Thursday, February 26, 2009

Ninth Index Card

http://library.thinkquest.org/17297/construc_titanic.htm

  • The R.M.S. Titanic and the R.M.S. Olympic were built at the Belfast-based Harland & Wolff shipyard, which built all of White Star Line's ships.
  • They were designed to compete with the Cunard Line ships Lusitania and Mauretania for the coveted Blue Riband, the prize awarded the fastest ship in existence.
  • The two ships were built side by side in the Belfast yard.
  • They were almost 900 feet long, and required 220 foot high gantries to build them. Olympic was started in December of 1908.
  • On October 20, 1910, the Olympic slid down into the water while a select list of observers watched. She weighed 24,600 tons when she was launched, and would weigh over 46,000 tons when fully fitted out.
  • The two ships were originally planned to have three funnels, but had a dummy funnel installed. This made them look safer and more powerful, and Lusitania and Mauretania had four funnels, too.
  • Another luxury onboard was the four elevators.
  • One elevator was reserved expressly for the use of the Second Class passengers, an unheard of luxury back then.
  • She also had a swimming pool (the first ever on a ship), a restaurant called the Cafe Parisien, a Turkish Bath, and a gymnasium with a mechanical camel and rowing machines.

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