Today, April 15th, marks 109 years since the RMS Titanic sunk into the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in the loss of 1,503 souls.

She had set out on her maiden voyage just four days prior, a proud beauty with the tagline: Unsinkable Ship.

A stately, elegant vessel modeled after the glorious Ritz Hotel, she offered first-thru-third class accommodations to her paying passengers.

First-class passengers enjoyed such perks as:

• Parisian cafés
• Tea gardens
• Heated swimming pools
• Tennis
• Library
• They were even given a 352 song Music Book that contained the songs expected to be played on the journey.

The passengers in third-class, faired a bit differently, but they were still well fed.

• There were about 700 passengers in third-class. Between them, they had two bathrooms available to them.

The Titanic sunk on Monday, April 15, 1912 at roughly 2:20a.m.

It took the RMS Titanic 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink beneath the dark, freezing water’s surface.

Let’s Talk Body Counts

When the RMS Titanic set off from Southampton, England, there were 2,208 souls onboard. 705 of those souls survived the tragic night to live another day, while 1,503 perished into waters that plunged as low as 28°F. (Keep in mind that seawater freezes at about 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit.)

The average human body can withstand about 45 minutes in waters as cold as 28°F.

It’s said that almost everyone in the water likely died from cardiac arrest or perhaps other bodily responses to the freezing water.

Because of the “women and children into the boats first” principle, only 4 women from first class died, while 89 women in 3rd class died.

Only 333 bodies were recovered, of the 1,503 victims.

There were 908 crew members on the Titanic. Only 23 of those were female. All survived, except three of them.

Of the 885 male crew members, 693 died, 192 survived.

HERO ALERT: All of the 30 engineers onboard went down with the ship, having stayed at their posts, keeping the ship’s power on so others could escape.

There were 12 dogs onboard the Titanic, three survived.

The Last Meal Served in 1st Class on the Titanic

First class passengers on the Titanic enjoyed many luxuries, including 10-course meals that lasted for several hours. No expensive was spared and guests were treated as royalty.

Of the remains found in the expedition of the RMS Titanic, a menu of the last meal served was discovered and gives us a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

The 1st class menu of the last meal served on the Titanic was auctioned off for $83,000 in 2012.

Items served in this infamous 10-course meal included: oysters, foie gras, roasted pigeon, filet mignon, poached salmon, lamb with mint sauce, chicken Lyonnaise, creamed carrots, boiled rice, chocolate & vanilla éclairs, fruit & cheeses, wines, ports, coffee, and even cigars were offered.

You can read more about the last meal on History Channel’s site here.

Food & Drink Supplies Onboard the Titanic

Every day, about 14,000 gallons of drinking water were consumed by the crew and passengers on the Titanic.

Some of the kitchen’s inventory I could sniff up online include:

• 850 bottles of liquor
• 1,000 bottles of wine
• 15,000 bottles of beer
• 8,000 cigars
• 40,000 eggs
• 36,000 oranges
• 16,000 lemons
• 75,000 pounds of fresh meat
• 25,000 pounds of chicken
• 7,500 pounds of bacon
• 40 tons of potatoes
• 1,000 loaves of bread
• 1,200 quarts of ice cream

You can read more about the food onboard the Titanic here.

Facts about the Ship Itself

• The ship was constructed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (The hanger the ship was built in is now a filming location, where HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was filmed. It is the largest film studio operating in all of Europe.
• Thomas Andrews was the Titanic’s architect. (He was onboard the Titanic when it sank. He did not survive.)
• It took just over two years to build the Titanic.
• There were 29 boilers that were heated by the 159 furnaces.

The Titanic weighed 46,000 tons.

• Roughly 825 tons of coal was burned each day on the ship.
• There was more power produced onboard the Titanic than the average city power station in its day.
• The top speed of the Titanic was 23 knots, which is equivalent to about 26 mph.

Did you know that the fourth smoke stack is fake? They only needed three to power the 46,000 ton vessel, but added the fourth to give the illusion of more power and give an aesthetic balance and symmetry.

Heroes to the Last Moment

We’ve all been to Macy’s, but did you know that one of the founding brothers, German-born Jewish businessman Isidor Straus, and his wife Ida, were onboard the Titanic?

He was asked to join the women and children in a lifeboat and when he refused, his wife did as well, saying, “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together.” 

Let’s Talk Lifeboats

The Titanic was designed to carry 64 lifeboats. They set off on her maiden voyage with only 20.

The first lifeboat was released one hour after the ship hit the iceberg. One hour? I’m sure (hope) they had their reasons.

Once the lifeboats started to be released, most were not filled to their capacity.

Some Bizarre Twists of Fate

• One passenger made the decision to sail on the Titanic, after having finally overcome his post traumatic distress after surviving the sinking of a ship he was abroad some 40 years earlier. (Cue in Alanis Morissette’s Ironic.) He did not survive this time.
• The chocolate god himself, Milton Hershey, had booked reservations, but canceled them just before the Titanic set sail, due to other business obligations.
• The band members, all heroes in my eyes, stayed behind and continued to play their instruments to help ease the panic of the passengers as they rushed to board the lifeboats. Afterwards, their families received a bill from White Star Line for the uniforms they were wearing when they sank and died. WFT?

Random Titanic Facts

• There about about 12 newlyweds celebrating their honeymoons onboard the Titanic.
• It’s been estimated that the combined value of cash and goods carried by the passengers was $6 million U.S. dollars.
• The chief baker of the Titanic survived the incident. He used his wits (I would have so joined him!) by boozing it up with some hard alcohol. He ended up spending about two hours in the water, which is over the double the average time a person can survive in those freezing temperatures.
• I read that it’s believed the bully iceberg started its journey around 1,000 BCE.

Where is the Titanic Now?

On the first of September, 1985, the wreckage of the RMS Titanic was discovered by two scientists, 73 years after she sank into her dark, cold grave bed.

Read this great piece on History.com: “In 1985, a joint American-French expedition tracked down one of the biggest prizes in maritime archeology: the 73-year-old wreck of the “unsinkable” ocean liner Titanic.”

The Titanic is about 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

The ship broke into two pieces when she sunk. There’s a distance between the bow and the stern is about 2,000 feet on the sea bed.

Since she was discovered, about 6,000 artifacts have been recovered. Some items recovered include:

• A menu of the last meal served in first class
• The bell that had been rung three times by lookout Frederick Fleet to warn of the iceberg
• A violin the bandleader played
• A pair of white cotton gloves, quite mucked up by that point
• Sheet music the ship’s musicians played. The piece was “Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey”
• A bracelet was recovered with the name Amy. It was beautifully designed with 15-Karat rose gold and silver accents. Amy was encrusted in diamonds. It’s believed the bracelet belonged to a passenger in third-class, named Amy Stanley.

Some Interesting Videos to Explore More about the Amazing RMS Titanic

This one from National Geographic was quite eye-opening on how the ship sank and was consequently torn apart, and then final laid to rest on the sea bed.

This gives some of the video footage taken of the wreckage.

Interesting Tid-bits about the Movie, Titanic

• It cost more to make the movie Titanic than to build the actual ship.
• The movie won 11 Oscar Awards.

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