When Was The Titanic Built?

Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Mar 11, 2023 By Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Originally Published on Nov 16, 2021
Edited by Sarah Nyamekye
Fact-checked by Niyati Parab
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3D Titanic Rendering

The Titanic was a famous British passenger liner that was owned and operated by the White Star Line built by the Harland Wolff shipyard along with sister ship, the Olympic, and the other named Britannic.

It had sunk in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, after taking a hit from an iceberg on her first voyage to New York City from Southampton on April 15, 1912.

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the most tragic incidents recorded of a single ship on its maiden voyage with 1517 fatalities of passengers and crew who were on board. 

RMS Titanic was considered one of the largest ships afloat at the time she entered service. Additionally, she was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners utilized by the White Star Line company.

The ship was built by the Belfast-based Harland and Wolff shipyard. The chief naval architect of the shipyard at the time, Thomas Andrews, died in the terrible disaster.

The Titanic was commanded by Captain Edward Smith, who perished with the ship. It was known to carry some of the most affluent people in the world, along with many British emigrants from Ireland, Great Britain and, Scandinavia.

It had first-class accommodation which provided the best luxury and comfort. In the construction of the Titanic, advanced safety measures like watertight compartments and remote-controlled watertight doors were incorporated.

This seemingly unsinkable ship had 16 lifeboat davits for a total of 48 lifeboats each, but the Titanic brought only 20 lifeboats altogether. This was only enough for 1,178 people which was almost half the number of passengers on board.

After departing from Southampton on April 10, 1912, the Titanic called at France and Ireland in Cherbourg and Queenstown respectively, before its voyage westward to New York. On April 14, after four days into the crossing, the Titanic struck an iceberg at night due to low visibility at the recorded ship's time which was 11:40 p.m.

The collision resulted in the hull plates buckling inwards at her starboard or the right side.

This caused five of the 16 watertight compartments to burst open to the sea.

In the meantime, some of the passengers and crew members were made to evacuate in the emergency lifeboats. A larger number of men perished aboard as compared to the women because of the protocol of 'women and children first' that they followed for loading lifeboats.

The ship's wreck was first found in 1985 and many of the artifacts which have been collected from the Tinatic's wreckage has been exhibited in museums worldwide.

The tragic story of the Titanic has deemed it one of the most popular ships in time and has also been depicted in diverse works of pop culture, like books, films, and songs.

The Titanic is known to be the second-largest shipwreck in the world, with her sister ship, the HMHS Britannic being the largest shipwreck while in service as a hospital ship.

If you like what you read, do check out when was zipper invented and when were canons invented.

When was the Titanic built and how long did it take?

The RMS Titanic was built in the year 1911 in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and had taken three years to be built.

It was owned by a company called White Star Line owned by Lord Pirrie and under the managing director, Bruce Ismay, the construction took about three years.

During the early 1900s, one of the highest profitable and competitive markets was in the transatlantic passenger trade, which included ship lines transporting affluent travelers and foreigners. The White Star and Cunard were known to be two of the most notable chief lines.

In 1907 during the summer, the Cunard line was seemingly set to increase its share of the market.

They had introduced their two new ships, named the Lusitania and Mauretania, which were listed to go into service that year in the latter half of the year.

These two passenger liners attained great media frenzy for their presumed speed while crossing the Atlantic Ocean later.

To rival this, the chairman of the White Star, J. Bruce Ismay, joined William Pirrie and had proposed the project idea to construct a set of great liners that would be popularly preferred for their comfort and luxury instead of their speed.

They had eventually decided to build three vessels simultaneously and had named them: the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic.

Three months after the construction of the Olympic had begun on March 31, 1909, they proposed to lay the keel for the Titanic.

Both the Olympic and Titanic were constructed side by side in a specially built gantry that was capable of accommodating their original mammoth size.

These two ships were deemed as sister ships and were predominantly designed by Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff. The hull of the titanic was secured with nearly three million rivets of iron and steel and after its sea trials, it set sail for Southampton on April 2, 1912.

It featured magnificently ornate decorations, an extensive first-class dining lounge, a lavish swimming pool, and additionally four elevators.

The Titanic's accommodations in the second-class were similar to the features of the first-class on other ships, and the third-class lodgings were also known for their comfort despite being modest.

The ship was so luxurious that it's no wonder that the wealthy booked their seats in the first-class compartment, one such man was John Jacob Astor IV, who was thought to be the richest man in the world at the time.

Is anyone still alive from the Titanic?

The titanic's sinking tragedy had resulted in the loss of around 1,500 lives if not more and ­Millvina Dean was known to be Titanic's last living survivor.

She was the youngest passenger on board the Titanic when the giant liner sank on its maiden voyage.

Her parents were traveling from England to settle in America in hopes of opening a tobacco shop, where they had a family living in Kansas. The Dean family did not initially choose to board the Titanic, but due to the coal strike, they were forced to be transferred to the ship which they boarded as third-class passengers.

She mentioned that her father had felt the crunch of the ship's impact with the iceberg and had gone to investigate.

He then hurriedly returned, advised his wife to get dressed and take the children up on deck. Dean, her brother, and mother were placed in the tenth lifeboat and were amongst the first to escape the sinking liner out of the 705 passengers and crew who survived the sinking.

Her father, who had remained aboard drowned in the sea when the ship finally went down.

3D Titanic Rendering

How many children died on the Titanic?

1112 children were aboard the Titanic when it had first set sail, and nearly half had drowned when the ship sank after its collision with an iceberg.

There were a total number of 53 children who had lost their lives out of the 832 victims in the tragedy out of which only one from the First Class and 52 children from steerage had perished. The youngest known victim of the tragedy of the Titanic was aged 19 months and was named Sidney Leslie Goodwin.

When was the Titanic museum built?

The Titanic Belfast is a tourist attraction which had first opened in 2012 and serves as a monument of the Titanic.

The exhibit portrays the story of the RMS Titanic, as well as the sister ships namely, RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic. The building is constructed over an expanse of more than 130000 sq ft (12077.39 sq m) of floor space.

It is home to plenty of galleries, several rooms to hold private functions as well as community amenities for visitors of Belfast. A great addition to the place is Hickson’s Point destination bar which was built in March 2018.

Located on Queen's Island, it had literally put Northern Ireland on the map as a popular tourist destination.

In the first year of its opening, there was an overwhelming number of visitors which had exceeded predictions and expectations. As per Titanic Belfast, there was a footfall of 807,340 visitors when it had first opened its doors.

They had approximately sold 1,376 champagne bottles and had even hosted an approximate number of 350 conferences.

Around 625,000 visitors had visited Belfast in 2015 and the most record-breaking years were in 2017 and 2018 when 841,563 people were known to have visited the tourist attraction. In the same year, 84% of the visitors of the Titanic Belfast were noted to be visiting from outside Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, it is known to be the second-most frequented tourist attraction and has received around fifteen awards since it had first opened its doors to visitors in the year 2012.

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Written by Rajnandini Roychoudhury

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

Rajnandini Roychoudhury picture

Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature. 

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Fact-checked by Niyati Parab

Bachelor of Commerce

Niyati Parab picture

Niyati ParabBachelor of Commerce

With a background in digital marketing, Niyati brings her expertise to ensure accuracy and authenticity in every piece of content. She has previously written articles for MuseumFacts, a history web magazine, while also handling its digital marketing. In addition to her marketing skills, Niyati is fluent in six languages and has a Commerce degree from Savitribai Phule Pune University. She has also been recognized for her public speaking abilities, holding the position of Vice President of Education at the Toastmasters Club of Pune, where she won several awards and represented the club in writing and speech contests at the area level.

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