Checked on 15 November 2026
Fact-check log
Every numbered claim on this site is checked against a cached excerpt of one of the three sources below. Where those sources disagree, we do not pick a winner.
How many people?
The formal investigation records the loss of 1,490 lives.1 The inquiry’s table of numbers saved gives a total of 711 people saved out of 2,201, or 32.30 per cent.1 Britannica says the exact number killed is unknown, but that it is generally believed that of approximately 2,200 passengers and crew, some 1,500 people perished, and that only about 705 survived.2
The inquiry uses both 712 (people taken on board Carpathia, one of whom died shortly afterwards) and 711 (the official total saved). We use 711 for the official total, and explain the extra person.
How long was she?
Her registered dimensions, the inquiry says, were length 852.50 feet and breadth 92.50 feet. Displacement at 34 feet 7 inches is given as 52,310 tons.1 Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the length as approximately 882.5 feet (269 metres) and the beam as about 92.5 feet (28.2 metres), with a gross registered tonnage of 46,328 tons, and says that fully laden she displaced more than 52,000 tons.2 Greenwich gives registered dimensions of length 852.5 feet, length overall 882.75 feet, breadth 92.5 feet, depth 59.6 feet, and tonnage gross 46,329, net 21,831, with a service speed of 21 knots.3
The inquiry’s registered length is 852.50 feet; Royal Museums Greenwich gives that same registered length and an overall length of 882.75 feet; Britannica gives approximately 882.5 feet. These are not the same measurement, and all three stay in view.
When was the first distress call?
At 12.15 a.m., the inquiry says, the distress signal CQD was sent, and was heard by several steamships and by Cape Race.1 Greenwich times the first wireless call for assistance, using the code CQD, at 00.45 on 15 April, and the last transmission at 02.10. The British inquiry instead times the first CQD at 12.15 a.m. and the last message at 2.17. Both wordings stay in view.3
“Unsinkable”
Royal Museums Greenwich is plain that Titanic “was never actually described as ‘unsinkable’.” The claim made by the builders, it says, was that she was “practically unsinkable.”3
Royal Museums Greenwich says the builders’ wording was “practically unsinkable,” and that she was never actually described as simply unsinkable. Britannica records that the system led many to claim she was unsinkable. We keep both.
Did the ship break in two?
The inquiry, following Second Officer Lightoller’s account, recorded that “the ship did not break in two” and that she did eventually attain the perpendicular before going slowly down.1 Britannica, writing after the wreck was examined, says the ship broke in two between the third and fourth funnels as the stern rose and the midsection came under great strain.2
The boat-by-boat numbers
A table of who left in each boat, compiled from testimony, added up to 914 people. The court called those figures “quite unreliable”, because only 712 were in fact saved by Carpathia, and all the boats were accounted for.1
The British inquiry warns that all times after the collision, as given by witnesses, are unreliable. We still give the court’s own timetable, because it is the official record, and we keep that warning in view.