The sinking of the Titanic is one of the greatest tragedies in history. Nicknamed the “Unsinkable Ship”, the Titanic was the largest passenger ship ever built at the time it entered service. Then on April 15, 1912, just four days into its maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States, the mighty ship collided with an iceberg in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Several films and documentaries were made about the disaster, but there are still a number of amazing and lesser-known facts about the once glorious ship and that fateful day. Did you know there was a nearby ship that could have saved more people? And one man survived the cold waters all night after he did one thing...
Milton Hershey's Last Minute Cancellation
In December 1911, Milton S. Hershey, founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company, put down a deposit for a VIP stateroom aboard the Titanic. The deposit cost $300, equivalent to an estimated $7,281 today. Hershey decided to take his wife on a trip to Nice, France and bought the VIP tickets for the Titanic for their return trip home.
Not long before the Titanic set sail, Hershey canceled his ticket and boarded an earlier ship back to the U.S. The reason for the cancelation is still unknown. The check for the deposit, made out to White Star Lines, is in the Hershey Community Archives.
A Rescue Ship Ignored the Distress Signals
While the Carpathia eventually came to rescue the survivors of the Titanic, there was, in fact, another ship closer to the wreck, the S.S. California, that did absolutely nothing. The ship's captain, Stanley Lord, apparently became aware of the Titanic sinking after officers on the ship saw the flare signals. Yet he did not order his vessel to assist the sinking ship.
The captain and crew were investigated after the fact, and many of their accounts were confusing and inconsistent. The backlogs of that night managed to disappear. Captain Lord was fired and forever disgraced.
A Japanese Survivor Was Shamed
Masabumi Hosono, a Japanese civil servant, was the only Japanese passenger aboard the Titanic. Hosono managed to survive the horrific tragedy but faced a very rude awakening. He was initially, and unfairly, dubbed a stowaway to the press by a first-class American passenger. Then his native country turned on him as well.
Hosono was condemned and shamed for not going down with the ship. Both the Japanese press and government labeled him a coward. He was then fired from his job with no explanation. Deemed unethical, the company was forced to hire him back. His survival was a source of shame for his family for many years.
Immortalized Words
Just a few hours before the Titanic hit an iceberg, a passenger named Esther Hart wrote a letter to her mother in England. The letter was penned in the Titanic's library on the ship's signature stationery. It talked about the wonderful journey she, her husband, and her seven-year-old daughter, Eva, were having aboard the ship. Her husband, unfortunately, passed, while Eva and Esther survived.
The letter has weathered the past 100 years, kept in the family as a memento. In 2016 it went up for auction in England and sold to an American bidder for $18,000.
New Photos Reveal The Rate of Decay
In late August 2019, a team of international deep sea explorers observed and documented the decaying process of the Titanic. The team performed five organized dives in which they discovered a shocking rate of decay affecting the iconic ship.
In an interview with BBC, Titanic historian Parks Stephenson said, "The captain's bathtub is a favorite image among Titanic enthusiasts, and that's now gone. That whole deck house ont hat side is collapsing, taking with it the state rooms. And that deterioration is going to continue advancing."
The Lounge Roof and Bow Are The Next To Go
While it saddens many to see the ship decaying away at the bottom of the ocean, Titanic historian Parks Stephenson says, "Titanic is returning to nature." It's constantly up against the strong ocean currents, salt corrosion, and the metal-eating bacteria, sitting in its final resting place around 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Divers concluded that the ship, which has sat there for more than 100 years, will continue to decay at a rapid rate. “The whole deck house on that side is collapsing, taking with it the state rooms. And that deterioration is going to continue advancing,” said Stephenson.
Victims Lost At Sea
Out of the 1,503 lives that were lost when the Titanic sank, only 340 bodies were recovered, found floating in their life jackets in the days after the shipwreck. But what happened to the remaining 1,163 victims is still a mystery to this day. No remains have been found at the wreckage site.
There are a few theories circulating about these missing remains. Some experts say that a storm spread the floating victims out in a 50-mile-wide area, and their bodies are most likely scattered along the ocean floor. Others believe that bodies were trapped inside and thus heavily decomposed and attacked by sea scavengers.
