Titanic – the iconic vessel that came to a very tragic end. But how much do you know about this world-famous ship? It’s time to find out in our twenty top Titanic facts!

Titanic facts

Twenty Titanic Facts - set sail

1) Titanic was built by a company called White Star Line. She was completed and ready for the ocean on 31 March 1912, after three years in construction in Belfast, Ireland.

2) And she was no ordinary ship, Titanic was the most impressive and luxurious ship of her time! She was the biggest, too, measuring 28 metres wide, 53 metres tall and 269 metres long — that’s about the length of three football fields!

3) On 10 April 1912, Titanic set out on her maiden voyage (first big journey), taking people from Southampton, England, to New York, USA. On route, she called by Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland to pick up more passengers. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

Boats are traditionally referred to as ‘she’. Historians think this may be the result of links in our language to Ancient English. Or perhaps it dates back to the idea of goddesses protecting ships on dangerous journeys!

4) Titanic’s full title was RMS Titanic. Any idea what RMS means? It stands for ‘Royal Mail Steamer’. As well as passengers, the ship carried nearly 3,500 sacks of letters, packages and documents.

Titanic Facts - captain

5) There were over 2,200 people on board Titanic, 900 of which were crew members. The passengers included holiday makers, business men and people hoping to start a new life in America.

6) Life on board Titanic depended on who you were and how much money you had…

First class: the wealthiest people travelled in first class, located at the top of the ship, and boy did they travel in style! They slept in private, spacious suites and enjoyed delicious food in an elaborate dining room. They had access to lots of facilities, like cafes, a swimming pool, squash courts, barber shop and a reading and writing room.

Second class: not too shabby, either, second class accommodation consisted of cabins with two or four beds and a sofa, storage facilities, a sink and a mirror. Second class passengers could also enjoy an outdoor promenade, relaxation room, library and dining room.

Third class: the third class facilities were much more basic, but they were still far better than those on other boats at that time. Located at the bottom of the ship, cabins slept up to ten people and each had a sink and mirror. There was also a dining room where food was served three times a day. But the big down side? All 700 third class passengers had to share two bathtubs!

Twenty Titanic Facts - sailing at night

7) For four days, Titanic made good progress across the Atlantic, powered by three coal-burning engines. But it was no easy job to keep her moving. Each day, the ship’s 175 ‘fire men’ shovelled 600 tonnes of coal into the furnaces — that’s the weight of 100 elephants!

8) Titanic was also known as the ‘Ship of Dreams’, and White Star Line claimed she was the safest ship of all time. To make sure she wouldn’t sink, her hull was made up of 16 separate sections. If two, or even three sections were damaged and water got in, the ship would still have time to sail to safety. So all good, right? Wrong…

9) Just before midnight on day five, in the freezing cold North Atlantic Ocean, an iceberg loomed out of the darkness. Too big to quickly change direction, Titanic scraped along the side of the ice, tearing holes in at least four sections of the hull. Uh oh…

10) The Captain of Titanic – Edward John Smith – and his crew knew that the collision meant disaster; Titanic would sink in just a few hours. Distress signals were sent out to nearby ships and passengers were ordered to get to the lifeboats, fast!

Twenty Titanic Facts - lifeboats

11) But there was one very big problem. Titanic only carried twenty lifeboats — only enough to hold around half of the people on board! What’s worse, the first lifeboats were launched half-empty, wasting precious spaces. In panic, many people jumped into the ocean to escape the sinking ship!

12) As Titanic sank, the bow (the front) went down first, causing the stern (the back) to rise out of the water and into the air. At around 2am, this tilt caused the ship to break in two, sending all those still on board into the freezing cold ocean…

13) In the -2°C waters, most passengers who went into the sea would have died from the cold within 15 minutes. Some managed to survive a little longer by treading water or clinging onto bits of floating wreckage.

14) The first ship to respond to Titanic’s distress signals was called the RMS Carpathia. But despite setting out immediately and travelling at top speed, she didn’t arrive until around 3.30am — over an hour after the Titanic had sunk.

Titanic facts - ship sinking

15) On arrival at the disaster, the RMS Carpathia rescued those who had made it into the lifeboats. There were around 705 survivors in total, and all were transported safely to New York, USA.

