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Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

The Titanic had eight officers, including Captain Edward Smith.

Smith was a veteran, decorated sailor, having been with the White Star Line since 1880. He was captain of the Majestic for nine years, including a stint transporting British troops to the Boer War.

Beginning in 1904, he was the captain on all of White Star Line's new ships. He was captain of the Baltic when it sailed from Liverpool to New York in June 1904 and of the Adriatic when it made a similar voyage three years later.

Smith was captain of the Olympic, a ship as big as the Titanic, in September 1911, when the Olympic collided with another ship, the Hawke, resulting in the Hawke's losing its prow and the Olympic's losing one of its giant propeller shafts. Smith and the Olympic got the blame for this incident.

Despite this incident, the White Star Line appointed Smith captain of its newest ship, the Titanic, for its maiden voyage. His first major action was to ensure that the Titanic didn't collide with the New York, a ship that broke free from its moorings because of the huge amount of water displaced when Titanic initially sailed.

Smith did not survive the sinking of the Titanic. Various accounts of his last actions have him jumping into the sea at the last second, standing in the wheelhouse as the ship went down, and even rescuing a child as his final act.

His body was not recovered. He left behind a wife and daughter. A statue of him stands in Beacon Park in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in England.

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Titanic: Captain Went Down with the Ship

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The Titanic captain was experienced in the extreme.

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Titanic: Passengers Famously Separated by Class

In many ways, the Titanic passenger list reflected the wide class divide of the times. Of the 1,296 total passengers onboard the massive ocean liner, 319 were labeled as first class, 269 were termed second class, and 699 were called third class, or steerage.

A closer look at the casualty figures reveals that of the 319 first-class passengers, 200 survived and of the 269 second-class passengers, 117 survived. Only 172 of 699 third-class passengers survived. A similar percentage can be found among crew and staff: 215 of 918 survived.

First-class passengers included wealthy businessmen, famous entertainers, high-ranking members of the military, and professional athletes. Among the second-class numbers were professors, authors, tourists, and clergymen. Most of the third-class passengers were immigrants seeking a new life in the U.S. or Canada.

Some of the people aboard the Titanic were very famous in their day.

The most prominent name was probably John Jacob Astor IV (right), the latest millionaire in a family of rich businessmen. He and his wife, Madeleine, were returning to the U.S. so Madeleine could give birth to their first child at home.

Also onboard were these famous people:

Isidor Straus, owner of the Macy's department store, and his wife, Ida

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company founder George Wick

Charles Hays, the president of Canada's Grand Trunk Railway

John Thayer, a vice-president with the Pennsylvania Railroad

George Widener, owner of the Philadelphia Traction (streetcar) Company

Benjamin Guggenheim, a member of the powerful mining family whose brother Solomon established the eponymous New York museum.

All of these famous people died when the Titanic sank.

Among the famous people surviving the disaster were J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of White Star Line; Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder; millionaire and women's rights activist Margaret Brown; and silent film star Dorothy Gibson.

Among the more than 700 survivors were the "Titanic Orphans," Michel Jr. and Edmond Navratil, infant sons of Michel Navratil, who kidnapped his sons and took them aboard the Titanic to get them away from their mother, who lived in Nice, France. Michel, the father, died, but the boys survived and were cared for by fellow survivor Margaret Hays until their mother arrived in New York to take them home. (Hays had widely circulated photographs of the twins, and their mother had eventually seen the pictures.)

Also surviving was Violet Jessop, a nurse who was working as a stewardess on the Titanic and went on to survive the sinking of the Britannic four years later. Jessop went on to work for another ship company, the Red Star Line, and went on two round-the-world cruises.

The last remaining survivor was Elizabeth Dean, who was only a few months old when she and her family boarded the Titanic in hopes of immigrating to the American Midwest. Elizabeth, known as Millvina, and her mother and brother survived. Elizabeth died in 2009, at age 97.

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Titanic: Passengers Famously Separated by Class

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In many ways, the Titanic passenger list reflected the wide class divide of the times.

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Titanic facts for kids | History | National Geographic Kids

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Learn about the most famous ship in history with our twenty Titanic facts. How big was the Titanic? Where did she sink? How many people died on the Titanic?

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MORE TITANIC FACTS

* The most expensive tickets to travel aboard Titanic cost about $99,000 in today's money.

* The Titanic was almost as long as three football fields.

* To feed the passengers and crew, Titanic had 86,000 pounds of meat, 40,000 eggs, 40 tons of potatoes, 7,000 heads of lettuce, 3,500 pounds of onions, 36,000 apples, and 1,000 loaves of bread on board.

* Titanic was one of the first ships to have a telephone system and electric lights in all the rooms.

* Including the four smoke stacks, the Titanic was as tall as a 17-story building.

* Titanic had four elevators, a heated swimming pool, a gym, two libraries, and two barber shops.

* Each day, the passsengers and crew used 14,000 gallons of drinking water.

* Titanic' s engines used more than 800 tons of coal each day. The ship's top speed was 24 knots (27 miles an hour).

* Smoke and steam made by the Titanic' s boilers escaped through three stacks. Builders added a fourth stack because they thought it made the ship look better.

* Titanic could carry 3,547 passengers and crew. About 2,200 people traveled on its first voyage.

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MORE TITANIC FACTS * The most expensive tickets to travel aboard Titanic cost about $99,000 in today's money. * The Titanic was almost as long as three football fields. * To feed the passengers and crew, Titanic had 86,000 pounds of meat, 40,000 eggs, 40 tons of potatoes, 7,000 heads of lettuce, 3,500 pounds of onions, 36,000 apples, and 1,000 loaves of bread on board.

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Titanic Facts for Kids | 8 Hidden Facts about Titanic

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Everybody knows the story of Titanic and the iceberg it hit on the night of April 14, 1912. When it first set sail, the Titanic was known for its extraordinary size and was thought to be “The Unsin…

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Newsela | Time Machine (1912): Wreck of the White Star liner Titanic

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How the world's greatest steamship went down with 1,600 souls.

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100 Years After Titanic Sinking, a LEGO Replica Sails On

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To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, a team of 15 LEGO builders gave a sneak peak of their cruise liner replica made of toy bricks. The ship, which took 200 hours and used thousands of bricks, was built by a team called the Brickomaniacs. The Titanic scale model measures ab…

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Here are ten facts about Edward John Smith, the Captain of RMS Titanic who lost his life when the ship sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg.

Edward John Smith was born on 27th January 1850 in Hanley, Staffordshire.

He joined the White Star Line in 1880 and worked his way up to commanding the Republic in 1887, the Majestic in 1895, the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Olympic. His reputation as a good, safe captain grew and he became known as the 'Millionaires' Captain' because some of the wealthiest people in England would only travel on ships he was captaining.

He was married to Eleanor Smith and they had one daughter, Helen Melville.

It is believed that Captain Smith considered retirement before accepting command of the Titanic.

Captain Smith was in bed when the ship collided with an iceberg. He was woken up by the sound of the collision and was told what had happened by William Murdoch, the First Officer.

Smith has been criticised for failing to properly manage the evacuation of passengers. He knew that the ship was going to sink, but he didn't pass this information on to all of his officers.

Very little is known about what Captain Smith did in time between the Titanic colliding with the iceberg and sinking.

It is also unclear how Smith lost his life. Most historians believe that he locked himself in the wheelhouse and went down with his ship, but some of the survivors claimed to have encountered him when he passed an infant child into a lifeboat from the water. His body was never recovered.

Legend has it that the final words to his crew were 'Be British', but this is probably not true.

A statue of Captain Smith stands in Beacon Park, Lichfield.

More Facts About Captain Smith

He has been portrayed by many different actors over the years. According to Smith's daughter, Helen Melville (Mel), Laurence Naismith, the actor who played Smith in A Night to Remember, looked very much like her father. Bernard Hill took on the role of Captain smith in the 1997 movie Titanic directed by James Cameron.

Captain Smith was 62 when he died in 1912.

What next? Discover some facts about the Titanic.

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Titanic Captain Edward John Smith: Facts and Information - Primary Facts

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Here are ten facts about Edward John Smith, the Captain of RMS Titanic who lost his life when the ship sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Edward John Smith was born on 27th January 1850 in Hanley, Staffordshire. He joined the White Star Line in 1880 and worked his way up to commanding the [...]

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The Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ocean liners built by the White Star Line in the early 20th Century. The other two Olympic-class ships were the Britannic, sunk by a German mine in 1916, and Olympic, which served out many years of passenger transport before being retired in 1935.

Workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, built the Titanic between 1909 and 1911. The shipyard had built ships for the White Star Line since 1867.

The Titanic was 882 feet 6 inches in length and 175 feet tall. The rudder alone was 78 feet 8 inches tall and 15 feet 3 inches long, weighing more than 100 tons.

The two massive engines weighed 720 tons each and got their power from 29 boilers that ran on more than 600 tons of coal a day.

The 11 decks could house nearly 2,500 passengers and nearly 900 crew.

The Boat Deck had the lifeboats along the outside. (A total of 64 lifeboats could be installed, but the Titanic had just 20.) Inside the edges, the deck contained the bridge and wheelhouse, captain's and officers' quarters, four promenades that were segregated by economic class (officers, First Class, engineers, and Second Class — the Third Class promenade was on B Deck).

A Deck and B Deck were reserved for First Class passengers, although the Second Class smoking room were also on this deck.

C Deck had some mingling of First Class and Second Class cabins, and some crewmembers had their cabins on this deck.

D Deck, which was known as the Saloon Deck, had three large rooms (two dining and reception) designated for First Class or Second passengers, an open space designated for Third Class passengers, and some cabins for people of all classes.

E Deck, F Deck, and G Deck contained accommodation for Second Class and, mainly, Third Class passengers, many of whom had portholes that were just above the waterline. Food was stored on G Deck.

The lowest decks were for cargo space and the ship's boilers, electrical generators, engines, and turbines.

The Titanic really was a luxury liner, with many First Class passengers enjoying large, sumptuous cabins, some including their own bathrooms. Also onboard were numerous palm trees, a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a squash court, a barber shop, a travelling post office, and dog kennels.

After a few test voyages, the Titanic set off on its maiden voyage, calling at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, before making the turn west toward the United States. It never returned.

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The Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ocean liners built by the White Star Line in the early 20th Century.

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Titanic: Rediscovered, Still Holding Secrets

The giant ocean liner Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912, was presumed lost for several decades but was eventually discovered in 1985. Since that discovery, several expeditions have brought back artifacts and images galore from the wreckage on the Atlantic Ocean floor.

On September 1, 1985, a team of French and American explorers discovered the wreck. One of the team was Dr. Robert Ballard, a famed underwater explorer who returned the following year in the one-man submersible Alvin and gained further evidence of what happened when the boat sank.

Initial theories were that the boat sank intact. What Ballard and his team saw, however, contradicted that: They saw a ship that had split in two. The bow rested 1,970 feet from the stern, and the two parts faced in opposite directions. The bow was found to be embedded 60 feet into the ocean floor. The stern was found to be more damaged, likely due to an implosion caused by release on impact of air trapped in the decks.

Ballard didn't bring back any artifacts, but other expeditions did. More than 6,000 mementoes now rest in the hands of public and private collectors, most notably the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

Film director and adventurer James Cameron, who directed the 1997 hit Titanic, also produced a 2003 documentary titled Ghosts of the Abyss, which featured new footage of the ship from the ocean floor.

