50 Images From The Titanic You Have To See To Believe
The Titanic was supposed to be the envy of every boat that came before it, a vessel so large and so prestigious that it made every other boat in comparison look below average. However, as many of us know that wasn't the case and this beauty of a boat was sunk after it hit an iceberg during its first voyage. But even though its physical life span wasn't that long, the story surrounding this boat has lived on for generations and has even had movies made after it. It has inspired many to research the boat and find out exactly what made it so special and what went wrong. If you are interested in learning about the Titanic check out these 50 images you have to see to believe.
There were 1,317 passengers aboard the Titanic
There were 1,317 passengers aboard the Titanic in total; 324 of them were first-class passengers, 284 second-class passengers and the remaining 709 were third-class passengers. Because the Titanic was one of the most luxurious liners of its era, the passengers were segregated into the three classes based on their individual tickets.
The ship also had on board more than 100 children, most of them being in the third-class cabins. One unknown fact about the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage is that the ship could have accommodated even more passengers but it wasn’t filled to capacity.
The Titanic Crew received several Ice Warnings
The harsh winter in the North Atlantic made for difficult conditions for the Titanic to navigate; the ship would eventually sink after hitting what was a very big iceberg in the middle of the ocean. However, according to reports, the tragedy could have been avoided altogether.
The Titanic crew received 6 different ice warnings from ships that had passed through the difficult waters or stopped because they couldn’t proceed as a result of heavy ice. There were several reports of ice sightings in the area the Titanic sailed through; on the 14th of April alone, there were seven warnings.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
The Unsinkable Molly Brown was one of the most famous survivors of the Titanic; her story is a remarkable one of strength, compassion, and luck. After finding a place on Lifeboat No.6, the passenger, whose real name is Margaret Brown, tried to make her lifeboat return to the sight of the tragedy but she was ultimately unsuccessful because the others wouldn’t let her.
Her historical exploits inspired the production of a 1964 Broadway musical that was based on her life; a movie adaptation of her story was also made. She isn't well known since a lot of what is known about the Titanic, for most, is from the movie, but had the people on her lifeboat listened, she could have saved some extra lives.
The Ship’s Music Crew kept playing until the End
In order to provide a semblance of a calm environment for passengers for as long as they could, the Titanic’s orchestra crew kept on playing music even while the ship was sinking around them. As a result of their bravery and sacrifice, the ship’s music crew, numbering eight in total, all perished with the ship.
The music crew all hopped on board at Southampton as members of a three-piece ensemble and a five-piece ensemble; they were all second-class passengers. On the night of the tragedy, they performed as one group.
100,000 People watched the Titanic’s launch
The launch of the Titanic in May 1911 attracted quite the crowd as 100,000 were present to see the historic liner launch into the Lagan River. This was after the ship’s two-year construction that required the combined efforts of thousands of shipyard workers as well as skilled engineers and designers.
The ship’s launch was a funfair that attracted spectators and members of the press from different parts of the world; everyone wanted to see the 882 feet long and 92 feet high ship go into the water. Crazy to think that all of these people never imagined that they were also witnessing the boat's last voyage.
The Titanic’s Elaborate Ornate Staircase
The Titanic was the most luxurious liner of its era so a lot of luxurious amenities were designed for the ship, most of them being intended for the first-class passengers. One such luxury amenity was a grande ornate staircase that was designed for the first-class passengers only.
The ornate staircase descended from the first-class entrance down five decks to the decks below, and the dining room and lounges. The ornate staircase was quite luxurious; it had oak paneling and ironwork and it was illuminated by a big glass dome that let light flow in overhead.
The Ship only had 24 Lifeboats
Safety measures were a lot laxer in the 18th and 19th centuries than they are today. During the construction of the Titanic, its engineers believed they created an unsinkable vessel that would be the epitome of safety and luxury; unfortunately, so much confidence can only lead to lapses.
The ship only had 24 lifeboats during its maiden voyage, and considering the number of people on board, it should have had at least 64. The crew reportedly didn’t want to clutter the deck so they only brought 24 lifeboats on it.