16) But tragically, more than 1,500 people lost their lives on the Titanic, most never to be seen again. In the days following the wreckage, ships headed out to the disaster area and recovered 300 bodies from the water. These were either buried at sea or taken to Halifax in Canada (the nearest major port) to be identified.

17) Despite many attempts to find the wreck, Titanic remained hidden from the world for around 70 years. It wasn’t until 1985 that she was seen again — when oceanographer (a sea scientist) Dr Robert Ballard set out on a deep-sea mission in the Argo, a robot submarine. The team discovered Titanic on the seabed, nearly 600km off the coast of Canada.

Twenty Titanic Facts - wreckage

18) Since then, there have been many expeditions to Titanic – and over 6,000 interesting items have been salvaged from the wreckage. These can be seen today in museums around the world and include jewellery, perfumes, plates, clothes, furniture and even lunch menus!

19) The longest living survivor from Titanic was Millvina Dean, who lived to be 97 years old. She was just a baby when she, her mother and brother made it into one of the lifeboats. Millvina lived to tell the tragic tale until 2009, when she passed away.

20) There have been lots of documentaries and movies made about Titanic. The first was a silent movie called Saved from the Titanic, made just one month after the disaster. The most popular today is the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, which became one of the highest-earning movies of all time!

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Titanic primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Would you have survived Titanic?

Twenty Titanic Facts - would you have survived?

So, now you know all about this incredible ship and its tragic tale. But here’s the big question: if you had been on board, would you have survived? It all depends on who you were…

– YOU were a woman or child: Women and children were allowed to board the lifeboats first. However, some men did get a place when the first few lifeboats didn’t fill up.

– YOU were rich: First-class passengers were lucky — they had cabins on the upper decks, closest to the lifeboats. Many poorer passengers, in ‘steerage’ class on the lower decks, didn’t reach the lifeboat deck in time.

– YOU obeyed orders: If you had got into a lifeboat as soon as the crew told you to, you would probably have survived. Remember that, next time you’re on a ship!

– YOU were brave: Many people were too scared to leave the big ship for the tiny lifeboats. Others stayed on board because they didn’t want to lose sight of their friends or family. To survive, you needed the courage to go for it.

– YOU were willing to push: In the final struggle for lifeboat places, those who pushed, won!

– YOU had stamina: Some survivors were plucked from the icy water after hanging onto bits of floating wreckage for more than half an hour. They had clung on to life!

Photos and Illustrations: Getty Images UK

What did you think of our twenty Titanic facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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COMMENTS

  • Awesome

  • bob

    wow

  • Destiny

    I've learned a lot.

  • Hi

    It told me a lot of things I didn't know.

  • Army man 126

    that was sooooo cool!

  • Aleasha Brownly

    Wow! this painting of the titanic is amazing! I wonder how the illistatour is now!

  • sophie

    cool

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    this is cool

  • annika

    this is amazing

  • Roko

  • Mie

    Interesting

  • Will

    Good and interesting

  • Batool

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    good

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    i liked it . it was cool and interesting .

  • Chloe

    Epic

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    its amazing

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    nice story!

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    the book was really cool

  • Emmy

    I learnt loads

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    its cool

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    it is cool!

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  • Arissa

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    Cool!

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    Cool

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    Cool

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    Let’s take action!

  • the shark

    cool

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    cool

  • Madison

    LOVE

  • Hayden Pfeil

    can you do more cool titanic facts! plz

  • Ella

    I love the rms titanic!!

  • Me

    Interesting

  • This is intresting!

  • Turtle J

    GREAT!

  • Commander wolffe

    Epic!!!

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    GREAT!

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    the best

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  • my name jeff

    ahhhhh

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  • luis

    itv was sad

  • gianna

    like the pinchers and games and videos

  • ROAN

    COOL

  • unknown

    interesting

  • unknown

    good facts to work with

  • mietta

    I'm really intresded now

  • Eve

    Cool

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    the best

  • R.s

    I can’t wait for some more

  • Can’t Wait for more

  • Great

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    Hi my name is Sara and How am amazing

  • kaily

    this is awesome MAKE MORE FACTS

  • this was awesome

    I washed this last night this ray help me I bet this will even help me in school

  • alyssa

    the titanic is so cool

  • Charlotte

    I like the facts

  • Sad man

    Very sad

  • holly

    cool facts guys it really makes me remember about those people who cared about there familys .you are all awesome thank you guys bye

  • hannah

    this was really interesting to read about i cant believe so many people died it must of been devestating!

