Interesting Facts about the Titanic

Friends, enjoy these fascinating facts about the RMS Titanic: 

• In 1898 (14 years prior to the Titanic tragedy), Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called Futility. This fictitious novel was about the largest ship ever built hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic ocean on a cold April night. The fictional ship (named Titan) and the real ship Titanic were similar in design and their circumstances were remarkably alike. Both ships were labeled "unsinkable".
• Two dogs were among the Titanic survivors.
• There were no cats on the Titanic. Cats were often brought on ships as a form of good luck. They also controlled rodents.
• No one ever claimed that the Titanic was "unsinkable". The quote, "practically unsinkable" was taken out of context. In 1911, Shipbuilder magazine published an article describing the construction of the Titanic. The article stated that when the watertight doors were closed, the ship would be "practically unsinkable".
• It was customary to break a bottle of champagne on the bow of a boat when launched. The Titanic launching did not include the traditional bottle-breaking.
• Many of the passengers were not originally suppose to be traveling on the Titanic. Due to a strike, coal was in short supply. This shortage threatened Titanic's maiden voyage and forced the White Star Line to cancel travel on the Oceanic and Adriatic and transfer their passengers and coal stocks to the Titanic.
• There were 13 couples on board celebrating their Honeymoons.
• The lookouts in the crow's nest did not have binoculars. Having binoculars might have prevented the Titanic tragedy.
• The time interval from first sighting of the iceberg to impact was a little over 30 seconds.
• The Titanic sank 2 hours and 40 minutes after hitting the iceberg.
• It probably took Titanic about 15 minutes to sink to her final resting place on the ocean floor. That means that Titanic sank at a rate of 10 miles per hour (or 16 km per hour).

For these and more interesting facts, visit: http://www.titanicstory.com/interest.htm