Interesting RMS Titanic Facts

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Subject: Interesting RMS Titanic Facts

Posted by: ElusiveDream
Date: Jun 29 16

Everyday on this thread, I'll post an interesting fact about the world's most famous ship, the RMS Titanic.

34 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2

ElusiveDream

Fact #1: The original design planned for Titanic to have 64 lifeboats, enough to provide a seat for everyone on board.

Reply #1. Jun 29 16, 12:57 AM

C30	Fact 2..........The number of lifeboats carried actually complied with current regulations. Reply #2. Jun 29 16, 4:31 AM

ElusiveDream

Fact #3: If every lifeboat seat had been taken, a total of 1,178 people would have survived. In reality, only 705 survived with 1,523 deaths.

Reply #3. Jun 29 16, 5:02 PM

ElusiveDream

Fact #4: A lifeboat drill was scheduled for the morning of Sunday, April 14th, however, for reasons never established, the Captain decided to cancel it. Had the drill gone ahead as planned, it's likely the crew would have been better prepared to deal with the disaster.

Reply #4. Jun 30 16, 5:07 PM

ElusiveDream

Fact #5: Titanic's band were employed by a company called 'C.W & F.N Black'. On April 30th, the family of one band member, John Hume, received a rather unfriendly note from this company, requesting that they pay 14 shilling & 7 pence for John's band uniform.

Reply #5. Jul 02 16, 5:13 PM

Creedy

That's absolutely dreadful

Reply #6. Jul 03 16, 4:54 AM

ElusiveDream

It is horrible, isn't it? This family were grieving the loss of a son, husband and father-to-be, and they've got his employers asking them for money.

Out of the 8 band members, only the bodies of 3 (John Hume, Wallace Hartley & John Clarke) were recovered and positively identified. Here's fact #7: Contrary to popular belief, the band were not part of the crew. They were actually listed as Second Class passengers.

Reply #7. Jul 03 16, 5:22 PM

ElusiveDream

Whoops, that last fact should have been number #6.

Anyway, here's another fact, and this one's sure to pull at your heartstrings: Titanic was carrying 109 children, aged 13 or younger. Almost half of those children died, among them Sigrid (11), Ingeborg (9), Ebba (6), Sigvard (4) and Ellis Andersson (2), who perished with their parents. Also on board was Mrs Andersson's sister, Anna Danbom, who perished alongside her husband, Ernst, and 4-month-old son, Gilbert. Only the body of Ernst Danbom was recovered and positively identified.

Reply #8. Jul 03 16, 7:57 PM

MiraJane

Do you have any cheery facts to post?

Reply #9. Jul 03 16, 10:04 PM

callie_ross

There's probably not a whole lot of cheery facts to post about the Titanic, since it did sink & a lot of people died, unfortunately. :(

Reply #10. Jul 03 16, 10:47 PM

ElusiveDream

Here's your next fact: Titanic burned roughly 600 tonnes of coal per day, which was hand-shovelled into her boilers by a team of almost 180 men.

Reply #11. Jul 04 16, 1:05 AM

MiraJane

I realize it sunk and many people died. I realize that is not happy news. Listing the names of people that died over a century ago won't cheer up anyone. How about some more facts like the last one that aren't as depressing as the posts?

Reply #12. Jul 04 16, 1:53 AM

ElusiveDream

One thing I have to say is a big well done and thankyou to the captain, crew and passengers of the Carpathia. Since many of the survivors were women, I can imagine it must have been heart-breaking to witness their grief as they came to realize that they had lost their husbands, fathers or other relatives. Regardless of a survivor's class or status, those aboard Carpathia rallied round to do whatever they could to help. The captain had the ship's three doctors establish separate medical stations in the dining rooms. Public areas and cabins were stocked with blankets, warm clothing, food and hot drinks. Electric lights were hung over the sides to make boarding easier and ladders, chair slings, nets and even bags for small children were readied to help get the survivors on board. Many of the passengers also shared their cabins.

