On 15 April, 1912, the biggest ever ocean liner, the Titanic, set sail from Southampton, bound for New York with 2,240 passengers and crew. In the mid-Atlantic, it struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1,500 lives. This still ranks as one of the worst maritime tragedies in history. But let’s look at some of the unusual facts surrounding the Titanic and its terrible fate.
CAPTAIN SMITH SEEN AFTER THE SINKING: Three months after the sinking of the Titanic, in July 1912, an American naval officer who knew the Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith, bumped into him on a street in Baltimore in the United States. Captain Peter Pryal, who previously worked for Titanic’s owners, the White Star Line, saw Smith and introduced himself. A frosty exchange followed and Pryal watched Smith buy a train ticket for Washington DC.
Smith parted company, saying to Pryal: “Be good, shipmate, until we meet again.” It was remarked that Pryal was church going, teetotal, and sane and therefore a reliable witness. Yet Smith was believed to have gone down with the Titanic, choosing to die with his ship.
FIND OUT MORE: Busting popular Titanic myths
CAPTAIN SMITH COMMITTED SUICIDE … OR DIDN’T: Days after the Titanic sank, reports in the newspapers suggested that Captain Smith and his chief engineer shot themselves on the bridge of the ship as it slid into the ocean. When Smith first put the revolver to his head, there was a scuffle to try and prevent him ending it all but he prevailed.
However, that was flatly contradicted by other claims that Smith was seen diving into the sea when all was lost.
MEN DRESSED AS WOMEN TO ESCAPE THE TITANIC: Reports emerged soon after the disaster that various men, who were named and shamed, had dressed as women to get off the Titanic. The rule for filling the lifeboats was women and children first. However, some men desperate to survive decided to present themselves as being of the fairer sex.
A certain Mrs Fortune of Winnipeg told how she and her three daughters were put in the tenth lifeboat to be lowered, finding themselves with “a Chinaman, an Italian stoker, and a man dressed in women’s clothing”. Only the stoker could row and the daughters had to help with the oars. “The man dressed in woman’s clothes did his best, but didn’t seem familiar with an oar. This man wore a woman’s bonnet and a veil in addition to a skirt and blouse”.
One report claimed that a notorious gambler, “Doc Owen”, had cross-dressed to save his skin but it turned out that he never got a ticket for the Titanic. Another man, William T. Sloper has often been named as “the man who got off in women’s clothing” but according to the Snopes fact checking website that has never been proven.
BOGUS SURVIVORS: Collecting full details of who had been on board and who had survived proved to be a bureaucratic challenge in the months following the catastrophe. This presented a perfect opportunity for criminals to present themselves as Titanic survivors and try to con the kind-hearted out of their money. Arthur Besant was one such rogue sentenced to two months imprisonment for posing as a Titanic survivor.
FAKE NEWS ABOUT THE TITANIC BELIEVED BY THE NEWSPAPERS: There was a huge amount of confusion in the days following the Titanic disaster with some reports suggesting that all passengers had been rescued. This fake news, originating in ship to ship communications, was carried by news agencies and then reported in the newspapers who then – red-faced – had to retract everything.
INITIAL SYMPATHY FOR THE SHIPPING COMPANY PRESIDENT: The head of the White Star Line was J. Bruce Ismay, who travelled on the Titanic that fateful night. After the disaster, he was demonised in the United States for getting on a lifeboat instead of going down with the ship. As a result, Ismay was nicknamed “Brute” Ismay.
Was this unfair? Ismay claimed he helped many others get to lifeboats before thinking of his own survival. When he was rescued, and taken on board the RMS Carpathia, his emotional state was so fragile that doctors dosed him up with opiates, and Titanic passengers looked in on the distressed survivor, offering their sympathy. Attitudes towards Ismay hardened when the American investigations got underway.
SHORTAGE OF LIFEBOATS – NOT A MYTH: However, it’s an undeniable fact that during Titanic’s construction in Belfast, Ismay ordered the number of lifeboats on board to be reduced from 48 to 16, plus four collapsible boats for crew use. That did meet the Board of Trade’s regulations but Ismay would have known it didn’t match the number of crew and passengers expected to be on the ship.
FIRST SWIMMING POOL: In the First Class area on the Titanic, there were squash courts, a Turkish bath, gymnasium, barber shop and … a swimming pool. Most cruise ships today have at least one pool on deck but this was revolutionary in the year 1912.
FIRST CLASS ROOMS WERE RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE: The Parlour Suites on the Titanic cost US$4,350, which is over US$140,000 today. This accommodation was intended for the super-rich only, way out of the reach of even the well-heeled middle classes. However, third class was not especially cheap at US$40, which would be US$1,200 today, adjusting for inflation.
THE FOURTH FAKE FUNNEL: Three of Titanic’s four funnels were fully functional but the fourth was purely decorative, intended to make the ship appear even more impressive. It was used as a ventilation shaft for the kitchen.
TITANIC AS A BABY’S NAME: Incredibly some people tried to name their newly born children Titanic. In Budapest, a baker was told his daughter could not be named after the sunken ship as Titanic was not a saint’s name.