Private expeditions, though costing tens of thousands of dollars, are routine.

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Titanic: Rediscovered, Still Holding Secrets

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The giant ocean liner Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912, was presumed lost for several decades but was eventually discovered in 1985.

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Newsela | The North faces a Titanic challenge as melting ice lures more luxury liners

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Coast Guard officials are training for catastrophe as melting sea ice opens up Northwest Passage allowing liner to cruise with 1,700 from Alaska to New York

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Life aboard the Titanic - source 5 - The National Archives

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Telegram received by the Russian liner Birma (MT 9/920c)

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Newsela | Primary Sources: The Titanic, the Wireless Operator's Story

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A telegraph operator survives the sinking of the Titanic

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Icebergs are large chunks of ice that break off from glaciers

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Detailed RMS Titanic deckplans. Explore the design of the Titanic in high resolution deckplans.

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Learn more about the doomed ocean liner's sinking.

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The Unknown About The Unsinkable Titanic

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Did more than just the iceberg lead the "unsinkable" Titanic to sink?

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The Unknown About The Unsinkable Titanic

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Did more than just the iceberg lead the "unsinkable" Titanic to sink?

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Demographics of the
TITANIC Passengers:
Deaths, Survivals,
Nationality,
and Lifeboat Occupancy

I hesitated before creating yet another Titanic Web site, but after I saw the movie Titanic [that tells you how long this page has been around], I was inspired to finish up some research I had started quite some time before. I was curious about the demographics of the passengers and crew of the Titanic -- who perished, who survived, and who occupied which lifeboats. How gravely was the tragedy enhanced by gender, class distinction, and prejudice?

On this site I have compiled numbers, comparing several different sources. The numbers make it all too clear that a rule of First Class First far outweighed the principle of Women and Children First. In addition to simply compiling numbers, however, I have included some notes and analysis and share the sources I used to compile the data.

Deaths and Survivals
Compared:
Women, Children, and Men

Breakdown of Passengers by Class

Women

Children

Men

Total

First Class
Women (Servants*)

First Class
Men (Servants*)

Second Class
Women (Servants*)

Second Class
Children

Total: 25
Died: 0
Survived: 25
% Survived: 100%

Second Class
Men (Servants*)

Further Steerage Breakdown

Breakdown of Passengers by Nationality

Nationality FIRST CLASS SECOND CLASS THIRD CLASS Total

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Belgian

1

1

0

100%

1

0

1

0%

22

5

17

23%

24

6

18

25%

Bulgarian

0

0

33

0

33

0%

33

0

33

0%

FIRST CLASS SECOND CLASS THIRD CLASS Total

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

Total

Survived

Died

Percent Survived

The nationality numbers were adapted from lists and raw data compiled by Hermann Söldner. Note: the numbers on this chart do not match the totals on the two tables above. Although I can account for some of the discrepancies (for example, I think he included the musicians among the British Second Class passengers, but I did not), I do not have enough information about his sources to be able to square his numbers with my own.

Breakdown of Officers and Crew
by Employment Category

Women

Men

Total

Total
Female Sailing Crew

None.

Total
Female Staff, non-White Star Employees

Total
Female Staff and Crew

Demographics
of the Lifeboats

Order launched

Time
launched

Number of boat, location

Approx. No. aboard / Capacity / Percentage

Class of
passengers

Men, other than crew, aboard?

5th or 6th

1:10

1
OFFICERS Deck,
Starboard

12/40
30%

only FIRST

10 of the 12 were men

15th

1:45

2
OFFICERS Deck,
Port

20/40
50%

FIRST & THIRD

men were removed from the boat before it was moved for launch. At least 1 aboard by the time of launch.

16th

34/65
52%

Primarily FIRST

none initially, but a few male passengers were hauled aboard; only First Class Deck lifeboat to haul up passengers.

17th

1:50

39/49
80+%

primarily THIRD,
some FIRST

at least 10, including J. Bruce Ismay, White Star director

18th

2:05

17/49
35%

all

at least 4, including those hauled out of water

not launched;
floated off
partially
submerged

2:20

unknown (only 13 reached the Carpathian alive)/49

all but 1 were men

2:20

unknown (only 28 reached the Carpathian alive)/49

all men, but few were passengers

NOTES ON THE TABLES ABOVE

1. There is no exact or definitive number for the people aboard the Titanic, nor for those who survived. Estimates you can find on the web range widely, and even among reputiable scholars, numbers differ by as many as 40 passengers. There are official documents, such as a Contract Ticket List, a Certificates of Clearance, lists of alien passengers prepared for the United States Immigration Service. There were two official lists of deceased passengers created in 1912. There are discrepancies, inaccuracies, inconsistences, omissions, and other mistakes with both names and numbers. Researchers, such as Michael A. Findlay, Philip Hind, and Lester J. Mitcham, have been able to correct many errors and solve many mysteries, but there will always be a few problems that will never be solved. Because of their research, however, even if an exact number will never be known, wild guesses and faulty estimates from the past can now be rejected.

2. In several cases the distinction between a passenger and a member of the crew is not clear. Some employees, such as musicians and employees of Harland and Wolff (the shipbuilder), were on board for work. So, even if they were given First or Second Class accommodations, I have included them among the crew, not among the passengers. Until recently, 1296 was my total for number of passengers in the first table. That figure was based on research done by Michael Findlay in the 1990s. With the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I did some more tabulations, based on more recent estimates and revised it upward to 1300. The number of passengers in the first and second tables now agree. The total numbers in the table for nationalities do not agree, however, since they are based on calculations done by Hermann Söldner, who must have used different sources than I have.

3. Despite the discrepancies, I think the numbers are close enough to draw some legitimate conclusions. However, I urge you use caution and skepticism as you review them.

4. Figures for the crew are even less reliable than the numbers for passengers. No accurate crew list was compiled at the time.

DISCUSSION OF THE TABLES ABOVE

To me, a non-statistician, the tables above show significant indications of class discrimination. Evidence of numbers and testimony have proven that only on one side of the Titanic did the rule "Women and children first," apply. What becomes even more clear when looking at the numbers is that a more important concept of the day was "First Class first."

CLASS DISTINCTIONS

1. For some perspective, here is the price of tickets: First Class tickets ranged from £30 for a berth to £870 for a luxury suite with a private fifty-foot promenade and the only private lavatory and toilet facilities in all the ship. A Second Class ticket could be purchased for as little as £12. Steerage tickets ranged from £3 (for children) to £8, but family tickets were also available to make tickets even more affordable to large families. I have seen various estimates of how much that would be worth in current US dollars, so I think it makes more sense to make a different comparison. The cheapest ticket would have cost a clerk, typist, or shipyard worker a month's salary, and in many cases families would have had to use all their savings to afford the passage. The most expensive First Class ticket was similar in price to that of a very expensive luxury automobile.

2. The lifeboats were launched from the First Class decks first and the Second Class decks second. There were no decks or lifeboats dedicated to the Third Class.

3. First Class suites, berths, and social rooms were located principally on the center of the ship on decks A, B, and C (or more poetically the Boat Deck, Promenade Deck and Bridge Deck), with additional cabins on decks D and E. They had either immediate or easy access to the Boat Deck where all of the lifeboats were housed. Lifeboats numbered 1 through 8, which were the first to be launched, were located in the fore of the ship, the First Class Deck. The numbers indicate that First Class Passengers utilized any lifeboat available without compunction.

4. Second Class rooms were mostly located on decks D and E, with some on lower decks F and G. Where Second Class passengers were on the same deck as First Class passengers, the Second Class passengers were further aft. Some Second Class passengers would have had easy access through a stairway to the stern of the Boat Deck (Second Class Deck) where lifeboats numbered 9 through 16 were located. More by cultural than physcial barriers, the Second Class passengers would have been prohibited from entering the First Class section of the Boat Deck.

5. Steerage passengers had rooms on lower decks F and G, with some exceptions, and no direct or immediate access to lifeboats on the boat deck. Many steerage passengers who survived did so only by reaching the last of the lifeboats that were launched.

6. It is difficult for us now living more than a century later to realize and imagine how different people lived and thought. Bigotry of all sorts, especially classism and racism were commonplace and accepted or expected by both the privileged classes and races and the underprivileged.

7. By law, passed for public health reasons, gates separating steerage passengers from the other passengers had to be locked. Back then steerage passengers were equated with emigrants who were equated with disease and pestilence, and it was thought important to give passengers in more luxurious accommodations peace of mind that the ship would not breed contagion or other hazards to their well-being. The locked gates proved to be the most deadly, but there were other measures used on steerage passengers alone. Before boarding, steerage passengers had to submit to a health inspection, for at least obvious signs of infection, lice, or disease.As a public health measure, the public toilets in steerage had an automatic flushing feature.

8. Since adult male passengers were more likely to die than women and children, the sex of the passengers should probably by factored in when comparing the survival rate by class, but the percentages are not significantly different. More than 62% of the steerage passengers were adult males, compared to and 64% in Second Class, and 57% of the First Class passengers.

9. There is contradictory evidence about the degree of physical restraint used to keep steerage passengers from getting to the lifeboats. In addition to the reports that the locked gates remained locked, there were stories that passageways were blocked by armed guards. Testimony by at least one steerage passenger indicated there was no such restraint, which if true would indicate at least one crew member to unlock and free the passageways.

10. Annie Kelly, an Irish steerage passenger, said that the stewards not only did not wake the steerage passengers with an alarm but told alarmed third class passenger who came up to the deck to go back down as there was no danger. However, similar assurances were given to First and Second Class passengers.

11. Colonel Archibald Gracie testified at the American inquiry that a "mass of humanity" from steerage poured up onto the boat deck only after all the lifeboats had been launched.

12. According to several writers and historians, indifference toward steerage passengers and resignation by many steerage passengers may have been more responsible for the low percentages of steerage passenger survival than physical barriers.

13. Walter Lord, in A Night To Remember, indicates that the White Star Line always denied class distinction in filling the boats, and that both US Senate and British inquiries backed them up.

14. A contempt for "foreigners" was admitted by the crew in their own testimony, especially when telling stories of men who showed cowardice. The testimony of one officer at the U.S. Senate hearing so angered the Italian ambassador he demanded (and received) a retraction and an apology.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST?

1. In simple terms, almost all of the women and children in First and Second Class survived, while most of the women and children in steerage died. In contrast, most of the men in First, Second, and Third Class died.

2. The "Women and children only" rule was applied on the port side of the ship. It is not clear whether or not the "Women and children first" rule was applied on the starboard. Men comprised the majority of passengers aboard the First Class starboard deck lifeboats, but there was testimony that the men did wait until all the women present and willing had already boarded.

3. First Class women and children were about 6% of those aboard the Titanic, but constituted 20% of the survivors. In contrast, steerage passengers were a third of all aboard, but only one fourth of those saved.