Only Three Smoke Stacks Were Functioning
Photos of Titanic depict four giant smokestacks towering on top of the ship. Three drew smoke and heat from the furnaces of the 29 boilers. The fourth wasn't connected to the furnace; it was a dummy stack to make the ship look more impressive
During the 1900's, the number of funnels a liner had was considered a symbol of speed and safety, and the Titanicwas meant to be the best of the best. Also, if there were only three, they'd have been placed towards the front of the ship. By having four, they could be spread out equally, making it appear more balanced.
If you thought that was odd, the first death aboard the Titanic occurred before it even left for its maiden voyage.
A Psychic Predicted The Tragedy
Twenty-four-year-old Alice Elizabeth Fortune, her parents, sisters, and brother were first-class passengers aboard Titanic. They were returning back home in Canada after a European vacation. During their visit to Cairo, Egypt, two months prior, Alice went to see a fortune teller.
The psychic told her that every time she traveled by sea, she would be in danger and that she could actually see Alice adrift in the open water. She was told she'd lose everything but her life. Alice, her mother and sisters were rescued from the Titanic, but her brother and father died in the wreck.
Alcohol May Have Saved One Man's Life
As the Titanic sank into the sea, Charles Joughin, the chief baker on the ship, nonchalantly stepped off the stern into the freezing waters and began paddling around until dawn, when he was rescued by a lifeboat. While others froze to death, Charles survived.
The reason he was able to withstand the ice cold temperatures for so long was attributed to the generous amount of alcohol he had drunk, which kept his organs fortified until he was rescued. Before he got too drunk, he managed to ensure that all of the lifeboats were filled with bread and biscuits.
Animals On Board
There were a number of animals aboard the Titanic, including dogs, cats, chickens, birds, and rats. There was even an "official" Titanic cat named Jerry, who helped keep the rats at bay. She and her kittens lived in the galley.
The only animals to survive the wreck were three of the twelve dogs brought on board because they were lucky enough to make it on a lifeboat. Two of the dogs were Pomeranians and one was a Pekinese, and no one seemed to mind squeezing them on the boats. One of the dogs belonged to Henry Harper, heir to Harper & Row publishing.
The First Victim Never Set Sail
Samuel Joseph Scott was one of 15,000 workers who built the Titanic and her sister ship, Olympic, in Ireland. He was only 15 years old and earned between $5 to $10 a week. On April 20, 1910, while working on the ship, Samuel slipped off of a ladder into the open hull. He fractured his skull and died.
In 2011, Samuel was finally given a headstone, which was unveiled during a ceremony that was attended by the niece and the nephew of the Titanic’s designer. His epitaph includes the following words: “Remembering his soul and all those who perished in the sinking of the Titanic."
The Iceberg Was From 1000 BC
The iceberg that sunk the Titanic began its voyage to the North Atlantic over three thousand years ago, around 1000 BC. It is speculated that it all began with snowfall on the western coast of Greenland, which compacted over the span of a few months. In the proceeding decades, it became more compact from the weight of more falling snow, forming into dense ice.
Frozen waters pushed it westward, and chunks were broken off, or calved, and pushed south. Most icebergs only last a few years after they are calved, so experts believe it floated away from Greenland around 1910.
The Second Ocean Liner to Ever Have a Pool
At the time it was built, the Titanic was considered the most luxurious ship ever made. It was the second liner ever to have a swimming pool on board. The first was its sister ship, Olympic, which set sail the year prior. But the Titanic's pool was larger, measuring at 30 by 14 feet, and was also heated, while the Olympic's was not.
The pool, then called a swimming bath, was for first-class passengers only. It was filled with sea water, but of course was a lot warmer than the 28-degree temperatures in the ocean.
The Captain Crashed A Ship The Year Before
There are mixed feeling regarding the Titanic's Captain, Edward John Smith. Some think his negligence led to one of the worst disasters in history, while others believe he was a hero for courageously going down with his ship. Coincidentally, the Titanic was not his first mishap as a captain.