The Titanic lies 12,600 feet below
The Titanic’s ruins were lost for several decades after it sank, and were only found 73 years after the tragedy. The Titanic lies 12,600 feet below the surface; this was ascertained after the ship’s ruins were found about 370 miles from the Newfoundland coast of Canada in 1985.
A joint team of French and American forces headed by US Navy officer, Robert Ballard, discovered the ship; Ballard had tried unsuccessfully to find the ship’s ruins some years before. Technology aided the find as a deep-sea vehicle called Argo helped the team find the Titanic.
Only three of the Titanic's four funnels worked
Even though the Titanic had four funnels in total, only three of them worked; the one which didn’t work was actually designed to beautify the ship and provide ventilation. The fourth funnel was essentially added to the ship to make it look powerful and also symmetrical.
The funnels were positioned above the deck and were designed so that the soot they emit did not get to the passengers. After the ship struck the iceberg and was slowly sinking, all three funnels stopped working at once; some people believe one of the funnels killed John Jacob Astor IV.
The Iceberg that sank the Titanic was at least 50 feet high
No one knows for sure the precise size of the iceberg that caused the Titanic to sink after the collision, but according to reports from survivors of the tragedy, and spectators, the iceberg was at least 50 feet above the surface of the water, but again how big it was underwater is tough to tell.
Reports put its size at between 50 to 100 feet above the surface; the boulder also reportedly weighed about 1.5 m tones. Experts also believe the boulder was about 100,000 years old; it was one of many icebergs that floated down to the south as a result of harsh conditions.
Milton Hershey was supposed to be on the Titanic
Milton Hershey was a businessman, philanthropist, and chocolate-maker that was quite fond of going on trips with his wife Catherine Hershey; they had gone on dozens of cruises around the US, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and more.
They were also supposed to be on the Titanic together as Hershey had paid for a first-class stateroom on the ship’s maiden voyage but he and his wife didn’t board the ship in the end. Hershey had urgent business issues to attend to so he instead returned to New York.
Southampton lost a lot of Residents
After leaving the Thompson wharf for its maiden voyage, the Titanic’s next stop was Southampton, from where more passengers hopped on board. The Southampton port was a major transatlantic crossing point at the time; it linked so many cities and places, including London and Britain.
As a result, few cities were as affected by the sinking of the Titanic as Southampton; a lot of the ship’s crew were originally from Southampton, and in the end, more than 500 residents of the city lost their lives to the tragedy.
The Titanic could Travel at 23 knots per hour
When the iceberg that sank the Titanic was spotted, the luxury liner was reportedly traveling at 21 knots per hour, which means it was traveling close to its top speed of 23 knots per hour. It probably would have been easier to maneuver and avoid colliding with the iceberg if the ship had been moving a bit slower.
There would have been a bit more time to avoid the collision at a lower speed, and honestly, there was no reason the boat should have been traveling that fast in those conditions. The ship probably never even traveled at 23 knots per hour before it sank following the collision.
A German Couple met a Tragic end
A German couple, Isidor and Ida Straus, died a tragic death while the ship was sinking; the German couple had first visited their native Germany and were quite familiar with voyages on vessels so they became intrigued by the thought of going on a trip in the Titanic.
They were quite rich so they booked first-class tickets and were on board for the ship’s only voyage. They, however, met a tragic end on the ship; they both perished because Ida couldn’t leave her husband behind and he wouldn’t leave until other men had left too.
There were 20,000 bottles of Beer on Board
The ruins of the Titanic were found several decades after the ship sank but the ruins remain one of the most famous shipwrecks ever; lots of findings were made around the site. Because the Titanic was designed as a luxury liner, there were lots of amenities and facilities for the first-class passengers.
Those amenities include 20,000 bottles of beer, 8,000 cigars, and 1,500 bottles of wine. The first-class passengers were prioritized while the second-class passengers were classified as traveling in comfort with the third-class passengers being treated like regulars.
Four forward compartments were flooded
Despite the monstrous size of the 200ft gash left in the hull of the ship by the gigantic iceberg, the Titanic didn’t sink immediately, but gradually as water leaked everywhere and it became heavier. Four forward compartments on the ship were flooded with water during that time.
This was alarming because the limit of compartments that could be flooded without risking the ship’s sinking was four. There were 16 watertight compartments that could be sealed if needed; the forward compartments’ hull was flooded after the impact occurred, causing the Titanic to sink faster.
