[ ::: ♥Keep_Mailing♥ ::: ]™ Titanic History That You Did Not Learn About in the Movie...

Fascinating Titanic History That You Did Not Learn About in the Movie! RMS Titanic, known for being the largest ship at the time of its maiden voyage, gained notoriety for claiming to be unsinkable. As we all know, in one of the greatest tragedies of all time, the ship hit an iceberg and sank in less than three hours, laying to rest over 12,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. In 1997, the ship was featured in the renowned movie Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and that movie became the account that most people got their facts from. However, being a film — limited both by time and its need to follow only one or two stories — it couldn't possibly convey all of the fascinating facts and stories from that fateful night in 1912. If you've only ever watched the movie, you might be missing out on some of the fascinating and truly titanic history of the ship. Let us know if there are any facts that surprise you, or if you know an interesting one that you don't see here. And don't forget to SHARE this with your history-buff friends! 1. She Was Called 'Titanic' for a Reason RMS Titanic was the biggest passenger vessel in the world when it was unveiled in 1912. At 882 feet in length, 175 feet in height, and 46,328 tons in weight, there was simply nothing like it. 2. It Could Have Been Even Worse The sinking of Titanic was one of the greatest tragedies in modern history, with only 710 survivors out of the 2,224 on board. The tragedy could have been much greater, however, as Titanic was well under capacity for her maiden voyage: Her maximum capacity was 3,327. 3. Third Class Died First Many of the passengers on the ship were third-class families, looking to start new lives in America. These passengers' quarters were towards the bottom of the ship, and were among the first to be flooded. There were gates in the stairwells that were locked to keep third class separate from the others. Because the stewards didn't have time to open all of the gates amidst the chaos, many of these passengers became trapped below decks and drowned. 4. Ticket Prices Were Unthinkably High As a luxury passenger vessel, the ticket price for Titanic was high. First-class tickets ranged from $30 to $4,350 ($775 to $112,000 today). Second-class tickets cost between $12 and $60 ($300-$1,500 today), and third-class tickets were between $8 and $40 ($200-$1,100 today). 5. The Disaster Was Predicted Fourteen years before Titanic's maiden voyage, author Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility, which was about the largest ship in the world meeting disaster. The ship in the fictional story was called the Titan. Its measurements were nearly identical to Titanic, as were the speeds they were going when they met disaster. Also, both struck an iceberg on the starboard side. They also both sank in April, at the exact same location, with as few lifeboats as the law allowed. Though people credited him with clairvoyance, Robertson claimed that he simply had an extensive knowledge of ships and sailing. 6. RMS Stands for Something Odd At the time of Titanic's voyage, all British ships carried the letters RMS, which stood for Royal Mail Ship. The term dates back to 1840, when only the fastest and most reliable ships were contracted by the British government to carry mail. The RMS prefix came to be known as a sign of distinction and quality. 7. The Crew Was Dutiful to a Fault There were 908 crew members on board Titanic. A higher percentage of the crew members died than any group aside from second- and third-class men. Many of them were lost as the boiler rooms flooded in the initial impact; others were killed trying to save passengers from below decks. All five postmen died trying to save the mail they had been charged to protect. 8. Many of the Men Knew They Would Not Survive John Jacob Astor IV was the wealthiest passenger on board. He had an estimated net worth of $85 million. (That's approximately $2 billion today.) He was traveling with his pregnant wife, who he helped load onto a lifeboat through a side window. He said to her: "The sea is calm. You'll be all right. You're in good hands. I'll meet you in the morning." Those were his last words to her. He died when the ship sank. 9. Many More Almost Went Down Many famous people purchased tickets for the journey but did not actually sail. These included Hershey's Chocolate founder Milton S. Hershey; pioneering inventor Guglielmo Marconi; J.P. Morgan, the American banking and steel magnate; and Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in America.   10. The Ship Ran on Coal Fuel Titanic needed over 600 tons of coal per day to keep the enormous engines powered, so it left Southampton with over 6,000 tons of coal. That coal was shoveled into large boilers that had three furnaces. The employees, called firemen, shoveled coal into the furnaces in extremely hot and dirty conditions. Many of these men were among the first to die, as the rooms they worked in flooded and watertight doors automatically sealed in an attempt to keep the rest of the ship from flooding.   11. Titanic Had Four Stacks Titanic had four large funnels, also known as stacks. The engines of the ship ventilated the smoke through these funnels. Three of them worked as smoke stacks, and one as an air vent. When the boiler rooms began to take on water, there was a huge worry that the cold seawater hitting the warm steam stored in the funnels would cause them to explode. In an attempt to prevent this, the firemen and engineers had to quickly vent as much steam as possible from the stacks.   