Twenty top Titanic facts
Titanic – the iconic vessel that came to a very tragic end. But how much do you know about this world-famous ship? It’s time to find out in our twenty top Titanic facts!
Titanic facts
1) Titanic was built by a company called White Star Line. She was completed and ready for the ocean on 31 March 1912, after three years in construction in Belfast, Ireland.
2) And she was no ordinary ship, Titanic was the most impressive and luxurious ship of her time! She was the biggest, too, measuring 28 metres wide, 53 metres tall and 269 metres long — that’s about the length of three football fields!
3) On 10 April 1912, Titanic set out on her maiden voyage (first big journey), taking people from Southampton, England, to New York, USA. On route, she called by Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland to pick up more passengers.
DID YOU KNOW?
Boats are traditionally referred to as ‘she’. Historians think this may be the result of links in our language to Ancient English. Or perhaps it dates back to the idea of goddesses protecting ships on dangerous journeys!
4) Titanic’s full title was RMS Titanic. Any idea what RMS means? It stands for ‘Royal Mail Steamer’. As well as passengers, the ship carried nearly 3,500 sacks of letters, packages and documents.
5) There were over 2,200 people on board Titanic, 900 of which were crew members. The passengers included holiday makers, business men and people hoping to start a new life in America.
6) Life on board Titanic depended on who you were and how much money you had…
First class: the wealthiest people travelled in first class, located at the top of the ship, and boy did they travel in style! They slept in private, spacious suites and enjoyed delicious food in an elaborate dining room. They had access to lots of facilities, like cafes, a swimming pool, squash courts, barber shop and a reading and writing room.
Second class: not too shabby, either, second class accommodation consisted of cabins with two or four beds and a sofa, storage facilities, a sink and a mirror. Second class passengers could also enjoy an outdoor promenade, relaxation room, library and dining room.
Third class: the third class facilities were much more basic, but they were still far better than those on other boats at that time. Located at the bottom of the ship, cabins slept up to ten people and each had a sink and mirror. There was also a dining room where food was served three times a day. But the big down side? All 700 third class passengers had to share two bathtubs!
7) For four days, Titanic made good progress across the Atlantic, powered by three coal-burning engines. But it was no easy job to keep her moving. Each day, the ship’s 175 ‘fire men’ shovelled 600 tonnes of coal into the furnaces — that’s the weight of 100 elephants!
8) Titanic was also known as the ‘Ship of Dreams’, and White Star Line claimed she was the safest ship of all time. To make sure she wouldn’t sink, her hull was made up of 16 separate sections. If two, or even three sections were damaged and water got in, the ship would still have time to sail to safety. So all good, right? Wrong…
9) Just before midnight on day five, in the freezing cold North Atlantic Ocean, an iceberg loomed out of the darkness. Too big to quickly change direction, Titanic scraped along the side of the ice, tearing holes in at least four sections of the hull. Uh oh…
10) The Captain of Titanic – Edward John Smith – and his crew knew that the collision meant disaster; Titanic would sink in just a few hours. Distress signals were sent out to nearby ships and passengers were ordered to get to the lifeboats, fast!
11) But there was one very big problem. Titanic only carried twenty lifeboats — only enough to hold around half of the people on board! What’s worse, the first lifeboats were launched half-empty, wasting precious spaces. In panic, many people jumped into the ocean to escape the sinking ship!
12) As Titanic sank, the bow (the front) went down first, causing the stern (the back) to rise out of the water and into the air. At around 2am, this tilt caused the ship to break in two, sending all those still on board into the freezing cold ocean…
13) In the -2°C waters, most passengers who went into the sea would have died from the cold within 15 minutes. Some managed to survive a little longer by treading water or clinging onto bits of floating wreckage.
14) The first ship to respond to Titanic’s distress signals was called the RMS Carpathia. But despite setting out immediately and travelling at top speed, she didn’t arrive until around 3.30am — over an hour after the Titanic had sunk.
15) On arrival at the disaster, the RMS Carpathia rescued those who had made it into the lifeboats. There were around 705 survivors in total, and all were transported safely to New York, USA.
