TITANIC By Micheal Holmes

White Star Line White Star Line’s chairman Mr William Pyrie had the idea of making the biggest ship in the world called the Titanic. He wanted to have a bigger ship than their rival’s Cunard Line who, at that time, had the two biggest ships called the Mauratania and the Lucatania.

Titanic facts The Titanic could carry 3,500 people and crew. It weighed 68,000 tons fully laiden. William Pyrie wanted to make Titanic 90ft longer than the Mauritania and the Lucatania The Titanic had four chimneys but one of them was fake. They put it in to make it look stronger.

Haarland and Wolffe Haarland and Wolffe built the Titanic. At that time they were the best ship-builders. It took millions of man hours to build Titanic. The sound of the hammer’s banging off the metal deafened many of the workers. The two engines were the size of two-storey houses.

People involved

1 st Class The first class passengers on Titanic had brilliant facilities. Some of the facilities were a swimming pool, a gym, the grand staircase, restaurants and Turkish baths. Titanic was the first ship to have a swimming pool on board. The first class passengers would never with the third class passengers.

2 nd Class The second class passengers on Titanic were usually professionals for example, teachers or doctors. They had very decent standards of food and facilities.

Third Class The third class passengers came on the Titanic to start a new life in America. They had good food and bedrooms. Their recreational deck did not have the beautiful views of the ocean that 1 st Class had. It was called the ‘Poop Deck’.

Set Sail Titanic set sail on April It set sail from Southampton on its way for America, first to Cherbourg and then Queenstown/Cork.

The Sinking After leaving Queenstown, Titanic was sent warning messages of icebergs in their path. But Captain Smith ignored these warnings and indeed increased speed. An iceberg was spotted dead ahead of the Titanic which gave no time to react other than turn the ship The iceberg ended up scraping the side of the ship. The water came in the bottom and flooded 6 compartments. If it had flooded 4 compartments or under it would have been able to make it to America.

The Sinking A ship called the Carpathia came to rescue the passengers. It took Titanic 180 minutes to sink. 708 people were saved and 1,500 people died.