“The Greatest Ship Ever Made”

They called it ‘Unsinkable’; the largest ship ever made with

cutting edge-technology that would dominate any sea it
chose to enter -The Titanic was truly considered to be the
greatest ship ever made when it was sent on its maiden
voyage in 1912. No-one could possibly have known what
was to come, but what exactly was it about The Titanic that
made it so special?

The Ship itself

White Star Line was the company that built the Titanic and was owned by J.P. Morgan, an
American tycoon with a lot of huge amounts of money at his disposal. He would need it; the RMS
Titanic would end up costing a monumental $7.5million when it was finally built.
It took 3,000 men two years to build the Titanic with three million rivets being used to hold its
 “The Greatest Ship Ever Made”

They called it ‘Unsinkable’; the largest ship ever made with

cutting edge-technology that would dominate any sea it
chose to enter -The Titanic was truly considered to be the
greatest ship ever made when it was sent on its maiden
voyage in 1912. No-one could possibly have known what
was to come, but what exactly was it about The Titanic that
made it so special?

The Ship itself

White Star Line was the company that built the Titanic and was owned by J.P. Morgan, an
American tycoon with a lot of huge amounts of money at his disposal. He would need it; the RMS
Titanic would end up costing a monumental $7.5million when it was finally built.

It took 3,000 men two years to build the Titanic with three million rivets being used to hold its
massive hull together! Although there were 4 funnels (smoke stacks) that towered into the sky,
only 3 were operational; the 4th funnel was merely for looks. The ship measured a huge 269
metres in length and 30 metres in width – it was comfortably the largest ship ever built.

The Titanic was very expensive for ‘first-class’ travellers, the price of a single ticket was $4,700.
(Around $50,000 in 2016!) However, it was possible to
travel on the vessel for a significantly lower amount if you
were happy to go second or third class. The ship had a
wide variety of things that made it stand out from other,
lesser vessels. It had a Turkish bath that travellers could
bathe in, many restaurants of varying cuisines and even a
gymnasium – a rarity in 1912.

With 2,240 passengers on board, the ship left the port of Southampton in 1912 on April 10 th. With
a destination of New York, The Titanic would reach the end of its journey in just seven days.
However, all did not go to plan…

The Iceberg

To cut costs and to avoid changing how the ship was built, White Star Line only put enough
lifeboats on the ship for half the people on the board; this would become an immediate problem
just two days after it had set sail. There were 6 ice warnings received by Titanic on the day of the
collision. They were all ignored by the wireless operator who was preoccupied with transmitting
passenger messages.

On the night of the collision, because the moon was not out and the water was so still, it was very
difficult to see any icebergs. A less calm water would have caused breakers around the iceberg
massive hull together! Although there were 4 funnels (smoke stacks) that towered into the sky,
only 3 were operational; the 4th funnel was merely for looks. The ship measured a huge 269
metres in length and 30 metres in width – it was comfortably the largest ship ever built.

The Titanic was very expensive for ‘first-class’ travellers, the price of a single ticket was $4,700.
(Around $50,000 in 2016!) However, it was possible to
travel on the vessel for a significantly lower amount if you
were happy to go second or third class. The ship had a
wide variety of things that made it stand out from other,
lesser vessels. It had a Turkish bath that travellers could
bathe in, many restaurants of varying cuisines and even a
gymnasium – a rarity in 1912.

With 2,240 passengers on board, the ship left the port of Southampton in 1912 on April 10 th. With
a destination of New York, The Titanic would reach the end of its journey in just seven days.
However, all did not go to plan…

The Iceberg

To cut costs and to avoid changing how the ship was built, White Star Line only put enough
lifeboats on the ship for half the people on the board; this would become an immediate problem
just two days after it had set sail. There were 6 ice warnings received by Titanic on the day of the
collision. They were all ignored by the wireless operator who was preoccupied with transmitting
passenger messages.

On the night of the collision, because the moon was not out and the water was so still, it was very
difficult to see any icebergs. A less calm water would have caused breakers around the iceberg
making it easier to see it from a far.

