You may already know that the Titanic
hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the night
of April 14, 1912 and sunk just over two-
and-a-half hours later, but do you know
the following ten facts about the Titanic ?
1. Canceled Lifeboat Drill
Originally, a lifeboat drill was
scheduled to take place on board
the Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the
day the Titanic hit the iceberg.
However, for an unknown
reason, Captain Smith canceled
the drill. Many believe that had
the drill taken place, more lives
could have been saved.
2. Only Seconds
From the time the lookouts
sounded the alert, the officers on
the bridge had only 37 seconds to
react before the Titanic hit the
iceberg. In that time, First Officer
Murdoch ordered "hard a-
starboard" (which turned the
ship to port -- left). He also
ordered the engine room to put
the engines in reverse. The
Titanic did bank left, but it
wasn't quite enough.
3. The Titanic's Newspaper
The Titanic seemed to have
everything on board, including
its own newspaper. The Atlantic
Daily Bulletin was printed every
day on board the Titanic. The
newspaper included news,
advertisements, stock prices,
horse-racing results, society
gossip, and the day's menu.
4. Lifeboats Not Full
Not only were there not enough
lifeboats to save everyone on
board, most of the lifeboats that
were launched off the Titanic
were not filled to capacity. For
instance, the first lifeboat to
launch, Lifeboat 7 from the
starboard side, only carried 24
people, despite having a capacity
of 65 (two additional people later
transferred to Lifeboat 7 from
Lifeboat 5). However, it was
Lifeboat 1 that carried the fewest
people - only seven crew and five
passengers (a total of 12 people)
despite having a capacity for 40.
5. Only Two Bathtubs
Although most passengers had to
share bathrooms (only the two
promenade suites in first class
had private bathrooms), third
class had it rough with only two
bathtubs for more than 700
passengers.
6. Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue
When the Titanic began sending
out distress signals, the
Californian , rather than the
Carpathia, was the closest ship;
yet the Californian did not
respond until it was much too
late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on
April 15, 1912, crew members on
the Californian saw mysterious
lights in the sky (the distress
flares sent up from the Titanic)
and woke up their captain to tell
him about it. Unfortunately, the
captain issued no orders. Since
the ship's wireless operator had
already gone to bed, the
Californian was unaware of any
distress signals from the Titanic
until the morning, but by then
the Carpathia had already picked
up all the survivors. Many people
believe that if the Californian had
responded to the Titanic's pleas
for help, many more lives could
have been saved.
7. Two Dogs Rescued
With the order for women and
children first into the lifeboats,
plus the knowledge that there
were not enough lifeboats for
everyone on board the Titanic to
be saved, it is a bit surprising
that two dogs made it into the
lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on
board the Titanic, the two that
were rescued were a Pomeranian
and a Pekinese.
8. The Fourth Funnel
In what is now an iconic image,
the side view of the Titanic
clearly shows four cream and
black funnels. While three of
these released the steam from
the boilers, the fourth was just
for show. The designers thought
the ship would look more
impressive with four funnels
rather than three.
9. A Royal Mail Ship
The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal
Mail Ship, a designation which
meant the Titanic was officially
responsible for delivering mail
for the British postal service. On
board the Titanic was a Sea Post
Office with five mail clerks (two
British and three American).
These mail clerks were
responsible for the 3,423 sacks of
mail (seven million individual
pieces of mail) on board the
Titanic. Interestingly, although no
mail has yet been recovered from
the wreck of the Titanic, if it
were, the U.S. Postal Service
would still try to deliver it (the
USPS because most of the mail
was being sent to the U.S.).
10. Corpses Recovered
On April 17, 1912, the day before
survivors of the Titanic disaster
reached New York, the Mackay-
Bennett was sent off from Halifax,
Nova Scotia to search for bodies.
On board the Mackay-Bennett
were embalming supplies, 40
embalmers, tons of ice, and 100
coffins. Although the Mackay-
Bennett found 306 bodies, 116 of
these were too badly damaged to
take all the way back to shore.
Attempts were made to identify
each body found. Additional
ships were also sent out to look
for bodies. In all, 328 bodies
were found, but 119 of these
were badly damaged and thus
were buried at sea.

Kul

hmmm nyc

Nice write up!!

Very exposing. Nice one ops

Hmmm

Interesting and informative write up... Nice one OP

Titanic. History always we do learn everyday.

tell me plseas....