In short
Facts
- Built
- On 31 March 1909, some three months after work began on Olympic, the keel was laid for Titanic. The two ships were built side by side, Britannica says, largely designed by Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff.1 Titanic was launched on 31 May 1911, then fitted out. In early April 1912 she underwent sea trials and was declared seaworthy.1
- Registered size
- The inquiry describes Titanic as a three-screw vessel of 46,328 tons gross and 21,831 net register tons, built by Harland & Wolff for the White Star Line service between Southampton and New York, and registered at Liverpool, official number 131,428.2 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.2
- Overall length
- 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.1 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
- People on board
- In all, the inquiry says, 2,201 persons were on board when Titanic left Queenstown: 1,316 passengers and 885 crew.2
- Saved, and lost
- The inquiry’s table of numbers saved gives a total of 711 people saved out of 2,201, or 32.30 per cent.2 The formal investigation records the loss of 1,490 lives.2
- Boats
- Titanic was provided with 20 boats, the inquiry says, with total accommodation for 1,178 persons: fourteen lifeboats designed to carry 65 people each, two emergency cutters for 40 each, and four Engelhardt collapsible boats for 47 each.2
- The night
- At 11.40 p.m. on 14 April 1912, in the wording of the British inquiry, Titanic struck an iceberg, and at 2.20 a.m. the next day she foundered.2 Britannica dates the sinking to 15 April 1912, at 2:20 a.m., some 2 hours and 40 minutes after hitting an iceberg.1
- The wreck
- The wreck was discovered in 1985 by a joint French and American expedition led by Robert Ballard, working with IFREMER from the U.S. Navy research ship Knorr. On 1 September 1985 the first underwater images were recorded, and later video showed the ship lying upright in two pieces, about 12,500 feet (3,810 metres) down, some 400 nautical miles (740 km) from Newfoundland.1
Disagreements, and the longer wording, are on the fact-check log.