Discovery!

Today, September 2, is the anniversary of the discovery by Dr. Robert Ballard in 1975. They were up in the middle of the night looking at sediment for hours, hoping for some evidence of the fabled liner, TITANIC. Then, they started seeing small pieces of coal and rubble. Finally, they see something recognizable as belonging to the TITANIC. It was one of the massive, 29 boilers. They followed a trail of debris, until they saw the huge hull. It was rust-covered, and it was a little disoriented, but it was clearly recognizable. They monitored the ship's hull, and decks until some twisted metal that lead to nothing. In all the excitement of finding the wreck after 85 years of lying in complete darkness, one man looked at the clock on the wall and noted that it was near 2:20 which was around the time that the TITANIC sank on April 14. They held a brief moment of silence for the 1,500 people that bravely went to their deaths. The wreck had been found and the unknown stories were resurrected again. A lot of questions have been answered, and a lot of questions have been asked. One of the most important, was that the ship broke apart, which was under huge debate. There's many questions still answered, that were made. For instance, what happened to the Grand Staircase? It had gone down six flights, and now there's a gaping hole. We now know a lot about people's lives on board, and what she looks like today, with little hints and touches of elegance.

New TITANIC Deck Plans

Here's another series of deck plans. The others may be easier for you, but that depends on your point of view.

You can click on the plans, to get a closer view of them.


Funnels (above)




Boat Deck (above)

A Deck (above

B Deck (above)

C Deck (above)

D Deck (above)

E Deck (above

F Dek (above)

G Deck (above)

Cross Section (above)

Engine Room (above)
(These plans are from www. titanic-whitestarships.com and www.abratis.com)

Robert Chisholm

Roderick (Robert) Chisholm was born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland in 1872 to James and Sophia Chisolm. His family later moved to Ireland where he married Susan Anderson in 1896. Together, they had two children. One was Alyce in 1897 and Jimmy in 1898. Robert was a draughtsman for Belfast and helped Thomas Andrews design the TITANIC and her lifeboats. He was later chosen to go on the Guarantee Group which is a group of the builders chosen by Thomas Andrews to assist him on the maiden voyage. They were to inspect and make notes to improve the ship. Before he left, he gave his two sons each a penny. His job was to monitor any problems the ship might have. He was in 1st class and when the TITANIC struck an iceberg, he and his fellow builders couldn't prevent the sinking and it was his lifeboat davit design that allowed the boats to be lowered quickly. He however, died that night and his body was never recovered. The pennies that he gave his children are still in the family.

Lawrence Beesley

Lawrence Beesley was born on December 31, 1877. He went to school at Derby, England. He did well and Caius College, Cambridge where he later became a scholar and teacher. His favorite subject was Natural History which probably led to he later deciding to become a science teacher in his hometown of Derbyshire. In 1904, after 2 years of teaching, he became a science master in Dulwich College. He married Gertrude Cecil Macbeth and together, they had a son named Alec. When Alec was young, Gertrude unfortunately died. He later quit his job to go on a long vacation in Toronto, Canada where his brother lived. He was going to New York on the TITANIC and then, on to Canada by train. He left his son, Alec in England and boarded in Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a 2nd class passenger. He was reading a book that he borrowed on the night of April 14, 1912. Then, he felt a bump or a jar. It later surprised him that he didn't fall out of bed. He saw a brief whiteness pass by his window. He put the book down and went out to the corridor where he saw a steward. He asked what was wrong and the steward said that there's nothing wrong and told him to go back to bed. He did so and read on in his book. At around 1:00 A.M; he heard a knock on the door and answered. He was told to go up on deck. He did so and noticed a slight list towards the bow-port side. He saw the crew loading boats. He helped all the women and children he saw into the lifeboats but there was three women. They were met by Lawrence and directed them to a boat. Later, he saw them again and they had gotten out to make room for others. They were redirected to a boat and they got in. He was watching the loading of Boat No. 13. He was asked to get in by an officer, and that's how he survived. He and the 64 others were rescued and he later returned to England. Nine weeks after the disaster, he wrote and published a book called "Loss of the S.S. Titanic." It made him a famed survivor and when you read his book, you walk the decks of the sinking ship along with him. In 1958, the movie A Night To Remember was made and he appeared on the set. He was able to meet with other survivors and relate their stories. He died of natural causes on February 14, 1967 at the age of 89.

