Ten Titanic facts to know first
- Titanic cost about $7.5 million to build in 1912, according to J. Bruce Ismay’s U.S. inquiry testimony.
- Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches long overall and measured about 46,329 gross register tons.
- The maiden voyage left Southampton on April 10, 1912, with New York as the destination.
- Titanic struck an iceberg at about 11:40 p.m. on April 14 and sank around 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
- Titanic carried 20 boats rated for 1,178 people.
- The British inquiry counted 711 survivors; this site’s modern name-by-name roll contains 712.
- This site’s current modern victim roll contains 1,496 names.
- Carpathia rescued the lifeboat occupants and reached New York on April 18.
- A joint French-American expedition found the wreck in 1985.
- The wreck lies about 12,500 feet, or 3,800 metres, below the North Atlantic.
Titanic by the numbers
These are some of the most searched Titanic numbers. Approximate labels are intentional where historical records or modern datasets differ.
Construction cost
J. Bruce Ismay’s 1912 U.S. inquiry figure; about £1.5 million.
Length
About 269 metres overall.
Gross tonnage
A measure of enclosed volume, not weight.
Lifeboats
Rated for a total of 1,178 people.
Iceberg collision
About 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912.
Final sinking
About 2 hours 40 minutes after impact.
Modern survivor roll
500 passengers and 212 crew in this site’s current roll.
Modern victim roll
This site’s current researched name-by-name total.
Wreck depth
Roughly 3,800 metres below the North Atlantic.
Wreck discovery
Located by a joint French-American project.
Historic sources do not use one perfectly identical passenger-and-crew dataset, so totals should always be read with their methodology.
Titanic ship facts: size, construction and design
These facts explain Titanic’s size, construction, machinery, name, and most famous onboard features.
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Titanic was built in Belfast.
Harland and Wolff built Titanic at its Queen’s Island shipyard in Belfast for the White Star Line. The ship was one of three closely related Olympic-class liners.
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The ship was launched on May 31, 1911.
Launching placed the unfinished hull in the water. Months of fitting out followed before Titanic was ready for sea trials and passenger service in 1912.
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Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches long.
That is about 269 metres from bow to stern. Titanic was one of the largest moving objects ever built when it entered service.
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The ship was about 92 feet 6 inches wide.
Titanic’s broad beam helped provide room for machinery, cargo, crew spaces, and three passenger classes spread across the vessel.
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Only three of Titanic’s four funnels carried boiler smoke.
The fourth funnel helped ventilate working spaces and added to the liner’s balanced, powerful appearance. Calling it completely fake misses its practical ventilation role.
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Titanic used three propellers.
Two large wing propellers were driven by reciprocating steam engines. Exhaust steam then powered a turbine connected to the centre propeller.
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The ship had ten decks.
The decks contained passenger rooms, promenades, dining spaces, cargo areas, machinery, and crew quarters. Not every deck ran the full length of the ship.
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Titanic carried a swimming pool, gymnasium, squash court, and Turkish baths.
These amenities helped White Star Line market comfort and luxury, especially to first-class passengers. Access depended heavily on class and ticket type.
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RMS meant Royal Mail Ship.
Titanic carried mail under contract as well as passengers and cargo. Five postal clerks worked in the ship’s mail operation during the maiden voyage.
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Titanic had two sister ships.
Olympic entered service first, while Britannic was completed later and served as a hospital ship during the First World War. The three vessels shared a broad design but were not identical.
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Titanic cost about $7.5 million to build in 1912.
J. Bruce Ismay gave the U.S. Senate inquiry a construction cost of $7.5 million. At the British inquiry he gave the equivalent figure as about £1.5 million.
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Titanic measured about 46,329 gross register tons.
Gross register tonnage measured enclosed internal volume under the rules of the period. It should not be confused with the ship’s weight.
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Titanic’s machinery produced about 46,000 horsepower.
Two reciprocating engines and a low-pressure turbine powered the three propellers.
Read how Titanic was powered -
Titanic’s normal service speed was about 21 knots.
About 21 knots was a practical service figure. The British inquiry found Titanic was making about 22 knots at the iceberg collision, while a documented April 3 run reached about 23¼ knots.
See Titanic speed and top-speed evidence -
Titanic was designed for more than 2,400 passengers.