4. At least three of the four women in First Class who perished had the opportunity to board a lifeboat but elected to stay with their husbands and/or family. When they initially made their decisions, most passengers still believed that the Titanic would and could not sink and may have been fearful for the safety of the lifeboats and the boarding process itself. There were several

5. Over half of the women in steerage perished.

6. All of the lifeboats launched from the starboard First Class Deck had more men than women aboard.

7. Who was a child was relative depending on class. For example, 14 year old Lucile Carter in First Class was considered a child, but a 14 year old Annie McGowan in Steerage was considered to be an adult. The only child in First Class to go down with the ship was Lorraine Allison. The Allison family was separated from their infant son. The Allisons refused to board a lifeboat until they could find their missing baby. Since the child's nurse had already been taken him on board a lifeboat, the rest of his family never found him and died together.

8. It may be statistically insignificant because of low numbers, but children from Second Class were the only members of a group to have a 100% survival rate.

9. Less than a third of the children from steerage survived.

10. Although half of the Irish women (defined as women boarding in Queenstown) survived, only one of the six Irish children survived (and I am including 14 year old Annie McGowan, whom some do not).

ADULT MALE PASSENGERS

1. Honor and shame ruled society in 1912 unlike they do a hundred years later. Gentlemen were expected to be honorable and feared being shamed. Men aboard the Titanic, especially those among the upper class, had to weigh their own survival with doing what society would deem the right thing. To survive but live in shame was a risk some men would not take. Different men, dispite which class they belonged to, made different decisions. Famously several of the wealthiest men, John Jacob Astor, George Widener, and Isodor Strauss, refused to board a lifeboat on grounds of honor, even after it was clear that the Titanic would sink.

2. Men in First Class had no better than a one in three chance of surviving, so compared to women, even women from steerage, they fared poorly. Compared to men from other classes, they did remarkably well. At the time when most of the lifeboats from the First Class decks were launching, it was not certain among the passengers that the Titanic was doomed, and many of the men from First Class who could have gone aboard a lifeboat (those on the starboard side) elected to remain behind.

3. Even though some men had no trouble boarding lifeboats, there was a report that the wealthiest man on the Titanic, John Jacob Astor, attempted to board the lifeboat with his wife, but was rebuffed by Second Officer Lightoller, who told him, "Women and children, only, sir." Other accounts are differ, however, including one that he was seated in a lifeboat, but gave up his seat at the last minute. Another is that Astor chose to stay behind to encourage William Carter to get on board, promising the boy that he would take care of his dog.

4. An adult male in Second Class had only an 8% chance of surviving. Even adult male steerage passengers had a better chance of surviving than that. Without supporting evidence, it is hard to say that the men from Second Class gave up their seats to women from steerage, but if it was true, they were more gallant by far than the men from First Class.

5. Men in Second Class had no physical barriers to pass, so honor and resignation may have reigned high. However, more compelling than a sense of good manners and gentlemanliness was probably the stigma of shame and cowardice that would be attached to many adult males who had the audacity to survive the sinking. As a result, adult male survivors had compelling reasons for their defensiveness and inventions of excuses for boarding a lifeboat.

6. Panic and confusion may have been an even greater consideration for the loss of life by many men. As Lawrence Beesley, a Second Class passenger, reported in his 1912 book, The Loss of the SS Titanic, a false rumor that men were allowed to board lifeboats on the port side caused many men to cross over to the side of the ship where they had a much smaller chance of being allowed on board a lifeboat.

7. A high percentage of the men in steerage who got to lifeboats reached them only by leaping onto them after they were launched or by scrambling aboard the two emergency lifeboats as they floated off moments before the Titanic finally went down.

1. The numbers used above are adapted from a list of country of origin created by researcher Hermann Soldner. His compilations were published in Switzerland in 2000 as a booklet, "RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912." His research was used as the primary source for the Country of Residence section of the Encyclopedia Titanica.

2. Most official lists provide no breakdown by nationality beyond British and Non-British.

3. If any stereotype can be read in the demographics, one might be tempted to cite those spunky Irish, almost all of whom were in steerage, but whom survived by greater precentage than the British, of whom only slightly more than half were in steerage. However, to put that premise in doubt, even more significant is that almost half of the Irish were women, and gender, not nationality, may have been a greater factor in determining likelihood of survival.

4. Passengers with Third Class tickets are usually billed as immigrants and refugees, and the image that that description can be bring is one of disreputable, disease-laden, dark complected foreigners. However, almost two thirds were English-tongued British, Americans, and Irish, or fair skinned Scandinavians. The British and Swedes had among the worse survival rates among nationalities in steerage.

5. By percentage, the Japanese did the best, with a 100% survival rate, but since there was only one Japanese passenger on board, that's a meaningless statistic. The Chinese, Spanish, and Swiss also had a very high survival rate, but there numbers were also all very small. The French survived as well as the Americans, but there were one tenth as many French as Americans.

6. Nationality is not equivalent to ethnicity. For example, although there is a designation for Finland, ethnic Finns living in Sweden were counted among the Swedes. As result, the number is imprecise. I have altered the number I orginally had based on figures determined by the Swedish Emigrant Institute. The majority from Austria-Hungary were neither German nor Magyar (Hungarian), but from the various Slavic ethnic groups. There were contemporary accounts of many Italians aboard the Titanic, but the statistics do not bear this out. It appears likely "Italian" was the label given most any foreigner with a dark complection.

7. Haiti is not listed, but one passenger who must have been listed as French was Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche, who had been born in Haiti. He had been living in France for more than a decade, and his wife and two children were all born in France. He has been called the only passenger aboard the Titanic of known African ancestry.

8. Countries, borders, and geopolitical understanding were quite different in 1912 than they are today. There were two Australians and five South Africans, but both nations were considered to be part of the British Commonwealth, so they were originally tallied as British. I have separated them out and subtracted the number from the British totals. There are probably many others from Commonwealth nations that should also be separated out. Turkey and Syria were both part of the Ottoman Empire, but researchers have discovered that most Middle Easterners aboard the Titanic were actually Lebanese Christians. Those listed as Syrians had one of the best survival rates of any nationality in steerage.

9. Because of the small sample sizes and inexact determination of ethnicity, it seems inappropriate to make any broad conclusions about the personalities of national groups based on survival rates. There was a controversy back in January 2009 that caused this site to get a huge number of hits. The controversy occurred after the BBC and other journalists reported on research that concluded that British passengers were more likely to perish than Americans because they were more polite. In any eyewitness accounts I've read, I've seen no evidence that British men failed to get on lifeboats because of a greater degree of gentlemanliness. Surely the stigma of shame and cowardice, as well as opportunity, fear, confusion, and panic, were greater factors than politeness in who boarded the lifeboats.

TITANIC CREW, EMPLOYEES, AND SERVANTS

1. The crew of the Titanic were divided into Deck Crew, Engineering Crew, and Victualling Crew. I have created my own employment category of Sailors to single out officers, able-bodied seamen, quartermasters, lookouts, and masters-at-arms from other members of the deck crew.

2. Seventy percent of the 60 sailors on board survived, many, but not all, because they had been commanded to take charge of lifeboats or to serve as rowers. It may have been the duty of the captain to go down with the ship, but that was not true for most other officers.

3. Other members of the deck crew were non-sailors. The non-sailing crew were 38% of those aboard the Titanic but only 25% of the survivors. Non-sailing crew members included trimmers, firemen, greasers, window cleaners, carpenters, messmen, engineers, stewards and stewardesses, bell boys, lift attendants, boots, baths, barbers, chefs, cooks, butchers, bakers, confectioners, platemen, scullions, medical staff, and a gymnasium instructor. Only a couple of the non-sailing crew, all firemen, were recruited as rowers on lifeboats.

4. All 30 engineer and electrical engineers perished. They were true heroes who stayed down below until almost the end trying to keep the ship afloat and the electrical system working.

5. Some members of the Titanic's crew were not employees of the White Star line. These included nine Guarantee Group members (employees of the shipbuilder, Harland and Wolff, who were on board to familiarize the crew with the ship), eight musicians, two Marconi operators, five postal clerks, and the nearly seventy members of the staff of the First Class a la carte restaurant. This group of non-White Star line crew members had the worst rate of survival.

6. The musicians, who traveled in Second Class, and the Guarantee Group, three of whom traveled in First Class and five of whom in Second Class, are included among passengers in some lists, as is Frans Olof Carlsson, who was the first mate on the liner St. Louis, but had been stranded by the coal strike and was traveling in First Class to return to his ship. I have included them with the crew. All were men; all perished.

7. Almost all of the a la carte restaurant workers were French. All but two were men. Both women, neither of whom were French, reached a lifeboat. Only one male restaurant worker survived.

8. As an indication of class distinction, the first official lists of Titanic passengers did not include the names of the maids and manservants who traveled with the First Class passengers. They were merely extensions of the passenger. For example, "Cardeza [sic], Mrs. J. W. M. and Maid."

9. The story quickly emerged that four maids died, trapped below deck, because they had been sent down to the purser's office to fetch their employers' valuables. In the first official lists, indeed, four maids are listed among those who perished, the maids of Mrs. Cardeza, Mrs. Douglas, Mrs. Hays, Mrs. Penasco y Castellana. Researcher Michael Findlay, however, has disproved the myth by documenting that all four of these women, Bertha LeRoy, Fermina Oliva y Ocana, Annie Perreault, and Anne Ward, survived. In fact, all female servants traveling in First and Second Class survived.

10. While maids, nurses, and valets traveled in First Class, three chauffeurs and a cook traveling with First Class passengers were given Second Class accommodations. The cook (a female) survived, but none of the chauffeurs (all male) did.

11. Only two menservants survived. One was Henry Sleeper Harper's Egyptian dragoman (an interpreter and guide) named Hamad Hassah, "whom he picked up in Cairo as a sort of a joke [according to Walter Lord]." The Harpers also brought on board the lifeboat their other "pet," a Pekingese, named Sun Yet-sen. The other surviving manservant was Gustave Lesueur, valet to Mr Thomas Cardeza. Cardeza was traveling with his mother, and there was a report that the mother, son, and two servants boarded Lifeboat 3 as an entourage.

LIFEBOATS

1. Lifeboats were the luxury of the First Class. The White Star Line staff was deferential to the First Class in all things, so it was natural that the launching of the lifeboats began on the First Class decks. Half the lifeboats, and all of the first six launched, contained only passengers from First Class, plus crew members to do the work. Although no one but First Class passengers could board a First Class deck lifeboat, First Class passengers were welcome to board First and Second Class deck lifeboats.

2. Lawrence Beesley, a surviving Second Class passenger, reported that several women in Second Class were turned away when they tried to enter the part of the deck reserved for First Class where half the lifeboats were located. Later, however, First Class passengers easily found their way to the lifeboats not located on the First Class deck.

3. The total capacity of the combined total of lifeboats was rated at 1,178, but the rating was not necessarily a practical number. According to testimony provided at the British inquiry, a more realistic capacity for a lifeboat rated for 65 was closer to 50, except on the most favorable conditions. On the night of the sinking of the Titanic, the sea was absolutely smooth and still -- "most favorable conditions."

4. All of these early launched "First Class" lifeboats were notorious for being launched at less than half capacity. The number of passengers was also far below what would have been a comfortable number.

5. All of the lifeboats launched from the starboard First Class Deck had more men than women aboard. Whether or not they boarded after all the women were given a chance is not certain.

6. The crew loading passengers on the port side were quite extreme in enforcing a "Women and Children Only" policy. They not only refused to allow men to board, but in at least one case, physcially removed men who had seated themselves.

7. According to testimony of Dr. Washington Dodge, a third of the lifeboats had been launched, including those furthest from capacity, before there was a general consensus among the passengers that the Titanic would or could sink.

