PASSENGER & CREW STATS
There were approximately 2,240 people aboard the Titanic .
The Titanic had people of 33 different nationalities aboard .
There were at least 12 dogs travelling on the ship .
CARGO STATS
The Titanic contained :
7,000 heads of lettuce
11,000 lb fresh fish
75,000 lb of meat
36,000 apples
5 Steinway pianos
40,000 fresh eggs
1,000 bottles of wine
40 tons potatoes
1 priceless book of essays by Francis Bacon
About 1,317 people were paying passengers .
There were approx 900 crew members , including 60 chefs and chefs ’ assistants .
The most expensive ticket on board the Titanic was £ 875 ( roughly £ 122,500 in today ’ s money ). The average cost of a first class ticket was £ 30 . Second class tickets cost , on average , £ 12 . The cheapest ticket cost £ 5 , which is around £ 1,600 in today ’ s money .
One cat and four kittens disembarked the Titanic in Southampton before she set sail for New York .
3,364 bags of mail
1 marmalade machine
12 cases of ostrich feathers
1 pink diamond
1 bejewelled copy of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám covered with rubies and precious gems
1 red 1912 Renault Type CB Coupe de Ville motor car
TITANIC MYTHS
MYTH 1 : Third class passengers were trapped below deck while first and second class passengers boarded the lifeboats . That ’ s why so many third class passengers died .
Nope . Third class passengers were not trapped below deck , but the first class passengers and second class passengers did have better access to the lifeboats because their decks were closer to them . The real reason why more third class passengers died has to do with why they were travelling and who with . Most third class passengers were travelling as whole families , and they tended to have more children with them . In 1912 , 13-year-old boys were considered men and so didn ’ t get an automatic place on the lifeboats . Many families chose to stay together rather than separate and lose their young sons and brothers .
MYTH 2 : Third class passengers lived in squalor aboard the Titanic
Third class passengers had a nice little bed and a washstand . Third class on the Titanic was still nicer than second class on most other ships . There probably weren ’ t enough toilets to go around , but that was true on land too . Lots of perfectly good houses didn ’ t have indoor plumbing , so passengers probably didn ’ t see this as a particular problem . It would have felt luxurious for everyone !
MYTH 3 : Captain Smith was responsible for the tragedy
Captain Smith was not really to blame for the sinking of the Titanic , in fact , he and the other highlytrained crew members did everything they were supposed to do to keep the vessel safe . For the Titanic to sink , lots of things had to go spectacularly wrong at once . There was a series of accidents and freak weather conditions that caught them all out . One of which was a thermal inversion , when warm air traps cooler air below it . This , in turn , caused a ‘ super mirage ’ in which the horizon appeared higher than it actually was and also obscured the iceberg .
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Words : Freya Hardy . Illustration : Robbie Cathro