16) But tragically, more than 1,500 people lost their lives on the Titanic, most never to be seen again. In the days following the wreckage, ships headed out to the disaster area and recovered 300 bodies from the water. These were either buried at sea or taken to Halifax in Canada (the nearest major port) to be identified.
17) Despite many attempts to find the wreck, Titanic remained hidden from the world for around 70 years. It wasn’t until 1985 that she was seen again — when oceanographer (a sea scientist) Dr Robert Ballard set out on a deep-sea mission in the Argo, a robot submarine. The team discovered Titanic on the seabed, nearly 600km off the coast of Canada.
18) Since then, there have been many expeditions to Titanic – and over 6,000 interesting items have been salvaged from the wreckage. These can be seen today in museums around the world and include jewellery, perfumes, plates, clothes, furniture and even lunch menus!
19) The longest living survivor from Titanic was Millvina Dean, who lived to be 97 years old. She was just a baby when she, her mother and brother made it into one of the lifeboats. Millvina lived to tell the tragic tale until 2009, when she passed away.
20) There have been lots of documentaries and movies made about Titanic. The first was a silent movie called Saved from the Titanic, made just one month after the disaster. The most popular today is the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, which became one of the highest-earning movies of all time!
Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Titanic primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!
Would you have survived Titanic?
So, now you know all about this incredible ship and its tragic tale. But here’s the big question: if you had been on board, would you have survived? It all depends on who you were…
– YOU were a woman or child: Women and children were allowed to board the lifeboats first. However, some men did get a place when the first few lifeboats didn’t fill up.
– YOU were rich: First-class passengers were lucky — they had cabins on the upper decks, closest to the lifeboats. Many poorer passengers, in ‘steerage’ class on the lower decks, didn’t reach the lifeboat deck in time.
– YOU obeyed orders: If you had got into a lifeboat as soon as the crew told you to, you would probably have survived. Remember that, next time you’re on a ship!
– YOU were brave: Many people were too scared to leave the big ship for the tiny lifeboats. Others stayed on board because they didn’t want to lose sight of their friends or family. To survive, you needed the courage to go for it.
– YOU were willing to push: In the final struggle for lifeboat places, those who pushed, won!
– YOU had stamina: Some survivors were plucked from the icy water after hanging onto bits of floating wreckage for more than half an hour. They had clung on to life!
Photos and Illustrations: Getty Images UK
What did you think of our twenty Titanic facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!
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COMMENTS1
Awesome
bob
wow
Destiny
I've learned a lot.
Hi
It told me a lot of things I didn't know.
Army man 126
that was sooooo cool!
Aleasha Brownly
Wow! this painting of the titanic is amazing! I wonder how the illistatour is now!
sophie
cool
annika
this is cool
annika
this is amazing
Roko
Mie
Interesting
Will
Good and interesting
Batool
Very interesting
Xavier
cool
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kid
good
morgan
epic dude
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pablo
i liked it . it was cool and interesting .
Chloe
Epic
hudson
its amazing
Shashwath
nice story!
christian
the book was really cool
Emmy
I learnt loads
Wow
I learnt loads!!!!
shark
I learnt loads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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its cool
westleylarsen
it is cool!
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Arissa
mastermincrafter202
Cool!
Fun book
Landon
Cool
Austin
Cool
Daniel Seo
Let’s take action!
the shark
cool
drake
cool
Madison
LOVE
Hayden Pfeil
can you do more cool titanic facts! plz
Ella
I love the rms titanic!!
Me
Interesting
This is intresting!
Turtle J
GREAT!
Commander wolffe
Epic!!!
Turtle J
GREAT!
fcps
the best
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luis
itv was sad
gianna
like the pinchers and games and videos
ROAN
COOL
unknown
interesting
unknown
good facts to work with
mietta
I'm really intresded now
Eve
Cool
ben
the best
R.s
I can’t wait for some more
Can’t Wait for more
Great
Sara
Hi my name is Sara and How am amazing
kaily
this is awesome MAKE MORE FACTS
this was awesome
I washed this last night this ray help me I bet this will even help me in school
alyssa
the titanic is so cool
Charlotte
I like the facts
Sad man
Very sad
holly
cool facts guys it really makes me remember about those people who cared about there familys .you are all awesome thank you guys bye
hannah
this was really interesting to read about i cant believe so many people died it must of been devestating!