8. Especially early on, when only the First Class passengers had the option to board, most believed that boarding a lifeboat was not wise or necessary. The crew was not well trained in lowering the boats, the pulleys did not function smoothly, so anyone watching the jerky, delayed, and hesitant lowering might easily conclude that the safer option would be to stay aboard the world's largest most luxurious lifeboat, the Titanic itself.

9. Although lifeboat 4 picked up six or eight passengers from the water and D hauled in at least one man before they distanced themselves from the ship, the only lifeboat to go back to try to rescue people after the Titanic went under was 14, not a "First Class" lifeboat. It was only able to pick up three or four passengers from the water.

10. Testimony has made it clear that Captain Smith and the chief officers of the Titanic knew before the first lifeboat was launched that the Titanic would sink, but no one among the crew took measures to ensure that all boats were adequately filled.

11. Naval traditions and social customs and some absence of knowledge did not give the crew doing the actual loading of the lifeboats any capacity for planning or making any but the most pressing reasoned judgments.

12. The decision to allow so many lifeboats to be launched at less than half capacity when it was known that the Titanic would sink in a matter of hours rested with Captain Smith. Some have charged that it was his indecision, rather than any overt decision by him, that cost so many lives.

RESOURCES WITH TITANIC FACTS AND STATISTICS

RESOURCES USED FOR CALCULATING THE TABLES:

My initial source for compiling passenger statistics was Titanic Passenger List, 10 April 1912, by Michael Findlay. Mr. Findlay is probably the world's leading authority, having spent years of research tracking down individuals from around the world to produce his list. It can be found in two print sources that I have seen. It is an appendix found inTitanic: Women and Children First, by Judith B. Geller (Norton, 1998) and Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy by John P. Eaton & Charles A. Haas (Patrick Stephens, 1994).

I have also extensively used Philip Hind's Encyclopedia Titanica, beginning when it was called R.M.S. Titanic: Her Passengers and Crew. Hind has also used Michael Findlay's list as a starting point and adapted and added to it, especially with biographical details. His is the best and almost only readily available source I know of for information about the Titanic's crew.

Hermann Soldner's booklet, "RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912," once available on the web, was my principle source for nationality information. His research data are still available in different and expanded formats on Encyclopedia Titanica.

Two researchers who have presented Titanic statistics online are Lester J. Mitcham and Chuck Anesi. Although I didn't discover their pages until after I had created my own tables, I have since compared my numbers with theirs, and though none of our statistics quite agree, their compilations were helpful as I tried to get my tables to mesh with each other.

Titanic: A Tragic Destiny, a site no longer maintained, featured a chronology and other information that I found helpful in putting together the the lifeboat table.

Titanic Inquiry Project provides the official transcripts of the inquiries made by both the British Board of Trade and the United States Senate. Thousands of pages are available and searchable.

There were earlier efforts attempted to compile passenger names and information, as well:

Walter Lord included as an appendix the passenger section of the White Star Line's final list of lost and saved, dated May 9, 1912 in his A Night To Remember (Henry Holt, 1955). The list was official, but it was full of errors.

Lists were also reported in the London Times in the days following the disaster. By April 20, the Times reproduced an official list supplied by the White Star Line. It differs in form and content from the list in A Night To Remember.

Colonel Archibald Gracie's The Truth about the Titanic (1913) was the first published attempt to compile information about who was on which lifeboats. It is incomplete and for the most part ignores steerage passengers.

All photographs used on this page are in the public domain. The animated illustration at the top of the page showing the sinking of the Titanic is based on the following six sketches of the sinking drawn by Jack Thayer, a 17-year old surviver, who also drew them while on board the Carpathian on April 15, probably not long after he came aboard. His sketches were first published to illustrate an account he wrote that was included as a chapter in Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters - As Told by First Hand Account of Survivors and Initial Investigations edited by Logan Marshall, was published in 1912 by several publishers, including The International Bible House, which was my source. Thayer controversially showed the Titanic breaking in two. This fact was not widely believed until after Robert Ballard's underwater team proved him to be right in 1985.

This page maintained by John R. Henderson (jrhenderson9 @ gmail.com).
I am a retired librarian who created this page when working at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY.
First created on 6 June 1998. Links last checked on 26 January 2023.
URL: http://www.icyousee.org/titanic.html

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ICYouSee: discussion and analysis of the demographics of the passengers and crew of the Titanic

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A hundred years ago tonight, the Titanic sank, taking more than 1,500 souls with it. Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck, tells Andrew Carter about the secret expedition to find it.

Robert Ballard's life's dream was to find the most famous shipwreck in the world, but if not for the Cold War and two missing submarines, the Titanic might never have been found.

Ballard, who also discovered the wreck of the Bismarck and the USS Yorktown, became interested in ocean exploration as a child while reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. "From a very early age, I wanted to be Captain Nemo and I wanted to explore the ocean floor," he says. With his parents' encouragement, he joined the Navy, worked at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and became an oceanographer. After 53 years and more than 130 expeditions, the 69-year-old adventurer is "still at it and hoping for a new discovery."

Ballard had long been fascinated by Titanic, and always dreamed of finding it. Back in the 1970s, he led a failed expedition to do just that. But it wasn't until 1985, while serving as a naval intelligence officer, that he was able to secure the technology and funding that helped him finally discover it 1,000 miles due east of Boston. Having helped the U.S. Navy develop unmanned submarines, Ballard thought the technology might be useful in finding the lost ship. The Navy had little interest in funding the search, but it was very interested in finding the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, two nuclear submarines that were lost in the 1960s on either side of where the Titanic went down. With the Cold War still in its final throes, the Navy had to keep the true nature of the submarine search a secret. They told Ballard that if he could find the subs, then afterward he could use their technology to search for the ship-but the world would think the expedition was about finding the Titanic from the beginning.

"The Navy didn't want to disclose the location of those submarines, so we needed a cover story and Titanic was the cover story," says Ballard. "I wanted to find the Titanic. The Navy just wanted our expedition to deflect from the true mission."

Of course, history would show that the expedition was successful on all fronts. Ballard was able to do reconnaissance on the missing submarines, and in the early-morning hours of Sept. 1, the image of a boiler in the sand 12,000 feet beneath the surface signaled the discovery of the Titanic.

"There were two reactions almost simultaneously," says Ballard. "The first reaction was celebration, we all jumped up shouting because we were near the end of the expedition and we thought we were going to fail. But that was followed quickly by a realization of where we were, that we were on a gravesite. We started seeing where the bodies had landed, that this was a cemetery, and it changed our emotional wall. It went from pure joy to thoughtful reflection."

Rumors have surfaced over the years that Ballard wanted to keep the location of the wreck a secret to protect it from salvagers. Not entirely true, he says. The expedition was a joint U.S.-French effort, which meant, "There was no hope of protecting it from the French; the French were aboard. Although initially they said they wouldn't salvage it, they reversed their decision and they knew the location because they were aboard and could write it down. So there was no secret among them, and they're the ones that actually founded the salvage operation." Since then more than 5,500 artifacts have been taken from the wreck site.

Ballard, who has long been outspoken against the recovery of objects from the Titanic, is disturbed by the salvage operations, not only because they are disturbing a gravesite, but because human exploration is damaging the ship. "We went back in 2004 and did it all over again, and we can show you exactly where the submarines had landed, where they had crushed the deck, where they had knocked off the crow's nest, where they pulled fixtures off the ship, and where they tried to break off the telemotor, all the debris, all the garbage that they left behind."

Further, Ballard sees "no point" in salvaging items from the sunken ship. "The artifacts on the Titanic are identical to the artifacts on her sister ship, so there wasn't anything to be gained." He adds that when he initially discovered the ship, he went to the 24 remaining survivors and various museums around the world, and "there wasn't a single person or organization who supported recovering artifacts."

Whether because of humans or because of bacteria consuming the ship, there is a good chance Titanic will collapse completely within the next few decades. In the meantime, Ballard is determined to do his part to preserve the ship and prolong her life for as long as possible. He is currently applying for a permit to clean the rust off the hull and give the ship a fresh coat of paint. While the prospect of refurbishing a 100-year-old vessel lying 12,000 feet beneath the sea might seem daunting to anyone else, Ballard isn't fazed. It's the same technology they use to repair supertankers that are too big to go into dry dock. "They've actually developed underwater robots that are very simple, they have magnets, they attach to the hull and they can travel the length of the hull and clean the rust off. And then they actually have paint that can be applied underwater," he says.

Still, Ballard does not want to give the impression that he is obsessed with the Titanic, or even that it is his favorite find. "I've done 135 expeditions. I've discovered things far more important than the Titanic, " he says. "The discovery of new life-forms in the Galapagos, the discovery of black smoke and mineral deposits that explain the chemistry of the world's oceans. I've recently discovered ancient shipwrecks from 500 B.C. that are perfectly preserved in the bottom waters of the Black Sea. All of them have lessons to learn, they're all important."

But he certainly understands the enduring fascination. "Every generation has discovered the Titanic, whether it was the one that was alive when it sank, Walter Lord's book, or my discovery, or Cameron's movie, and now the 100th anniversary." He also feels that the disaster has "all sorts of stories with heroes and villains, and I think everyone wonders what they would do if they were on the Titanic. "

The explorer shows no signs of slowing. This summer he plans to explore the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, before heading to America's Territorial Trust Islands in the western Pacific.

Asked what his most important discovery is, he responds, "The one I'm about to make."

Robert Ballard's life's dream was to find the most famous shipwreck in the world, but if not for the Cold War and two missing submarines, the Titanic might never have been found.

Ballard, who also discovered the wreck of the Bismarck and the USS Yorktown, became interested in ocean exploration as a child while reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. "From a very early age, I wanted to be Captain Nemo and I wanted to explore the ocean floor," he says. With his parents' encouragement, he joined the Navy, worked at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and became an oceanographer. After 53 years and more than 130 expeditions, the 69-year-old adventurer is "still at it and hoping for a new discovery."

Ballard had long been fascinated by Titanic, and always dreamed of finding it. Back in the 1970s, he led a failed expedition to do just that. But it wasn't until 1985, while serving as a naval intelligence officer, that he was able to secure the technology and funding that helped him finally discover it 1,000 miles due east of Boston. Having helped the U.S. Navy develop unmanned submarines, Ballard thought the technology might be useful in finding the lost ship. The Navy had little interest in funding the search, but it was very interested in finding the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher, two nuclear submarines that were lost in the 1960s on either side of where the Titanic went down. With the Cold War still in its final throes, the Navy had to keep the true nature of the submarine search a secret. They told Ballard that if he could find the subs, then afterward he could use their technology to search for the ship-but the world would think the expedition was about finding the Titanic from the beginning.

"The Navy didn't want to disclose the location of those submarines, so we needed a cover story and Titanic was the cover story," says Ballard. "I wanted to find the Titanic. The Navy just wanted our expedition to deflect from the true mission."

Of course, history would show that the expedition was successful on all fronts. Ballard was able to do reconnaissance on the missing submarines, and in the early-morning hours of Sept. 1, the image of a boiler in the sand 12,000 feet beneath the surface signaled the discovery of the Titanic.

