After Rose’s desperate plea for Jack to “never let go” in 1997’s premiere of Titanic, everyone thinks he or she is an expert on the tragic cruise ship’s demise. Well think again. Here are 12 less known facts about the ship and that fateful night in 1912.
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#1. The emergency lifeboat drill that would have likely saved hundreds of lives was postponed until a day after the ship had already sunk into the sea.
#2. The scene where a small group of musicians are seen serenading distraught passengers was not simply Hollywood sentimentality; it actually happened.
#3. Milton Hershey, the founder of Hershey chocolates, had purchased tickets to join the Titanic on its maiden voyage but cancelled his reservation at the last minute due to a business meeting.
#4. After surviving the Titanic tragedy, a Japanese survivor was publicly deemed a coward for not dying with the rest of the passengers.
#5. Only three of these four smokestacks were actually in working order. The fourth at the far end was added simply to make the ship look more majestic.
#6. The amount of money it cost to produce Titanic was more than the cost of the ship itself.
#7. The notorious iceberg that sank the Titanic was formed as far back as 1000 BCE.
#8. A simple delay in communication made it impossible for The Californian, a ship sailing close to the Titanic at the time of its sinking, to aid in rescue efforts.
#9. The Chief Baker aboard the Titanic miraculously survived bobbing in freezing cold water because he had consumed so much alcohol that his organs were fortified for an entire two hours.
#10. The titanic remains the only cruise liner in history to ever be sunk by an iceberg.
#11. If every lifeboat had been filled to max capacity, everyone on the ship could have survived.
#12. If news of the iceberg had arrived only thirty seconds before it actually struck the ship, the Titanic would have avoided the crash altogether.
It’s strange how even the simplest facts make a well-known story that much more fascinating. The Titanic disaster remains one of the greatest tragedies in human history and every year little bits and pieces of the story resurface for the world to see.