Rare Photos from the Inside of the Real Titanic

Most people are familiar with the tragic story of the Titanic – the “unsinkable” ship that collided with an iceberg and ultimately sank in the early 20th century. James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic” played a large role in popularizing the story, yet few people actually know what the real ship looked like following its construction in the early 1900s, and after its wreckage was discovered underseas in 1985.

The Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic was officially launched on May 31, 1911 by the White Star Line, a British shipping company. The Titanic was actually built as a response to competing  ocean liners, which were breaking White Star Line’s records for speed and size.

Discovering the RMS Titanic Wreck

The wreck of the RMS Titanic was discovered in 1985 by Robert Ballard. Prior to this, there had been a number of unsuccessful discovery expeditions.

A Propeller Found Underwater

Thanks to Argo, one of the ship’s three propellers was found amongst the ship’s wreckage. This propeller was from the starboard side of the ship.

The Titanic’s side propellers were very large at 23-feet-long, whereas its middle propeller was just 16-feet-long.

Hefty Propellers

An image taken near the end of the Titanic’s construction captures just how massive both the ship and its propellers were.

The ship was 883-feet-long, which made it taller than any building that existed at the time had the ship been placed upright.

Honeymooners and Titanic

The Titanic carried various passengers, including two newlyweds, Mr. & Mrs. George A. Harder, who were celebrating their honeymoon aboard the ship. The woman survived the shipwreck, but unfortunately, her husband did not.

Bernie Palmer, a photographer who captured the activities of the Titanic’s passengers, sold the rights to his photos for $10. He probably would have charged much more had he known how valuable his photos would become in the years to come.

Construction of the Titanic

When the Titanic and her sister ship the Olympic were built, they were the largest ships ever created and there were no existing slipways to accommodate their construction.

In order to move forward, the shipping company had to first build a giant slipway to support the construction.  The slipway was known as the “Great Gantry” and cost about $150,000.

The Stern & Rudder

The rudder is a vertical blade at the stern of a ship that is used to steer the vessel when in motion.

The rudder of the RMS Titanic was massive, weighing over 20,000 pounds.

Titanic at Dock: Moments Before the Maiden Voyage

Compared to all other ships at the dock, the Titanic truly stood out. Yet moving the gigantic structure from land to sea was an extremely taxing and complicated process.

While the process only lasted for 62 seconds, 23 tons of various lubricants, including train oil, soap, and grease, were required to move the ship from land to water.

Sailing Out of Belfast

The RMS Titanic left Belfast with the help of five tugboats that helped guide the large vessel out of the dock.

This image was taken during a sea trial, which is one of the testing phases that occurs towards the end of a ship’s construction.

RMS Titanic: The Crew

There were about 700 crew members on the Titanic. Edward J. Smith, the man with the white beard in the middle of the front row in the below photo, was the Captain. It was rumored that the Titanic’s maiden voyage was supposed to be his last trip before retirement.

The other men featured in the photo are various officers and engineers, including the Chief Engineer.

The Captain of the Titanic: Edward J. Smith

Edward John Smith was the commanding officer for the White Star Line shipping company, as well as the Captain of the RMS Titanic. There are various accounts of Smith’s last words and actions as well as his death in the disaster, yet all suggest that his final actions were truly heroic.

Some people blamed Captain Smith for the incident, suggesting that he wrongfully sped through the ice at full speed. However, he was posthumously exonerated since the maneuver was a common practice at the time.

Blaming the Captain

Several survivors claimed in their letters that Captain Smith had been drinking directly before the incident.

A letter of one survivor written aboard the rescue ship Carpathia, which was sold at auction in 2012.

The infamous iceberg was the cause of Titanic’s sinking.

The iceberg breached the side of the giant ship and punctured all five of its watertight rooms that were supposed to keep it afloat.

Promenade Deck

The promenade deck was located directly below the top deck. This deck was made for general use, but it included four cabins with private 50-foot promenade decks.

These cabins were called “Parole Suites” and were the most expensive rooms on the ship. The most expensive of these suites cost over $4,000 in 1912, which is about $100,000 today.

Standard Single Bed Cabin

This was probably one of the 350 first-class standard single bed cabins. There were also 39 private suites available on the ship, and each had a private bathroom in addition to the bedroom.

Some private suites even included wardrobe rooms and were decorated in the luxurious style of the French monarchy.

Cruising On the Water

The RMS Titanic was loaded with almost 6,000 tons of coal for her maiden voyage.

The ship burned about 690 tons of coal per day and crew members worked day and night to shovel coal into boilers to produce steam power.

The Marconi Communications Room

The Marconi Company ran the ship’s communications room.

The operators aboard the Titanic were actually Marconi Company employees and not crewmembers of the ship.

Lowering the Lifeboats

The Titanic had 20 lifeboats on deck that could carry around 1,200 people at maximum capacity.

Although the lifeboat capacity was greater than what was required at the time, it still accounted for less than half of the vessel’s occupancy, which totaled about 2,500 people, including both passengers and crew.

Survivors on Carpathia

More than 700 survivors were rescued by an ocean liner named Carpathia.

The survivors were stranded in the middle of the ocean, suffering from stress and hypothermia. Once taken out of the water, the survivors were given warm clothing by Carpathia’s crew.

Passengers Fleeing on Lifeboats

Many pictures of lifeboats filled with passengers fleeing the sinking ship were captured. However, the sad story behind the photos is that the lifeboats were not actually filled to capacity because crew members worried that the lines would not support the weight of the lifeboats at full capacity.

As a result, many of the lifeboats were launched below capacity. The first lifeboat that was launched held less than half of its 65-person capacity, and another left with only 12 passengers on board.