The Titanic’s Construction took a little over 2 years
The construction of the Titanic was a significant undertaking; work began on it at the shipyards of Harland and Wolff where its construction was hosted. After work began on the ship’s construction in 1909, it was completed a little over two years later. There was a big crowd present when it was launched in May 1911.
The ship’s fitting-out basins were brought out by tugs; the ship also had several propellers; there was a small central one, three central ones, and two more on the ship’s exterior. There were 9 decks, 3 anchors, 4 funnels, and 15 bulkheads.
The Titanic was Super-Luxurious
The Titanic’s designers achieved what they set out to do, which was to make the ship the epitome of luxury. The ship was indeed super-luxurious, especially in first-class; there were four restaurants on the ship, and 50,000 bone china crockery pieces provided by Liverpool’s Stonier and Co. for passengers to dine off of.
There were also reading rooms, 2 barber shops, a darkroom, an entire gym, and 2 libraries. The ship had one heated swimming pool that was used exclusively by first-class passengers, as well as electric baths and Turkish baths.
The Whiskey Survivor
Among the lucky few survivors of the Titanic was the ship’s chief baker, Charles Joughin, who has become known as the whiskey survivor of the Titanic. According to reports, right after the ship collided with the iceberg, Joughin told the other bakers to send the ship’s food supplies to the lifeboats while they still could.
He himself began to help passengers get on the lifeboats but he didn’t look to get on one himself. Joughin instead went back to his cabin to drink some whiskey before plunging into the freezing water below. He was in the water for about 2 hours before finding a lifeboat.
There were Two bathtubs for Third-class Passengers
Despite what the movie would have you believe, life wasn’t exactly glamorous on the third-class section of the Titanic; there were 700 third-class passengers but they all had to make do with only two bathtubs, not two bathtubs each, two bathtubs in total.
The conditions in the ship’s third-class accommodations weren’t ideal but were still better than what most ships offered. The people in this section also didn’t have access to exclusives like the heated swimming pool, the ornate staircase, and other amenities reserved for the first-class and second-class passengers.
The Richest Man aboard the Titanic
Because the Titanic was the most luxurious liner ever built when it was unveiled, some of the richest people in the world were on board for her maiden voyage. John Jacob Astor IV was, however, the richest of them all; Astor was a Harvard alum and the head of the Astor family.
He also wrote the 1984 novel, A Journey in Other Worlds; his net worth was estimated at a stupendous $85 million when he was alive. His body was one of the few remains of victims that were found after the sinking; rescuers found a diamond ring and the sum of $2,440 on him.
The Titanic Sailed for 2,070 miles before Sinking
The Titanic’s first stop was at Southampton, England where the first set of passengers and the orchestra crew hopped on board. The ship then made stops at Queenstown, France, Cherbourg, and Ireland before heading to New York. In total, the ship had sailed 2,070 miles of its 2,825-mile trip before it sank.
When the iceberg was spotted, the Titanic was 400 miles south of Newfoundland and was also only 1,250 miles away from its final destination. It was also within distance of the port of Halifax which was only 715 miles away.
The Titanic cost $7.5 million
A lot of money goes into building luxury liners, especially a big vessel intended to be the most luxurious the world had ever seen; the Titanic was a gigantic ship that cost $7.5 million to construct. Apart from the millions of dollars spent on the vessel, the ship’s construction also took a little over two years and thousands of workers.
Unfortunately, all the money and manpower that went into it now lies at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean where the ship’s ruins can be found. The numerous expeditions to the ruins have led to the discovery of about 5,000 artifacts. Above you can see some of the luxurious rooms and furniture the Titanic had to offer.
The Titanic hit the Iceberg 37 seconds after it was Spotted
Fredrick Fleet, the Titanic’s lookout, spotted the iceberg that sank the Titanic before anyone else; he spotted a large object’s outline in the mist ahead. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of time between when Fleet saw the iceberg and the time of impact.
Even though Fredrick frantically rang the alarm to inform others of the danger ahead, the Titanic collided with the iceberg 37 seconds after he first spotted it. His warning was received by James Moody who relayed it to First Officer Murdoch but ultimately, none of them could prevent the collision.
