Rms Titanic Model Boat

The Royal Mail Ship TITANIC was the last grand dream of the Gilded Age. It was designed to be the greatest achievement of an era of prosperity, confidence and propriety. Although no one knew it, the world was about to change drastically. Radio had been invented in 1901. The Wright Brothers' first successful flight was in 1903. The old presumptions about class, morals, and gender-roles were about to be shattered. If the concept of Titanic was the climax of the age, then perhaps its sinking was the curtain that marked the end of the old drama, and the start of a new one.

Titanic was 883 feet long (1/6 of a mile), 92 feet wide and weighed 46,328 tons. She was 104 feet tall from keel to bridge, almost 35 feet of which were below the waterline... even so, she stood taller above the water than most urban buildings of the time. There were three real smoke-stacks; a fourth, dummy stack was added largely to increase the impression of her gargantuan size and power and to vent smoke from her numerous kitchens and galleys. She was the largest movable object ever made by man. The ship's immense size and complexity is illustrated by an incident recalled by Second Officer Lightoller. There was a gangway door on the starboard side aft "large enough to drive a horse and cart through." Yet three officers who joined the ship during her preparations spent a whole day simply trying to find their way to it.

There are many books and online sources available for further information on the Titanic. It is worth noting that even the factual information about Titanic varies widely between the different sources. For all that is known and theorized about Titanic, it is in many ways still a mystery. Among the books are:

TITANIC, An Illustrated History, by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, 1992

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by Walter Lord, 1955

THE NIGHT LIVES ON by Walter Lord, 1986

THE STORY OF THE TITANIC AS TOLD BY ITS SURVIVORS edited by Jack Winocur, 1960 (containing "The Loss of the SS Titanic, Its Story and Its Lessons" by Lawrence Beesley, 1912, "The Truth about the Titanic" by Col. Archibald Gracie, 1913, relevant chapters from "Titanic and Other Ships" by Commander Charles Lightoller, 1935 and Asst. Marconi Operator Harold Bride's account as published in the New York Times of April 28, 1912.)

TITANIC - TRIUMPH & TRAGEDY by John P. Eaton and Charles Haas 1988 (second edition 1994)