Rare Photos from the Inside of the Real Titanic

By Donna Arnold, June 3, 2018

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Passengers Being Rescued by Carpathia

Passengers aboard the ocean liner Carpathia were able to capture pictures of Titanic survivors being rescued from the lifeboats.

The Carpathia was the ship that responded to the Titanic’s emergency signal and came to rescue the survivors. Out of the ship’s 2,500 passengers, only about 700 people managed to be rescued.

Sparsely Filled Lifeboat

The passengers who made it onto the lifeboats spent about two hours in the freezing cold before the Carpathia arrived.

As already mentioned, many of the lifeboats were sparsely filled and there was plenty of room for more passengers.

Lifeboats at Pier 54

After the passengers were brought to safety at  Pier 54 in New York City, all the lifeboats were left empty.

This pier actually belonged to White Star Lines, the shipping company that built the Titanic.

Gym & Other Amenities

The Titanic was well equipped with many luxurious amenities, such as a swimming pool, a squash court, a Turkish bath, and a gym.

Along with its sister ship the Olympic, the Titanic was the first ocean liner to feature a gym on board.

Iceberg Close-up

Have you ever wondered what happened to the iceberg that caused the Titanic’s demise? It remained floating where it was, largely unscathed, except for a few black marks left behind from the paint on the Titanic.

Many believe that if the Titanic had collided with the iceberg head-on, rather than hitting its side, it would not have sunk.

The Grand Staircase

One of the most marvelous parts of the Titanic was its grand staircase, which was replicated and popularized in James Cameron’s movie about the ship. The Olympic, Titanic’s sister ship, had practically the same one.

The only existing pictures of the staircases are from the Olympic. There are no known pictures of the Titanic’s actual staircase.

The Grand Staircase After the Accident

Photos do exist of what was left of the grand staircase after the shipwreck, which is not much, unfortunately. While the movie Titanic was filmed, James Cameron stated that the replicated staircase broke off and floated away.

It is believed that the same thing happened to the actual staircase.

Rare Photos from the Inside of the Real Titanic

Titanic’s Boiler

The first part of the Titanic found during Robert Ballard’s 1985 expedition was a large boiler. Ballard compared the boiler to the pictures of the ship from 1911 in order to determine that it was in fact from the Titanic.

The next day, Ballard used his underwater camera, the Argo, again and discovered a larger part of the shipwreck.

Stern of the Ship

Ballard’s 1985 expedition also uncovered the ship’s stern, or at least what was left of it.

Until the wreck was discovered, many scientists did not believe that the ship’s hull was torn in half before the ship sank. However, after discovering the stern and bow a third of a mile apart, it was confirmed that the ship did in fact break into two parts.

Captain Smith’s Bathroom

As a first-class passenger, Captain Edward Smith was treated to luxurious accommodations aboard the ship.

A porcelain tub from his room was found and it was largely intact, only covered in barnacles.

The “Great Gantry” at the Shipyard

The Titanic was built on the giant “Great Gantry” slipway.

The location of its construction was at the Harland & Wolff Shipyard and over 11,000 workers were required to complete the project.

An Anchor

When the wreckage was discovered, one of the ship’s three anchors was found within its compartment.

The Titanic actually had three anchors and each weighed about 10 tons.

Who Was the Real Jack Dawson?

It is believed that Jack Dawson’s character was inspired by Emilio Portaluppi, who boarded the Titanic with a second-class ticket. He was actually supposed to be on a different ship.

Instead, the wealthy Astor family invited him aboard the Titanic. Some say that he had a crush on Madeleine Astor.

Who Was the Real Rose?

It is impossible to mention the real Jack without saying anything about the real Rose. Madeleine Talmage Astor was the wife of John Jacob Astor IV, a wealthy business mogul.

It is believed by some that she was the inspiration for the real Rose from the movie Titanic. However, it has never been suggested that she actually had an affair with Emilio Portaluppi.

John Jacob Astor IV

John Jacob Astor IV was the wealthiest person to perish in the shipwreck. Back in the early 1900s, he was one of the richest people in the world.

John Astor and his wife boarded the Titanic because Madeleine was pregnant and insisted on giving birth to their child in the U.S.

Rare Photos from the Inside of the Real Titanic

By Donna Arnold, June 3, 2018

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Titanic Disaster Appears in Newspaper

After the incident, many newspapers started publishing stories related to the Titanic. Some mentioned the people who disappeared, such as Astor.

At the time of John Astor IV’s death, his net worth was $87 million, which is equivalent to about $2.16 billion today. Compared to the richest people in the world now, this would not even place Astor in the top ten!

April 14 Lunch Menu

A picture of a menu from April 12, 1912 shows the array of gourmet food that was available for lunch aboard the Titanic.

The meals feature a seemingly endless amount of meat, fish, finger foods, and other specialty items.

The Ship’s Bow

An amazing image of the entire bow of the ship was taken during a return mission to the wreck of the RMS Titanic, almost 20 years after it was first discovered.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched the mission in order to study the ship’s deterioration.

First-Class Passenger List

The number of first-class passengers was restricted to a few of the highest ranking crew members and a small number of wealthy families.

The majority of the elite passengers were members of the Astor and Allison families, who also made sure their maids, nurses, and manservants were in first class as well.

Families of the Survivors

After hearing about the shipwreck, a large number of relatives and friends of Titanic passengers and crew members went to Pier 54 in New York and waited for the survivors to arrive. Of course, many photographs were taken to record this event.

The smiling people in the photos are likely the ones who knew their friends or family members had survived the disaster and were on their way back to safety.

Source: Rare Photos from the Inside of the Real Titanic