The story of the Titanic began before anyone had even thought about building the great ship. In 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic sank an American writer named Morgan Robertson wrote a book called The Wreck of the Titan. In his story, the Titan, a passenger ship labeled “unsinkable,” sails from England to New York. With many rich and famous passengers onboard, the Titan hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks. Because there are not enough lifeboats on board, many lives are lost (Ballard, 10).

In reality, Thomas Henry Ismay purchased the White Star Line Company in the mid 1800’s. At the time of their debut, large beautiful ships were popular with many rich travelers. Upon his death in 1898, his son J. Bruce Ismay (Appendix A: Portraits) took

As her name boasted, the Titanic was indeed the biggest ship in the world. She was nicknamed “the Millionaires’ Special,” “the Wonder Ship,” “the Unsinkable Ship,” and “the Last Word in Luxury” by newspapers (Appendix C: Newspaper clippings) around the world (Ballard, 11). Titanic was commonly referred to as a floating palace because of her superb restaurants, exceptional reception rooms, and luxurious staterooms (Appendix E: Photo). She was the first ocean liner to have a swimming pool and a gym onboard (Noble, 3). She had dog kennels for the passengers’ pets. Assigned to crewmembers was the task of taking the animals for a walk each day (Tanaka, 11). Stowed in her hold, was enough food to feed a small town, including 40,000 fresh eggs, 7,000 heads of lettuce, and 36,000 apples. To serve the passengers, the ship carried more than 57,000 plates, bowls, and cups (Tanaka, 8).

Lifeboat ten (10) launched with forty-seven people from the port side. Panic was setting in as boat fourteen (14) launched from the starboard side with fifty-four people, including Office Lowe, who fired three shots in the air from his pistol to keep passengers on the Lower deck from jumping onto the boat. Lifeboat twelve (12) launched contained thirty-two people; nine (9) carried forty-eight people; eleven (11) comprised fifty-six people; thirteen (13) with forty-three people, and fifteen (15) had fifty-seven people. Collapsible boat C launched with thirty-two people (including White Star Chairman J. Bruce Ismay), which held the capacity of forty-nine people. Emergency boat two (2) launched filled with twenty people, not its capacity of forty people, and four (4) launched with thirty-four people. Five hundred ninety one (591) people had now left the Titanic.

Taylor, Percy, C. - Cellist Woodward, J. W. - Cellist

Some topics in this essay:
Sharpe Marriott, Captain Smith, North Atlantic, Bruce Ismay, Officer Boxhall, Appendix Photo, March Titanic’s, Officer Murdoch, Lawrence Beesley, Office Lowe, sharpe marriott, mccluskie sharpe marriott, mccluskie sharpe, captain smith, appendix portraits, white star, north atlantic, officer boxhall, bruce ismay, star line, mcdonald 2, white star line, sharpe marriott 478, maritime museum 1, national maritime museum,