This project was done by Maurice, a fifth class pupil, for his class project.This is a photo of Macrice showing his model to his classmates.

My Model

First I traced a picture of theTitanic, painted it and stuck it onto cardboard. Then I stuck the pieces together and made the top deck. I made four large funnels out of cardboard and painted them. I used chopsticks to make the mast. I made the flag on a chopstick. I placed the 'White Star Line' flag on the chopsticks and attached strings. I made the icebergs out of modelling clay and painted them. I made the propellor out of gold paper clips. I mounted the whole lot on a board.

The Titanic

The Titanic

The Titanic was a British Luxury Liner. At that time it was the largest ship in the world. Due to it’s large size it was believed by experts to be unsinkable. It was built in the Harland and Wolf shipyard, Belfast. The ship was supposed to carry people from Southampton across the Atlantic to America.

There were many wealthy people on board availing of a trip of a lifetime. These people were wined and dined in style. They were the people who travelled in first class. Many of the luxuries were only for the first class passengers, which included a swimming pool, library and gymnasium. There was also second class for the people not as wealthy but they still enjoyed many comforts. Third class was for the less well off on the ship. Many of them were immigrating for a better life in America. More than 100 people in third class were Irish. They boarded the ship at Queenstown (Cobh) Cork.

The Crew

There was 899 crew members aboard the ship led by Captain Edward Smith and his senior officers. Captain Smith was very experienced having won naval medals during the Boer war (1899- 1902). The more stripes on an officers uniform the more senior he was. There was only 18 stewardesses out of 899 crew members this shows you how women were treated in employment at the time. There was many different types of jobs aboard the ship such as chefs, bakers, butchers, scullions, mailroom staff, barbers, engineers, firemen, stokers, trimmers and many others who worked in the lower decks.

The Ship

The R.M.S.(royal mail ship) Titanic was the heaviest ship at the time weighing over 46,000 tonnes (67,063 tonnes fully laden). It was 269 meters long and 28 meters wide. It could carry 3,547 passengers and crew but carried 2,224 on its maiden voyage. The Titanic was part of the White Star Line fleet of ships owned by Thomas Ismay. It had four large funnels, which were 53 meters high. They were made from steel and were brown with black caps. The Titanic was driven by 2 massive steam engines. It was thought to be unsinkable because the hull had 15 bulkheads 10 feet high unfortunately they weren’t high enough as the water spilled over the bulkhead into the next compartment.

Maiden Voyage

On the 3rd of April the Titanic sailed from Belfast to Southampton to prepare for its maiden voyage. Finally on the 10th of April 1912 with 914 passengers the Titanic sailed from Southampton to Cherbourg in France to collect more passengers, it then crossed to Queenstown (Cobh) Cork where more passengers boarded. On the 11th of April the Titanic left Europe heading for America.

Disaster

As the Titanic sped across the Atlantic ocean it received messages from other ships giving them warnings of icebergs ahead. Captain Smith didn’t take much notice of these warnings, he thought the ship was in no danger. Captain Smith and Bruce Ismay (who was on the ship) wanted to prove the ships speed and ordered full speed ahead when they should have slowed down for the ice. When the warning came from the crows nest “iceberg dead ahead” it was too late to turn such a big ship. The Titanic struck the iceberg, it hit the starboard (right) side of the hull. Most of the damage was to the part of the ship under water. Only 10% of the iceberg could be seen above water.

Abandon Ship

25 minutes after the collision Captain Smith gave the order to open the lifeboats and prepare to abandon ship. Women and children were placed in lifeboats first. There was 20 lifeboats and enough life jackets for everybody. Life jackets were bulky and did not protect people form the extremely cold water. 706 passengers were saved.