Published capacity figures list 735 first-class, 674 second-class and 1,026 third-class passenger berths. The maiden voyage did not fill them all.
See who was aboard
Titanic maiden voyage facts
Titanic’s first Atlantic crossing began as a normal scheduled voyage with several port calls before the ship headed west for New York.
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Titanic left Southampton on April 10, 1912.
The maiden voyage began from the English port of Southampton. A near collision with the liner New York briefly added drama before Titanic cleared the harbour.
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The ship stopped at Cherbourg, France.
Titanic was too large to dock directly at Cherbourg’s existing facilities, so tenders carried passengers and luggage between shore and ship.
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Titanic’s final port was Queenstown, now Cobh, Ireland.
More passengers boarded from tenders on April 11. Titanic then entered the open Atlantic and headed toward New York.
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The voyage was supposed to end in New York.
Titanic never reached its destination. Carpathia later carried the survivors to New York, arriving on the evening of April 18.
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Captain Edward Smith commanded Titanic.
Smith was White Star Line’s senior captain and had commanded Olympic. Titanic’s maiden voyage became his last voyage before his death in the sinking.
Read Captain Smith’s biography -
About 2,200 passengers and crew were aboard.
Historical totals differ slightly because lists classify a small number of people differently. Careful sources therefore explain which dataset they are using instead of pretending one total is uncontested.
Compare the people-aboard totals -
Titanic carried first-, second-, and third-class passengers.
Class affected accommodation, deck location, routes through the ship, and access to information. It also had a major effect on the chances of survival.
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Two Marconi operators handled Titanic’s wireless traffic.
Jack Phillips and Harold Bride sent passenger messages and received operational traffic, including ice reports. Their equipment also carried Titanic’s distress calls.
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Titanic received several warnings about ice.
Messages came from ships including Caronia, Baltic, Amerika, Californian, and Mesaba. The warnings differed in wording, location, urgency, and how they reached the bridge.
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Titanic continued at roughly 22 knots before the collision.
The British inquiry’s formal finding was about 22 knots shortly before and at the collision, a speed it judged excessive under the circumstances.
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Titanic nearly collided with the liner New York while leaving Southampton.
The movement of Titanic through the harbour helped draw New York from her moorings. Tugs and quick handling prevented a collision.
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The site’s modern passenger roll contains 1,317 records.
One entry, Marius Petersen, is flagged as disputed. Excluding it leaves 1,316 passenger records in the selected modern dataset.
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The British inquiry counted 885 Titanic crew members.
Its final report divided them into 66 deck, 325 engine and 494 victualling personnel. This site’s modern searchable crew roll contains 891 records because later datasets can classify some workers differently.
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The modern passenger roll includes 324 first-class passengers.
First class included wealthy travellers, families, servants and prominent business or social figures.
See first-class passenger totals -
The modern passenger roll includes 709 third-class passengers.
Third class was the largest passenger group and included many people travelling to build new lives in North America.
See third-class passenger totals
Titanic sinking facts
The collision and sinking unfolded over about two hours and forty minutes, leaving time for evacuation but not enough time, boats, or shared understanding to save everyone.
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Titanic struck an iceberg at about 11:40 p.m. on April 14.
The iceberg’s exact dimensions were never measured. Direct witnesses estimated roughly 50 to 100 feet of visible height above the water.
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The collision damaged the starboard side.
Flooding began in several forward compartments. The damage was enough to defeat the ship’s watertight subdivision even though no single giant open gash ran along the hull.
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Titanic’s hull damage was spread across multiple areas.
The iceberg caused openings and separated seams along the hull. What mattered most was that water could enter too many compartments for the ship to remain afloat.
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Watertight compartments could slow flooding, not guarantee survival.
Titanic could survive several flooding scenarios, but the actual damage reached too many forward compartments. Water then spilled from one compartment to the next as the bow sank lower.
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Titanic sank at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
Approximately two hours and forty minutes passed between collision and disappearance. Awareness of the danger grew unevenly during that time.
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The ship broke in two before reaching the seabed.
Many survivors reported a breakup, although some early official interpretations were cautious. The separated bow and stern at the wreck later confirmed that Titanic did not sink intact.
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Titanic sent both CQD and SOS distress signals.
CQD was familiar to Marconi operators, while SOS was the newer international signal. Titanic was not the first ship ever to use SOS.