  • Lovecats.co.uk

    This really cool info and it helped with my homework

  • Abdiel

    I hope some people did not die.

  • Cool girl

    I love the titanic

  • buffy2005

    its so sad that so many lives were lost I hope I would have survived it.

  • AwesomeGuy

    Creepy And Sad ;(

  • SomeoneYouKnow

    Coool

  • amazingsarahwaterice

    amazing it really helped on my report

  • LILYLOL69

    AWSOME

  • Hollywood_07

    WOW

  • jimbob

    cool wow i lovethe titanic i amone of thesurvivors

  • Savannah

    OMG

  • HAZZA379

    GOOD INFO

  • Carl2405

    so sad:(:(:(:(:(

  • Kaniya

    This is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo coolllllllll

  • Elliot Nash161

    I love the TITANIC . Thank you for the facts.

  • fjh

    bvc

  • bnananna

    ccccccooooooollllllll

  • 1234qye

    great

  • Joe

    Awesome

  • zingzang

    if i was on the titanic i would absolutely follow these rules straight away

  • bjvjhcnb

    yeah JACK 8, you like the titanic because it was an achent shipwreck

  • Marti

    The titanic is awesome like this webpage

  • graydon

    awesome facts

  • matttt

    Awesome

  • BIGBADWOLFENDY

    Hehe would have survived! :-)

  • BIGBADWOLFENDY

    hehe i would have survived lol

  • Piggypower88

    COOL AWESOME!!!!! I Love the Titanic and I find it very wonderful. But ever since I heard about it I was afraid of ships.

  • amf

    thanks for the advice

  • Jes05

    Wow!!!

  • JACK 8

    I LOVE THE TITANIC

  • CHEDHLI

    IT WAS INTERESTING

  • kokoko

    COOL

  • Macmay

    AWSOME

  • Jyo

    Amazing.

  • awsomefactor

    WIERD!

  • Lydia-E-M

    Astonoshing facts!

  • GooseyRedFox

    I think it is cool to learn about history! One of my ancestors could have been on the Titanic, and maybe survived!

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    nice

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    cool

  • jollier

    lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    lol

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    ha ha

  • kennidi

    whats next

  • kennidi

    they dont really know thats true

  • Rayzhang

    I like how you told a few reason how you may survived

  • minecraftlover123

    lol lol lol lol did you know that on the titanic there was a hot tub?

  • DanTD

    AMAZING

  • anuj

    nice and good

  • Sabrina Robert

    Awesome. Amazome.

  • vincent

    very good information cool but sad;(

  • Indians jones

    Nice

  • Indians jones

    Interesting

  • Indians jones

    Interesting !

  • dylancoolclass4

    idk and id care

  • dylancoolclass4

    i would survive me just dont care jme

  • dylancoolclass4

    titanic is my favourite movie

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    coooooooooooooooooooooool

  • frazzletoosh

    cool but would I have survived if I was a chambermaid

  • kijofaoj

    good cool well done!!!!

  • PONY

    WOW BRAVE!!!!!!!

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    Lol It is cool

  • JSDJSJDSJAWSD

    ha

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    hi

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    a

  • Legendgamer53

    Cool this is really good info thx

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    cool

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    thank you for dis

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    asxdghk

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  • Nusrat

    Sad.....

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    YES

  • LaylaHayder123

    G O M

  • mikael

    that was scary!!

  • monkey

    I was going to cry by reading this. SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:(

  • tiger

    I think I would be scared because I would have fallen in to the sea and you never know what creature is below the thick ice

  • Diamond Star

    LOL

  • Lovey

    My 103 year old great grandmother was born the year the Titanic set sail! Coolness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • tarika

    pls put titanic in mag

  • Miley

    Cool

  • Jose-chavez

    Thx for info

  • rjwemyss10

    this is a clever thing which not only does it tell you about the titanic but provides fun things that were saying would you survive and that kind of thing which is good for intertainment and a little bit of fun cause you must have some intertainment and some fun alot of the time

  • Elephants_are_cool

    OMG so scary

  • Cadence Wilkins 08

    hi love the TITANIC

  • Cadence Wilkins 08

    very interesting It was awesome and very cool I made me mom let me make a report on it

  • Dakshi Saldi

    Good

  • 12341234123412341234

    Hi and LOL

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    omgomgomgomgomgomgomg+

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    Ong mifa I LUV AJ

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  • aaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

    good website x

  • Alasdair

    LOLOLOLOL! (LOL)

  • Nandor

    If i was in titanic i would get a raft and sail out.But if there wasnt a raft i would jump for it and swim away! GOOD FACTS AND GAMES LOL PEOPLE

  • aasdfghjkl

    wow unfair

  • poppy-panda

    OMG

  • Orca

    Really interesting and awesome!!!!!

