The
RMS Titanic was touted at the “Unsinkable Ship” – I mean, with all of her new and high tech equipment how could she possibly sink! You can just imagine how much hype the maiden voyage of this ship generated. Below I am going to lay out the setting sail of the
Titanic and provide some of the news coverage from that day – 99 years ago today. There will be a few other posts this week about the upcoming 100th anniversary commemoration, the sinking, and exploring the wreck – so please stay tuned!
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| From The New York Herald 4/10/1912 |
The
Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 – it would make stops to pick up passengers in Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland before actually getting underway to its ultimate destination – New York City.
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From The Evening News, Ada,
Oklahoma 4/10/1912 |
Upon picking up its last passengers,
Titanic had a passenger load of 2,240 – including crew members. As this was the maiden voyage of a much hyped new ship there were many well known people in the first class rooms – roughly 329. Some of these names you might recognize: John Jacob Astor IV(millionaire) and his young wife, Madeline Astor, Isador (owner of Macy’s) and Ida Strauss, Margaret “Molly” Brown (the Unsinkable Molly Brown), and Thomas Andrews (ship builder) among many others. There were also approximately 285 second class passengers and 710 third class passengers.
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| First Class Boarding Pass |
This ship offered many amenities to those aboard the ship for their trans-Atlantic voyage. Those in first class could experience, among other things: a swimming pool, squash court, sauna, a gym, a café, library, elevators and electric lighting. Those in second class also had an elevator and library. Third class featured a general use room. The most expensive ticket, for a first class one way trip, was $4,375 US dollars (which when adjusted for inflation in 2011 US dollars would be a staggering $99,237!)
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| Emigrant (3rd Class) Boarding Pass |
Upon setting out, no one would have thought that anything terrible could happen while on this ship – despite coming within feet of a collision with the
SS New York while trying to leave the pier in Southampton. Only 4 days into this trip would they find that those unimagined fears would come true.
Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court
Great post! Wow, it's been a hundred years since the sinking. It's definitely an event to be remembered - so many people died. It was a true tragedy. I love how you included pictures of the boarding passes! I haven't seen Titanic boarding passes before. And you can tell just by these two pieces of paper how differences were clearly made between the rich and the poor.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to your other Titanic-related posts!
Irena - I know, it really doesn't seem to me like it has been 100 years! I think with the movie having come out in the 90's it just feels more recent. Isn't it just plain as day how different third and first class were just by the tickets? When I saw that I just had to post them.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that it's the 100th anniversary of the Titanic. Loved your post about it - think I'll be returning to check out your other Titanic posts :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting factoid about the ticket prices - heavens, imagine paying so much for a ride on a ship (not to mention, later paying with your life)
Randomizeme - I know, the prices blew me away!
ReplyDeleteWe have a new Titanic Museum Attraction not far from here. I will have to see if they are planning anything to commemorate this event. The ticket price, adjusted for inflation, certainly was a shocker.
ReplyDeleteLibrarypat - oh that's cool! They had a traveling exhibit coming through CT a year or so ago, but I wasn't able to go.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for a survivors name now for a matter of years. The name was Miss Windsor or Winsor a teacher at school in Onslow Village in Guildford. She was 3 years old when on the Titanic and 39 when I met her mother survived with her but sadly her father perished. The whole school moved and the records are lost.
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