RMS Titanic facts and history: Titanic passenger and crew biography...
encyclopedia titanica
Titanic Facts
The RMS Titanic was a British registered four funnelled ocean liner built for the transatlantic passenger and mail service between Southampton and New York.
Constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland Titanic was, on her maiden voyage, the largest vessel afloat.
On April 10th 1912 the Titanic sailed from Southampton with 2,200 passengers and crew, four days later the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank. 1500 people died and 700 survived. This website attempts to tell their story and that of the great ship with which their fate would be inextricably linked.
ALL NEW TITANIC COMMUNITY!
Join our brand new community today
Ask questions, post stories, share your opinions, post Titanic events and much more... visit the forum.
Titanic Passengers and Crew
The Titanic carried 2207 people. People all ages, people of great wealth and of bitter poverty. Unsuspecting witnesses to an event they could never have envisaged
If you could walk the decks of the Titanic you would hear a dozen or more languages being spoken with every imaginable dialect. Not surprisingly the Titanic is often described as a microcosm of society.
The route to understanding the Titanic story is to learn about and understand the people that built her, the people that sailed on her, those that died and those that survived when she met her end.
Titanic History
According to legend the Titanic was conceived at a meeting between Lord Pirrie of Harland & Wolff and Bruce Ismay, Chairman of the White Star Line.
The vessels would forsake speed for increased safety and comfort. While millionaire passengers would grab headlines, vastly increased steerage capacity and accommodation for the growing middle class would drive economic success.
After a construction period of nearly three years the Titanic, commanded by veteran Captain Edward John Smith, departed in Southampton on 10th April 1912 never to return.
In a growing archive of articles this site covers the story of the Titanic from her construction, maiden voyage, disaster and aftermath to the discovery of her wreck in 1985.
Design and Engineering
The Titanic designed and constructed at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
She was 882 feet 9 inches in length and 92 feet in breadth. Her gross tonnage was 46,328 tons. Three propellers were driven by two four-cylinder, triple-expansion, inverted reciprocating steam engines and one low-pressure Parsons turbine. Steam was provided by 25 double-ended and 4 single-ended Scotch-type boilers fired by 159 coal burning furnaces that gave her a theoretical top speed of 23 knots.
Titanic Culture
The Titanic forms part of our cultural landscape. In Hollywood movies, books, art and music her tragedy is replayed. Titanic has even entered the language: the phrase re-arranging deckchairs on the Titanic exemplifies a futile exercise.
In this site you can learn about how the Titanic has been reflected in contemporary culture; Titanic on film and record, in photographic image and in art. You can also learn about the true stories that inspired the movie makers including The Real Jack Dawson, and you can see the rarest of all film, the Titanic herself.
Other Destinations
Sheet Music | Recorded Music | CGI | Animation
Titanic Research and Study
Have you every wanted to know more about the Titanic, a passenger or crew member. So have we! Research can be as simple as picking up a book or going to your library and searching through the local newspapers from 1912. So why not give it a try and post your findings on Encyclopedia Titanica.
Getting Started
Adding to Encyclopedia Titanica
Demystifying Historical Research
Be Inspired
Titanic Research Articles
Get Support
Titanic Research Discussions
Titanic Community
Encyclopedia Titanica is a thriving community as well as a resource. On our message board you'll meet thousands of people with similar interests.
The members will be happy to answer your queries about the Titanic and help you with researching her history and the stories of the people who sailed on her.
Browse the latest discussions - no membership required
Register - if you want to post.
Movies
Pictures
Basic Statistics
The People
324 1st class passengers, 201 survived.
277 2nd class passengers, 118 survived.
708 3rd class passengers, 181 survived.
885 crew members, 212 survived.
13 postmen/musicians, none survived.
Grand total: 2,207 on board, 712 survived.
The Ship
Length: 882 feet 9 inches
Beam: 92 feet
Gross tonnage: 46,328 tons
Propulsion: Three propellers
Engines: Two triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines
One low-pressure Parsons turbine
25 double-ended and 4 single-ended Scotch-type boilers
159 coal burning furnaces
Top speed : 23 knots.
