57 Fascinating Facts About Titanic – 24/7 Wall St.

April 15 marks the 109th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. The ship was just five days after its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York when it struck an iceberg on a moonless night in the North Atlantic.

The catastrophe has spawned countless books, documentaries and films. The sinking of the Titanic ended a golden age and predestined a more turbulent era.

To identify 57 fascinating facts about Titanic, 24/7 Tempo compiled information about the ship from a variety of sources including Smithsonian, Scientific American and National Geographic magazines; archives.gov; history.com; and British and American media websites.

The remains of the Titanic were discovered in 1985 by Dr. Robert D. Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and a team of American and French researchers using sophisticated diving technology found one of the most amazing achievements in climate science. The ship was discovered during a US government mission last year, according to the National Geographic Museum’s Titanic: The Untold Story exhibit.

In 1985, the US Navy commissioned Ballard, who was also the commander of the Navy, to search for and assess the wreckage of the American nuclear submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion. Submarines sank in the North Atlantic during the Cold War, and the Navy wanted to assess the potential environmental impact they had. Ballard suggested that the mission should also include the search for the Titanic, and the Navy agreed. After finding and exploring the submarines, Ballard searched and found one of the most famous shipwrecks in history.

Even today, people are fascinated by the story of the tragedy. Director James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic has grossed $2.2 billion worldwide, the second-highest gross of all time behind Avatar (also directed by Cameron). Titanic is also one of the most expensive movies ever made.

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