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Titanic’s musicians played during the evacuation.
Survivor accounts agree that the band performed as the emergency developed. The exact final piece remains uncertain because recollections differed.
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The nearby Californian did not come to Titanic’s aid that night.
Californian’s wireless operator had gone off duty, while officers saw rockets but did not identify them as a disaster requiring immediate action. The ship’s exact distance remains debated.
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The seawater was about 28°F, or -2°C.
Salt water can remain liquid below the normal freezing point of fresh water. Cold shock and rapid loss of movement made survival in the water extremely difficult.
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The iceberg did not cut one simple 300-foot open gash.
Flooding came through a series of openings and damaged seams spread along the forward starboard hull. The number of compartments opened to the sea was more important than one continuous slit.
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Titanic’s watertight doors did close after the collision.
The doors helped isolate lower compartments, but the flooding reached too many sections and progressed as the bow settled lower.
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Lookouts Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee were in the crow’s nest.
Fleet rang three bells and telephoned the bridge after the iceberg was sighted. The warning came only shortly before impact.
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Titanic was not the first ship ever to use SOS.
Titanic sent both CQD and SOS. The newer SOS signal had already been used by other ships before April 1912.
Read the distress calls -
The exact final song played by Titanic’s band is uncertain.
Survivors remembered different music. The evidence supports the band playing during the emergency, but not one certain final selection.
Read about Titanic’s musicians
Titanic lifeboat, rescue and survival facts
Titanic’s boats, loading decisions, class patterns, and delayed rescue explain why survival was so uneven.
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Titanic carried 20 lifeboats.
The total included 14 standard wooden lifeboats, two emergency cutters and four collapsible boats. Together they provided rated space for 1,178 people.
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The lifeboats had room for 1,178 people.
The British inquiry recorded a combined rated capacity of 1,178 people, compared with about 2,208 passengers and crew aboard.
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Titanic legally complied with the lifeboat rules of the time.
The British inquiry calculated the applicable rule as the equivalent of about 962 people. Titanic exceeded that minimum, showing how badly the rule had fallen behind ship size.
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Several lifeboats left with empty seats.
Hundreds of rated places went unused. The British inquiry’s broad reconstruction implies roughly 526 unused places at launch, but it also warned that boat-by-boat totals were unreliable.
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“Women and children first” was applied differently on each side.
Second Officer Charles Lightoller generally treated the order more strictly on the port side. First Officer William Murdoch sometimes allowed men into starboard boats when women were not immediately available.
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About 705 people survived.
Different historical lists produce slightly different totals. The British inquiry’s passenger and crew tables remain one of the site’s main consistent datasets.
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More than 1,500 people died.
Published totals often range from about 1,496 to 1,517 depending on how names and categories are counted. The scale of loss is clear even where the exact total varies.
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Carpathia rescued the people in Titanic’s lifeboats.
Captain Arthur Rostron changed course after receiving Titanic’s distress call and drove Carpathia through an ice region. The rescue ship began picking up survivors in the early morning.
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Passenger class strongly affected survival.
First-class passengers survived at a much higher rate than third-class passengers. Deck location, route complexity, information, family groups, gender, and evacuation timing all mattered.
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The survivors reached New York on April 18.
Carpathia arrived at Pier 54 after first landing Titanic’s lifeboats at the White Star Line pier. Families, reporters, and officials waited in heavy rain.
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Titanic carried 3,560 lifebelts.
The British inquiry also recorded 48 lifebuoys placed around the ship. Lifebelts were not a substitute for enough lifeboat seats in freezing water.
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The British inquiry counted 711 survivors.
Its official total was 499 passengers and 212 crew. TitanicSurvivors.com’s modern name-by-name roll contains 712 after a later crew-record update.
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TitanicSurvivors.com’s modern victim roll contains 1,496 names.
Nearby totals appear in other historical datasets because disputed identities and classifications are handled differently.
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Carpathia was about 58 nautical miles away when Captain Rostron received Titanic’s distress message.
Rostron immediately changed course and organized his ship to receive hundreds of survivors.
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The first Titanic lifeboat reached Carpathia at about 4:10 a.m.
The rescue continued for hours because the boats were scattered and had to come alongside one at a time.