12. Many of the Crew Members Were Not Sailors Waiters, waitresses, and maids were called stewards on Titanic. Out of the 421 stewards on the ship, only 60 survived, and 48 of them were women. Pictured above is steward Thomas Whiteley, whose leg was broken by a piece of falling debris as he boarded a lifeboat. Another stewardess, Violet Jessop, had been on Titanic's sister ship, the RMS Olympic, when she collided with a British warship the year before. She survived that, the Titanic disaster, and the sinking of their other sister ship, the Britannic, four years later. She became known as "Miss Unsinkable."   13. Titanic's Eateries On the B deck of the ship, à la Carte Restaurant was for first-class passengers only. Between this, the other café on board, and the regular dining hall, the first-class passengers had plenty of interesting meal options while on board. À la Carte was owned by an Italian businessman named Luigi Gatti, who died on Titanic. Of the restaurant's full staff of 66 people, only one male clerk and two female cashiers survived.   14. She Was Modeled After the Ritz Hotel Rumor has it that Titanic's luxurious interior was inspired by the world-renowned Ritz Hotel in London. It featured a grand staircase, squash courts, a swimming pool, and a state-of-the art gym. There were also several lounges, reading rooms, and smoking rooms. It was designed to be the absolute height of luxury.   15. The Captain Did Not Make the Tough Call When First Officer William McMaster Murdoch saw the iceberg, he commanded that the ship turn immediately, but unfortunately, it was too late. Due to the massive size of the boat — and the fact that he had two of the propellors turned off so the ship could attempt to reverse — it didn't turn around in time to avoid the collision.   16. The Captain Was One of the Best Edward J. Smith, the captain of Titanic, had had a long and successful career with the White Star Line, having been transferred from Titanic's sister ship, the RMS Olympic, especially for this maiden voyage. His last words to the crew were: "Well boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourself." He was planning on retiring after the voyage.   17. There Were Several Warnings of Ice From Other Ships Titanic was warned about floating sea ice several times throughout the day leading up to the disaster. Several ships had reported "field and pack ice," and had passed the messages on to Titanic. But because the radio operators had been dealing with a backlog of passenger messages from the previous day, only two of the six received made it to the bridge. Just nine minutes before the collision, the SS Californian had signaled that it had halted for the night in a field of ice. Tragically, radio operator Jack Phillips cut them off and signaled back that he was busy.   18. There Were No Binoculars in the Crow's Nest Due to a mix-up at the Southampton port, there were no binoculars in the crow's nest. This didn't matter much, however, given how dark of a night it was. Though it was clear, there was no moon, and the water was incredibly smooth and calm, making it impossible to distinguish whether waves were washing up against obstacles ahead.   19. There Were Only Seconds Until Impact The iceberg was only spotted about a minute before Titanic hit it. With the time it took to relay the message, officers at the bridge had only about 30 seconds to decide what to do.   20. They Had Already Sold Tickets for the Return Voyage Before Titanic's journey across the Atlantic began, she docked in two different boarding spots: Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland. She was supposed to make a stop in Manhattan to allow first- and second-class passengers to disembark, and then continue to Ellis Island so third-class passengers could go through immigration. Titanic had a return trip scheduled to leave New York on April 20th, and several more scheduled through the year, up to December 28.   21. There Weren't Enough Rafts for Everyone Many lives could have been saved if life rafts had been taken more seriously. To begin with, there were only 20 rafts, only enough to accommodate about a third of the ship's capacity. She had room for 64, but the White Star Line wanted uninterrupted views of the ocean, and rafts at the time were only meant to ferry passengers from one ship to a rescuing ship. A situation where the ship sank in just under three hours was unimaginable.   The crew was also not properly trained with the boats. They had only run one drill, and even then, most of the crew did not know their intended positions. Many have said that even if the ship had all 64 boats, it's doubtful that they would have all been successfully launched because of the lack of training.   22. A Record-Setting Sinking Once Titanic hit the iceberg, it took 2 hours and 40 minutes for the entire ship to sink. Ships in the past that had met that same fate took closer to 12 hours to fully submerge. If Titanic had taken that long, help would have arrived in plenty of time, as the Carpathia arrived on the scene at around 4 a.m.   23. The Iceberg Stayed Afloat Nearby The day after Titanic sank, a steward on another ship took an ominous photo of a large iceberg. This photo, showing the clear black mark on the side of the berg, served as a chilling reminder of what happened the day before. 24. The Orchestra Played Happy Tunes As seen in the movie, the orchestra played music during the sinking. They were trying their hardest to console the passengers. Most of the time they weren't playing sad, mournful music: This would be seen as a bad omen and would only create more panic. Instead, they played ragtime and upbeat dance music. Only in the end, when doom was certain, did they begin to play hymns at the request of stranded passengers.   25. Many Were Never Found Eight ships were used to search for and collect dead bodies from the Atlantic. Many of the bodies were unidentifiable, and received burials at sea. Some were not found until a month later, as was the case with the bodies left floating in collapsible boat A, which were found by the RMS Oceanic. Only one-third of the bodies were ever recovered.

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