The Ship broke into Two
The discovery of the Titanic’s wreck finally confirmed numerous reports that had circulated about the Titanic; the ship was found to have in fact, broken into two, putting to rest the long-disputed issue about the condition of the ship. At least 15 different people swore that they saw the Titanic break into two pieces before sinking beneath the ocean completely.
Unfortunately, these witnesses’ accounts were ignored, with the official US inquiry claiming that the ship was intact when it went under. As a result, the condition of the ship’s wreck was disputed for many years, until proof was finally found.
The first Lifeboats Launched 60 minutes after the Collision
There was an agonizing delay before the lifeboats were launched as 60 minutes separated the time the Titanic collided with the iceberg, and the time the first lifeboats were launched into the water from the ship. This happened because even though the ship’s alarms were sounded to let everyone know they had to evacuate the ship, a lot of the passengers didn’t think it was something serious at first.
Some of them decided wrongly to remain in their chambers rather than go out into the cold on the deck. There were also some that didn’t know where to go when the alarms went off and others who thought it was maybe just a drill, after all, no one could have imagined this would happen on the first voyage.
The Titanic Orphans
The Navratil Brothers, Michel, and Edmond were 4 and 2 years old respectively when the Titanic disaster occurred. Their father, Michel Sr. had kidnapped them from their mother in order to take them to America so she wouldn't follow and they’d all start a new life.
He was however never seen again after he put them on a lifeboat; they became known as the Titanic orphans as a result. They were taken in by Margaret Hays until their mother was found a month after the disaster; having the faces of the kids plastered all over the world sped up the reunion.
John Astor gave Up his Place on a Lifeboat
The richest person on the Titanic, John Astor, probably would have survived if he wasn’t such a selfless person; he had secured a spot on a lifeboat along with his wife but because he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others, he gave up that spot to two children that had to be rescued.
Fortunately, his wife got to keep her spot while Astor sacrificed his and ultimately died as a result of it; his body was later found, and he was survived by his wife, Madeline Astor. Stories like these make hearing about the Titanic even harder, as you can see the quality of people that were on that boat.
A First-class Passenger Stayed Back to save Her Dog
A lot of stories emerged about the events that surrounded the Titanic disaster, but few are as remarkable as Anne Elizabeth Isham’s. Isham was a first-class passenger on the ship, and one of the few that brought their dogs with them on the ship’s maiden voyage.
When the ship began to sink and passengers began to scramble on the lifeboats, Isham tried to get on one with her dog, a great dane, but they wouldn’t let her because the dog was too big. Apparently, she had a deep bond with the canine because rather than save herself, she opted to stay behind on the ship with her dog.
Some Newspapers reported the Sinking wrongly
After news of the Titanic disaster was broken, there was a rush among members of the press to publish details about the sinking; this resulted in several newspapers giving people misleading reports and essentially false hope about the ship’s sinking.
As a result, a couple of newspapers like The World, The Daily Mail, and The Belfast Telegraph all wrongly reported that the disaster resulted in no fatalities. The headlines of American newspapers were more accurate though as those were able to use the time difference to good effect.
A Titanic Survivor survived another Ship sinking
People rarely get lucky twice or escape death from similar circumstances twice but that wasn’t the case with Titanic survivor and nurse Violet Jessop. Jessop was supremely lucky or unlucky, depending on your perspective; she survived the sinking of the Titanic and went on to survive that of the Britannic too.
She was 25 when she survived the Titanic; she got on a lifeboat in order to demonstrate their safety to other women. After that tragedy, she was working on the Britannic when it also sank, but she survived again. She began to be referred to as "Miss Unsinkable" after her passing in 1971.
The Hangar used to Build the Titanic still Stands
The hangar where the Titanic and its two sister ships were built still stands today. It has in fact become a filming location as part of Titanic Studios incorporates Paint Hall, which is where the ship was built. The hangar was first used to film the movie City of Ember in 2007.
Since then, it has been used in several movies and TV shows including HBO’s Game of Thrones which is known for using incredible locations for filming. Although Game of Thrones traveled a lot to film, most of its big cities were built inside this studio, such as King's Landing.