The iceberg that the Titanic struck was not a very big one. It did not even come up as high as the
bridge of the ship. However, what was unusual is that unlike the other icebergs seen during the
journey, this one was far larger underneath the water. The iceberg caused a huge, unrepairable
gash in the middle of the ship.

Collision / Damage

The Titanic was traveling 22.5 knots while cruising through iceberg laden waters. Just 0.5 knots
from her maximum speed capability. The collision occurred at 11:40pm on Sunday, April 14, 1912.

Sadly, The Captain had ordered the engines reversed which had, surprisingly, sealed the Titanic's
doom. Like all ships, the Titanic turned more quickly the greater her forward motion. Had the
Titanic proceeded ahead and turned, it is most likely that she would have avoided hitting the
iceberg all together. Reversing had made the ship become slow and unable to turn quickly enough!

The damage that the iceberg cut into the hull of the Titanic was around 70 metres long.
Unfortunately, the "watertight" compartments of the Titanic's hull were not actually watertight.
They were open at the tops, which aided in the demise of the ship. The ship could actually have
stayed afloat if only four compartment had flooded… five became flooded with ice-cold water.

Survivors / Casualties

1,503 people died, including passengers and crew with

only 705 surviving. There were simply not enough life-
boats for everyone to use. In addition, a sad fact is that
one of the first lifeboats to leave the Titanic carried
only 28 people, it could have held 64 people.

Orders from the Captain were that, women and

children were to board the lifeboats first. One man,
Daniel Buckley, disguised himself as a woman to get
aboard a lifeboat. As the ship went down, the band played music up to the last few minutes before
the ship went under.

What remains of The Titanic?

More than 100 years later, The Titanic lies 2.3 miles down at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near
Canada. The Titanic was rediscovered on July 14th, 1986. 74 years after it sank. Since the death of
Millvina Dean, May 31st of 2009, there are no longer any living survivors of the Titanic tragedy.
She was just nine weeks old at the time of the Titanic's sinking. April 14th, 2012 marked the 100th
anniversary of the Titanic's sinking.

“The Greatest Ship Ever Made” was truly an amazing thing to behold. But it was also marred on its
first voyage by a serious of mistakes. A lack of life-boats (that were then used incorrectly) doomed
the journey from the start and mistakes by the Captain compounded the problem by failing to
acknowledge the danger of sailing near icebergs. However, it did mean that all ships in the future
had to be far safer and has remained important to people over a century later. James Cameron’s
best-selling 1997 film evidence of how popular the story remains.
▪ Why do you think ‘unsinkable’ is in inverted commas?
nickname

▪ What is the purpose of the first paragraph in this information text?

introducing the titanic

▪ How much did The Titanic cost to build?

7.5 million

▪ How many functional funnels did the Titanic have?

4 four

▪ How long did the Titanic measure in metres?

269 in metres and 30 metres in width
▪ How much would a first-class ticket cost in 2016?
Around $50,000

▪ Name three things you could do while aboard The Titanic:

Read in the reading room, Eat in the restaurant, smoke in the smoking room

▪ How many crew members survived?

705

▪ How long should it have taken to get to New York?

7 seven days/1Week

▪ What was the maximum speed of The Titanic (in knots):

22.5

▪ How many compartments flooded?

five became flooded with ice cold water

▪ How many people could lifeboats carry?

64

▪ When was The Titanic rediscovered?

The Titanic was rediscovered on July 14th, 1986

▪ Put these words in alphabetical order

Unsinkable , Iceberg , Titanic , Passengers , survivors , Southampton, life boats
, boats Iceberg life Passengers Southampton, survivors Titanic Unsinkable

▪ Re-write the sentences below changing it to present tense.

The Titanic was the greatest ship ever
the titanic is the greatest ship ever
▪ Re-write the sentences below changing it to future tense.
Women and children were to board the lifeboats first.
women and children will a board on the life boats first

▪ How many sub-headings are in this report?

▪ Define the word voyage

▪ Like when going on a trip

▪ Explain why The Titanic sank

▪ Because of the ice burg