"There were two reactions almost simultaneously," says Ballard. "The first reaction was celebration, we all jumped up shouting because we were near the end of the expedition and we thought we were going to fail. But that was followed quickly by a realization of where we were, that we were on a gravesite. We started seeing where the bodies had landed, that this was a cemetery, and it changed our emotional wall. It went from pure joy to thoughtful reflection."

Rumors have surfaced over the years that Ballard wanted to keep the location of the wreck a secret to protect it from salvagers. Not entirely true, he says. The expedition was a joint U.S.-French effort, which meant, "There was no hope of protecting it from the French; the French were aboard. Although initially they said they wouldn't salvage it, they reversed their decision and they knew the location because they were aboard and could write it down. So there was no secret among them, and they're the ones that actually founded the salvage operation." Since then more than 5,500 artifacts have been taken from the wreck site.

Ballard, who has long been outspoken against the recovery of objects from the Titanic, is disturbed by the salvage operations, not only because they are disturbing a gravesite, but because human exploration is damaging the ship. "We went back in 2004 and did it all over again, and we can show you exactly where the submarines had landed, where they had crushed the deck, where they had knocked off the crow's nest, where they pulled fixtures off the ship, and where they tried to break off the telemotor, all the debris, all the garbage that they left behind."

Further, Ballard sees "no point" in salvaging items from the sunken ship. "The artifacts on the Titanic are identical to the artifacts on her sister ship, so there wasn't anything to be gained." He adds that when he initially discovered the ship, he went to the 24 remaining survivors and various museums around the world, and "there wasn't a single person or organization who supported recovering artifacts."

Whether because of humans or because of bacteria consuming the ship, there is a good chance Titanic will collapse completely within the next few decades. In the meantime, Ballard is determined to do his part to preserve the ship and prolong her life for as long as possible. He is currently applying for a permit to clean the rust off the hull and give the ship a fresh coat of paint. While the prospect of refurbishing a 100-year-old vessel lying 12,000 feet beneath the sea might seem daunting to anyone else, Ballard isn't fazed. It's the same technology they use to repair supertankers that are too big to go into dry dock. "They've actually developed underwater robots that are very simple, they have magnets, they attach to the hull and they can travel the length of the hull and clean the rust off. And then they actually have paint that can be applied underwater," he says.

Still, Ballard does not want to give the impression that he is obsessed with the Titanic, or even that it is his favorite find. "I've done 135 expeditions. I've discovered things far more important than the Titanic, " he says. "The discovery of new life-forms in the Galapagos, the discovery of black smoke and mineral deposits that explain the chemistry of the world's oceans. I've recently discovered ancient shipwrecks from 500 B.C. that are perfectly preserved in the bottom waters of the Black Sea. All of them have lessons to learn, they're all important."

But he certainly understands the enduring fascination. "Every generation has discovered the Titanic, whether it was the one that was alive when it sank, Walter Lord's book, or my discovery, or Cameron's movie, and now the 100th anniversary." He also feels that the disaster has "all sorts of stories with heroes and villains, and I think everyone wonders what they would do if they were on the Titanic. "

The explorer shows no signs of slowing. This summer he plans to explore the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, before heading to America's Territorial Trust Islands in the western Pacific.

Asked what his most important discovery is, he responds, "The one I'm about to make."

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The Man Who Found the Titanic: A Tale of a Secret Expedition

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A hundred years ago tonight, the Titanic sank, taking more than 1,500 souls with it. Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck, tells Andrew Carter about the secret expedition to find it.

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"Suddenly a queer quivering ran under me, apparently the whole length of the ship. Startled by the very strangeness of the shivering motion, I sprang to the floor. With too perfect a trust in that mighty vessel I again lay down. Some one knocked at my door, and the voice of a friend said: 'Come quickly to my cabin; an iceberg has just passed our window; I know we have just struck one.'

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic, largest ship afloat, left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City. The White Star Line had spared no expense in assuring her luxury. A legend even before she sailed, her passengers were a mixture of the world's wealthiest basking in the elegance of first class accommodations and immigrants packed into steerage.

She was touted as the safest ship ever built, so safe that she carried only 20 lifeboats - enough to provide accommodation for only half her 2,200 passengers and crew. This discrepancy rested on the belief that since the ship's construction made her "unsinkable," her lifeboats were necessary only to rescue survivors of other sinking ships. Additionally, lifeboats took up valuable deck space.
Four days into her journey, at 11:40 P.M. on the night of April 14, she struck an iceberg. Her fireman compared the sound of the impact to "the tearing of calico, nothing more." However, the collision was fatal and the icy water soon poured through the ship.

It became obvious that many would not find safety in a lifeboat. Each passenger was issued a life jacket but life expectancy would be short when exposed to water four degrees below freezing. As the forward portion of the ship sank deeper, passengers scrambled to the stern. John Thayer witnessed the sinking from a lifeboat. "We could see groups of the almost fifteen hundred people still aboard, clinging in clusters or bunches, like swarming bees; only to fall in masses, pairs or singly, as the great after part of the ship, two hundred and fifty feet of it, rose into the sky, till it reached a sixty-five or seventy degree angle." The great ship slowly slid beneath the waters two hours and forty minutes after the collision

The next morning, the liner Carpathia rescued 705 survivors. One thousand five hundred twenty-two passengers and crew were lost. Subsequent inquiries attributed the high loss of life to an insufficient number of lifeboats and inadequate training in their use.

Elizabeth Shutes, aged 40, was governess to nineteen-year-old Margaret Graham who was traveling with her parents. As Shutes and her charge sit in their First Class cabin they feel a shudder travel through the ship. At first comforted by her belief in the safety of the ship, Elizabeth's composure is soon shattered by the realization of the imminent tragedy:

No confusion, no noise of any kind, one could believe no danger imminent. Our stewardess came and said she could learn nothing. Looking out into the companionway I saw heads appearing asking questions from half-closed doors. All sepulchrally still, no excitement. I sat down again. My friend was by this time dressed; still her daughter and I talked on, Margaret pretending to eat a sandwich. Her hand shook so that the bread kept parting company from the chicken. Then I saw she was frightened, and for the first time I was too, but why get dressed, as no one had given the slightest hint of any possible danger? An officer's cap passed the door. I asked: 'Is there an accident or danger of any kind? 'None, so far as I know', was his courteous answer, spoken quietly and most kindly. This same officer then entered a cabin a little distance down the companionway and, by this time distrustful of everything, I listened intently, and distinctly heard, 'We can keep the water out for a while.' Then, and not until then, did I realize the horror of an accident at sea. Now it was too late to dress; no time for a waist, but a coat and skirt were soon on; slippers were quicker than shoes; the stewardess put on our life-preservers, and we were just ready when Mr Roebling came to tell us he would take us to our friend's mother, who was waiting above ...

No laughing throng, but on either side [of the staircases] stand quietly, bravely, the stewards, all equipped with the white, ghostly life-preservers. Always the thing one tries not to see even crossing a ferry. Now only pale faces, each form strapped about with those white bars. So gruesome a scene. We passed on. The awful good-byes. The quiet look of hope in the brave men's eyes as the wives were put into the lifeboats. Nothing escaped one at this fearful moment. We left from the sun deck, seventy-five feet above the water. Mr Case and Mr Roebling, brave American men, saw us to the lifeboat, made no effort to save themselves, but stepped back on deck. Later they went to an honoured grave.
Our lifeboat, with thirty-six in it, began lowering to the sea. This was done amid the greatest confusion. Rough seamen all giving different orders. No officer aboard. As only one side of the ropes worked, the lifeboat at one time was in such a position that it seemed we must capsize in mid-air. At last the ropes worked together, and we drew nearer and nearer the black, oily water. The first touch of our lifeboat on that black sea came to me as a last good-bye to life, and so we put off - a tiny boat on a great sea - rowed away from what had been a safe home for five days.

The first wish on the part of all was to stay near the Titanic. We all felt so much safer near the ship. Surely such a vessel could not sink. I thought the danger must be exaggerated, and we could all be taken aboard again. But surely the outline of that great, good ship was growing less. The bow of the boat was getting black. Light after light was disappearing, and now those rough seamen put to their oars and we were told to hunt under seats, any place, anywhere, for a lantern, a light of any kind. Every place was empty. There was no water - no stimulant of any kind. Not a biscuit - nothing to keep us alive had we drifted long...

Sitting by me in the lifeboat were a mother and daughter. The mother had left a husband on the Titanic, and the daughter a father

and husband, and while we were near the other boats those two stricken women would call out a name and ask, 'Are you there?' 'No,'would come back the awful answer, but these brave women never lost courage, forgot their own sorrow, telling me to sit close to them to keep warm... The life-preservers helped to keep us warm, but the night was bitter cold, and it grew colder and colder, and just before dawn, the coldest, darkest hour of all, no help seemed possible...
...The stars slowly disappeared, and in their place came the faint pink glow of another day. Then I heard, 'A light, a ship.' I could not, would not, look while there was a bit of doubt, but kept my eyes away. All night long I had heard, 'A light!' Each time it proved to be one of our other lifeboats, someone lighting a piece of paper, anything they could find to burn, and now I could not believe. Someone found a newspaper; it was lighted and held up. Then I looked and saw a ship. A ship bright with lights; strong and steady she waited, and we were to be saved. A straw hat was offered it would burn longer. That same ship that had come to save us might run us down. But no; she is still. The two, the ship and the dawn, came together, a living painting."

References:
Elizabeth Shutes' account first appeared in: Gracie, Archibold, The Truth About the Titanic (1913), reprinted in: Foster, John Wilson (editor), The Titanic Reader (1999); Lord, Walter, A Night to Remember (1955); Davie, Michael, Titanic: The Death and Life of a Legend (1986).

How To Cite This Article:
"The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912," EyeWitness to History www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).

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Why was the Titanic built?

Titanic was purpose-built by White Star Shipping to be the pride of its fleet of commercial shipping liners to meet the demand of travel from Europe to the United States.

Many ships already offered passage across the Atlantic regularly. Still, White Star was determined to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of travellers by building the grandest liner of them all.

Where was Titanic Built?

Titanic construction occurred in Belfast, Ireland. This location was selected due to the close allegiance between Belfast shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line. An exclusive contract existed whereby White Star could only go to Harland's to have their ships built, and Harland and Wolff would not build rival ships.

A Complete Titanic TEACHING UNIT

The shipyard chairman from 1895 was William Pirrie, later Viscount Pirrie of Belfast. These two men concocted the idea for the Olympic class liners to compete with their rivals, Cunard.

In the early 1900's White Star were perceived as the poor cousins to its main rival in British based Cunard Lines had a dream of dominating the lucrative route between the well cultured and wealthy European ports and the opportunity and expansion of a burgeoning United States.

In 1907 Cunard's Lusitania ruled the Atlantic Ocean as the largest and fastest liner in the world which did not sit well with J. Bruce Ismay - head of White Star Lines who commissioned the building of not one but three ships which would all dwarf the Lusitania and her larger and unfinished sister ship the Mauretania.

"Titanic, name and thing, will stand as a monument and warning to human presumption."
The Bishop of Winchester, preaching in Southampton, 1912.

How long was Titanic?

Titanic was 882 feet (269 meters) long, she measured in at over 100 feet longer and over fifty percent heavier than their nearest rival. The R.M.S (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic and Olympic were to be built in Belfast, Ireland by the Harland, and Wolff shipping to offer passengers the most luxurious passage across the Atlantic. To learn more physical statistics and facts about RMS Titanic read our article here.