Follow the rescue timeline
Titanic passenger and crew facts
The disaster is best understood through the people aboard, from babies and emigrant families to engineers, postal workers, officers, and musicians.
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Millvina Dean was Titanic’s youngest survivor.
She was only about nine weeks old during the voyage. Her mother and brother also survived, while her father died.
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Millvina Dean was also the last living Titanic survivor.
She died in 2009, ninety-seven years after the disaster. Her death closed the era of living survivor testimony.
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John Jacob Astor IV was the wealthiest passenger aboard.
Astor travelled in first class with his pregnant wife, Madeleine. She survived in Lifeboat 4, while he died in the sinking.
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All eight members of Titanic’s band died.
The musicians became symbols of duty and calm because they continued performing during the evacuation. Their individual lives and exact final movements deserve more than the legend alone.
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All five postal clerks died.
The postal team included two British and three American clerks. Accounts place them trying to protect registered mail as flooding entered the mail area.
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The modern passenger roll includes 284 second-class passengers.
Second class included professionals, teachers, clergy, families and other travellers.
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The modern passenger roll includes 116 children under age 14.
Children travelled in all three classes, and survival differed sharply by class and family circumstances.
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At least twelve dogs are documented aboard Titanic.
Modern specialist research identifies twelve confirmed dogs, with three small dogs known to have survived in lifeboats.
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Titanic carried 3,364 sacks of mail.
The Smithsonian National Postal Museum records mail loaded at Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown. Five sea post clerks worked aboard and all died.
Read about work aboard Titanic -
Passenger class strongly affected survival.
First-class passengers survived at a much higher rate than third-class passengers, while adult men had especially low survival rates.
Compare Titanic survival rates
Titanic wreck facts
The wreck added physical evidence to a history that had previously depended on testimony, ship plans, calculations, and recovered debris.
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The wreck was discovered on September 1, 1985.
The search team first recognized one of Titanic’s boilers in a debris trail. Following scattered wreckage proved more effective than looking only for one large hull shape.
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The successful discovery was a joint French-American effort.
IFREMER and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution worked through connected search phases using Le Suroit, Knorr, sonar, cameras, and the Argo system. Robert Ballard did not find Titanic alone.
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Titanic lies about 12,500 feet below the surface.
The wreck is roughly 3,800 metres deep in the North Atlantic. The depth, darkness, pressure, and distance from land make exploration difficult and expensive.
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Titanic sank roughly 350 nautical miles from Newfoundland.
The modern wreck lies southeast of Newfoundland in international waters. Its bow is near 41°43′57″N, 49°56′49″W, about 13 nautical miles east of Titanic’s best-known 1912 distress position.
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The bow and stern lie apart.
The bow is more recognizable, while the stern is heavily damaged and collapsed. A wide debris field lies between and around the main sections.
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Rusticles are changing the wreck.
Microbial communities help create hanging rust formations as iron deteriorates. Titanic is slowly changing, but no responsible source can name one exact year when every recognizable part will vanish.
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A debris trail helped the 1985 search team find Titanic.
The team recognized scattered wreckage and followed the trail toward the larger bow section instead of relying only on finding one huge hull target.
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A large debris field lies between and around the bow and stern.
Objects, machinery and fragments were scattered as Titanic broke apart and descended to the seabed.
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No one can give one exact year when Titanic will disappear.
Different parts of the wreck are deteriorating at different rates. Specific “disappearance dates” are more certain than the evidence allows.
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Titanic’s wreck is also a memorial site.
More than 1,500 people died and many bodies were never recovered, so exploration and preservation involve both archaeology and respect for the dead.
Read about the wreck today
Titanic rescue, inquiry and safety facts
The disaster changed maritime practice far beyond the night of the sinking.
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Carpathia reached New York on April 18, 1912.
Survivors arrived after several days of wireless messages, family searches and uncertainty ashore.
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The U.S. Senate inquiry began within days of the sinking.
The American investigation questioned survivors, crew, White Star officials and other witnesses while many were still in the United States.
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A separate British inquiry followed in London.
The Wreck Commissioner examined navigation, ice warnings, boats, construction, wireless practice and nearby ships.
Read the British inquiry findings -
Titanic exposed how badly lifeboat rules had fallen behind ship size.
The legal table had effectively stopped scaling for the largest liners even as passenger capacity kept growing.