  • Ciya

    yeah, I would have probably have survived!

  • jik

    hj

  • 1297651634

    Pretty cold over all but bad article

  • eliphant8457

    ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

  • eliphant8457

    scary ng kids! plz can u make it a little less scaryeerr? LOLLLLZY!!!!!

  • A-28765

    Thank you that really helped me with my H Work !!!!!!!!!!!!! XOXOXO

  • Kids Rock 1234

    Cool facts about one of my favourite subjects in history

  • ems

    thx for helping me with my homework Nat. Geo Kids!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

  • Will rocks 123@

    Billy bop that was quite cool

  • BoomyCoomy

    That was cool and rubbish

  • BethB

    AMAZING! Inspiring! I LOVE IT!!! I LOVE NGkids!

  • gw

    amazing

  • Sir

    LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

  • abbs

    this amazing. now i know alot a nd i can tell the teacher during literacy becuase where learnig about the titanic!

  • Rich21

    the titanic is the best thing to learn about ,everyone else gets to learn about except me they are so lucky i wish I can about it

  • CoolMonkey6

    Cool facts

  • Cormac06

    Cool tip on boats. Ill tell my friends.

  • christana

    I dont know what I wouldve done!

  • wilber351

    cool! LOVED IT!

  • AmoDolphin123

    All I can say is that this is an amazing website and helped me so much! I will tell everyone in my class about this website so as to my parents (of course!). Thank you who ever wrote this and made this site, I have nearly 15 magazines of ngkids however I never knew there was a website! Again thank you and please make more magazines. Thank you for reading. ;)

  • ICE

    COOL

  • Miaf

    wow this is AMAZING! Brilliant for homework thanks ngkidz! I also play animaljam great game!

  • Scott

    Cool

  • nguy243

    cool

  • nguy243

    Ive wondered why the titanic was (almost) unsikable

  • Tony5678

    Thanks NG KIds for posting this fantastic article and for the valuable life saving lessons.

  • Bexpeddie

    That is so cool because my topic was once all about the Titanic!

  • Max100000

    Thanks for the facts

  • Gryffindor

    Cool

  • Ethanshop

    Wow this is so interesting

  • Pandalover453

    COOL article

  • Bobble

    I think i would of lived so … YAY!!!!!!!! And also very interesting!

  • Mineey

    It was very intresting

  • darwin

    i might of survived

  • Frankenstien

    WOW! I dont think I wouldve survived that. The millions of lives that were on that boat mustve been terrified.But if I was on that ship I wouldve defiantly jumped into a lifeboat.

  • Shiir360

    I feel so sad that all those people died. You know, another reason that some people did not make it is because the Captain of the ship jumped in the lifeboats and the captain of a sinking ship is supposed to get of last, as goes the saying " The captain goes down with his ship".

  • Girlygirl23

    Great

  • ollie13

    TITANIC IS AMAZING!!!

  • Sruthelaya

    It was sad that so many people died

  • ziggy

    thats such a sad story

  • Iceman4406

    Cool

  • K_KKLoe

    this is so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • animalkid

    I wouldnt have survived, but very interesting!

  • pitchperfect

    WOW

  • nosheen

    really help with my homework thanks : ]

  • MNV20

    I loved this!!!

  • anish6789

    interesting

  • GeorgeT

    This was amazing, just a few words made me want to read on!

  • snowlepord

    amazing!!!!!!

  • amar

    so amazing and so effective

  • KatnissEverdeen

    I probably wouldnt have survived.

  • SpokOfMinecraft

    Cool!!!!!!!

  • Mb1

    I really enjoyed reading about the Titanic and its story. Its so tradgic, I hope I can watch the film - hopefully this will help me understand the story more! Thanks for choosing thes story NG KIDS. MB1

  • xXx_sweglord_xXx

    I would grow wings and fly away

  • James-Johnston

    I would survive lol

  • up

    # cool cool

  • camolam

    awesome wow!

