7 Tremendous Facts About the Titanic

The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912. Four days later, it would be at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. One of the most ironic Titanic facts is that the boat was touted as an unsinkable ship because of its impressive engineering and massive scale. At the time, it was the largest ship ever built. It was over 882 feet long, 92 feet wide and stood 175 feet high. Everyone knows that an iceberg led to the demise of the Titanic, but did you know that it only took less than three hours to completely sink below the ocean? There are many more interesting facts about the Titanic that you may not know, so read on for more!

7 Titanic Facts

1. 1. A lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on the day the Titanic hit an iceberg, but Captain Smith cancelled it. (source) It is thought that because the drill was not preformed the launching process during the emergency was not smooth and left many lifeboats not properly filled.

2. 2. Titanic’s bridge officers only had roughly 30 seconds to react before hitting the iceberg. (source) As soon as the iceberg was spotted the ship was ordered to turn left and reverse but there was not enough time and the ice tore into the ships hull.

3. 3. Three lucky dogs were saved in a lifeboat from Titanic. (source) Reportedly there was a total of 12 dogs on board the Titanic when it sank. Two lucky Pomeranians and one Pekingese were saved by their owners who got a spot in a lifeboat.

4. 4. The Titanic had its own daily Newspaper on board called the Atlantic Daily Bulletin. (source) It not only included the day’s news and events but also had advertisements, stock prices, the daily menu for the ship, horse-racing results, and high society gossip.

5. 5. It took 73 years for the wreckage of the Titanic to be found (source) World renowned oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, was the first to lay eyes on the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic after a two-and-a-half-hour descent in a 3-person submarine.

6. 6. There were 2,227 passengers aboard the Titanic when it sank and only 705 survived. (source) One of the wealthiest men at the time, millionaire John Jacob Astor whose family built and owned the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City was just one of the 1500 souls lost on board.

7. 7. Musicians on the Titanic played on the deck outside for two hours as the ship sank (source) This was undoubtedly an attempt to help keep passengers calm as lifeboats were loaded and the ship sank below the ice-cold ocean’s surface.

Featured image photo credit: Karl Beutel, 2008. Originally found on Wikimedia. Image was resized and cropped. Creative Commons 3.0.