The year prior, Smith had been the Captain of the Olympicwhen it collided with a British warship. Despite major damage, the ship made it safely back to shore but suffered extremely costly damage. The Royal Navy blamed the Olympic for the accident, claiming that its massive size caused a suction that pulled the warship into it.
Putting On The Ritz
The interior of the Titanic was extremely lavish, complete with dining rooms with ornate ceilings and plush carpets. It was designed to resemble the Ritz Hotel in London. The first class cabins were also very similar to some of the high-end suites at the Ritz.
There was even a restaurant on B deck called The Ritz Restaurant. The restaurant was for first-class passengers only and was considered an "Optional Extra", with extremely high prices. The tables were always fully booked up by the rich and famous.
It Cost What?!
The Titanic cost $7.2 million to build, equivalent to $180 million today. So it’s no surprise that first-class tickets came with a hefty price tag, which is why it was filled with millionaires. Charlotte Drake Cardeza, a 58-year-old daughter of a wealthy textile-mill owner, may not have been the wealthiest person onboard, but she purchased the most expensive ticket.
Cardeza’s first-class parlor ticket cost $4,350 which is equivalent to $69,600 today. Her room had two bedrooms, a sitting room, two wardrobe rooms and a bath. She was traveling with her 36-year-old son, her maid, his valet and 14 trunks, four suitcases, and three crates.
See It With Your Own Eyes
Expeditions to the site ceased in 2012, but as of May 2018, tourists will again be able to visit the wreck. A London-based travel company called Blue Marble Private will provide guided eight-day tours, which will begin in Newfoundland, Canada. Voyagers will board a submersible that’ll take them to the Titanic two miles below the surface. The experience will cost $105,129 per person, and the first trip is already completely booked.
The time to visit the Titanic may be limited, as a study conducted in 2016 claimed that “extremophile bacteria” may very well eat away what’s left of the wreck within the next 15-20 years.
A Drill Was Canceled The Day It Sunk
During the 1900's, lifeboat drills were regularly conducted on ocean liners in order to prep the crew and passengers on what to do in the case of an emergency. In fact, there was a drill scheduled aboard the Titanic on the morning of April 14th, but Captain Edward John Smith canceled it for some unknown reason. Later that day, the Titanic struck an iceberg.
Hysteria ensued, and without the experience of running the drill, there was lots of confusion on how to properly utilize the lifeboats. A large number of them set off only half full, leading to a greater loss of life than was necessary.
Third Class Life
Third- class accommodations on the Titanic, known as steerage, were designed to hold two to six passengers. They were grouped by family or gender and were primarily immigrants moving to the United States and Canada. When adjusted to today's standard, tickets cost approximately $700 for adults and $300 for children.
Before stepping on the ship, all steerage passengers were given a health inspection to check for disease, lice, and other infections. They slept in bunk beds that had mattresses, pillows, and blankets, but no sheets or pillowcases. There were over 700 people in steerage, and they all had to share two bathtubs. Luckily, they had flushing toilets.
And The Band Played On
Panic set in aboard the Titanic as it began to sink. The ship's eight-member band gathered in the first-class lounge and began to play in an effort to keep everyone calm. As the ship sank further, the band, led by Wallace Hartley, played on, with no consideration of saving their own lives.
There's been much debate on what was the final song that they played. One survivor claimed that “Nearer, My God, to Thee” was the last song, but she apparently left on a lifeboat 20 minutes before it completely sank. A wireless operator reported that he had heard the song “Autumn” being played as the ship submerged.
Daily News
Each night during the First Watch, a Marconi operator would copy down the Marconi news service broadcast, and then type it all out. He'd also include some other information, like daily menus, society gossip (which included such "news" as what first-class passengers wore to dinner the previous night), add in some advertisements, then print it all through a mini printing press that was located in the Chief Pursers Office.
These write-ups became a daily newspaper for the Titanic, called the Atlantic Daily Bulletin. The bulletin was then posted each night in the first-class smoking room.
A Welsh Radio Amateur Heard The Distress Call Early
According to the BBC, Arthur Moore of southern Wales had already made headlines in his country in 1911 for intercepting messages indicating that Italy was about to invade Libya. Thanks to the sophistication of his set-up and his aptitude with early radios, Moore was also one of the first to receive distress calls from the Titanic.
