The Titanic

The Titanic was the second of three massive ships ordered by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard of Belfast.

The White Star Line was purchased in1902 by the International Mercantile Marine Company for the sum of £10 million and was owned by the American banker J. Pierpoint Morgan.

In 1907, Harland and Wolff was authorised to commence constructing the two huge ships, the first of which was to be named the Olympic and the second to be named the Titanic.  In 1911 a third ship was commissioned and was to become the Britannic.

The keel of the Titanic was laid down on March 31st 1909 and she was launced on May 31st 1911.  She was 882' 9" long, had a beam of 92' 6" and a draught of 34'.  The gross registered tonnage of the Titanic was given as 46,329.

Her maiden voyage was on April 10th 1912 from Southampton from whence she set sail.  She sank in the Atlantic Ocean on the night of 14th/15th April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg,where 1,522 souls perished out of a total of 2,208 passengers and crew.