Lovecats.co.uk
This really cool info and it helped with my homework
Abdiel
I hope some people did not die.
Cool girl
I love the titanic
buffy2005
its so sad that so many lives were lost I hope I would have survived it.
AwesomeGuy
Creepy And Sad ;(
SomeoneYouKnow
Coool
amazingsarahwaterice
amazing it really helped on my report
LILYLOL69
AWSOME
Hollywood_07
WOW
jimbob
cool wow i lovethe titanic i amone of thesurvivors
Savannah
OMG
HAZZA379
GOOD INFO
Carl2405
so sad:(:(:(:(:(
Kaniya
This is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo coolllllllll
Elliot Nash161
I love the TITANIC . Thank you for the facts.
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bvc
bnananna
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1234qye
great
Joe
Awesome
zingzang
if i was on the titanic i would absolutely follow these rules straight away
bjvjhcnb
yeah JACK 8, you like the titanic because it was an achent shipwreck
Marti
The titanic is awesome like this webpage
graydon
awesome facts
matttt
Awesome
BIGBADWOLFENDY
Hehe would have survived! :-)
BIGBADWOLFENDY
hehe i would have survived lol
Piggypower88
COOL AWESOME!!!!! I Love the Titanic and I find it very wonderful. But ever since I heard about it I was afraid of ships.
amf
thanks for the advice
Jes05
Wow!!!
JACK 8
I LOVE THE TITANIC
CHEDHLI
IT WAS INTERESTING
kokoko
COOL
Macmay
AWSOME
Jyo
Amazing.
awsomefactor
WIERD!
Lydia-E-M
Astonoshing facts!
GooseyRedFox
I think it is cool to learn about history! One of my ancestors could have been on the Titanic, and maybe survived!
llllpppppp
nice
john rachels 555
cool
jollier
lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jollier
lol
jshgaryiteiywukhdf
ha ha
kennidi
whats next
kennidi
they dont really know thats true
Rayzhang
I like how you told a few reason how you may survived
minecraftlover123
lol lol lol lol did you know that on the titanic there was a hot tub?
DanTD
AMAZING
anuj
nice and good
Sabrina Robert
Awesome. Amazome.
vincent
very good information cool but sad;(
Indians jones
Nice
Indians jones
Interesting
Indians jones
Interesting !
dylancoolclass4
idk and id care
dylancoolclass4
i would survive me just dont care jme
dylancoolclass4
titanic is my favourite movie
duckqueen
coooooooooooooooooooooool
frazzletoosh
cool but would I have survived if I was a chambermaid
kijofaoj
good cool well done!!!!
PONY
WOW BRAVE!!!!!!!
joe j
Lol It is cool
JSDJSJDSJAWSD
ha
arcadeSWFC
hi
marcoreus
a
Legendgamer53
Cool this is really good info thx
marcoreus
cool
arcadeSWFC
thank you for dis
marcoreus
asxdghk
marcoreus
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Nusrat
Sad.....
Lollypopikl
YES
LaylaHayder123
G O M
mikael
that was scary!!
monkey
I was going to cry by reading this. SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(
tiger
I think I would be scared because I would have fallen in to the sea and you never know what creature is below the thick ice
Diamond Star
LOL
Lovey
My 103 year old great grandmother was born the year the Titanic set sail! Coolness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tarika
pls put titanic in mag
Miley
Cool
Jose-chavez
Thx for info
rjwemyss10
this is a clever thing which not only does it tell you about the titanic but provides fun things that were saying would you survive and that kind of thing which is good for intertainment and a little bit of fun cause you must have some intertainment and some fun alot of the time
Elephants_are_cool
OMG so scary
Cadence Wilkins 08
hi love the TITANIC
Cadence Wilkins 08
very interesting It was awesome and very cool I made me mom let me make a report on it
Dakshi Saldi
Good
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Hi and LOL
skyelar
omgomgomgomgomgomgomg+
animaljanolauer19372038
Ong mifa I LUV AJ
Oe
Nice! I like it!
aaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
good website x
Alasdair
LOLOLOLOL! (LOL)
Nandor
If i was in titanic i would get a raft and sail out.But if there wasnt a raft i would jump for it and swim away! GOOD FACTS AND GAMES LOL PEOPLE
aasdfghjkl
wow unfair
poppy-panda
OMG
Orca
Really interesting and awesome!!!!!
Ciya
yeah, I would have probably have survived!
jik
hj
1297651634
Pretty cold over all but bad article
eliphant8457
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
eliphant8457
scary ng kids! plz can u make it a little less scaryeerr? LOLLLLZY!!!!!
A-28765
Thank you that really helped me with my H Work !!!!!!!!!!!!! XOXOXO
Kids Rock 1234
Cool facts about one of my favourite subjects in history
ems
thx for helping me with my homework Nat. Geo Kids!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
Will rocks 123@
Billy bop that was quite cool
BoomyCoomy
That was cool and rubbish
BethB
AMAZING! Inspiring! I LOVE IT!!! I LOVE NGkids!
gw
amazing
Sir
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL
abbs
this amazing. now i know alot a nd i can tell the teacher during literacy becuase where learnig about the titanic!
Rich21
the titanic is the best thing to learn about ,everyone else gets to learn about except me they are so lucky i wish I can about it
CoolMonkey6
Cool facts
Cormac06
Cool tip on boats. Ill tell my friends.
christana
I dont know what I wouldve done!
wilber351
cool! LOVED IT!
AmoDolphin123
All I can say is that this is an amazing website and helped me so much! I will tell everyone in my class about this website so as to my parents (of course!). Thank you who ever wrote this and made this site, I have nearly 15 magazines of ngkids however I never knew there was a website! Again thank you and please make more magazines. Thank you for reading. ;)
ICE
COOL
Miaf
wow this is AMAZING! Brilliant for homework thanks ngkidz! I also play animaljam great game!
Scott
Cool
nguy243
cool
nguy243
Ive wondered why the titanic was (almost) unsikable
Tony5678
Thanks NG KIds for posting this fantastic article and for the valuable life saving lessons.
Bexpeddie
That is so cool because my topic was once all about the Titanic!
Max100000
Thanks for the facts
Gryffindor
Cool
Ethanshop
Wow this is so interesting
Pandalover453
COOL article
Bobble
I think i would of lived so … YAY!!!!!!!! And also very interesting!
Mineey
It was very intresting
darwin
i might of survived
Frankenstien
WOW! I dont think I wouldve survived that. The millions of lives that were on that boat mustve been terrified.But if I was on that ship I wouldve defiantly jumped into a lifeboat.
Shiir360
I feel so sad that all those people died. You know, another reason that some people did not make it is because the Captain of the ship jumped in the lifeboats and the captain of a sinking ship is supposed to get of last, as goes the saying " The captain goes down with his ship".
Girlygirl23
Great
ollie13
TITANIC IS AMAZING!!!
Sruthelaya
It was sad that so many people died
ziggy
thats such a sad story
Iceman4406
Cool
K_KKLoe
this is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
animalkid
I wouldnt have survived, but very interesting!
pitchperfect
WOW
nosheen
really help with my homework thanks : ]
MNV20
I loved this!!!
anish6789
interesting
GeorgeT
This was amazing, just a few words made me want to read on!
snowlepord
amazing!!!!!!
amar
so amazing and so effective
KatnissEverdeen
I probably wouldnt have survived.
SpokOfMinecraft
Cool!!!!!!!