Titanic's Toothpick Fairy

Click HERE to see Wayne Kusy and his TITANIC made out of toothpicks.

In just 2 years, local Chicago resident Wayne Kusy built a 10 ft. long model of the TITANIC. It's made of toothpicks, glue, and nothing else. There's an intricate and complicated design inside that would take you forever to go through if you were small enough. It's very accurate down to the last detail. He also built a model of the Lusitania and Queen Mary. The Queen Mary made of 818,000 toothpicks and is 25 feet long. None of them float, however.

TITANIC Ice for Thought

Note: If these might sound like them, they're NOT jokes.

Q. Why was A Night to Remember (in most opinions) a little more accurate than Titanic from 1997?

A. Because A Night to Remember was made while most of the survivors were still alive, so they were able to track 98 of them down and interview them.


Q. Why did Wallace Hartley lead the band in playing "Nearer My God to Thee" as the TITANIC was sinking?

A. Because he actually had chosen the hymn to played at his own funeral.


Q. When Colonel Astor's body was found, it was covered by soot and crushed. What happened?

A. He was crushed by the 1st funnel when it collapsed and killed instantly.


Q. When one boy was saying what he saw, he said "I saw a man put something against his head. There was fire coming out and he fell into the water. What does this mean?

A. It was a suicide (either Capt. Smith, Chief officer Wilde, 1st officer Murdoch, or 4th officer Moody).

Q. Lawrence Beesely threw his pajamas into the boat that were over his shoulder the whole time he was walking around the ship. When he got into the boat, they were gone. What happened to them?

A. A passenger took them and used them to keep warm.

A New Blog

I just created a new blog called HISTORY CENTER. I only have one post on there at the moment and it's on the TITANIC. This blog will be about general historical figures and events. I hope you like it.

TITANIC in Court

Click HERE to read all that transpired at the inquiry.

When word reached Washington D.C. that the TITANIC sank, they decided to have an inquiry to make some sense of what happened that night. A couple of nights before the Carpathia was to arrive with the TITANIC survivors, a telegram was sent to the White Star Line office in New York to have a ship ready to take him and the crew to England after they land. It was signed, Yamsi. It doesn't take a mad scientist to figure out that this is the name Ismay spelled backwards. Senator William Smith of Michigan came out to New York and decided to hold the inquiry the day after the Carpathia landed. As soon as the Carpathia landed, a warrant was issued for some certain passengers and crew to appear at the Astoria Hotel for questioning. However, Ismay the owner of the ship was met by the senator and other men and escorted by car to the Astoria Hotel where he would stay the night and appear in the lobby the following morning. The inquiry lasted 18 days and some witnesses were recalled two or three times. All the officers, some crew-members, Ismay, and some of the most important men and women were called up to the stand. The newspapers published the dirt about everyone and mostly Ismay. When the American Inquiry was done, the British set up an inquiry of it's own and nearly all of those that returned to England, were called up to another stand. That lasted 36 days! Each day had a new questioner or examiner. The inquiry has helped greatly. Without those testimonies, there would still be a lot of questions unanswered.

The Cat with 5 Lives

Gurshon (Gus) Cohen was born on December 31, 1893. He learned the printing business but the company was sold out. He borrowed 32.00 pounds and booked passage on the Adriatic but the coal strike transferred him to the TITANIC in 3rd class. After the TITANIC struck an iceberg, he was awoken and told to get his lifebelt on and go up on deck. He was not able to enter a lifeboat so he jumped all 60 ft. and swam to Boat No. 12. He testified that the orchestra didn't play Nearer My God to Thee as the TITANIC sank. During WWI, Gus came back to England and volunteered. He was shot in a battle in the head but survived loosing sight in one eye and being disabled. During WWII, he had a cloth store and it was hit by a German bomb while Gus was outside and he survived. During the blackouts of London, Gus was at a subway and accidentally stepped on the third rail and still survived. At the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the TITANIC, he was asked to come and be interviewed via the radio. The taxi driver stopped across the street and asked if he wanted help crossing the street and Gus said no. On the way, he was hit by a drunken driver and still survived! He finally died of Renal Failure on August 4th, 1978 at the age of 85. His friends called him The Cat and in the end, he escaped death 5 times.