He was 3,000 miles away from the disaster, which meant there was little he could do about it in 1912. Nonetheless, Moore did make his best effort and rushed to a local police station to report what was happening. Sadly, they didn't take him seriously.
Ham Radio Operators Were Blamed For The Disaster
According to Yesterday's America, amateur radio operators received significant public blame for clogging official channels that the Titanic's Marconi operators were using to send out distress calls. Worse yet, some went as far as to spread misinformation indicating that the Titanic was being safely towed to Halifax.
Regardless of how well-founded this blame was, it was influential enough to lead to the Radio Act of 1912, which required radio operators to secure a valid federal license. Moreover, amateur operators were restricted to bands spanning less than 200 meters (or 656 feet) to ensure they wouldn't interfere with maritime operations.
The Onboard Marconi Operators Weren't Blameless
Although blaming amateur radio operators for communication issues aboard the Titanic was a popular narrative at the time, Yesterday's America noted that the worst radio mistakes on that fateful night arguably came from inside the ship. For one thing, the radio was primarily used to send telegrams from passengers rather than help with navigation.
This meant that operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were so worried about filling these telegram orders that they failed to notice repeated ice warnings up ahead and report them to the bridge. Worse yet, Phillips even ignored distress call responses from Telefunken radio operators. That's because Marconi was in such stiff competition with the firm that even an emergency reason to work with them seemed unthinkable.
There Was An Incredible Discovery
On April 15, 1912, 19-year-old Jeremiah Burke of Cork, Ireland put the short message shown here in a bottle of holy water his mother gave him before the Titanic departed the town of Cobh. He wrote "From Titanic, goodbye all, Burke of Glanmire, Cork" before Burke had tossed it into the sea.
Sadly both he and cousin, Nora Hegarty, perished in the ensuing disaster. However, the BBC reported that a year after the disaster, the message in the bottle washed up in Dunkettle, only a few miles from Burke's family home. His message remained in his family for almost a century before it was donated to the Cobh Heritage Centre.
The Lifeboats Did Not Launch Quickly
As The History Channel explained, the Titanic's impact with the iceberg did not seem like the disaster it would turn into to the crew and passengers at first. While it's true that many were asleep when the impact occurred, those who were awake likely only felt a slight vibration.
Indeed, this is likely why the first hour of the disaster was deceptively calm. It took about 25 minutes for the Titanic's crew to get around to uncovering the first lifeboat and about an hour after the impact before the launched the first one. It is amazing how much went wrong that night.
The Titanic Could Have Easily Held More Lifeboats
Although Titanic Facts noted that the Titanic was equipped to carry 64 lifeboats, it only carried 20. This fact has been the subject of rumors that the White Star Line killed their passengers by trying to provide an unobstructed view with fewer lifeboats, but the real answer had to do with outdated regulations.
According to Vox, the Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 required any ship exceeding 10,000 tons to carry 16 lifeboats. Although the Titanic weighed 45,000 tons, the minimum was the same despite the 20 lifeboats they carried only accommodating half of the passengers. Likely inspired by the disaster, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea would mandate enough lifeboats for everyone on board in 1914.
An Earlier Accident Made The Titanic Crew Overconfident
As Vox reported, the logic behind not equipping the Titanic with enough lifeboats was that the strength of the ship's 16 watertight bulkheads and the then-new Marconi system would ensure all passengers would be rescued before the ship was at risk of sinking if an emergency arose. That seems like pure hubris in hindsight but it wasn't at the time.
Unfortunately for the Titanic's crew and passengers, the expected scenario had played out exactly as they envisioned in 1909, when a ship collided with the RMS Republic. Since almost all passengers were safely evacuated, people were under the impression that no such situation would become a maritime disaster again. Alas, that wasn't how it worked.
Seven People Avoided The Disaster Without Realizing It
Before its fateful voyage to America, the Titanic made a few European stops, the last of which giving passengers a chance to disembark in Queenstown, Ireland (which is the town of Cobh today). Although Titanic Experience Cobh noted that only 44 of the 123 people who boarded at this stop survived the disaster, they also shared an interesting fact about this stop.
