Ship Sinking facts
While investigating facts about Ship Sinking, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The second officer of the Titanic, who survived by swimming from the sinking ship to a capsized raft, later in life sailed his civilian craft to Dunkirk and helped evacuate over 130 men.
A man survived the sinking of a ship in 1871, leaving him traumatized afterwards. Some forty years later he was finally able to overcome his fears and sail again... only to die on the Titanic.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Ship Sinking I managed to collect.
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Not all torpedoes are designed to pierce hulls then explode, some detonate below the target ship without making contact. This creates a gas bubble that causes the ship to be thrust out of the water then dropped back into the resulting void, often breaking the vessel in half and sinking it.
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The Titanic had an older sister ship called "Olympic", which became the only civilian ship to sink an enemy warship during WWI, when it turned around and rammed a German submarine attempting to attack it. The sub was gashed open by The Olympic's propellor.
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A coal stoker named Arthur John Priest survived the sinking of five ships, including the Titanic, earning the nickname "The Unsinkable Stoker"
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RMS Titanic" fired 8 emergency flares before sinking. A ship in the area, the "SS Californian", saw the flares and that the ship appeared uneven in the water. The crew told the captain, who did not believe the rockets were fired in distress. All of Titanic's passengers could have been rescued.
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The Chief Baker of the Titanic survived paddling for three hours in the frigid Atlantic waters after the sinking of the ship. This was due to a combination of two factors; he'd drunk a decent amount of alcohol, and he was a very good swimmer. He was the last man to leave the ship.
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The largest British ship lost at sea, the MV Derbyshire at 92,000 tons, went down in a typhoon off Japan without ever issuing a mayday call. Investigators found the wreck and concluded the entire sinking could have happened in as little as two minutes. This video simulation is real time.
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While the Titanic only had enough life boats to hold 1/3 of passengers, she was actually carrying more lifeboats than were legally required. That's because lifeboats were intended to ferry survivors from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship—not keep afloat the whole population.
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The steamship Eastland, which, in 1915, capsized while still tied to the dock in Chicago. New safety laws which rushed through Congress after the Titanic sinking mandated so much safety gear installed that the ship was top heavy and rolled over, killing 844 people.
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The largest British ship lost at sea, the MV Derbyshire at 92,000 tons, went down in a typhoon off Japan without ever issuing a mayday call. Investigators found the wreck and concluded the entire sinking could have happened in as little as two minutes. This video simulation is real time.
Ship Sinking data charts
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When the Titanic was found in 1985, the famous Grand Staircase (appearing in many films of the sinking) was missing. During the filming of the 1997 movie, the replica was torn out by the water when the set was flooded; the real staircase was likely ripped out of the ship in the same way.
A man who survived the sinking of a ship in 1871 was finally able to overcome his fears and decided to sail again in 1911: he died in the sinking of the Titanic. - source
Judy, the hero dog of WWII. She saved her fellow soldiers on multiple occasions. Was captured by the Japanese and spent years in the pow camps. She survived multiple ships sinking and was eventually freed and given the Sicken Medal in England. - source
The USS Johnston was saluted by a Japanese destroyer captain as it was sinking, after spending nearly 3 hours squaring off against 23 Japanese ships, including 4 Battleships, 8 Cruisers and 11 destroyers.
Blackbeard died 296 years ago to this day. He received five bullet wounds and twenty sword cuts. His head was cut off and his body thrown overboard. As legend has it his headless body swam around the ship 3 times before sinking. - source
14 years prior to Titanic tragedy, there was novel featuring the 'biggest ship ever built', an ocean liner called Titan, the "unsinkable", which sinks after hitting an iceberg
The only Japanese passenger on the RMS Titanic 's disastrous maiden voyage survived the ship's sinking, but found himself condemned and ostracised by the Japanese public, press and government for his decision to save himself rather than go down with the ship.
A ship floated around the Artic unmanned for decades after being abandoned. It got stuck in the ice and they thought it would sink by itself.
The violin played on the Titanic by Wallace Hartley was found and is now considered to be one of the most well preserved artifacts of the ships sinking.
14 years prior to Titanic sinking, the book Futility told the story of an unsinkable ship "Titan" which also struck an iceberg on it's starboard side in the North Atlantic on an April night. The fictitious ship closely matched the Titanic's length, weight, speed, capacity, and lack of lifeboats.
