The Titanic

The Titanic was the biggest ship in the world The Titanic was the biggest ship in the world. Some people thought she was the best ship ever built. She was said to be too strong to sink. She was unsinkable – or so they believed!!

Queenstown was in County Cork. It is now called Cobh. The Titanic was built in Belfast by the White Star Line Shipping Company. Queenstown was in County Cork. It is now called Cobh. It set sail from Southampton in England on the 10th April 1912. More passengers boarded the ship in France and Queenstown in Ireland. It was on its way to New York.

The journey

When the passengers began their journey to New York City, it was like a wonderful party on board. Everybody was having loads of fun. They thought they were making history – they were! The Titanic was a floating palace. She was one of the first ships with a pool and she had beautiful gold chandeliers. Because of this many very wealthy people travelled on board the Titanic. They stayed in the upper deck, which was called The First Class. While the poorer passengers and the crew stayed below deck in Third Class.

First Class Titanic’s first class passengers were rich and upper class. There were 39 private suites on the bridge deck and 9 on the shelter deck. The suites included bathrooms, private toilets and had up to 5 different rooms. There were also 350 smaller first class cabins. The most expensive first class ticket cost £870 (around £300,000 in today's money). All the rooms were lavishly decorated. Around 325 first class passengers were on board. Around 202of first class passengers survived. First class passengers had access to all the boats facilities. First class passengers were accompanied by personal staff such as maids, nannies, chauffeurs and cooks. First class on Titanic was a whole new level of trans-Atlantic travel.

The Grand Staircase

Second Class Around 285 second class passengers were on board. Around 118 of second class passengers survived. Second class accommodation was found over 7 decks. There was a second class dining room which could seat over 2000 people. The room was very elegant and there was a piano to entertain diners. Second class rooms had two to four beds. Second class rooms had shared bathrooms. Second class on Titanic was the same as first class standard on any other ship at the time.

Third Class Around 706 third class passengers Third class travel was much less luxurious than second class but was still luxurious compared to other ships at the time. Third class passengers were called ‘steerage passengers’. Many third class passengers were emigrants travelling to the United States from Ireland and Scandinavia. There were 33 nationalities represented in the passenger lists. The cheapest third class ticket was £3. Third class passengers were not allowed to go to the first and second class areas of the ship. There was a third class general meeting room and a smoking room. The third class dining room could seat 470 passengers in each of 3 sittings. Third class passengers slept on bunk beds in crowded cabins of 4 to 6 people. There was 2 baths for the whole of the third class passengers! Around 706 third class passengers were on board. Around 178 of third class passengers survived.

Lifeboats There were not enough lifeboats on board to hold all the passengers and crew. When the lifeboats were launched , they were not full. There were 20 lifeboats enough for 1178 people but there were over 2000 people on the boat. Originally 32 lifeboats were supposed to be on Titanic but it was reduced to 20 as the deck was felt to be too cluttered. Titanic also carried 3500 lifebelts and 48 life rings but these were useless in the icy water. Most people did not drown but froze to death. Lots of people thought that the call to the lifeboats was a drill so stayed inside rather than going up to the freezing deck.

By the 14th of April, Titanic was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean By the 14th of April, Titanic was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was clear. That night, the stars glistened against the cold, dark sky. Shortly before midnight, a sailor spotted something out in front of the ship. He couldn’t really see it but he knew it could only be one thing – an iceberg! An Iceberg is a huge piece of floating ice. It is much bigger beneath the water than it is on top. It can really damage a ship if it crashes into it.

It was too late for the Titanic to turn away and it hit the iceberg It was too late for the Titanic to turn away and it hit the iceberg. The iceberg ripped a huge hole in the side of the ship and the lower parts of the ship began to fill with icy water. The nose of the Titanic began to disappear beneath the water. The stern, or the back of the ship began to rise high into the air. In a few hours the ship would sink. The crew set off flares to let other ships know that it needed help.

The band began to play music to calm the passengers. Sailors on other ships saw the flares but thought they were fireworks set off during a party on the ship so they sailed on by. The Titanic crew began trying to save people. Some had come out on deck when the ship hit the iceberg, but many were still below deck. They didn’t think there was anything to worry about. The band began to play music to calm the passengers.

The sailors began to put people in the lifeboats The sailors began to put people in the lifeboats. Women and children went first. But there was not enough lifeboats for everybody on board. Also, in the panic of the sinking, some lifeboats were lowered into the water with empty seats. By the time all the lifeboats had been lowered, there were still 1,500 people on board.

By 2.00 a.m. the passengers still on the sinking ship heard a terrible sound. The Titanic was ripping apart! People started to jump off the ship into the icy water. The Titanic had disappeared beneath the Atlantic Ocean by 2.20 a.m. on the 15th of April 1912.

The Titanic sank 2 miles to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean The Titanic sank 2 miles to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of it’s passengers and crew died. Captain Smith went down with his ship. The people who were in the lifeboats were rescued by another ship called the Carpathia. Nobody knew where in the Atlantic Ocean the Titanic was. It was not found until 71 years after it sank.

A BOY'S DREAM As a kid, scientist Robert Ballard was interested in shipwrecks. He especially loved reading about theTitanic. "My lifelong dream," he says, "was to find this great ship." Ballard became an ocean explorer when he grew up. He visited underwater mountains in the middle of the Atlantic. He found giant worms that live in the Pacific. And he never forgot his boyhood dream—to find the Titanic. The task seemed impossible. Some people said The Titanic had been crushed. Others thought she had broken into little pieces. Everyone agreed the ship was far too deep to reach. But Ballard was determined. He took ships to where The Titanic had sunk. They used special tools to look around the ocean floor. For weeks, they found nothing. Then they sent down an underwater craft called Argo. Its cameras took videos of the ocean floor and sent them up to the ships.

FOUND IT! Argo searched for several days. Still nothing. Ballard was sure he had failed. Shortly after midnight on September 1, he decided to get some sleep. He really needed it. Barely an hour later, someone woke him up. Metal objects were showing up on the video screen. These things could only have come from a boat. Soon the team spotted a huge ship engine. They had found the Titanic! Over the next few days, Argo circled the wreck. Ballard almost couldn't believe what he saw. Titanic's bow, or front, was stuck in mud. Yet the ship still looked huge. Ballard also found many sad reminders of the Titanic's passengers. He saw beds, suitcases, cups, and countless shoes. It was almost like visiting a sunken museum. Before leaving, Ballard wanted to honor the tragic ship. He left a plaque to remember the people who had died. Aside from that, he left everything exactly the way he found it.