See why Titanic lacked enough boats -
Maritime rules moved toward lifeboat space for everyone aboard.
The disaster helped drive a new safety approach based on the people carried rather than an outdated tonnage table.
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Continuous wireless watch became a major safety priority.
Californian’s wireless operator was off duty when Titanic sent distress traffic, showing the danger of limited radio watches.
Read about radio safety changes -
The International Ice Patrol became part of the North Atlantic safety response.
Regular iceberg monitoring helped ships receive better information about dangerous ice on major routes.
Learn about the Ice Patrol -
The first SOLAS convention was adopted in 1914.
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea addressed lifeboats, radio communication, navigation safety and other lessons highlighted by Titanic.
Read about SOLAS -
Titanic was insured for less than its construction cost.
J. Bruce Ismay told the U.S. inquiry that the ship cost about $7.5 million and was insured for about $5 million.
Read about responsibility and company decisions -
The disaster became a permanent test case for eyewitness evidence.
Survivors agreed on many broad events but differed on details such as music, the ship’s breakup and what happened in individual boats.
Read Titanic eyewitness accounts
How much did Titanic cost to build?
J. Bruce Ismay was asked this directly in 1912. He told the U.S. Senate inquiry that Titanic cost $7.5 million and gave the British inquiry an approximate figure of £1.5 million.
Modern inflation conversions vary widely depending on the method used, so the original 1912 cost is the clearest figure to lead with.
Could Titanic have carried more than 20 lifeboats?
Yes. Titanic actually carried 20 boats with rated space for 1,178 people. The U.S. inquiry reported that its 16 sets of double-acting davits could handle as many as 48 boats, and Alexander Carlisle testified that he personally favoured 48.
A 64-boat arrangement was also discussed at the British inquiry, but Carlisle explicitly did not recommend 64. The clearest summary is 20 actually carried, 48 favoured by Carlisle, and 64 discussed as a possible design scheme.
Why some Titanic totals differ
Passenger, crew, survivor and victim totals vary slightly because historical lists do not classify every disputed or borderline record in exactly the same way.
This page gives exact numbers when the selected dataset is clear and uses approximate wording when responsible sources genuinely differ.
Sources used to check the Titanic facts
The strongest numerical claims are checked against the 1912 inquiries and established museums or maritime institutions. Deeper linked pages contain more sources for individual topics.
- U.S. Senate inquiry report: general particulars of Titanic Construction cost, dimensions, tonnage, passenger capacity and the American inquiry’s 48-boat davit finding.
- J. Bruce Ismay testimony on Titanic’s cost Ismay stated that Titanic cost $7.5 million and was insured for about $5 million.
- British inquiry: lifeboats and rescue 20 boats, their types and the 1,178-person rated capacity.
- Alexander Carlisle testimony on 48 and 64 boats Carlisle distinguished the 64-boat design discussion from his own preference for 48 boats.
- British inquiry: life-saving appliances Lifeboats, 3,560 lifebelts and 48 lifebuoys.
- Royal Museums Greenwich: RMS Titanic fact sheet Dimensions, tonnage, engines, speed, passenger capacity and sister ships.
- Smithsonian National Postal Museum: Titanic’s mail clerks Five postal clerks and the ship’s mail operation.
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: 1985 discovery French-American discovery work and the wreck search.
- TitanicSurvivors.com sources and research guide How this site handles conflicting totals, survivor memory and uncertain claims.
Go deeper than the quick facts
Frequently asked questions
How much did Titanic cost to build?
J. Bruce Ismay told the 1912 U.S. inquiry that Titanic cost about $7.5 million. At the British inquiry he gave the cost as about £1.5 million.
How long was Titanic?
Titanic was 882 feet 9 inches long overall, or about 269 metres.
How many lifeboats did Titanic have?
Titanic carried 20 boats with rated accommodation for 1,178 people.
How long did Titanic take to sink?
Titanic struck the iceberg at about 11:40 p.m. and disappeared at about 2:20 a.m., roughly two hours and forty minutes later.
How many people survived Titanic?
The British inquiry counted 711 survivors. TitanicSurvivors.com’s current modern name-by-name roll contains 712 after a later crew-record update.
How deep is the Titanic wreck?
The wreck lies about 12,500 feet, or roughly 3,800 metres, below the North Atlantic.