FACT ABOUT TITANIC TODAY.

 

It took just two hours and 40 minutes for the “unsinkable” RMS Titanic to sink. The much-heralded ocean liner, on its glamorous five-day maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, headed out across the Atlantic on April 10, 1912, counting among its passengers the wealthy and prominent as well as poor immigrants making their way to America.

What would happen next has been the source of inspiration for books, poems, songs, TV shows and films, including one blockbuster Oscar-winning movie. Despite receiving several iceberg warnings on April 14, the Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith, continued to sail full-steam ahead. It was a deadly decision: Unable to avoid collision, the doomed ship, upon impact with the iceberg, was punctured, causing it to flood and sink off the coast of Newfoundland in less than three hours, taking along with it some 1,500 lives.

A look at the sinking in terms of numbers, below, helps provide perspective into the tragedy.

THE PROW OF THE TITANIC UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT HARLAND AND WOLFF SHIPYARD IN BELFAST, IRELAND

Cost to build: $7.5 million ($200 million with inflation)

The White Star Line's Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, starting in 1909, with construction taking three years. With a whopping 3 million rivets, weighing 46,000 tons and measuring 882 feet, 8 inches—the distance of more than four city blocks—Titanic was created with the labor of some 3,000 workers

PASSENGERS WALK ON THE DECK OF THE SS TITANIC, 1912.

Ticketed passengers aboard: 1,317

Titanic was designed to carry up to 3,300 people. On the maiden voyage, it had about 2,200 aboard, including about 900 crew members. As for passengers, according to the United Kingdom's National Archives, 324 were first class, 284 were second class and 709 were third class.

CAFÉ PARISIEN ON BOARD RMS TITANIC, AN EXTENSION TO THE FIRST-CLASS RESTAURANT, PICTURED JANUARY 4, 1912.

Bottles of wine in ship’s wine cellar: 1,000

On April 21, 1912, The New York Times reported the luxury liner was carrying cargo worth $420,000 ($11 million today). The manifest included such items as 3,000 teacups, 40,000 eggs, five grand pianos and 36,000 oranges. It was also a mail ship (RMS stood for Royal Mail Steamer) and contained a post office with 3,364 bags aboard.