For more detailed statistics see Lester Mitcham's The Statisics of the Disaster
- New
- News Headlines
- What we're reading
Michael Poirier reviews one of the few books to focus on the Titanics rescue ship the RMS Carpathia.... Titanic Review Wed, 23 May 2012
In a second extract from In Titanic Times Frank Cox considers another of Titanics early victims.... Titanic Research Wed, 23 May 2012
Ed Coghlan reviews Susie Millars memoir of her great grandfather Thomas Millar who helped to construct the Titanic and died on her.... Titanic Review Mon, 21 May 2012- The will has now been proved in London of COLONEL JOHN JACOB ASTOR of Fifth Avenue New York who died in the wreck of the Titanic aged 47. The personal estate in the United Kingdom has been sworn for probate as of the net value of £90965. His will is dated September 18 last shortly after his second marriage and the English grant has been issued to his brotherinlaw Mr. James Roosevelt Roosevelt of Hyde Park Dutchess County New York and power is reserved to gra... The Times Sat, 27 Jul 1912
- Leaves for London but is to Return Here Before Long Mrs. Ava Willing Astor former wife of Col. John Jacob Astor who was lost in the foundering of the Titanic sailed yesterday for England by the White Star liner Oceanic with her daughter Muriel. Her son Vincent her brother Barton Willing Mrs. Norman Whitehouse Stewart Barney and Richard Peters were at the pier to see her off. Mrs. Astor said she would go to London immediately after landing and later sh... The Sun (New York) Sun, 19 May 1912
A rare photograph of Benjamin Guggenheim&39;s personal assistant Victor Giglio as a pupil at Ampleforth Roman Catholic College in 1901. Victor and his three brothers all attended the North Yorkshire school where Victor excelled at piano. ...
Dr Paul Lee reviews a new Titanic book which brings an unorthodox approach to Titanic storytelling.... Titanic Review Wed, 16 May 2012
Photograph of Titanic survivor Mary Lines taken from a 1920s passport application. ...
Samuel Scott a 15 year old catch boy fell to his death: The first victim of RMS Titanic.... Titanic Research Mon, 14 May 2012- Unidentified Remains of Wreck Victim Brought to St. Johns by Steamer Algerine St. Johns N. F. June 7.The steamer Algerine which was sent out by the White Star line to search for bodies of the Titanic victims returned today with one body aboard. The body could not be identified and will be buried here. ... Chicago Tribune Sat, 08 Jun 1912
- A medal presented to a Liverpool sailor who steered a ship to rescue passengers of the Titanic has sold for nearly 5,000 in London. A similar medal cast in silver was bought for nearly 8,000, which was 3,000 more than expected. Both medals were awarded to officers and crew of RMS Carpathia for their actions in rescuing over 700 survivors of the disaster. J.J. Kirkpatrick received a bronze medal for his part in guiding the ship. The Carpathia was sailing from New York to Europe when it received a distress call from the Titanic on 15 April 1912. It immediately changed direction, and travelled nearly 60 miles to the ship's location. Charles Miller Ltd, which held the auction, said it is thought 21-year-old J.J. Kirkpatrick was at the helm during the rescue effort. When the ship arrived, the Titanic had already sunk. | bbc.co.uk
- A CENTURY has passed since the Titanic sank to the depths of the mid-Atlantic, but the disaster is far from forgotten in the family of one West Wales woman. Maureen Quinn, 50, of Llandysul, has a copy of a letter written by her grandmother's cousin Ellen Walcroft (known as Nellie) who was onboard and survived the disaster. | thisissouthwales.co.uk
- Detailed maps of the debris field, high-definition images and online gaming technology could lead to virtual expeditions to the Titanic site | scientificamerican.com
- AN OXFORDSHIRE scientist is attracting international attention with his new theories about the worlds most famous maritime disaster. Richard Corfield, from Long Hanborough, has advanced new ideas about the role of science in the sinking of the Titanic, on the 100th anniversary of the catastrophe. Writing in the journal Physics World, he takes a look at the cascade of events that led to the demise of the unsinkable ship, highlighting the significant roles played by maths and physics. | oxfordmail.co.uk
- A CENTURY after the Titanic disaster, two East Grinstead sisters have revealed how their great-grandfather went down with the ship. George Henry Green, a metal worker from Dorking, boarded the historic vessel as a third class passenger in April 1912 in search of a new life in America. But he never arrived, instead becoming one of more than 1,500 people who died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean 100 years ago. This week, great-granddaughters Penelope Simpson and Carolyn Whapham looked back on the life of a family man who they claim was never given the opportunity to be saved. Penelope, 69, of Wray Close, Ashurst Wood, said: "When he died, it threw everyone to bits. One minute they had everything and then their world fell apart. | thisissussex.co.uk
