It’s been almost a hundred years since the RMS Titanic succumbed to the Atlantic Ocean after hitting an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, but the story of the doomed ship still fascinates. How many of these Titanic facts do you know?

1. The Titanic took two years to build. It was finished in May of 1911 with a steel hull held together with over 3 million rivets.

2. The Belfast, Northern Ireland shipyard of Harland and Wolff built the Titanic. Over 12,000 men worked on the construction of the ship.

3. The Titanic had a capacity of 3547 passengers and crew and, fully laden, weighed over 66,000 tons.

4. The “RMS” before the ship’s title denotes “Royal Mail Ship,” a prestigious honor.

5. No expense was spared in making the Titanic the most luxurious vessel of its time. Every stateroom had running water and the grand staircase boasted gold and crystal light fixtures.

6. There were 899 crew members on the Titanic, from officers to mailroom staff, barbers, waiters, butchers, stokers, and room stewards and stewardesses.

7. The 329 first class passengers on the Titanic had the use of four of the eight passenger decks. Facilities included a gymnasium, a Turkish bath, a swimming pool, and a library.

8. More than half of the Titanic’s passengers were traveling steerage or third class. At $36.25 per person, the fare was about two months’ wages for the average steerage passenger.

9. On the night of April 14, 1912, most of the passengers on board felt little more than a bump as the ship was fatally damaged in its collision with the iceberg.

10. Although the capacity of the 20 lifeboats on the Titanic was 1178, only 706 people managed to get into a lifeboat.

11. In total, 60 percent of the Titanic’s first class passengers survived, 42 percent of the second class passengers, and only 24 percent of the steerage passengers and crew.

12. The Titanic lies in 12,470 feet of water. At this depth, there is no light and the temperature is no more than 36 degrees Fahrenheit. Few fish can survive the cold and the intense pressure of this depth.

By
Sandy Mitchell