History Facts

The last time American Green cards were actually green was 1964.

White Star Line was the company that built the Titanic, and was owned by J.P. Morgan, an American tycoon.

The cost to build the RMS Titanic was $7.5 million

RMS stands for Royal Mail Steamer.

It took 3,000 men two years to build the Titanic. Three million rivets held its massive hull together.

The Titanic was never christened. It was not the practice of the White Star Line to hold such ceremonies.

Price of a single first-class ticket was $4,700. (equals $50,000 in today's economy)

Although there were 4 funnels (smoke stacks), only 3 were operational. The 4th funnel was for looks.

As the Titanic was leaving the port, the suction it caused actually snapped the ropes of a nearby docked ship. (The S.S. New York) Tugboats had to race to the scene to prevent the New York from colliding with the Titanic. Some people aboard the Titanic and on the dock felt this occurrence to be a bad omen.

There were 6 ice warnings received by Titanic on the day of the collision. They were all ignored by the wireless operator who was preoccupied with transmitting passenger messages.

On the night of the collision, because the moon was not out, and the water was so still, it was very difficult to see the iceberg. A less calm water would have caused breakers around the iceberg making it easier to see it from afar.

The iceberg that the Titanic struck was not a very big one. It did not even come up as high as the bridge of the ship.

The iceberg that the Titanic struck was unusual in such a way that it was not white like most others, but more of a clear look caused by continuous melting. The clear surface in effect reflected the dark night sky and water like a mirror, thereby making it a black object, almost impossible to see from a certain distance. The term for this kind of iceberg is "blackberg", and is similar to the black ice found on cold icy roads.

An iceberg exposes only 1/10th of it's mass above water. With the other 9/10ths of it's mass below water, It makes them impossible to budge. Even with a force of a ship like the Titanic.

The Titanic was traveling 22.5 knots while cruising through iceberg laden waters. Just .5 knot from her maximum speed capability.

The collision occurred at 11:40 P.M. on Sunday, April 14, 1912.

Murdoch had ordered the engines reversed which had, ironically, sealed the Titanic's doom. Like all ships, the Titanic turned more quickly the greater her forward motion. Had the Titanic proceeded ahead and turned, it is most likely that she would have avoided hitting the iceberg all together.

The gash that the iceberg cut into the hull of the Titanic was between 220 to 245 feet long. The total length of the ship was approximately 882 feet.

Though the damage in the hull was 220 to 245 feet long, the most recent evidence shows that there was only a 12 square foot opening (the size of a refrigerator) in the hull allowing water inside the ship.

The "watertight" compartments of the Titanic's hull were not actually watertight. They were open at the tops, which aided in her demise.

The ship could have stayed afloat had only four compartments flooded... Five became flooded.

1,503 people total died, including passengers and crew.

Only 705 people survived.

962 lifeboat seats were required by law.

1,178 lifeboat seats were carried aboard.

2,208 lifeboat seats were needed.

One of the first lifeboats to leave the Titanic carried only 28 people; it could have held 64 people.

There were 472 lifeboat seats not used.

There were enough life-jackets for all 2,208 people, and most everyone was wearing one.

300 dead bodies were pulled from the sea the next morning. They were found floating in their life-jackets. Many other floating bodies were not found because they had drifted off.

Very few people actually went down with the ship. Most died and drifted away in their life-jackets.

The temperature of the Atlantic at the time of sinking was 31 degrees. This temperature was the biggest cause of death among the population.

There were many dogs aboard the Titanic. Two of the dogs survived.

Orders from the Captain were that, women and children were to board the lifeboats first. One man, Daniel Buckley, disguised himself as a woman to get aboard a lifeboat.

Charles Joughin was the only person to survive the ice cold Atlantic water...He reportedly had been drinking heavily.

Of children fatalities, only 1 child from first class died, while 49 children from steerage died.

Passengers rode the stationary bicycles in the Gymnasium to pass time before the ship sank!

The band played music up to the last few minutes before the ship went under. None survived.

One of the last songs the band reportedly played before their death was, "Songe d'Automne".

As the ship was sinking, the stern rose out of the water, and broke into two pieces between the third and fourth funnels.

The Titanic lies 12,600 feet (over 2.33 miles) at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The two pieces of the Titanic lay 1,970 feet apart from one another on the ocean floor.

Because the front section of the Titanic went down nose first, the bow is buried 60 feet below the ocean floor. The huge gash is also buried. (Recent technology has allowed visual access to the damaged area of the hull)

The Titanic was rediscovered on July 14th, 1986. 74 years after it sank.

Since the death of Millvina Dean, May 31st of 2009, there are no longer any living survivors of the Titanic tragedy. Millvina Dean was just nine weeks old at the time of the Titanic's sinking.

The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

April 14th, 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking.

In medieval Italy, if a man was caught kissing a woman in public, he had to marry her whether he liked it or not.

The largest nuclear bomb ever built, the Tsar Bomba, caused damage up to approximately 1,000km away.

The oldest glowing lightbulb was first switched on in 1901 and lives in fire stations in Livermore, CA. It is known as the Centennial Light.

1. Leonardo is considered by many as the father of modern science.

2. He was the illegitimate child of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a peasant.

3. Leonardo was raised by his single father.

4. He began his career as an apprentice to Florentine artist Andrea del Verrochio.

5. Leonardo was an architect, musician, engineer, scientist and inventor.

6. He wrote most of his notes using mirror writing. Some believe that this was to keep his ideas secret.

7. Leonardo sketched the first parachute, first helicopter, first airplane, first tank, first repeating rifle, swinging bridge, paddleboat and the first motorcar.

8. He made maps of Europe.

9. He invented the scissors and hydraulic pumps.

10. He designed a movable bridge for the Duke of Milan.

11. He invented the bicycle 300 years before it appeared on the road.

12. Leonardo's first solo painting, completed in 1478, was 'Madonna and Child'.

13. He took part as an engineer in the war against Pisa.

14. 'The Mona Lisa' is perhaps his most famous work. The subject of this portrait is still debated to this day, the most popular current view being that it is of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo. One of the most unusual hypotheses is that it is a self-portrait of Leonardo as a woman. It took him about ten years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

15. Leonardo had a reputation of being a man of high character.

16. Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447.

17. Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic and he often wrote backwards.

Leonardo da Vinci, who was born in Vinci, near Florence in 1452, is known for his visionary ideas. He made sketches of scissors, the parachute, helicopter, airplanes, and engineering designs, some of which came into use 400 years after his death in 1519. But his notebooks never provided an explanation on the mechanics of his inventions. In fact, it is not known if he ever even constructed any of the ideas himself. What is known is that he could write with the one hand and draw with the other simultaneously.

In his last 6 years, Leonardo da Vinci worked for King Francis I of France. The king bought one of Leonardo's paintings, which he hanged in his bathroom. Called La Gioconda, this portrait of Lisa Gherandini was the first painting to feature fading colors to create a sense of aerial perspective. Today it is better known as the Mona Lisa.

In 1912, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, Paris. It took almost 3 years to recover. During that time, 6 forgeries turned up in the USA, each selling for a very high price. The original is, obviously, priceless.

Video: Mona Lisa is one of the best-known faces on the planet. But would you recognize an image of Leonardo da Vinci?

India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.