The Titanic

The Titanic was designed and built by William Pirrie's Belfast firm Harland and Wolff. Ironically, the design of the vessel would forgo speed for more safety and comfort. The construction took approximately 3 years. The captain of the ship was Edward John Smith. It was to be his last commission before retiring.

On May 31, 1911 the Titanic was launched and spent ten months being furnished. Little did anyone know that the "unsinkable" ship would not be around to celebrate it's one year anniversary. On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York. The Titanic was the largest vessel on the water. On April 11, the Titanic raised it's anchor for the last time

when leaving Queenstown. A few days later, on April 14 at 11:40pm, Frederick Fleet (the lookout) spoted the iceberg. The ship was steaming at 22.5 knots, which is approximately 25 mph. They were traveling almost top speed (top speed: 23 knots). It's estimated that 37 seconds passed between the sighting and the collision. That's not a lot of time to turn a 46,000 ton ship, especially traveling at the speed it was. On April 15, at 2:20am, the Titanic sank.

There were 2,207 people on the Titanic when it hit the iceberg. Only 712 people survived. The movie, Titanic, depicted how the 1st class passengers were considered to be more important than the lower class/steerage. The statistics back up that statement.

1st class passengers: 201 survived/123 perished

3rd class passengers: 181 survived/527 perished

In 1895, Dr. Robert Ballard, an oceanographer and marine biologist, discovered the remains of the Titanic. The debris from the ship was spread out over a 1/2 mile on the ocean floor. The bow and the stern were found about 2000 ft apart.

EV

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/

http://www.gma.org/space1/titanic.html

http://www.britannica.com/titanic/01_01.html