Drafting Titanic was done at a large scale

1911 Newspaper excerpt

Speed was deliberately compromised on Titanic to provide passengers with a smoother ride without its competitors' vibration caused by outdated propeller design and the desire to push them as fast as possible. Titanic was by no means slow and could complete Southampton's journey to New York in just under a week.

The Titanic would be the largest moving object man had ever built and a project so mammoth it would cause a revolution in shipbuilding that would continue for the next two centuries. The project was so ambitious there was no dry-dock in the world to build the Titanic, so Harland and Wolff had to convert its existing three dockyard layout to two to accommodate the massive dimensions of the two ships. The massive gantries required to lift materials into a position were again the world's largest.

Ismay and Pirrie were not content with just building the most giant ship on earth, demanding it also be the most luxurious. Titanic would deliver upon this promise providing unimaginable luxury to her socially elite wealthy passengers.

The pre (1900's) great war elite of and wealthy of society coveted luxury at any expense.

Thomas Andrews, an experienced shipwright, and head of Harland & Wolff design were given the task as the man to oversee the design and construction of Titanic.

To build a safe ship 882.5 feet (268.8 meters) long and 92.5 feet (28.2 meters) wide with a gross weight of nearly 45,000 tons (40,824 metric tons), some innovative shipbuilding techniques and materials were required.

The design submission for Olympic and Titanic was approved in Belfast on July 29, 1908, by Bruce Ismay and other White Star directors. Andrew's drawings show that Titanic incorporated several cutting-edge naval features, including the hull's division into a series of virtually watertight compartments. This innovation would lead to the media branding Titanic as "unsinkable." A tag that would haunt it forever.

"Control your Irish passions, Thomas. Your uncle here tells me you proposed 64 lifeboats and he had to pull your arm to get you down to 32. Now, I will remind you just as I reminded him these are my ships. And, according to our contract, I have final say on the design. I'll not have so many little boats, as you call them, cluttering up my decks and putting fear into my passengers."
J. Bruce Ismay, Director of the White Star Line

The dream of the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic.

The revolutionary "unsinkable" hull was divided up into 16 watertight compartments. The ship was built to stay afloat even if two of the middle compartments or four front compartments flooded. It cannot be overstated that this was an ingenious stroke of engineering and design fatally let down by poor budgeting and execution.

These watertight compartments offered potential passengers a genuine sense of security in travelling the high seas and were a brilliant marketing tool for White Star Lines to sell tickets. The Titanic was actively marketed as the world's first and last "Unsinkable Ship."

Titanic infamously had too few lifeboats to evacuate all those on board; the 20 lifeboats that she carried could only take 1,178 people, even though she had about 2,223 on board at the time of her sinking and could carry up to about 3,300 people. This was not of major concern in this era of highly unregulated transport, and shipping design were shipping companies made the rules up as they liked with little interference from government bodies.

Unfortunately, some elements of Thomas Andrew's original design ideas were altered or removed as Titanic went over the construction budget. This included removing some of the more extravagant luxury features such as extra swimming pools, more electric lifts, and amazingly completing its sixteen watertight hulls. This decision was obviously not well-publicized at the time.

Original Titanic Design Blueprints and Technical Drawings

Titanic's construction begins

Construction of the Titanic began on March 31, 1909, when designer Thomas Andrews laid the first keel plate in the Harland & Wolff Shipyards Belfast, Ireland. Titanic's sister ship The Olympic had begun some three months earlier, and the two ships were essentially constructed simultaneously by over 15,000 workers. This project would cost 8 employees their life working on such a mammoth and often dangerous construction site.

When Titanic was designed, no facilities existed to build or berth such a large ship. Harland & Wolff set about building the two new slipways required, demolishing three smaller ones to make room. They constructed two huge gantries, with moving cranes and lifts, called the Arrol gantries. They also purchased a massive 200-ton floating crane to lift the huge boilers and other mechanical items into place on the ships.

The Gantries

A gantry is a crane system that manoeuvres over the top of a ship in the dockyard carrying materials and workers to the heights and depths. Titanic's 220-foot Gantries were custom built to meet the needs of such a monstrous vessel.

The huge Olympic and Titanic structural silhouettes could be seen across most of Belfast City, shrouded by the even larger gantries in which they were constructed.

Titanic's Boilers:

To power, the largest movable structure ever made would require an enormous power source, and in the early 1900s that source was coal-powered steam. There were twenty-four double-ended Scotch class boilers and a further five single-ended boilers housed in six boiler rooms. The double-ended boilers measured 20 feet long, with a diameter of 15 feet 9 inches, and contained six coal-burning furnaces. The single-ended boilers were 11 feet 9 inches long with the same diameter. With all boilers firing the Titanic produced around 46,000 horsepower.

Titanic's Funnels:

Thomas Andrew's original Titanic design was so efficient that it was originally conceived with only three funnels to service the massive boilers some 150 feet below. White Star thought it a necessity a ship of such grandeur must possess four funnels. As a result, only three of the funnels were functional, and the fourth was to serve as an aesthetic element and provide fresh air to the engine rooms. The Funnels were constructed off-site and attached after the Titanic had left Dry-dock.

The Propellers (or Screws) of Titanic:

Titanic was equipped with a steam-powered triple screw propulsion system ensuring it moved across the ocean at a respectable pace of approximately 22 knots, but the blades were deliberately pitched at such an angle that the ship would not vibrate, discomfort, or distract the passengers from the more elegant points of Titanic's voyage on board when enjoying the smoking and dining rooms.

As a result, the Titanic ran slightly slower than it could have, but there were alternatives if you wanted sheer speed. If it was unrestricted elegance and dominance of the ocean, then the Titanic was the ticket you sought.

The Hull of Titanic:

Constructed from over 3 million rivets to connect the 1-inch-thick iron plates the hull had over 2000 portholes in it for the wealthier guests to view the waves rolling by. After the Titanic sinking inquiry some would blame the quality of the rivet installation and metalworking on the Titanic for succumbing to an iceberg so quickly.

Overall, both Titanic and Olympic's construction was relatively unspectacular compared to others, albeit larger and grander. Their sheer presence each day at the drydock drew attention from the media who lapped up any ounce of news on these two behemoths of the industrial era to build hype and ensure both ships would be entirely sold out for years to come.

The Hull would measure 882.9 ft in length and 92 feet wide requiring 59 feet of water to float unobstructed. (See the Facts and Statistics Section for all Titanic Data. )

On May 31, the 26,000 Ton hull of the Titanic still smelt of fresh black enamel as it descended down the slipway assisted by 25 tons grease and soap into a fitting basin for internal fitting and completion. Large crowds, press and dignitaries came to witness this auspicious event with some members of the audience doubting that such a mass of steel would actually float.

"Not even God himself could sink this ship."
White Star Employee

Titanic Engineering Facts Video

Was Titanic's steel to blame for her sinking?

Many combining factors led to the magnitude of Titanic's disaster at sea, including lack of lifeboats, flaws in the design of the ship and negligence of the crew. One factor that we can accurately evaluate with today's technology is the quality of steel that was used for the Titanic, and if any shortcuts were taken during construction that may have contributed to the disastrous event.

According to a study conducted in 1998 and published in 2008 by Dr. Phil Leighly, a professor emeritus of metallurgical engineering at the University of Minnesota Rochester, the steel used for the Titanic did in fact play a role in the sinking of the Titanic. Using a recovered piece of steel from the ship's hull and bulkhead that was larger than any others previously found, they were able to determine why the steel cracked on the hull.
The Composition
After doing a series of impact tests based on their steel sample, the team was able to determine that the steel used to build the ship was much more inferior to modern steel. About 10 times more brittle in fact compared to the steel used to make today's ships. Test results showed high concentrations of sulfur, oxygen, and phosphorous, and low concentrations of manganese, nitrogen, and silicon. This was mainly a result of producing the steel using open-health furnaces. Pieces of steel from the hull have also appeared almost shattered, with no evidence of bending or deformation.
The Temperature
The frigid waters in which the Titanic struck the iceberg most likely had a big impact on the time it took the Titanic to sink, which was about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The below-freezing temperature water made the steel abnormally brittle and less impact-resistant and contributed to the size of the hole and the rapid sinking of the ship. Passengers on the Titanic recalled hearing loud cracking noises coming from the ship's structure while it was sinking. Leighly noted that you would expect groaning instead of cracking sounds when steel breaks unless the steel is brittle.
The Design
Because steel welding was still in its infancy, the colossal steel plate structure of the Titanic needed to be held together by over three million iron and steel rivets, which were hammered into place by hand. However, there were many additional flaws in the design of the ship that had little to do with the quality of the steel used, including compartments that were meant to be watertight, and lack of welding technology.

The steel used for the Titanic was far inferior to the steel typically used today, and was much more brittle and not nearly as impact resistant. However, it was certainly the best steel that could be produced at the time. Leighly concluded that flaws in the design of the ship were a much bigger factor of the sinking of the Titanic than the actual steel used in production. - Thanks to Capital Steel for the information about Titanic's steel.

TITANIC'S TURBINE ROTOR

Titanic's three screw propulsion system

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Titanic Construction & Design Information | Ultimate Titanic

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Titanic construction occurred in Belfast, Ireland. This location was selected due to the close allegiance between Belfast shipbuilders, Harland and Wolff and

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Dr. Robert Ballard couldn't sleep. It was the early morning of September 1, 1985, and the 43-year-old oceanographer was lying in his bunk aboard the research vessel Knorr. Ballard had led the ship to the North Atlantic in search of the long-lost wreck of Titanic, but despite combing the seafloor for more than a week, his team's camera-outfitted robot had yet to find anything other than miles of sand and sediment. With only a few days left before the mission ended, he was beginning to worry the iconic "Ship of Dreams" might never be found.

The Discovery of the Titanic Wreck

As Ballard tried to distract himself with a book, the Knorr's cook appeared and said the on-duty watch team had called for him. Ballard pulled a jumpsuit over his pajamas and dashed to the ship's control van. When he arrived, his colleagues replayed what had just appeared on their robot's live video feed of the seafloor. The footage was dim and grainy, but the metal object it showed was unmistakable: one of Titanic's boilers. Ballard and his crew erupted with cheers and applause. Someone opened a bottle of champagne for a toast, but the mood suddenly darkened after they noticed that it was nearly 2:20 a.m.-the exact time the ocean liner had sunk and taken more than 1,500 passengers and crew to their deaths. The thought of it hit Ballard like a shock. "We were embarrassed we were celebrating," he later told 60 Minutes. "And all of a sudden we realized that we should not be dancing on someone's grave."

By the time of the crew's discovery, 73 years had passed since the Titanic left on its doomed maiden voyage to New York. After the liner sank, would-be treasure hunters had proposed using everything from electromagnets to nylon balloons to raise it from the depths. The only problem was that no one knew where it was. Titanic had continued to drift after last reporting its location in a distress call, leaving explorers with a search area that spanned hundreds of miles. Several missions had set off to look for its watery grave. All of them-including a 1977 expedition led by Ballard-had come home empty-handed.

