The RMS Titanic was a ship famous for crashing into an iceberg on its way to New York, United States from Queenstown, England. Its unfortunate fate was popularized by the media…what happened?

The Titanic was a little over 100 feet tall, 880 feet long, and powered by three main heat engines which used coal. Today, the ship would have cost around 200 million to build, and the inside of the ship was the definition of luxury and was inspired by luxury hotels–it had a saltwater swimming pool, a gym, numerous lounges, and more! The ship took around 2 ½ years to build and made history by being one of the biggest ships ever built at that time.

The first mistake the Titanic made was the amount of lifeboats she carried. 2224 passengers were on the Titanic, but there was only room for one third of that in the lifeboats. The captain on board, Captain Smith, ignored warnings from other ships reporting that there were too many icebergs in the water and continued moving at full speed. Several fires had also started in coal bunkers, and some speculate that these may have made the Titanic more vulnerable to failing. 

At 11:40PM an iceberg was spotted directly in front of the Titanic, and while sailors tried to steer away sharply, the ship crashed. This is why at the wreckage site, the Titanic is facing north despite it travelling west towards the US. Water rushed into the ship and the crew were not trained for an emergency. Many lifeboats were sent off barely full as officers didn’t know how many people could fit in one. The darkness of the night didn’t help either. Women and children were ushered into the lifeboats first, and made up most of the survivors. 

The ship broke into two pieces around 2 hours later. Those clinging onto the part of the boat that hadn’t sunk yet were thrown into below-freezing water in seconds. The human body is considered healthy at around 98 degrees Fahrenheit, and plunging into water that cold causes an involuntary gasp, drowning many almost instantly. Low temperatures strain the heart and cause cardiac arrest. Initial cries died down after 30 minutes, and there were a little over 700 survivors. 

The sinking of the RMS Titanic inspired dances, music, theatre, and movies. On 1 September 1985, Robert Ballad led an expedition to find the wreckage site. As the ship split in half, there are two main sites around 600 meters away from each other. The wreckage travelled around 13 miles from the initial crash site which caused difficulties for Ballad’s crew. The Titanic is being broken down steadily, and soon, nothing but rust will be found on the ocean floor. There are no skeletons around the sites due to sea life. 

Millvina Dean was the last living survivor on the Titanic and the youngest passenger, only two months old at the time. While she passed away in 2009, she spent much of her time participating in Titanic education and exhibits. 

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Oof..

-Val