10 Shocking Things About the Titanic That Are Actually True

…Have you ever watched the movie “Titanic“?

I think the majority of people have seen the famous movie starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio at least once. The movie not only shows the tragic thing that happened with the huge cruise ship, but it also focuses its attention on the love story of 2 young people, Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson.

But as beautiful as this movie was, there were some things about which everyone was curious. Why didn’t they know about the iceberg? How fast did the cruise ship sink? How many people were able to escape the terror? What happened to the people who died? Were Rose and Jack real?

Even though Rose and Jack weren’t actually part of the real-life cruise, some of the questions mentioned above are incredibly interesting, and we all need to know more about them.

Curious to know the answers? Then keep reading along with us, because here are 10 shocking things about the Titanic that are actually true.

1. The first lifeboat launched

We start off this list strong by saying something that honestly left me speechless when I discovered it. The first lifeboat was launched after an entire hour after the iceberg hit the ship.

It would seem obvious that when a cruise ship’s hull is compromised, everybody’s lives are in danger, so the lifeboats need to be released as soon as possible. However, the Titanic thought otherwise, and they waited a whole hour before sending out their first lifeboat.

2. 11-course dinner

If you were curious to know what kind of goodies first-class guests were being served while they were on board the Titanic, you should know that they were really well fed.

For instance, on the last day on the ship, they were treated to an 11-course dinner as the ship sailed into the sunset. Oysters and filet mignon were served as starters, while chocolate and vanilla eclairs were offered as dessert options. Unfortunately, for many of them, that was their last meal.

3. Where it lies

When the ship went down between April 14th and 15th, 1912, everyone wanted to know where the massive ship had gone down. Well, experts have located the Titanic at a depth of 12,600 feet.

The remains of the Titanic lie almost 2.5 miles below the surface of the water, roughly 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The ship sank in 2 pieces, with a chasm of nearly 2,000 feet in the sea floor separating the 2 halves.

4. Space available on the lifeboats

Another thing that seems impossible to believe is that the Titanic was actually able to hold 64 lifeboats but only carried 20 on board. We have no idea why they decided to leave so many behind. Some people say that it might’ve been due to the costs, which were estimated to be around $16,000, but others say that it’s not possible since the company that built the ship paid no less than $7 million to bring it to life.

Whatever the real reason might’ve been, the truth is that between 11:45 p.m. and 2:15 a.m., 18 lifeboats were loaded, but they were only half-full. There are a variety of theories as to why many lifeboats were like that.

Some said they were worried the lifeboat wouldn’t be able to hold everyone, while others said it was because the crew had been told to get the women and children off the ship first.

Moreover, most lifeboats didn’t return to the crash for fear of being overrun by drowning casualties as the half-filled boats rowed away from the shipwreck. Unfortunately, only lifeboats 4 and 14 made it back to the ship to pick up the survivors, and a few of them didn’t make it.

5. Hypothesis about the iceberg

It’s believed that the iceberg the Titanic struck was between 50 and 100 feet above the sea. An estimate puts the total length of the iceberg at somewhere between 200 and 400 feet. Whatever it was, we’re sure that iceberg was very big and strong.

Moreover, people who studied this whole accident say that the iceberg was discovered around 11:30 p.m. on April 14th. Someone on the lookout post saw the iceberg and immediately started sounding the alarm. The ship swung around at an extreme angle to avoid colliding with it, but it was already too late.

6. Optical illusion on that tragic night

Historians say that it’s possible that an optical illusion prevented the iceberg from being seen in time. Tim Maltin, a historian, thinks that the weather that night might have caused super refraction, which could’ve made the iceberg hard to see.

This might’ve been the reason the iceberg wasn’t detected until the ship was too close to avoid it and arrive safely at its destination. Unfortunately, that night left hundreds of people dead, and those who survived had a hard time getting over that tragic event in their lives.

7. Warnings before the impact

Sources say that there were 6 iceberg alerts before the ship hit. Since Captain Edward Smith wasn’t expecting a Masters’ Service Gram (MSG), the most vital iceberg warning was obviously never sent to him.

With this initialism, the captain would have had to verify receipt of the communication manually. A senior radio operator didn’t pay attention to the message because it didn’t start with the MSG prefix.

8. The couple who might’ve influenced the story of Rose and Jack

If your biggest curiosity was whether the romantic story of Jack and Rose was real or pure fiction, we think that we have the answer. Isidore Straus was an American Jew born in Bavaria who worked as a politician, businessman, and co-owner of Macy’s department store with his brother Nathan.

When the man and his wife, Ida, were offered 2 seats in a lifeboat, he refused because there were still many children and women who had not been saved. When Ida saw that, she decided that she doesn’t want to be saved unless her husband is not with her, so she said that she doesn’t want to sit in the lifeboat either.

The couple accepted their tragic faith, and they died together as the Titanic sank. Their incredible love story inspired many people, and it was compared to the one from the 1997 “Titanic” movie, in which Rose didn’t share a door she found with Jack, and he froze to death.

9. The huge anchor

Everything about the Titanic was huge, and the anchor was no exception to the rule. According to sources, the primary anchor required the use of 20 horses to transport. That means the main anchor of the ship weighed in at about 30,000 pounds or 16 tons.

In 1911, the crew needed 20 horses to travel the 2 miles from the anchor’s casting location in Netherton to the Dudley railway station. The entire working process was difficult, but people thought it was exciting to see their dream become a reality. Little did they know that the Titanic was about to become one of the worst tragedies in the world’s history.

10. It took 2 years to build

Different sources say that it took more than 2 years to construct the ship. Building the 26,000-ton iron and steel hull required 3 million rivets. The efforts to bring the impressive Titanic to life were incredible, but some people say that it had problems from the start.

For instance, according to recent discoveries, the ship’s fate was caused by a fire in the hull. Or at least, this is what experts found and think might’ve been the cause.

The documentary “Titanic: The New Evidence” suggests that a fire on the ship just before departure was the likely cause of the tragedy. They said that there was a continuing fire in the ship’s hull, as reported by journalists, which might’ve damaged the metal.

For 3 weeks before setting sail, the fire reached temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, making the material weak and sensitive to impacts.

When the tragic impact took place on that deadly night in April 1912, it took the ship less than 3 hours to fully sink, leaving thousands of people in pain or happy that they made it out alive.

…What do you think about the story of the Titanic? Do you find it tragic? Let us know in the comment section!

…If you want to discover something that is just as interesting as this one, you should definitely check out this amazing article: JFK’s Assassination: 5 Proven Facts That Don’t Add Up!