Ballard's second search attempt had been in the works since the early 1980s, when he asked the U.S. Navy to fund the development of the Argo, an unmanned camera sled that could be towed behind a surface ship at depths of up to 20,000 feet. The Navy balked at footing the bill for a Titanic search, but they were interested in using Ballard's new robot to survey the wrecks of the U.S.S. Thresher and Scorpion, two nuclear submarines that had been lost in the Atlantic in the 1960s. The two parties eventually came to a compromise: if Ballard could successfully locate and map the two sunken subs, he could use whatever time he had left to look for Titanic.

A Top-Secret Expedition

Since the United States was still embroiled in the Cold War, the operation was kept top-secret. Ballard was given special instructions and put on active duty as a Naval officer, but as far as the rest of the world was concerned, he was simply an oceanographer on a search for Titanic. It wasn't until the 2000s that the mission's military agenda was fully declassified.

Ballard began his clandestine expedition by photographing Thresher in the summer of 1984. The following year, he and a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution returned to the Atlantic and tracked down the wreck of Scorpion off the coast of the Azores. Ballard knew the Navy mission would leave him with precious little time to seek out Titanic, so he asked the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, or IFREMER, to partner with him.

In July 1985, the French research vessel Le Suroit began scouting the area where Titanic was believed to have sunk. Using a technique known as "mowing the lawn," expedition leader Jean-Louis Michel towed a side-scan sonar system back and forth across the search zone in the hope of detecting large metal objects on the seafloor. Despite trawling the Atlantic for five weeks, the sonar failed to uncover any promising leads. The job of finding Titanic fell to Ballard and the crew of Knorr, who had just wrapped up their survey of Scorpion.

Ballard's military project left him with just 12 days to look for Titanic, but it had also given him an idea for a new search technique. While photographing Thresher and Scorpion, he'd noticed that the current had carried small bits of wreckage from the ships as they fell to the seafloor, creating a long chain of debris. With this in mind, he decided not to search for Titanic's hull. Instead, he would use Argo to scour the bottom for its much larger debris trail, which might stretch as far as a mile. Once he found it, he could use it to track down the ship itself.

The new approach allowed Ballard to expand the search area and move through it in a much wider pattern. Rather than "mowing the lawn" with sonar, he dragged Argo along the seafloor and monitored the live video feed from its onboard cameras. Seven people were needed to keep the submarine and Knorr in synch and analyze all the data, and the crew worked in shifts to keep the watch going around the clock. After several grueling days, they were rewarded with the sight of riveted hull plates and the telltale boiler. Argo continued stalking the debris trail, and the following morning, Titanic's bow came looming out of the inky depths.

Weather Forces Hasty Work Documenting the Wreck

For Ballard, the discovery came with mixed emotions. "It was one thing to have won-to have found the ship," he later wrote. "It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part. I could see the Titanic as she slipped nose first into the glassy water. Around me were the ghostly shapes of the lifeboats and the piercing shouts and screams of people freezing to death in the water." As many had long suspected, Titanic had broken in two as it sank to the bottom. Its bow sat upright and was still surprisingly intact. The more heavily damaged stern lay some 400 meters away.

Ballard and his crew scrambled to document the wreck with both Argo and Angus, another unmanned submarine designed to take still photographs. The shots revealed large sections of Titanic's hull and mast, including the crow's nest where the fatal iceberg had first been spotted. Several of the hatches had been torn off, and a missing skylight allowed a tantalizing glimpse down into where the ship's "grand staircase" had once been located. The large debris field included pristine china plates, pieces of furniture and even an unopened case of champagne. Sea scavengers had long since consumed any human remains. The only remnants of the victims were the many pairs of leather shoes still lying on the sandy bottom.

Just four days after they laid eyes on Titanic, stormy weather forced the crew to pack up their supplies and steer Knorr toward home. Dozens of scientists would later study the site more thoroughly, including Ballard, who returned the following summer to get a firsthand glimpse of the wreck from inside a manned submersible called Alvin.

In the meantime, photos of the momentous discovery were splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the globe, and an army of reporters and television cameras greeted Knorr when it docked in Massachusetts. Ballard, who would later become a fierce opponent of attempts to salvage artifacts from Titanic, used his first press conference to stress the need for the wreck to be treated with reverence.

"The Titanic lies now in 13,000 feet of water on a gently sloping alpine-like countryside overlooking a small canyon below," he said. "There is no light at this great depth and little life can be found. It is a quiet and peaceful place-and a fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest. Forever may it remain that way."

In February 2023, 80 minutes of never-before publicly seen underwater video of the underwater discovery was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The footage was captured by cameras in a three-person research submersible named Alvin and the remotely operated Jason Jr. in July 1986. Ballard and two pilots were inside Alvin as the team explored the long-lost ship.

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The Real Story Behind the Discovery of Titanic's Watery Grave | HISTORY

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In 1985, a joint American-French expedition tracked down one of the biggest prizes in maritime archeology: the 73-year-old wreck of the "unsinkable" ocean liner Titanic.

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The Survivors

My mother had a premonition from the very word 'GO.' She knew there was something to be afraid of and the only thing that she felt strongly about was that to say a ship was unsinkable was flying in the face of God. Those were her words."

- Eva Hart, - Titanic survivor

Being a survivor of the most famous maritime disaster of all time was in many ways a tough legacy for some to live with and in some cases, some simply couldn't, and later took their own life. The Titanic survivors carried the burden of explaining the tragedy to the world and justifying why their life was spared above others.

The great injustice of the story of survival on the Titanic was that the wealthy survived and the poor perished. Even to the point that many second and third-class women and children were sacrificed at the expense of notable and wealthy men.

"I can never understand why God would have spared a poor Finnish girl when all those rich people drowned."

- Anna Turja Lundi, Titanic survivor.

J. Bruce Ismay would survive the Titanic but was murdered by the press for his decision to place his life above those of passengers. This was exemplified at the highest manner by J. Bruce Ismay - The owner of Titanic and a man who should have accepted much responsibility for the lack of lifeboats and other cost-cutting measures that inevitably lead to the sinking of Titanic. Ismay managed to find a spot on a lifeboat and watched hundreds of paying passengers die on the morning of April 15, 1912.

J. Ismay Retired as planned from the International Mercantile Marine in June 1913. Still, the position of managing director of the White Star Lines that he hoped to retain was denied him, surviving the Titanic Disaster had made him far too unpopular with the public.

He spent his remaining years alternating between his homes in London and Ireland. Because Ismay had never had many close friends, and subsequently had few business contacts, it was mistakenly easy to assume that he had become a recluse, he did enjoy being kept informed of shipping news, but those around him were forbidden to speak of the Titanic. He died in 1937.

A Complete Titanic TEACHING UNIT

For a complete list of Titanic Survivors click here. For a great demographic breakdown of survivors of the Titanic click here.

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Madeline Astor, Aged 19, was the maiden of the richest man on board.
Madeline Astor

Madeline Astor

The maiden of multi-millionaire Jacob Astor, Madeline inherited from her husband the income from a five million dollar trust fund and the use of his home on Fifth Ave and in the Newport so long as she did not marry. In August 1912, she gave birth to a son with whom she was pregnant on the Titanic, and she named him after her husband, John Jacob Astor. She relinquished the Astor income and mansions during WWI to marry William K. Dick of New York. She had two more sons; she divorced Dick in Reno, Nevada, in 1933 to Marry Italian Prize Fighter Enzo Firemonte. Five Years later, this marriage also ended in divorce. She died in Palm Beach, Florida in 1940 at age 47.

"As I was put into the boat, he cried to me, 'It's all right, little girl. You go. I will stay.' As our boat shoved off he threw me a kiss, and that was the last I saw of him."

- Mrs Daniel Warner Marvin - On her honeymoon

The unsinkable Molly Brown

The 'Unsinkable' Molly Brown

Molly's life took a surprising turn after the sinking. Previously, her efforts to be accepted by Denver society had been unsuccessful, the Selflessness and heroism she had shown on the Titanic prompted her neighbours, for a short time, to open their doors to her.

In 1924 she was named a potential candidate for Congress. As time passed on, however, she grew increasingly eccentric. Her husband died without leaving a final will and testament, and she found herself at odds with her children over his money.

In 1932, at the age of 65, she died suddenly in New York City after a stroke. It was only after her death when she became the subject of the hit Broadway musical and film, "The unsinkable Molly Brown" That she gained some of the fame she would have so enjoyed in life.

"Not until the last five minutes did the awful realization come that the end was at hand. The lights became dim and went out, but we could see. Slowly, ever so slowly, the surface of the water seemed to come towards us. So gradual was it that even after I had adjusted the life jacket about my body it seemed a dream. Deck after deck was submerged. There was no lurching or grinding or crunching. The Titanic simply settled. I was far up on one of the top decks when I jumped. About me were others in the water. My bathrobe floated away, and it was icily cold. I struck out at once. I turned my head, and my first glance took in the people swarming on the Titanic's deck. Hundreds were standing there helpless to ward off approaching death. I saw Captain Smith on the bridge. My eyes seemingly clung to him. The deck from which I had leapt was immersed. The water had risen slowly, and was now to the floor of the bridge. Then it was to Captain Smith's waist. I saw him no more. He died a hero. The bows of the ship were far beneath the surface and to me only the four monster funnels and the two masts were now visible. It was all over in an instant. The Titanic's stern rose completely out of the water and went up 30, 40, 60 feet into the air. Then, with her body slanting at an angle of 45 degrees, slowly the Titanic slipped out of sight."

- Robert W. Daniel - Philadelphia Banker

This infographic visually represents the survival rates of each class and gender on Titanic.

"I was on the whale deck in the bow calling the watch that was to relieve when the ice first came aboard. The collision opened the seams below the water-line but did not even scratch the paint above the line. I know that because I was one of those who helped to make an examination over the side with a lantern. I went down into the engine-room at 12:40am. We even made coffee, so there was not much thought of danger. An hour later I was still working at the light engines. I heard the chief engineer tell one of his subordinates that number six bulkhead had given way. At that time things began to look bad... I was told to go up and see how things were, and made my way up a dummy funnel to the bridge deck. By that time all the boats had left the ship, yet everyone in the engine-room was at his post. I was near the captain and heard him say, 'Well boys, it's every man for himself now.'"

- Alfred White - a greaser in the engine-room

"When the Titanic struck the iceberg, I was in bed. However, for whatever reason I was awake and remember the jolt and cessation of motion. A steward knocked on the stateroom door and directed us to get dressed, put on life preservers and go to the boat deck, which we did... The steward as we passed was trying to arouse passengers who had locked themselves in for the night. Elevators were not running. We walked up to the boat deck. Al was calm and orderly. An officer was in charge. 'Women and children first,' he said, as he directed lifeboat number 11 to be filled. There were many tearful farewells. We and Uncle Jim said good-bye... The lowering of the lifeboat 70 feet to the sea was perilous. Davits, ropes, nothing worked properly, so that first one end of the lifeboat was tilted up and then far down. I think it was the only time I was scared. Lifeboats pulled some distance away from the sinking Titanic, afraid of what suction might do... As row by row of the porthole lights of the Titanic sank into the sea this was about all one could see. When the Titanic upended to sink, all was blacked out until the tons of machinery crashed to the bow... As this happened hundreds and hundreds of people were thrown into the sea. It isn't likely I shall ever forget the screams of these people as they perished in water said to be 28 degrees... At this point in my life I was being brought up as a typical British kid. You were not allowed to cry. You were a 'little man.' So as a cool kid I lay down in the bottom of the lifeboat and went to sleep. When I awoke it was broad daylight as we approached the Carpathia. Looking around over the gunwale it seemed to me like the Arctic. Icebergs of huge size ringed the horizon for 360 degrees."