Only Four women from First-Class Died
The Titanic’s sinking was a marine disaster unlike any other; more than 1,500 people died as a result of it but only four of them were women from the ship’s first-class accommodations. One of those women was Ann Isham, who refused to leave without her dog.
Only 300 bodies were recovered from the more than 1,500 people that perished in the disaster; despite the women and children first policy, about 53 children died. Rescuers found a child’s body five days after the ship sank.
All the Ship’s Engineers Perished
Unfortunately, just like the ship’s orchestra crew, all the engineers on the Titanic perished with the ship; they all stayed back so the ship’s power would keep running for as long as possible. They achieved what they stayed back for, however, even though the ship’s lights remained on and the pumps kept running, the engineers went under as a result of their selfless sacrifice.
The radio was also kept running by them, enabling distress signals to be sent out until it sank. All 25 engineers on board are remembered as heroes as they died in the sinking, something that may not be highlighted enough when looking at this tragedy.
Two sister Ships were Built beside the Titanic
The enormous size of the Titanic, all the fittings that had to be installed on it, and the equipment required for its construction meant that building other ships next to it was seen as a smart move since they already had everything needed to construct a ship. Because of this, two other ships were built next to the Titanic; both of them were equally remarkable and had their own adventures too.
The RMS Olympic was the first to be built and was launched in September 1910; although it was a tad smaller than the Titanic, the Olympic was the largest liner in the world at launch, and for about 12 months after. The second ship to be built was the Britannic which was built in 1915.
The First-Class Passengers had a Combined Wealth of $500 million
The fact that the Titanic was designed to be the biggest and most luxurious liner in the world had been mentioned over and over; what this meant is that there were some super-rich people in the first-class cabins of the ship during her maiden voyage.
It is therefore not altogether surprising that the combined net worth of the first-class passengers was $500 million; John Jacob Astor IV alone accounted for $87 million of that. Astor was one of the richest people in the world at the time but he perished with the ship.
There was Supposed to be a Lifeboat Drill
A lifeboat drill was meant to be conducted on the Titanic, and it was scheduled for April 14, but it was called off in the end. No one knows precisely why the drill was called off but a possible explanation is that the ship’s Captain, Captain Edward Smith, wanted to deliver his final Sunday service before retiring so he canceled the drill in order to do so.
Unfortunately, that meant the ship’s crew only did one lifeboat drill, and that was while the Titanic was still docked; this posed serious problems when the ship began sinking as there was a ton of confusion from both the crew and the passengers.
The Ship’s Legend Keeps Growing
Over a century after the Titanic sank, the legend of the luxury liner continues to grow; the ship’s tragic sinking has inspired countless documentaries and films. There’s even a requiem written by Robin and RJ Gibb that tracked the launch, voyage, sinking, and aftermath of the ship. This was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
After the ruins were discovered, explorers found that the ship had become too fragile to be returned to the surface but several objects and artifacts have since been recovered from it. Today, the wreckage can be visited by tourists looking to get a look at what once was.
The Titanic was a Royal Mail Carrier
In addition to being a luxury liner for conveying passengers, the Titanic fulfilled another equally important purpose by being a Royal Mail Carrier. The prefix in RMS Titanic actually stands for Royal Mail Steamer, which is something that not many people know.
The ship had 5 mail clerks, a mailroom on the F and G decks, a post office, and a total of 3,423 stacks of mail. According to reports, while the ship was slowly sinking, the ship’s clerks kept on working and prioritized moving the expensive furniture on the lower decks to the upper deck.
It was the Largest Liner in the World
The Titanic became the largest movable man-made object on its launch. The gigantic vessel measured 28 metres wide and was 269 metres long. The ship was 32 metres high from keel to bridge and was 53 metres to the top of the stacks.
The Titanic was quite grand, and because of its glamour, the belief is that it should have had four exhaust stacks but because of the efficient original design made for it courtesy of Thomas Andrews, it only had three working ones and another that was only there for decoration.
A Night to Remember was the Most Accurate Titanic Film
Lawrence Beesley, another survivor of the tragedy, was on the set of A Night to Remember, the movie that earned critical acclaim and is recognized as the most accurate Titanic film ever. According to reports, Beasley tried to jump into a scene in which the sinking of the Titanic was portrayed.
