TITANIC

FACTS
The details of the RMS Titanics sinking and Titanic
facts fascinate people from all walks of life, all over
the world. The story of this large ocean liner holds a
place in our shared cultural memory. Weve
gathered top amazing Titanic facts that tell the
tragic tale of the passengers on-board.
The name Titanic comes from Greek Mythology
The name Titanic comes from Titan. In Greek mythology,
Titans were the ancient Gods of Greece. Thought to be
giants, Titans were overthrown by a race of younger Gods,
the Olympians, including Zeus and Athena. Once you know
this, its not surprising to learn that the Titanics sister ship
was named the Olympic. The two ships were constructed at
the same time and were incredibly similar in design.
Before the launch of the Titanic, people were
killed!
Its a gruesome Titanic fact that people died during the
building of the ship and her sister ship, the Olympic. The
Titanic was built over 100 years ago, between 1908 and
1911, and the health and safety conditions of the workers
were nowhere near those that we have today. Workers didnt
even wear hard hats when they were building the Titanic!
The Titanic was the Largest Ship Afloat
The White Star Line that commissioned the building of the
Titanic wanted to boast to its passengers that they had built
the biggest ship in the world. To give some extra features to
the first class, Titanic became heavy and could claim the title
of the largest ship afloat at the time.
The Titanic was not Eco-Friendly
The Titanic used over 600 tons of coal each day it was at
sea. It took over 170 workers, working 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, to feed the furnaces powering the steam
engines. There were over 150 furnaces on the ship, heating
nearly 30 boilers to create the steam that powered the
engines. Each day, 100 tons of ash had to be jettisoned into
the sea.


The RMS in RMS Titanic is abbreviation for
Royal Mail Ship
The RMS in the ships official name, RMS Titanic, stands
for Royal Mail Ship. The Titanic was under contract with the
Royal Mail Service and the United States Post Office. There
was over 25,000 cubic feet of storage on the ship for mail,
letters and parcels alone!
The Titanic was almost like a floating city. The ship
generated as much electricity as a city at the time. Like any
other city, the Titanic had its own post office. The Sea Post
Office on the Titanic had five postal clerks who worked seven
days a week sorting mail. There was so much mail, that they
sorted up to 60,000 pieces each day!


Titanic had less number of lifeboats than
required
With 16 sets of davits that could each handle four lifeboats,
the ship could hold exactly 64 lifeboats. With each lifeboat
capable of holding 65 people, these 64 lifeboats would have
been enough to carry the roughly 3,500 passenger maximum
capacity of the Titanic. Unfortunately on day of the sinking of
the Titanic, it had only 20 lifeboats.
Titanic Wreck was found after 70 years
It wasnt until 1985 that the wreck of the Titanic was found.
Shortly after this, more Titanic facts began to emerge. It had
long been debated whether the Titanic had sunk in one
piece. One of the passengers of the Carpathia described a
scene that was illustrated, showing the Titanic breaking in
half before sinking.
Titanic was not sailing with valuables
Despite rumours, one Titanic fact thats really a myth is that
there was a lot of gold on-board. The most expensive item,
according to filings after the sinking, was a $100,000
painting. Its ironic that many years later, some of the items
retrieved from the Titanic have gained value because of the
huge cultural meaning the ship has.
People still have sentiments for Titanic
Perhaps its because of the huge boasts of the Titanic as
the unsinkable ship and then its tragic sinking. Even to this
day, kids and adults from all over the world find Titanic facts
compelling. The film Titanic, directed by James Cameron
and starring Leonardo Di Caprio, is possibly the most well
known of the many stories and movies relating to the great
liner.