andard for comfort, elegance, and safety. The first two were to be named Olympic and Titanic, the latter name chosen by Ismay to convey a sense of overwhelming size and strength (1).Titanic was 883 feet long (1/6 of a mile), 92 feet wide, and weighed 46,328 tons. She was 104 feet tall from keel to bridge, almost 35 feet of which were below the waterline. Even so, she stood taller above the water than most urban buildings f the time. There were three real smoke stacks and a fourth, a dummy, added largely to increase the impression of her gargantuan size and power, and to vent smoke from her kitchen and galleys. She was the largest moveable object ever made by man. The ship’s immense size and complexity is demonstrated by an incident recalled by Second Officer Lightoller. There was a gangway door on the starboard side aft “large enough to drive a horse and cart through.” Yet, three officers who joined the ship during her preparations spent a whole day simply trying to find their way to it (3).Moreover, she was designed to be a marvel of modern safety technology. She had a double hull of one inch thick steel plates and a (heavily publicized) system of 16 water-tight compartments, sealed by massive doors which could be instantly triggered by a single electric switch on the bridge, or even automatically by electric water sensors. The press began to call her “unsinkable” (3).Her accommodations were the most modern and luxurious on any ocean, and included electric light and heat in every room, electric elevators, a swimming pool, a squash court (considered terribly modern), a Turkish Bath, a gymnasium with a mechanical horse and mechanical camel to keep riders fit, and staterooms and first class facilities to rival the best hotels on the continent (Nichol 5). First class passengers would glide down a six-story, glass-domed grand staircase to enjoy haughte cuisine in the sumptuous first class dining salo...
