Titanic RMS means ROYAL MAIL SHIP.

The ship was large for its time! In fact, at launch date it was the largest object ever to move on the water. The ship however was not designed to be the fastest, and stories of the captain trying to make a speed record are greatly without substance.

Registered dimensions:

Length: 852.5 feet

Length overall: 882.75 feet

Breadth: 92.5 feet

Depth: 59.6 feet

Tonnage: Gross 46,329, Net 21,831

Number of decks 7

Engines:

2 triple-expansion 8 cylinder engines and 1 low pressure turbine

Registered horsepower: 6906

Total horsepower: 46,000

Service speed: 21 knots

Estimated top speed: 23/24 knots

Passenger capacity

First class: 735

Second class: 674

Third class: 1026

Crew: 885

As per the movie, the serious tragedy is that there were only enough lifeboats for a third of the people on board. 20 lifeboats, holding a capacity of 1178 people, whilst there was a total of 3320 people onboard. Total loss of life onboard was 1503 people of which 815 passengers and 688 were crew. Captain Edward Smith, born 1850, was amongst those perished. His body was never recovered.

The Titanic was considered a “luxury” ship, and it had the first swimming pool on board a ship! The first class deck had attractions not seen on many ships before, such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, and a barber shop.

The Titanic took less than 3 hours to sink, from striking the iceberg. Can you imagine the utter shock of those onboard. The timeline care of www.rmg.co.uk, is as follows:

31 March 1909: Laid down

31 May 1911: Launched

31 March 1912: Completed

2 April 1912: Sea trials (Belfast Lough and the Irish Sea)

12.15, 10 April 1912: Sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York via Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland

18.35, 10 April 1912: Arrived Cherbourg

20.10, 10 April 1912: Sailed from Cherbourg

11.30, 11 April 1912: Arrived Queenstown

13.30, 11 April 1912: Sailed from Queenstown

09.00, 14 April 1912: First ice warning, received from Caronia

23.40, 14 April 1912: Collision with iceberg

00.45, 15 April 1912: Wireless call for assistance, first transmission, using code CQD. Transmission altered to the new code SOS, first use of this code by a passenger liner.

02.10, 15 April 1912: Last transmission

02.20, 15 April 1912: Titanic foundered

04.10, 15 April 1912: First lifeboat picked up by Carpathia

21.25, 18 April 1912: Carpathia docked in New York

The ships final resting place lies 12,000 feet below sea level, some 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. There has been some salvage that has taken place around the ship, but for the most part the hull remains intact, albeit it broken.

The loss lead to the promotion of global maritime standards and regulations to promote safety of navigation, the most important of which was the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), now widely regarded as the most important of all international agreements on the safety of merchant ships.

Stemming from the loss of the Titanic, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS, a NOAA predecessor agency) developed “Radio acoustic ranging navigation” in 1924. This transmission and reception of sound waves led to the invention of sonar which power was grasped around the world as an underwater search tool, and also as a way to measure the depths of the ocean. This particular development created cartography that changed that future of navigation.

It took many many years to find the wreck of Titanic. It was finally discovered on September 1, 1985, by a joint American-French expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Jean-Louis Michel of the French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea (IFREMER)offsite link. Only then did modern technology make any salvage of artifacts possible. And then came all the lawsuits…

(The above information care of www.noaa.gov )

Salvage . On June 24, 1987, Titanic Ventures Limited Partnership (TVLP) entered a charter agreement with L’Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMERoffsite link) – the sponsors of the joint expedition that discovered the wreck. The expedition salvaged approximately 1,800 artifacts which were brought back to France for conservation and curation. TVLP obtained a Proces-Verbal or salvage award from a French Administrative Tribunal for the artifacts with IFREMIR on October, 20 1993. There were unfortunately several lawsuits that followed this award, for others claiming rights to the salvage. You can read this fascinating information here:

https://www.noaa.gov/gc-international-section/rms-titanic-salvage