1) The Titanic was built by a company called the White Star Line. It took three years to build in Belfast, in what is now Northern Ireland, and was ready for the ocean in 1912.
2) It was no ordinary ship – the Titanic was the most impressive and luxurious ship of its time! It was also the biggest: 28 meters wide, 53 meters tall and 269 meters long – about the length of three football fields!
3) In 1912, the Titanic set off on its maiden voyage – its very first big trip – carrying people from England to New York, USA. Along the way it stopped in France and Ireland to pick up more passengers.
4) The Titanic’s full name was “RMS Titanic.” RMS stands for “Royal Mail Ship.” Besides passengers, it carried almost 3,500 sacks of letters, parcels and documents.
5) The ship was like a floating palace, with a swimming pool, a gym, fancy restaurants and grand staircases.
6) About 2,200 people were on board – passengers and crew together.
7) For four days, the Titanic sailed smoothly across the Atlantic Ocean, powered by huge coal-fired engines. But keeping it moving was hard work! Every day, about 175 “firemen” shoveled 600 tons of coal into the furnaces – about the weight of 100 elephants!
8) The Titanic was called the “ship of dreams,” and many people believed it was the safest ship ever. To keep it from sinking, its hull was divided into 16 separate sections. If two or even three sections were damaged and filled with water, the ship could still float to safety. So everything was fine, right? Not quite.
9) Just before midnight on the fifth day, in the icy North Atlantic, an iceberg loomed out of the darkness. The Titanic was too big to turn quickly. It scraped along the side of the iceberg, which ripped open at least four sections of the hull.
10) The captain and crew knew the collision meant disaster – the Titanic would sink within a few hours. Distress signals were sent to nearby ships, and passengers were told to get to the lifeboats, fast!
11) There was one very big problem. The Titanic carried only twenty lifeboats – enough for about half the people on board! Even worse, the first lifeboats were launched half empty, wasting precious space. In the panic, many people jumped into the sea to escape the sinking ship!
12) As the Titanic sank, the bow (the front) went down first, lifting the stern (the back) out of the water and into the air. At around 2:00 a.m., the strain broke the ship in two, sending everyone still on deck into the freezing ocean…
13) The water was only about two degrees Celsius. Most people who ended up in the sea couldn’t survive the cold for more than about 15 minutes, even if they could swim. Some lasted a bit longer by treading water or clinging to floating wreckage.
14) The first ship to answer the Titanic’s distress signals was the RMS Carpathia. It set off right away at top speed, but it didn’t arrive until around 3:30 a.m. – more than an hour after the Titanic sank.
15) When the Carpathia reached the scene, its crew rescued the people in the lifeboats. In total there were about 705 survivors, and all of them were taken safely to New York.
16) Sadly, more than 1,500 people lost their lives in the Titanic disaster. In the days afterward, ships went to the area to recover them. Many were brought to Halifax in Canada, the nearest large port.
17) Despite many searches, the wreck of the Titanic stayed hidden for more than 70 years. It was finally found in 1985, when an ocean scientist led a deep-sea mission using a robotic underwater camera. The team discovered the Titanic on the seabed, about 600 km off the coast of Canada.
18) Since then, there have been many expeditions to the Titanic – and more than 5,000 fascinating objects have been recovered from the wreck. You can see them today in museums around the world, including jewelry, perfume bottles, plates, clothes, furniture and even lunch menus!
19) The last living Titanic survivor was only a baby when she, her mother and her brother were put into one of the lifeboats. She lived to the age of 97 and kept telling the story of the Titanic until she passed away in 2009.
20) People from many different backgrounds traveled on the Titanic – wealthy travelers in first class, and families in third class hoping to start a new life in America. One elderly couple became famous for their courage and love: they refused to take places in a lifeboat so that others could be saved, and chose to stay together.
Would you have survived the Titanic?
So now you know all about this amazing ship and its tragic story. But here’s the big question: if you’d been on board, would you have survived? It all depends on who you were…
👶) You were a woman or a child: Women and children were allowed into the lifeboats first. Still, some men did get a place when the first lifeboats weren’t full.
💰) You were rich: First-class passengers were lucky – their cabins were on the upper decks, closest to the lifeboats. Many poorer passengers in third class, on the lower decks, didn’t make it up to the lifeboats in time.
🛶) You followed orders: If you got into a lifeboat as soon as the crew told you to, you’d probably have survived. Remember that next time you’re on a ship!
💪) You were brave: Many people were too scared to leave the huge ship for the tiny lifeboats. Others stayed on board because they didn’t want to leave their friends or family. To survive, you needed the courage to go for it.
🪜) You had staying power: Some survivors were pulled from the icy water after clinging to floating wreckage for more than half an hour. They held on for dear life!
