The RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by British

shipping company White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolf
shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. At the time of her construction, she
was the largest passenger steamship in the world.
Shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912, four days into the ship's maiden
voyage, Titanic hit an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later,
early on 15 April 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 of the
2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime
disasters in history. The high casualty rate was due in part to the fact that,
although complying with the regulations of the time, the ship did not carry
enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. The ship had a total lifeboat
capacity of 1,178 people, although her maximum capacity was 3,547. A
disproportionate number of men died due to the women-and-children-first
protocol that was followed.
The Titanic used some of the most advanced technology available at the
time and was popularly believed to have been described as
"unsinkable."[6] It was a great shock to many that, despite the extensive
safety features and experienced crew, the Titanic sank. The frenzy on the
part of the media about Titanic's famous victims, the legends about the
sinking, the resulting changes to maritime law, and the discovery of the
wreck have contributed to the continuing interest Construction
The Titanic was a White Star Line ocean liner, built at the Harland and
Wolf shipyard in Belfast, and designed to compete with the rival Cunard
Line's Lusitania and Mauretania. The Titanic, along with her Olympic-class
sisters, the Olympic and the soon-to-be-built Britannic (which was to be
called Gigantic at first), were intended to be the largest, most luxurious
ships ever to operate. The designers were Lord William Pirrie,[7] a director
of both Harland and Wolf and White Star, naval architect Thomas
Andrews, Harland and Wolf's construction manager and head of their
design department,[8] and Alexander Carlisle, the shipyard's chief
draughtsman and general manager.[9] Carlisle's role in this project was the
design of the superstructure of these ships, particularly the
superstructures' streamlined joining to the hulls[citation needed] as well as the
implementation of an efficient lifeboat davit design. Carlisle would leave
the project in 1910, before the ships were launched, when he became a
shareholder in Welin Davit & Engineering Company Ltd, the firm making
the davits.[10]
Construction of RMS Titanic, funded by the American J.P. Morgan and his
International Mercantile Marine Co., began on 31 March, 1909. Titanic's
hull was launched on 31 May 1911, and her outfitting was completed by
31 March the following year. She was 882 feet 9 inches (269.1 m) long and
92 feet 0 inches (28.0 m) wide,[3] with a gross register tonnage of 46,328

long tons and a height from the water line to the boat deck of 59 feet
(18 m). She was equipped with two reciprocating four-cylinder, tripleexpansion steam engines and one low-pressure Parsons turbine, which
powered three propellers. There were 29 boilers fired by 159 coal burning
furnaces that made possible a top speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).
Only three of the four 62 feet (19 m) funnels were functional: the fourth,
which served only for ventilation purposes, was added to make the ship
look more impressive. The ship could carry a total of 3,547 passengers
and crew.
Features
Titanic surpassed all her rivals in luxury and opulence. She ofered an onboard swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, a
Verandah Cafe and libraries in both the first and second class.[11] Firstclass common rooms were adorned with ornate wood panelling, expensive
furniture and other decorations. The third class general room had pine
panelling and sturdy teak furniture.[12] There were also barber shops in
both the first and second class. In addition, the Caf Parisien ofered
cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with
trellis decorations.[13] The ship incorporated technologically advanced
features for the period. She had three electric elevators in first class and
one in second class. She had also an extensive electrical subsystem with
steam-powered generators and ship-wide wiring feeding electric lights,
two Marconi radios, including a powerful 1,500-watt set manned by two
operators working in shifts, allowing constant contact and the
transmission of many passenger messages.[14] First-class passengers paid
a hefty fee for such amenities. The most expensive one-way trans-Atlantic
passage was $4,350 (which is more than $95,860 in 2008 dollars). [15][16]in,
and notoriety of, the Titanic.
The vessel began her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, bound
for New York City, New York, on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, with Captain
Edward J. Smith in command. As the Titanic left her berth, her wake
caused the liner New York, which was docked nearby, to break away from
her moorings, whereupon she was drawn dangerously close (about four
feet) to the Titanic before a tugboat towed the New York away.[25] The
incident delayed departure for one hour[citation needed]. After crossing the
English Channel, the Titanic stopped at Cherbourg, France, to board
additional passengers and stopped again the next day at Queenstown
(known today as Cobh), Ireland. As harbour facilities at Queenstown were
inadequate for a ship of her size, Titanic had to anchor of-shore, with
small boats, known as tenders, ferrying the embarking passengers out to
her. When she finally set out for New York, there were 2,240 people
aboard.
On the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912, the temperature had dropped to
near freezing and the ocean was calm. The moon was not visible and the
sky was clear. Captain Smith, in response to iceberg warnings received via

wireless over the preceding few days, altered the Titanic's course slightly
to the south. That Sunday at 13:45,[a] a message from the steamer
Amerika warned that large icebergs lay in the Titanic's path, but as Jack
Phillips and Harold Bride, the Marconi wireless radio operators, were
employed by Marconi [30] and paid to relay messages to and from the
passengers,[31] they were not focused on relaying such "non-essential" ice
messages to the bridge.[32] Later that evening, another report of numerous
large icebergs, this time from the Mesaba, also failed to reach the bridge.
At 23:40, while sailing about 400 miles south of the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland, lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large
iceberg directly ahead of the ship. Fleet sounded the ship's bell three
times and telephoned the bridge exclaiming, "Iceberg, right ahead!". First
Officer Murdoch gave the order "hard-a-starboard", using the traditional
tiller order for an abrupt turn to port (left), and adjusted the engines (he
either ordered through the telegraph for "full reverse" or "stop" on the
engines, survivor testimony on this conflicts[33][34][35]). The iceberg brushed
the ship's starboard side (right side), buckling the hull in several places
and popping out rivets below the waterline over a length of 299 feet (90
m). As seawater filled the forward compartments, the watertight doors
shut. However, while the ship could stay afloat with four flooded
compartments, five were filling with water. The five water-filled
compartments weighed down the ship so that the tops of the forward
watertight bulkheads fell below the ship's waterline, allowing water to
pour into additional compartments. Captain Smith, alerted by the jolt of
the impact, arrived on the bridge and ordered a full stop. Shortly after
midnight on 15 April, following an inspection by the ship's officers and
Thomas Andrews, the lifeboats were ordered to be readied and a distress
call was sent out.
Of a total of 2,223 people aboard the Titanic only 706 survived the
disaster and 1,517 perished.[45] The majority of deaths were caused by
hypothermia in the 28 F (2 C) water.[46] At this water temperature,
death could be expected in less than 15 minutes[47].
Men and members of the 2nd and 3rd class were less likely to survive. Of
male passengers in second class, 92 percent perished. Less than half of
third-class passengers survived.

Category

Number
aboard

Number of
survivors

Percentage
survived

Number lost

Percentage
lost

First class

329

199

60.5 %

130

39.5 %

Second class

285

119

41.7 %

166

58.3 %

Third class

710

174

24.5 %

536

75.5 %

Crew

899

214

23.8 %

685

76.2 %

Total

2,223

706

31.8 %

1,517

68.2 %