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Titanic- The Unsinkable
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Welcome to our special page on the Titanic. You probably already know a lot about the RMS Titanic, we're about to tell you a whole lot more.
Stats:
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| The magnificent staircase in the Titanic. |
| Captain |
Captain E. J. Smith |
| Passenger Accommodation |
1st class-1,034
2nd class-510
3rd class-1,022 |
| Service Speed |
21 knots |
| Gross Tonnage |
46,239 tons |
| Launch Date |
May 31, 1911 |
| Date of Demise |
April 14, 1912 at 11:40pm |
Design and Construction
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The RMS Titanic's bow
being constructed. |
The Titanic was built along with two other sister ships. The Britannic and the Olympic. The company that built these ships was the "White Star Line". It had recently moved its terminal for its express service from Liverpool to Southampton. The Titanic was to be a gigantic ship because it had extra cargo room saved by having smaller coal bunkers. During the construction of the ship the building area at the Queen Island shipyard located in Belfast Ireland, had to be literally made larger to accommodate the shear size of the Titanic and Olympic. Also, the amount workers that were in the shipyard doubled at the time the ships were being built to 11,300. In total construction costs of the two ships was £3 million. The Titanic was 882 ft 9in long, 92 ft 6 in wide, and boasted a staggering 11 decks.
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The RMS Titanic's stern
being constructed. |
The Titanic was built to be a "two compartment ship". Which means that the ship would stay afloat if two consecutive compartments were filled with water. The ship consisted of 16 watertight compartments and 15 transverse bulkheads. If an emergency occurred the captain could simply move a switch from the bridge which closed all of the water tight doors on the ship and make it virtually unsinkable. This would be a tough task since the Titanic was a gigantic 882 ft 9in long.
Safety
The builders of the Titanic believed that the watertight doors would ensure an unsinkable ship. The amount of lifeboats carried by a ship was regulated by a Board of Trade regulation made in 1894. The number of lifeboats carried was dependant on the tonnage of the vessel not the number of passengers on board. A ship over 10,000 tons was required to carry 16 lifeboats. White Star managed to exceed the regulations by including four collapsable lifeboats. The builders thought that if there were to be an accident the ship would stay afloat long enough for rescue boats to arrive.
The captain of the ship, Captain E. J. Smith, was recognized as one of the best captains around and was the highest paid on the North Atlantic. He held an Extra Master's Certificate in sailing one of these huge ships. Obviously the captain had a very good track record and was well respected in the ship community. The safety of the Titanic was never second guessed by either crew or passengers. That was a terrible mistake...
How could such a large and so called
"safe"
ship sink on its maiden voyage
???
Find out by checking out our special report entitled:
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