  • oscar567

    love it got a book about it

  • ollycooool

    awesome!!!

  • Dave123

    Cool

  • asension

    great website

  • crawford

    awsome lol from crawford

  • d123123148

    cool

  • yixing

    brrrriliant

  • THEjammer

    i am a good pusher i would of shoved alottaking my mum and dad with me but still for the people who died i think like 255 people died which is a very sad moment

  • Didi

    i have been on HMS St Albans and HMS Somerset and have sat in both the captains chairs in the bridge- the control room- and have seen the guns, and ect.

  • Didi

    I am a sea cadet and i have just been on an naval acquaintance course at HMS Raleigh and i have learnt so many skills to actually be in the navy like damage control which is plugging holes and saving the ship from sinking- i actually did this in a training room- and i have also learnt sea survival like putting on life jackets, the correct way to jump in the sea if in emergency, and all about life boats from the past to the present. and so much more that doesnt have anything to do with this! :)

  • MeganCunning11

    Awesome

  • Taryn

    I feel pity for the people who died

  • huskylover

    I might have survived and I love learning about it

  • jorabo

    this was sooooo helpful!

  • Anastasia

    I fort it was very good to learn

  • Rebecca Rush 10

    I wouldnt have survived.NO WAY!!!!

  • Llllllll

    LOL!!!

  • dolphin123456789

    Hopefully I would have survived!

  • AIDYBABES

    I would have survived- JUMP!

  • cooldude93

    cool

  • Kopiop

    Awesome facts! were really useful, thank you!

  • sophi

    i would have survived

  • Mangos

    We would have survived because were kids and we would have listened to the commands. :)

  • PurpleFuzzyAnimalLover

    Wow... Even though Ive already done my gold swimming award, I dont think I couldve survived!

  • joj

    this is interesting!

  • kaitlyn v Mhlanga

    i wouldnt have survived

  • catrin

    We are learning about this in school, love it!

  • catrin

    We are learning about this, and we love it. Xxx

  • kamrul214

    I am really interested in this text because it has facts and all sorts of stuff about what happened to the titanic.

  • Titanic

    I think I would have survived

  • FlappyEared_Elephant

    I think that I may have survived but I dont think I would be able to hold on to bits of wreckage for half an hour.

  • FlappyEared_Elephant

    I read a book based on these events called My Story: Titanic. It was really good but a bit sad near the end.

  • Craftbattleduty

    Why didnt they have life vests

  • kidderkat8

    wow

  • Celese

    this is really cool, check it out!

  • ash9551

    i call first boat off!

  • Hendi

    awesome

  • Steve wallder

    Cool

  • Kris

    Interesting :)

  • TheDarkLord

    Awesome but I probably wouldnt survive

  • Cute puppy

    Wow

  • Felicia *

    Amazing! I love the pictures!

  • minecraftuser223

    helped me with my project

  • rachael

    cool facts

  • tiny2001

    i think anything found of the titanic should be left were it lies and not to be touched because its a great peace of history so it should stay at the bottom of the ocean

  • EMC2

    this is cool

  • FANTASTIC TITANIC:)

    SUPER DUPER DUPER INTERESTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Tabi

    I wish I could experience the Titanic. It was so tragic that almost half the people on board died....... Of course Id like to be one of the lucky ones to survive!

  • MinecraftUserAJRB

    I think the Titanic would of polluted the North Atlantic Ocean. Right? I am learning about the ocean. i have just read it all about the Titanic.

  • indianajoneskid007

    amazing although it was not as good as your on-line game animal jam

  • OliviaGrace

    YES! Well, I hope so.

  • Aimz

    I just LOVE Titanic! Thanks for some new facts!!xx

  • Hanah

    I thought any ship could sink ???

  • megan

    I am on ship using a computer reading about this and now I a freaked out ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Madeleine a Clavin

    Thank you

  • whizzerpop

    In English, we are studying Titanic so we can write poems about them! Thanks to N.G.K, I can educate my classmates about it.Thank you N.G.K.!

  • oscar THE COOL

    VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY INTERESTING

  • Violet

    so intresting!!!!

  • lola

    thank you have been a big help towards my homework and if it was not for you it would not be finished .I really appreciate this can you send me some pictures of the titanic and the rich people on board.:):):):):):):)

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