- Marshall Drew Eight-year-old travelling with his Aunt and Uncle

Paul Chevre - French Sculptor & Titanic Survivor

"When our boat had rowed about half a mile from the vessel the spectacle was quite fairylike, The Titanic, which was fully illuminated, was stationary, like some fantastic piece of stage scenery. The night was clear and the sea smooth, but it was intensely cold. Presently the gigantic ship began to sink by the bows, and then those who had remained on board realized the horror of their situation. Suddenly the lights went out and an immense clamor filled the air in one supreme cry for help. Little by little the Titanic settled down, and for three hours cries of anguish were heard. As moments the cries of terror were lulled and we thought it was all over, but the next instant they were renewed in still keener accents. As for is we did nothing but row, row, row to escape from the death cries. In our little boat we were frozen with cold, having left the ship without overcoats or rugs. We shouted from time to time to attract attention, but obtained no reply. A German baron who was with us fired off all the cartridges in his revolver. This agonizing suspense lasted for many hours until at last the Carpathia appeared. We shouted 'Hurrah!' and all the boats scattered on the sea made towards her."

- Paul Chevre - French Sculpture

"As I dressed, I heard the order shouted, 'All the passengers on deck with life belts on.' We all walked up slowly with the life belts tied on over our clothing, but even then we presumed that this was merely a wise precaution the captain was taking. The ship was absolutely still, and except for the gentle, almost unnoticeable, tilt downwards, there were no visible signs of the approaching disaster. But, in a few moments, we saw the covers being lifted from the boats and the covers being lifted from the boats and the crews allotted to them standing by and uncoiling the ropes, which were to lower them. We then began to realize that it was a more serious matter than we had at first supposed. Presently we heard the order, 'All men stand back away from the boats. All ladies retire to the next deck below.' The men all stood away and waited in absolute silence, some leaning against the end railings of the deck, others pacing slowly up and down. The boats were level with the deck where all the women were collected, the women got in quietly, with the exception of some, who refused to leave their husbands. In some cases they were torn from their husbands and pushed into the boats, but in many instances they were allowed to remain, since there was no-one to insist that they should go."

- Lawrence Beesley - English Schoolmaster

"After sinking with the ship, it appeared to me as if I was propelled by some great force through the water. This might have been occasioned by explosions under the water, and I remembered fearful stories of people being boiled to death. Again and again I prayed for deliverance, although I felt sure that the end had come. I had the greatest difficulty in holding my breath until I came to the surface. I knew that once I inhaled, the water would suffocate me. When I got under water I struck out with all my strength for the surface. I got to air again after a time, which seemed to me to be unending. There was nothing in sight save the ocean, dotted with ice and strewn with large masses of wreckage. Dying men and women all about me were groaning and crying piteously. By moving from one piece of wreckage to another, at last I reached a cork raft. Soon the raft became so full that it seemed as if she would sink if more came on board her. The crew for self-preservation had therefore to refuse to permit any others to climb aboard. This was the most pathetic and horrible scene of all. The piteous cries of those around us still ring in my ears, and I will remember them to my dying day. 'Hold on to what you have, old boy!' we shouted to each man who tried to get on board. 'One more of you would sink us all!' Many of those whom we refused answered as they went to their death, 'Good luck - God bless you!'"

- Colonel Archibald Gracie Jumped from the top deck and was sucked down with her

"A number of us who were enjoyed the crisp air were promenading about the deck. Captain Smith was on the bridge when the first cry from the lookout came that there was an iceberg ahead. It may have been 30 feet high when I saw it. It was possibly 200 yards away and dead ahead. Captain Smith shouted some orders... A number of us promenaders rushed to the bow of the ship. When we saw he could no fail to hit it, we rushed to the stern. Then came a crash, and the passengers were panic-stricken."

- George Brayton - First Class Passenger

"I saw the way she was carrying herself and the quiet, determined manner in which she spoke, and I knew she was more of a man than most aboard, so I put her in command at the tiller. There was another woman in the boat who helped, and was every minute rowing. It was she who suggested we should sing, and we sang as we rowed, starting with 'Pull for the Shore.' We were still singing when we saw the lights of the Carpathia, and then we stopped singing and prayed."

- Seaman Thomas Jones praised the courage of the Countess of Rothes in lifeboat number eight.

"I was in my bunk when I felt a bump. One man said, "Hello! She has been struck." I went on deck and saw a great pile of ice on the well deck before the forecastle, but we all thought the ship would last some time, and we went back to our bunks. Then one of the firemen came running down and yelled, "All muster for the lifeboats." I ran on deck, and the Captain said, "All firemen keep down on the well deck. If a man comes up I'll shoot him." Then I saw the first lifeboat lowered. Thirteen people were on board, eleven men and two women. Three were millionaires one was Ismay [J. Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line; a survivor]. Then I ran up on to the hurricane deck and helped to throw one of the collapsible boats on to the lower deck. I saw an Italian woman holding two babies. I took one of them, and woman jump overboard with the baby, while I did the same the other. When I came to the surface the baby in my arms was dead. I saw the woman strike out in good style, but a boiler burst on the Titanic and started a big wave. When the woman saw that wave, she gave
up. Then, as the child was dead, I let it sink too.
I swam around for about half an hour, and was swimming on my back when the Titanic went down. I tried to get aboard a boat, but some chap hit me over the head with an oar. There were too many in her. I got around to the other side of the boat and climbed in."

- Harry Senior - Fireman

"We did not begin to understand the situation till we were perhaps a mile or more away from the Titanic. Then we could see the rows of lights along the decks begin to slant gradually upward from the bow. Very slowly the lines of light began to point downward at a greater and greater angle. The sinking was so slow that you could not
perceive the lights of the deck changing their position. The slant seemed to be greater about every quarter of an hour.That was the only difference.

In a couple of hours, though, she began to go down more rapidly. Then the fearful sight began. The people in the ship were just beginning to realize how great their danger was. When the forward part of the ship dropped suddenly at a faster rate, so that the upward slope became marked, there was a sudden rush of passengers on all the decks towards the stern. It was like a wave. We could see the great black mass of people in the steerage sweeping to the rear part of the boat and breaking through into the upper decks. At the distance of about a mile we could
distinguish everything through the night, which was perfectly clear. We could make out the increasing excitement on board the boat as the people, rushing to and fro, caused the deck lights to disappear and reappear as they passed in
front of them.

This panic went on, it seemed, for an hour. Then suddenly the ship seemed to shoot up out of the water and stand there perpendicularly. It seemed to us that it stood upright in the water for four full minutes.

Then it began to slide gently downwards. Its speed increased as it went down head first, so that the stern shot down with a rush. The lights continued to burn till it sank. We could see the people packed densely in the stern till it was gone
. . .
As the ship sank we could hear the screaming a mile away. Gradually it became fainter and fainter and died away. Some of the lifeboats that had room for more might have gone to their rescue, but it would have meant that those who were in the water would have swarmed aboard and sunk her. "

- Mrs D. H. Bishop - Eyewitness account from Lifeboat

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The History in Numbers

At 11.40pm on the night of 14 April 1912, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, the RMS Titanic struck the iceberg that would ultimately lead to the sinking of the ship less than 3 hours later.

At around 2.20am on the morning of 15 April, the Titanic disappeared beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, a disaster that resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 lives, almost two-thirds of the people on board.

Titanic Facts aims to tell the story in a comprehensive and clear way, and to help keep alive the memory of this great and tragic ship, and of her passengers and crew, survivors and victims.

Some Titanic Facts To Discover

There are more than 1,000 fascinating facts and figures to explore within Titanic Facts. Here are a few to get you started, with links straight to the section they are contained in.

The Ship

269.1 metres - the length of the Titanic (882 feet 9 inches).

825 tons - the amount of coal used per day.

10,000 - the approximate number of lamp bulbs used on the ship.

+ Read more about the Titanic Ship

Building The Titanic

$7,500,000 - the cost of building the RMS Titanic.

2 - the number of workers killed during the build.

20 - horses needed to transport the main anchor.

+ Read more about building The Titanic

Food On The Titanic

14,000 - the gallons of drinking water used every 24 hours.

40,000 - the number of fresh eggs in the ship's provisions.

1,000 - the number of bottles of wine taken aboard.

+ Read more about food on the Titanic

The Lifeboats

64 - the number of lifeboats the Titanic was equipped to carry.

20 - the number of lifeboats she was actually carrying.

28 - the number of people on board the first lifeboat, which had a capacity of 65 people.

+ Read more about the Titanic lifeboats

The Passengers

3,547 - the maximum number of people the Titanic could carry.

2,223 - the number of people aboard (passengers and crew).

13 - the number of honeymooning couples on the voyage.

+ Read more about the Titanic passengers

The Sinking

6 - the number of warnings of icebergs the Titanic received before the collision.

160 - the minutes it took the Titanic to sink after hitting the iceberg (2 hours and 40 minutes).

-2°C - the temperature of the sea water in the area where Titanic sank.

+ Read more about the sinking of the Titanic

The Survivors

31.6% - the total percentage of passengers and crew who survived.

53.4% - the percentage who could have survived, given the number of spaces available on the Titanic lifeboats.

2 - the number of dogs who survived (lapdogs taken aboard lifeboats by their owners).

+ Read more about the Titanic survivors

The Wreck

12,600 feet - the depth at which the wreck of the Titanic lays.

18 metres - the distance that the bow penetrated into the sea bed.

6,000 - the approximate number of artefacts that have been recovered from the wreck site.

+ Read more about the Titanic wreck

About The Site

There is a great deal of in-depth coverage of the Titanic story on the web, much of it excellent, some of it fanciful.

Titanic Facts has been designed to provide a quick and simple snapshot of some of the key facts and figures about the life and loss of this great ship. I hope you find something of value and interest here.

Important Note

All of the facts and figures displayed on Titanic Facts are correct to the best of my knowledge. However myths and misinformation about the Titanic abound, whilst some facts about the disaster are debated to this day.

Therefore, do please be aware that the accuracy of the information presented cannot be guaranteed. We recommend that you use this website as a starting point for your research. In using any of the information or images from this website you do so entirely at your discretion.

Accreditation

If you use any of the material that I have written for Titanic Facts on another website do please acknowledge this site. Please let me know, too! I'd love to see how you've adapted the material. Contact address below.

Error Corrections?

If you spot an entry that you believe requires correction do please let me know; I do not wish to perpetuate inaccuracies. You can contact me at 'hello [at] history in numbers /dot/ com'.

A History in Numbers website.

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Titanic Facts * 1,000+ Fascinating Facts and Figures

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A comprehensive reference of amazing information on the life and loss of the Titanic, in numbers: survivors and victims, the sinking, the wreck and more.

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Titanic by the Numbers: From Construction to Disaster to Discovery

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It took just two hours and 40 minutes for the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic to sink. The much-heralded ocean liner, on its glamorous five-day maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, headed out across the Atlantic on April 10, 1912, counting among its passengers the wealthy and prominent as well as poor immigrants making their way to America.