
READ MORE: Titanic by the Numbers: From Construction to Disaster to Discovery Passengers on the Titanic While unthinkably inadequate by today’s standards, Titanic’s supply of lifeboats actually exceeded the British Board of Trade’s requirements.
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Titanic could carry up to 2,435 passengers, and a crew of approximately 900 brought her capacity to more than 3,300 people.Īs a result, even if the lifeboats were loaded to full capacity during an emergency evacuation, there were available seats for only one-third of those on board.

A mere 16 boats, plus four Engelhardt “collapsibles,” could accommodate just 1,178 people. The second critical safety lapse that contributed to the loss of so many lives was the inadequate number of lifeboats carried on Titanic. More than 100,000 people attended the launching, which took just over a minute and went off without a hitch. On May 31, 1911, Titanic’s immense hull–the largest movable manmade object in the world at the time–made its way down the slipways and into the River Lagan in Belfast. In March 1909, work began in the massive Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, on the second of these three ocean liners, Titanic, and continued nonstop for two years. Part of a new “Olympic” class of liners, each ship would measure 882 feet in length and 92.5 feet at their broadest point, making them the largest of their time. Pirrie, chairman of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff. Bruce Ismay, chief executive of White Star, discussed the construction of three large ships with William J. The same year that Cunard unveiled its two magnificent liners, J. Lusitania met its tragic end on May 7, 1915, when a torpedo fired by a German U-boat sunk the ship, killing nearly 1,200 of the 1,959 people on board and precipitating the United States’ entry into World War I.ĭid you know? Passengers traveling first class on Titanic were roughly 44 percent more likely to survive than other passengers.

Cunard’s other masterpiece, Lusitania, launched the same year and was lauded for its spectacular interiors.