Mb1
I really enjoyed reading about the Titanic and its story. Its so tradgic, I hope I can watch the film - hopefully this will help me understand the story more! Thanks for choosing thes story NG KIDS. MB1
xXx_sweglord_xXx
I would grow wings and fly away
James-Johnston
I would survive lol
up
# cool cool
camolam
awesome wow!
oscar567
love it got a book about it
ollycooool
awesome!!!
Dave123
Cool
asension
great website
crawford
awsome lol from crawford
d123123148
cool
yixing
brrrriliant
THEjammer
i am a good pusher i would of shoved alottaking my mum and dad with me but still for the people who died i think like 255 people died which is a very sad moment
Didi
i have been on HMS St Albans and HMS Somerset and have sat in both the captains chairs in the bridge- the control room- and have seen the guns, and ect.
Didi
I am a sea cadet and i have just been on an naval acquaintance course at HMS Raleigh and i have learnt so many skills to actually be in the navy like damage control which is plugging holes and saving the ship from sinking- i actually did this in a training room- and i have also learnt sea survival like putting on life jackets, the correct way to jump in the sea if in emergency, and all about life boats from the past to the present. and so much more that doesnt have anything to do with this! :)
MeganCunning11
Awesome
Taryn
I feel pity for the people who died
huskylover
I might have survived and I love learning about it
jorabo
this was sooooo helpful!
Anastasia
I fort it was very good to learn
Rebecca Rush 10
I wouldnt have survived.NO WAY!!!!
Llllllll
LOL!!!
dolphin123456789
Hopefully I would have survived!
AIDYBABES
I would have survived- JUMP!
cooldude93
cool
Kopiop
Awesome facts! were really useful, thank you!
sophi
i would have survived
Mangos
We would have survived because were kids and we would have listened to the commands. :)
PurpleFuzzyAnimalLover
Wow... Even though Ive already done my gold swimming award, I dont think I couldve survived!
joj
this is interesting!
kaitlyn v Mhlanga
i wouldnt have survived
catrin
We are learning about this in school, love it!
catrin
We are learning about this, and we love it. Xxx
kamrul214
I am really interested in this text because it has facts and all sorts of stuff about what happened to the titanic.
Titanic
I think I would have survived
FlappyEared_Elephant
I think that I may have survived but I dont think I would be able to hold on to bits of wreckage for half an hour.
FlappyEared_Elephant
I read a book based on these events called My Story: Titanic. It was really good but a bit sad near the end.
Craftbattleduty
Why didnt they have life vests
kidderkat8
wow
Celese
this is really cool, check it out!
ash9551
i call first boat off!
Hendi
awesome
Steve wallder
Cool
Kris
Interesting :)
TheDarkLord
Awesome but I probably wouldnt survive
Cute puppy
Wow
Felicia *
Amazing! I love the pictures!
minecraftuser223
helped me with my project
rachael
cool facts
tiny2001
i think anything found of the titanic should be left were it lies and not to be touched because its a great peace of history so it should stay at the bottom of the ocean
EMC2
this is cool
FANTASTIC TITANIC:)
SUPER DUPER DUPER INTERESTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tabi
I wish I could experience the Titanic. It was so tragic that almost half the people on board died....... Of course Id like to be one of the lucky ones to survive!
MinecraftUserAJRB
I think the Titanic would of polluted the North Atlantic Ocean. Right? I am learning about the ocean. i have just read it all about the Titanic.
indianajoneskid007
amazing although it was not as good as your on-line game animal jam
OliviaGrace
YES! Well, I hope so.
Aimz
I just LOVE Titanic! Thanks for some new facts!!xx
Hanah
I thought any ship could sink ???
megan
I am on ship using a computer reading about this and now I a freaked out ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Madeleine a Clavin
Thank you
whizzerpop
In English, we are studying Titanic so we can write poems about them! Thanks to N.G.K, I can educate my classmates about it.Thank you N.G.K.!
oscar THE COOL
VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY INTERESTING
Violet
so intresting!!!!
lola
thank you have been a big help towards my homework and if it was not for you it would not be finished .I really appreciate this can you send me some pictures of the titanic and the rich people on board.:):):):):):):)
CUSTOMIZE YOUR AVATAR