While it's easy to assume that every passenger who boarded the Titanic was bound for the United States, the truth is that seven passengers only needed to go as far as Queenstown. Among them were five members of the Odell family, who had business in southern Ireland. The took the last photographs the world would ever see of the ship in action.
The Disaster Could Have Been Even Worse
As USA Today reported, the Titanic disaster resulted in 1,517 fatalities among the passengers and crew, who numbered 2,223. Although there were a variety of elements that contributed to such a staggering death toll, it's easy to forget that one factor at play could have made everything worse.
One of the most common-cited factors for the death toll was the lack of lifeboats and the fact that the ones that did exist weren't filled to capacity. However, it's scarily easy to imagine how much more costly those factors could have been if the Titanic had been carrying its full capacity of 3,500 people.
They've Taken Thousands Of Artifacts From The Titanic
According to the Titanic's official website, there have been eight undersea expeditions to the Titanic since the shipwreck was discovered in 1985. The first of them took place two years after the discovery, while the most recent of them occurred in 2010. In that time, researchers have uncovered over 5,500 artifacts from the wreckage.
According to Mental Floss, some of these artifacts have been parts of the ship and navigation equipment but many more were the passengers' personal effects. Since some of the passengers were wealthy, fine jewelry that may have included Molly Brown's $20,000 lost necklace were fairly common artifacts. However, even some papers and sheet music managed to survive decades of decay.
The Demographics Of The Survivors May Not Be Surprising
According to Titanic Facts, about 75% of female passengers aboard the Titanic survived. This comes at stark contrast to the surviving male passengers, who encompassed about 20%. Since evacuation procedures prioritized women and children, that wasn't surprising.
However, that procedure may have been more affected by class than people realized, as only one child among the first class passengers perished, while none did among the second class passengers. However, 52 children died among the third class passengers. This is reflected in the overall passenger fatalities when they're separated by class, as 61% of first class passengers and 42% of standard class passengers survived. Meanwhile, only 24% of the passengers assigned to steerage made it out alive.
Every Engineering Officer On The Titanic Gave Their Lives
According to Spain's Universidad de Córdoba, the 25 engineering officers aboard the Titanic were well aware that the only chance their passengers and fellow crew had for survival was to keep the electrical lights and the water pumping infrastructure working for as long as they could.
As such, all 25 of these men faithfully performed their tasks until the very end. By the time the call to abandon ship reached their ears, it was clear that no escape would have been possible for them. As the Spanish university described it, "They died heroes trying to correct the mistakes of others."
The Titanic Only Took A Minute To Make A Big Impression
According to USA Today, the Titanic was built in Belfast, Northern Ireland and was launched for the first time on May 31, 1911. By the time it was first shown to the public, it seemed that its reputation as an unsinkable juggernaut had already preceded it.
Despite the fact that its launch lasted just over a minute when White Star Line unveiled it, the occasion was a huge sensation in Belfast. About 100,000 people — or a third of Belfast's population at the time — were believed to have attended the launch.
It Took Some Serious Energy To Keep The Titanic Running
Considering its size and 46,000 ton weight, it's hardly a surprise that the Titanic would need an unusual amount of energy to run effectively. However, there's a difference between knowing that in the abstract and understanding that — as USA Today reported — the ship burned through about 825 tons of coal per day. That's how much it took to keep 159 furnaces and 29 boilers running.
As Titanic Facts noted, the people aboard the ship needed energy of their own. Even though the ship wasn't at capacity, enough people were on board to require 14,000 gallons of drinking water per day and a total of 40,000 hard-boiled eggs. 1,000 bottles of wine were also taken on board.
It's Easy To Underestimate How Big Titanic's Anchor Was
Considering how large the Titanic was, the Belfast shipyard knew the ship's anchor would need to be much larger than usual to effectively do its job. Again, however, knowing that doesn't necessarily make people prepared to hear that the anchor weighed 16 tons, as USA Today reported.
Although the anchor could be transported by train from Dudley to Belfast, the hard part was getting it from its casting site in Netherton to the train yard. As it turned out, a team of 20 horses was required to carry the anchor across the two-mile distance to Dudley.
