It’s been 103 years since the unsinkable beauty sank on April 15, 1912 and found a new home at the dark bottom of the Atlantic. There is something deeply fascinating and melancholic about Titanic that still gives us goose bumps every time we hear some new interesting fact related to the ship of dreams, even though we thought that we’ve learned everything we need to know from the 1997’s blockbuster movie by James Cameron.
As high as eleven store building and four city blocks long, R.M.S Titanic was one of the most massive and the most magnificent ships ever built. Its constructors and owners were way over confident claiming that the ship is unsinkable, so they paid the price with a tragic death of 1,517 women, men and children.
Even though we are sure that you know a lot about Titanic, here we found some interesting facts and unseen photos that you may find interesting.
The four iconic smokestacks were a matter of aesthetic, only three of them worked, the 4th was added just so the ship can look more impressive.
A Japanese passenger who survived the ship wreck, was deemed a coward when he returned to Japan, for not dying with the rest of the passengers.
There were a total of 8,000 cigars , 1,500 bottles of wine and 20,000 bottles of beer on board – all for the use of first-class passengers.
The last supper served to first-class passengers consisted of 11 courses. The first class passengers were given a music book with 352 songs, the Musicians had to know them all in case requests were made.
Out of total 885 crew on board only 23 were female.
Among those who died was John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), a powerful American financier, he was the richest person aboard. There is a legend that claims that after the ship hit the iceberg, he made a joke to the waiter: ” I asked for ice, but this is ridiculous.”
There were 9 dogs aboard, but only two were rescued- a Pekingese and Pomeranian.
Benjamin Guggenheim was another billionaire aboard, he was was the heir to a mining fortune, and member of one of New York’s most influential families. When he realized that the ship is going down he and his valet refused the rescue vests, commenting “We’ve dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.” They were last spotted on deck chairs drinking brandy and smoking cigars.
The Chief Baker on board survived the crash and freezing cold water because he drank so much alcohol that it kept his organs fortified for 2 hours until he was rescued.
There were enough life boats to rescue everyone on board, but they had not been filled the capacity. There had also been a life boat drill planned one day before the ship sank, that would educate passengers what to do in case of emergency, but it was canceled.
The creator of the iconic Hershey Chocolate Bars, had tickets for the “doomed ship” but canceled the reservation due to a business meeting.
Titanic is the only ocean liner that has been sunk by an iceberg.
The budget spent on the iconic movie “Titanic” by James Cameron was actually higher than the budget spent on building the actual ship in real life.
From a devastating number of 1517 victims, only 306 bodies were found. Titanic was discovered in 1985 and lies 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, around 12,500 feet below the surface.
Millvina Dean (1912-2009) was only a few months old when she boarded the Titanic with her family. She was the youngest survivor of the wreck.
Titanic received six warnings about icebergs during the voyage.
The collision with the iceberg could have been avoided if the iceberg had been spotted only 30 seconds earlier.
The “party breaker” Iceberg that sunk Titanic has been floating around since 1000 B.C. The iceberg was around 100 feet tall and came from a glacier in Greenland.
Titanic is the only ship in history to sank on a maiden voyage.
Sources: History, Viralnova, Telepgraph