Even while still aboard Carpathia, a number of survivors formed a committee to raise a fund to express their gratitude and this later amounted to some $15,000 which was used to provide a distribution of cash to all members of Carpathia's crew. The crew also received specially-made commemorative medals and the captain received a beautiful silver Loving Cup. The Cunard Line refused to accept any payment for Carpathia's services and added to the rewards bestowed on the crew by giving each of them an extra month's wages.

One more thing: In the year following the disaster, Third Class survivor, Mrs Leah Aks, gave birth to her second child, a daughter whom she named Sarah Carpathia.

Reply #13. Jul 04 16, 6:35 AM

lesley153

I found a website which has worked out UK inflation over the last few hundred years. 2016 = 1912 x 106. Sorry about your dead husband, sorry you've lost your breadwinner and all that, but you owe us eighty quid for his suit.
http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/

Reply #14. Jul 05 16, 11:14 AM

C30	CARPATHIA herself was sunk July 17th 1918, torpedoed by U55. Reply #15. Jul 05 16, 3:24 PM

ElusiveDream

During the inquiries that followed the sinking, Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian was found guilty of gross negligence because his ship was actually closer to Titanic than Carpathia was yet, despite his crew telling him they'd seen a ship firing flares, he made no attempt to help as he thought the flares were nothing more than fireworks. Also, Titanic's only surviving senior officer said it took him two weeks to find the shortest route from one end of the ship to the other. The passengers, however, had only a few days to do this, so it's likely that many of them, especially those in Third Class, probably got lost while trying to get to the lifeboats.

Reply #16. Jul 05 16, 5:24 PM

ElusiveDream

Numerous people held tickets for Titanic's maiden voyage, but never boarded. They include Milton Hershey (founder of the Hershey's Chocolate Company), Guglielmo Marconi (inventor of the wireless Marconi radio) and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. Mr Vanderbilt died three years later aboard the Lusitania.

Reply #17. Jul 07 16, 4:23 AM

ElusiveDream

There were some passengers who were meant to be travelling to America on other ships, but ended up on Titanic instead. Frederick and Augusta Goodwin had booked Third Class tickets on the S.S New York but, due to a coal strike, were transferred to Titanic. Their destination: Niagara Falls, New York. Frederick's brother, Thomas, and their widowed sister were already living in New York and sent the family money to pay for the voyage. They also bought and furnished a house for their brother and his wife and children to live in. In addition to this, there was a job waiting for Frederick at the local power plant.

Whilst aboard Titanic, all male and female Third Class passengers were kept separated at night. Men slept in cabins in the bow while the women's accommodation was in the stern. Even families travelling together had to adhere to this rule.

Sadly, the Goodwins never reached New York. Frederick, Augusta and their six children, Lillian (16), Charles (14), William (11), Jessie (10), Harold (9) and baby Sidney (1), all perished in the sinking.

Reply #18. Jul 08 16, 12:54 AM

ElusiveDream

Most are aware there were gates that separated the Third Class passengers from everyone else. Apparently, these gates were a requirement of US immigration laws at the time and existed mostly to prevent the spread of disease. Unfortunately, during the sinking, many of these gates were locked and this stopped Third Class passengers reaching the lifeboats.

I've also heard that the White Star Line tried to blame the high number of Third Class deaths on passengers not being able to understand English. This seems rather silly as over 100 of the passengers travelling in this class came from English-speaking countries (England, the US, etc.)

Reply #19. Jul 10 16, 5:13 PM

ElusiveDream

This is interesting: a new theory as to why Titanic sank. New research suggests a fire burned undetected in the ship's hull for up to three weeks. This caused significant damage in the exact area that would later collide with the iceberg.

http://tinyurl.com/z5tze5e

Reply #20. Jan 01 17, 11:32 PM

34 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2

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