He reportedly did so in a bid to go down with the ship symbolically. However, the director, Roy Ward Baker, refused because Beasley’s attempt could have affected filming as it was a union violation. Beasley was a second-class passenger on the Titanic.
Captain Edward Smith was blamed for the Disaster
As the commander and officer-in-charge of the Titanic, a lot of blame went to Captain Edward Smith for the disaster. After the luxury ship sank, several investigations were carried out to ascertain the cause; a lot of findings indicated that the ship was traveling too fast when it collided with the iceberg, as it was moving at close to its full speed.
Captain Smith was therefore blamed for the fact that the ship was going so fast after the several ice warnings that had circulated in the area. The tragedy probably could have been avoided if they were going slower, but at the end of the day, that's always the captain's call.
The Lookouts didn’t have Binoculars
Another thing that shouldn’t have happened on the Titanic is the ship’s lookouts shouldn’t have had to rely on their eyesight alone. Unfortunately, that’s all they had because the ship’s binoculars were all in one cabinet whose key was lost.
As a result, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, the lookouts, couldn’t see far ahead. The key got lost when the second officer of the ship was replaced before dropping it in the locker where the binoculars were; it was eventually found a while after the sinking and auctioned for more than $130,000.
A prankster left a Note at Frederick Fleet’s Memorial
One theory that circulated during investigations into the circumstances that surrounded the sinking of the Titanic is that the ship could have evaded collision if the lookouts had binoculars. The lookout that saw the iceberg was Frederick Fleet (pictured); he, unfortunately, took his own life years after surviving the sinking.
The binocular saga was revisited many years later at his memorial when a prankster yanked away a memorial wreath on his gravestone and left behind a pair of binoculars and a note that read sorry for bringing these 100 years too late.
Some Male Survivors might have Disguised themselves
Because of the limited number of lifeboats on the Titanic, and the limited carrying capacity of the available ones, there was a women and children first policy for loading the lifeboats. However, rumors have it that a couple of men disguised themselves as women to get on the lifeboats.
This was even identified as the reason Dickinson and Helen Bishop got divorced four years after the ship sank. Dickinson reportedly got dressed as a woman to survive the ship’s sinking. Other male passengers like William Carter and J. Bruce Ismay were also rumored to have done the same.
Saved From the Titanic was released a month after the Tragedy
Dorothy Gibson was an actress and one of the 700 passengers on the Titanic that survived. The actress starred in a film titled Saved from the Titanic, which was released only a month after the Titanic sank. She immediately began to film the movie after she arrived in New York City safely.
Her project was the first movie to portray the incidents of the ship’s sinking. Saved from the Titanic was released in May 1912, and one remarkable thing about the movie is the fact that Gibson wore the same clothes and shoes that she wore during the sinking.
Doomed From the Start
It's hard to think that the Titanic wasn't destined to fail when even its departure had some drama. As the Titanic left the Southampton dock it accidentally snapped the ropes that were holding another ship, The New York, to the dock causing the ship to drift towards the Titanic nearly causing a crash.
The only thing that prevented this crash was the crew's quick thinking to use the ship's wash from the propellers to push The New York away. This was already a bad omen and some say the Titanic was doomed from the start, it didn't help that the owner himself was quoted as saying, "Not even God could sink this ship."
A Passenger predicted the Disaster
A lot of people, including the brains behind the Titanic, believed the ship was unsinkable. There were some that didn’t hold this sentiment about the Titanic though; one of them was Charles Melville Hays (left), a passenger that thought an appalling disaster was looming.
Hays headed the Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Companies, the two companies that were combined to create the Canadian National Railway; because of the nature of his job, Hays was quite knowledgeable about transportation and technological advancements. He held the rhetoric that bigger and faster ships weren’t the way to go.
The Ship was Constructed in Belfast
The construction of the Titanic took 26 months and it was done at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Unfortunately, death surrounded the ship even during its construction; a total of 28 serious accidents and more than 200 minor accidents occurred during the construction, and at least 8 workers died.
The expected death was about 15, so the eight workers that died hit below that mark, but nonetheless, the deaths paint a picture of a perilous construction process. The major cause of death was workers falling off the ship.