- A SLANE man survived the sinking of the Titanic, simply because he was only one of four Irish First Class passengers. James Robert Mcgough was born in Mandistown, Slane in 1876, the son of Thomas Mcgough and Catherine (Dowdell) and with members of the family headed for the United States in 1894 and set up home in Philadelphia. He became a well paid buyer for Gimbel Brothers in Philadelphia and in April 1912 found himself on board the 'unsinkable' Titanic, heading home to the US. The Slane Historical Society researched the following details, namely that Mcgough said ignoring ship personnel saved his life. | drogheda-independent.ie
- A SCOT walked off the Titanic just before it sailed after hearing a voice in his head warning him he would die if he stayed aboard, his grandson has revealed.Alex MacKenzie was at Southampton dock 100 years ago when he heard the voice warning him that if he was on the ill-fated vessel, he would never get off alive.The 24-year-old returned to Glasgow, only to hear of the ships sinking days later.Grandson Iain Henderson, 49, said: He travelled down to Southampton, and he was on the gangway when he heard this voice telling him not to board the ship. | dailyrecord.co.uk
- THE centenary of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15 will have stirred many family memories, and not just in Belfast, where the ship was built, or Southampton, starting point of the Titanics maiden voyage to New York, which lost 500 members of the crew among the 1,500 who died. Beryl Browse, of Ripponden, has a poignant letter from America about her great aunt, Charlotte Ashdown Pearson, and her husband, Silas, originally from Kent but living in London at the time. They were emigrating to the United States in 1912 and might well have travelled on the Titanic but didnt because Charlotte thought the liner, the most sumptuously designed ship ever built, was for rich people, not them. Silas was already in the US, where he had gone to find work and a home for Charlotte and the couples six children, Silas, Nellie, Frank, Ivy, Florence and Stanley. When he called on them to join him Charlotte and son Silas went to buy tickets for the voyage. The ticket office tried to sell them tickets for the Titanic, but Charlotte refused them and instead bought berths on the USS Philadelphia, which took them safely to America in August 1912. | halifaxcourier.co.uk
- Edward Kamuda is the president of the Titanic Historical Society. He remembers when he first was introduced to the story. My father who owned the grand theatre out in Indian Orchard played the film titanic. And from that point I was hooked Kamunda said. | wggb.com
- Composer Peter Young, who has created a piece of music to coincide with the recent 100th anniversary of the sinking, said a lot of what the band played "would have been jolly stuff". "From songs in the trenches through to lullabies ..." | bbc.co.uk
Rose Ellen Murray, of Dublin and Philadelphia, became a minor celebrity after she survived the Lusitania disaster. However, her celebrity proved to be her undoing twenty years after the vessel was destroyed. Mrs. Murray'
BIG CROWD SAILS TO-DAY
Nine Hundred First Cabin Passengers on Olympic, Cedric, and Lapland --- More than 1,200 cabin passengers, of whom nearly 900 will be in the first cabin, will sail from New York for Europe to-day. This big crowd of travelers, in numbers
Nine Hundred First Cabin Passengers on Olympic, Cedric, and Lapland --- More than 1,200 cabin passengers, of whom nearly 900 will be in the first cabin, will sail from New York for Europe to-day. This big crowd of travelers, in numbers
MRS ASPLUND AND CHILDREN SAFE IN HOSPITAL AT N.Y.
Husband and Another Child of Worcester Woman Reported Among the Rescued That Mrs. Charles Asplund and two of her children survived when the illfated S.S.Titanic went to the bottom of the ocean off the New Foundland Banks Sunday was ass
Husband and Another Child of Worcester Woman Reported Among the Rescued That Mrs. Charles Asplund and two of her children survived when the illfated S.S.Titanic went to the bottom of the ocean off the New Foundland Banks Sunday was ass
Titanic, a word that conveys a history and numerous amounts of thoughts, ideas. The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition defines titanic as, “of enormous scope, power, or influence.”1 The origin of the word
Titanic Movie Player
In memory of Millvia DeanThe Carpathia Returns to New York, 18th April 1912A Night to Remember Premiere1920s White Star Line FilmDeep Inside the TITANIC Part 1The Titanic TragedyThe Baby of the TitanicTitanic Simulation VideoEdith Russell (Rosenbaum) interviewThe Leaving of Liverpool
| Tweet | |||||
|
|||||
Encyclopedia Titanica the foremost repository of facts, opinion and media relating to RMS Titanic. Featuring Titanic survivor stories, comprehensive Titanic passenger list and biographies, detailed Titanic research articles, in depth discussions and rich media including Titanic pictures, archive recordings and the Titanic movie player. |
|||||
