Titanic FAQs

 

 

 

 

 

A number of design styles from different periods in history were used in the interior of Titanic. “Shipbuilder” magazine said the styles and designs used in Titanic’s interior were “sufficiently diverse as to suit the likes and dislikes of any passenger.” Some first class suites even had working fireplaces.

The state rooms for first class passengers were comparable to the best hotels on land. Perhaps the most famous of the public rooms is the Cafe Parisian, an informal veranda cafe decorated in Colonial style with wicker furniture. The Grand Staircase with its domed ceiling and carved balustrades is probably the most recognisable interior feature of the ship. It extended over six floors.
 





Second and third class cabins and public rooms did not reach such high standards of opulence but cabins for steerage passengers would have looked much better than the accommodation that some of the emigrating passengers were used to in their own homes. Some of the cabins took just two people, others up to ten. The third class dining room and lounge were finished in white enamel and a smoking room was panelled in oak.

 

The Captain of Titanic was Edward J Smith, an experienced seafarer who had taken Titanic’s sister ship, Olympic across the Atlantic on dozens of occasions.

Titanic was to be his last voyage, after which he planned to retire. Smith, or EJ as he was known, was born in Hanley, Stoke on Trent in 1850. White Star line regulations stated that the captain must inspect the ship on a daily basis, so any suggestion that Captain Smith was having an easy ride on his last voyage cannot withstand scrutiny.

He would also receive daily reports from the Chief Engineer, purser, surgeon and chief steward. As would have been expected, Captain Smith went down with his ship. There are varying accounts of his last sightings. Some say he made his way calmly to Titanic’s bridge to await his fate; other accounts say that he was seen in the water and lifted a baby into a lifeboat.

 

This question about animals has prompted many shaggy dog story answers! Many first class passengers did have pet dogs on board and these were kept in kennels.

At some point during the sinking, the kennels were opened and it is claimed three dogs were re-united with their owners. Shortly after Titanic’s disaster, a story was published about a Newfoundland dog named Rigel which swam away from the sinking ship and was later rescued by Carpathia.

There has been no satisfactory verification of this story. Another myth to emerge was that passenger, Edith Russell had a pet pig on board Titanic. The pig, her lucky mascot was in fact a toy, not a real animal. Another story claims that a first class passenger, Robert William Daniel, opened the kennels to retrieve his bulldog.

Again, there is no factual account of this at the time. Breeds of dogs mentioned as travelling on Titanic include Airedale terriers, Pekingese, Pomeranians and Chows.

 

Titanic was built in Belfast between 1909 and 1912. It was the second of three huge liners operated by the White Star Line and was the largest ship in the world. Titanic left the English port of Southampton on 10th April 1912 and sailed to Cherbourg in France where she picked up more passengers.

Her final port of call was Queenstown in Ireland. On the night of 14th April she struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and was so badly damaged that she survived for less than three hours before she sank. Two thirds of Titanic’s passengers and crew were lost because there were not enough lifeboats to rescue everyone on board.

Survivors were picked up from the lifeboats by the Carpathia and taken to New York. Over 1500 people drowned.

 

Many differing items have been recovered from the wreck of Titanic over two miles down at the bottom of the Atlantic. Only durable items or items contained in things like suitcases have survived. There are still many leather items such as shoes and boots sitting on the ocean floor and they are a very poignant site.

Some of these items recovered from Titanic are now owned by private collectors but a large number are also owned by RMS Titanic Inc who stage exhibitions around the world to show these to the public. Some of the most surprising things to have survived in these conditions for a hundred years are top hats, spectacles, champagne bottles with their corks still in place, musical instruments and perfume samples which still retain their scent.

Dishes and cutlery marked with the White Star Line emblem have also been brought up from Titanic’s wreck.

 

English was the first most spoken language on the Titanic as many of the passengers were American or English. The second most spoken language was Swedish due to the large amount of Swedes onboard, who were mostly third class passengers.

 

The clothing on display on board Titanic depends on the huge divisions in class which existed in 1912. In the evenings, first class passengers would be dressed in their best for dinner.

Men wore tuxedo style suits with white bow ties with top hats and highly polished shoes. Ladies would use the formal dinners to show off their best dresses. One first class passenger is reported to have taken seventy dresses with her for a week long voyage.

The fashion of the day was for deeply coloured fabrics such as silk. Sleeves were puffed and edged with lace at the cuffs. Lace inlays were also popular. Down in third class, men wore britches and shirts and women wore long skirts, boots and high collared blouses. In the middle, second class passengers would have had a few different outfits to choose from but could only dream of the wardrobes available to first class passengers.

Read more about the Titanic Fashion

 

When Titanic struck the iceberg, First Officer Murdoch was on the bridge. When the lookouts signalled that there was an iceberg in their path, he ordered that the ship should make a sharp turn to the left.

The engines were also put into reverse. Titanic struck the iceberg with what was described as a “glancing blow’ along the starboard side. A 300 foot gash was created. Thomas Andrews, the ship’s designer assessed the damage below the waterline and reported that water was entering six compartments.

As the water level rose, it spilled over into the neighbouring compartment and it soon became clear that Titanic would be dragged down by the bow. It also began to lean towards the starboard. As the weight of water pulled her down, she was pulled apart. The bow section sank first. The stern stood up at 90 degrees to the surface of the water and then plunged downwards.

 

Titanic collided with the iceberg at about 11.40 on 14th April. She sank below the water at 2.20am the next morning. A ship which had taken three years to fully construct was sunk in less than three hours.

Within half an hour of the collision, Thomas Andrews, the chief naval architect, was dispatched to assess the extent of the damage and to work out how long the ship would take to sink. His calculation was, “an hour and a half, possibly two, not much longer.” At this stage, Captain Smith gave the order to uncover the lifeboats.

 

The ship was designed to take over two thousand three hundred passengers and nearly nine hundred crew. Just over seven hundred people survived. The lifeboats could have taken over a thousand, but many left without filling all the places available. The most senior crew member to survive the Titanic was second officer, Charles Lightoller. His testimonies to the enquiries into Titanic’s sinking provided the most accurate record of the ship’s last hours.

The custom of the day was for men to stand back and let women and children board the lifeboats first. Many first class gentlemen resigned themselves to their fate. If we break down the survivors in order of class, 60% of first class passengers survived, a total of around 200. In second class, 120 people were saved which amounts to 42% of all second class passengers.

In steerage there were 174 survivors which is equivalent to a quarter of all those on board and within the crew, 214 were rescued, amounting to 24% of the total number.
 

 

The last survivor of Titanic was a lady called Milvina Dean. Milvina was just nine weeks old when she was rescued from Titanic and was 97 when she died. Coincidentally she died on the 98th anniversary of Titanic’s launch. The last Titanic survivor was travelling to America with her mother, father and brother.

They were emigrating to Kansas City where her father was going to run a tobacconist’s shop. Milvina’s father, Bertram who was just 25 years old, was lost in Titanic’s sinking. He had felt the impact of the iceberg and had told his wife to go up on deck with the children.

After being brought to New York on Carpathia, the remaining Dean family returned to England. Her mother did not talk about the Titanic disaster until Milvina was 8 years old. Milvina lived in and around Southampton for most of her life and in her later years, she spent much of her time answering letters from Titanic fans around the world, signing autographs and receiving visitors.