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10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don’t Know

You may already know that the titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912 and sunk  just over two-and-a-half hours later, but do you know the following ten  facts about the Titanic?

  1. Canceled Lifeboat Drill
    Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on April 14, 1912 – the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled  the drill. Many believe that had the drill taken place, more lives  could have been saved.
  2. Only Seconds
    From the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg. In that time, First Officer Murdoch ordered “hard  a-starboard” (which turned the ship to port — left). He also ordered  the engine room to put the engines in reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasn’t quite enough.
  3. The Titanic’s Newspaper
    The Titanic seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper. TheAtlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the Titanic. The newspaper included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, society gossip, and the day’s menu.
  4. Lifeboats Not Full
    Not only were there not enough lifeboats to save everyone on board, most of the lifeboats that were launched off the Titanic were not filled to capacity. For instance, the first lifeboat to  launch, Lifeboat 7 from the starboard side) only carried 24 people,  despite having a capacity of 65 (two additional people later transferred  to Lifeboat 7 from Lifeboat 5). However, it was Lifeboat 1 that carried  the fewest people – only seven crew and five passengers (a total of 12  people) despite having a capacity for 40.
  5. Only Two Bathtubs
    Although most passengers had to share bathrooms (only the two promenade  suites in first class had private bathrooms), third class had it rough  with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers.
  6. Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue
    When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather than theCarpathia, was the closest ship; yet the Californian did not respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky (the distress flares sent up from the Titanic)  and woke up their captain to tell him about it. Unfortunately, the  captain issued no orders. Since the ship’s wireless operator had already  gone to bed, the Californian was unaware of any distress signals from the Titanic until the morning, but by then the Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors. Many people believe that if the Californian had responded to the Titanic’s pleas for help, many more lives could have been saved.
  7. Two Dogs Rescued
    With the order for women and children first into the lifeboats, plus the  knowledge that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board  the Titanic to be saved, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese.
  8. The Fourth Funnel
    In what is now an iconic image, the side view of the Titanic  clearly shows four cream and black funnels. While three of these  released the steam from the boilers, the fourth was just for show. The  designers thought the ship would look more impressive with four funnels  rather than three.
  9. A Royal Mail Ship
    The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship, a designation which meant the Titanic was officially responsible for delivering mail for the British postal service. On board theTitanic was a Sea Post Office with five mail clerks (two British and three  American). These mail clerks were responsible for the 3,423 sacks of  mail (seven million individual pieces of mail) on board the Titanic. Interestingly, although no mail has yet been recovered from the wreck of the Titanic,  if it were, the U.S. Postal Service would still try to deliver it (the  USPS because most of the mail was being sent to the U.S.).
  10. Corpses Recovered
    On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York, the Mackay-Bennett was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. On board the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett found 306 bodies, 116 of these were too badly damaged to take all the  way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found.  Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328  bodies were found, but 119 of these were badly damaged and thus were  buried at sea.

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