Titanic Trivia

I have always been interested in Titanic trivia and felt a certain connection with Titanic long before the movie came out. I own a number of books about Titanic, including one that unfolds almost the length of my living room. It contains a wealth of information about Titanic, including the lists of survivors and which lifeboat they were on. Things found in that book serve to remind me that these were real people on this boat. Real people who had no idea they were on an ill-fated journey. Thanks to the great cinematography of James Cameron's Titanic movie, we were able to sit in a theater with Dolby surround sound watching the events unfold before our eyes while still safe and warm in our theater seats. But, try to imagine what those who lost their lives that night must have felt.

When you think about Titanic being a virtual floating city, it had to have plenty for it's passengers to eat and drink for the journey. The following are some interesting Titanic galley statistics I found in "The Wall Chart of the Titanic" by Tom McCluskie:

• 75,000 pounds of fresh meat
• 11,000 pounds of fresh fish
• 7500 pounds of bacon and ham
• 25,000 pounds of poultry
• 40,000 fresh eggs
• 40 tons of potatoes
• 3500 pounds of onions
• 2200 pounds of ground coffee
• 10,000 pounds of rice and dried beans
• 10,000 pounds of sugar
• 250 barrels of flour
• 36,000 apples
• 36,000 oranges
• 16,000 lemons
• 1000 pounds of grapes
• 13,000 grapefruit
• 7000 heads of lettuce
• 3500 pounds of tomatoes
• 1500 gallons of fresh milk
• 2200 pounds of ground coffee
• 800 pounds of tea
• 1200 quarts of ice cream
• 6000 pounds of butter
• 1120 pounds of jams and marmalade
• 15,000 bottles of beer
• 1000 bottles of wine
• 850 bottles of liquor
• 8000 complimentary cigars

The following are some interesting statistics that can be found in "Total Titanic" by Marc Shapiro.

• The Titanic cost 1,500,000 pounds to build, or approximately $7,500,000 US dollars.
• Each link in the anchor chain weighed 175 pounds. The three anchors weighed a total of 31 tons.
• The Titanic's hull contained 3 million rivets. (I told the story of how I touched the rivets of a piece of the hull in my hub about the last Titanic survivor. Click here to read that story. It's riveting! Ha ha)
• Titanic was the first ocean-liner to have a swimming pool and gymnasium on board. The pool was on the F deck and only available to First Class passengers.
• The ticket fare for first class passengers was $3,100. The ticket fare for third-class was $32.
• Moments before Titanic is to cast off from the Southampton docks, seven members of the engine crew arrive and attempt to get on board. The officer on duty informs them they are too late and refuses to let them board. (I'm guessing these men were unhappy at the time, but forever grateful that they did not go).
• When leaving Southampton the Titanic and a US ship New York nearly collide, but Captain Smith was able to avoid the collision by only 4 feet.
• During the first leg of the journey, a fire broke out in boiler No.5, but is quickly extinguished.
• Four hours after jumping overboard while Titanic was sinking, Chief Baker Charles Joughin is able to swim up to Collapsible B and is pulled aboard. He seems to have managed the icy waters by drinking plenty of whiskey before the ship went down.
• Survival chances: a male in 3rd class had a 1 in 10 chance of survival while a male in 1st class had a 50/50 chance of survival. A female in 3rd class had a 25% chance of survival while her first class counterpart had almost a 100% chance of survival.

These are some interesting bits of trivia I discovered about Titanic, the movie by James Cameron.

• When they were unable to find an artist for the sequence when Jack is drawing Rose, James Cameron stepped in and did the drawing.
• Cameron based the character of Rose Calvert on the real-life artist Beatrice Wood. To read more about this incredibley fascinating woman, click here to read my hub about her!
• Scenes in the movie Titanic averaged 30-40 takes each.
• More than 450 wigs and several hundred hairpieces were made for the cast and extras
• Leonardo DiCaprio created his own dance steps for his dance sequences in the movie.
• More than a 1000 extras were used in the making of the movie
• Over 100 stuntmen were used in the filming of the tilted deck sequence