Titanic

This is a picture of the ship. To get an idea of its size- look very closely under the first funnel. You can see little black dots... those are people standing at the edge.

I'm not sure what it is about this ship that has me so intrigued... wait I do know. It is the fact that a vessel that was deemed "practically unsinkable" would have such a tragic ending on it's very first voyage. No expense was spared on the ship. It was luxurious even beyond today's standards. And now... it is at the bottom of the north Atlantic, having not even completed it's first run.
Brandon and I watched Discovery Channel special in HD (made it even better) one night, and I've been hooked ever since. I've gotten books from the library that I've been working my way through. Most of what has had me interested is reading the survivors accounts of their experiences. It is just fascinating to hear it directly from the testimonies that they gave the British and American investigating committees. Of course most of what they have to say is very different from what happened in the movie with Kate and Leo. Brandon and I Netflixed James Cameron's Titanic last night so I could compare. It was a good love story, but not very accurate in some of the scenes. Here are some facts about the RMS Titanic.

- It got the RMS prefix added to it's name because it was a mail carrying ship. It stands for Royal Mail Steamer.
- The ship had an onboard swimming pool, a gymnasium, a Turkish Bath, libraries for each passenger class, and a squash court. And this was in 1912!
- Both JP Morgan (who helped finance the Titanic) and Milton Hershey had plans to travel on the Titanic but canceled their reservations before the voyage. Premonitions?
-For seventy years after the disaster, it was believed that the Titanic had sunk intact. Although there were several passengers who insisted that the ship had broken in two as it sank. Almost all of the accounts I've read are people who said it did go down in one piece.
- the Titanic was only legally required to carry enough lifeboats for 962 occupants (the ship had room for 3,547 passengers). The White Star Line exceeded the regulations by including four collapsible lifeboats, bringing total lifeboat capacity to 1,178. But, there were 2,224 "souls on board" during it's maiden voyage.
-The United States Senate investigation reported that 1,517 people perished in the disaster.
-709 survived.
-There are only two survivors alive today. Neither of which has any recollection of the event.

What a tragedy! I just imagine all those men saying goodbye to their "women and children" and my heart sinks. If I were traveling with Brandon on that ship there is no way I would have gotten on a life boat without him, but if I had my kids with me then there is no way I could have not gotten on the life boat with them.