A big ship is built. It is said to be unsinkable.
31 March 1909 - the date on which the keel of the Titanic was laid down and construction commenced.
3 months - the number of months after the keel of Olympic was laid down that Titanic's keel was laid.
31 May 1911 - the date on which the Titanic launched, entering the Victoria Channel in Belfast Lough from a slipway at the Queen's Yard of the Harland & Wolff shipyard.
26 months - the length of time it took to build the RMS Titanic, from keel to launch.
401 - the yard number given to the Titanic when her keel was laid down ('Harland and Wolff Yard No. 401').
3 - the number of the slipway on which Titanic was built.
228 feet - the height (69 metres) of the gantry built over the RMS Titanic and her sister ship Olympic. Fittingly, it was the largest gantry in the world at that time.
14,000 - the number of men typically employed at the Harland & Wolff shipyard.
15,000 - the approximate number of men employed at the peak of the building work.
3,000 - the approximate number of these men employed in the construction of the Titanic, representing around 20% of the workforce.
3 months - the intended gap between the completion of Olympic and Titanic. This gap widened as more men were allocated to building Olympic in order to meet her planned launch date.
8 - the number of construction workers killed during the build, from keel laying to launch.
246 - the number of injuries recorded during the build.
20 - the number of horses needed to transport the main anchor.
100 feet - the approximate increase in length of Olympic and Titanic over Lusitania and Mauretania.
14,000 - the number of men employed at the Harland & Wolff shipyard.
49 - the average hours worked per week at the shipyard.
£2 - the weekly wage of a Harland & Wolff construction worker.
6 - the number of days worked each week (Saturday was a shorter day, ending early afternoon, and Sundays were not worked).
06.00 am - the time by which yard managers were expected to be on site.
These famous people die.
John Jacob Astor IV - Famous for marrying is his wife Madeleine on September 11th 1911, who at the time was only 18 years old which made her not only 29 years her husband junior and one year younger than John Jacob's son Vincent. Also he was the richest man aboard the ship, when his body was recovered he had $2440 on him.
Benjamin Guggenheim - Famous for not only having his mistress, Léontine Aubart (a French singer) with him on the ship but also going to the first class smoking room with his valet and await death like gentleman.
Captain Edward John Smith - Famous for being nicknamed the millionaires captain, it became a custom for the company to appoint him to the command of each of their finest ships as it came into operation.
Isidor and Ida Straus - Famous for was co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother and to stay with her husband as they had been together for so long she didn’t want to leave him.
Thomas Andrews - Famous for being the designer of Titanic and he was last seen by a steward looking at a painting of Plymouth.
Lady Duff Gordon - Famous for being a top fashion designer and was the first English designer to achieve international renown.
The Band (Brailey, Bricoux, Hartley, Hume, Krins, Taylor and Woodward) - Famous for being seen as heroes, they played to keep the passengers calm as the ship was sinking.
The sinking details
Early reports are that the Titanic hit an iceberg. The Titanic took some damage to the side of the bow. The iceberg cut a hole between 220 to 245 feet long. Water rushed in at an about 7 tons a second. Titanic sank in less then 3 hours.
The women and children were sent to the lifeboats first. Many of the lifeboats were sent away less then half full. Some rich men jumped on the lifeboats before all the women were saved.
The front of the boat was sinking first. The back of the Titanic went high enough in the air that the propellors were seen. After a little while two explosions were heard as the Titanic broke in half. The back half floated for 5 or 6 minutes. Then there was a big noise like all the heavy things were smashing together. Then there was tons of screams as the ship slowly sank in the ocean. The Titanic's final resting place is 350 miles southwest of Newfoundland, Canada. Titanic is 2.3 miles below the ocean's surface.
The closest ship, the SS Californian was 17 miles away. She had stoped for the night in a ice field and her radio operator went to bed. Four ships saw the flares from the Titanic. Two ships were 50 miles away but were stuck in the ice. The SS Birma was a slow steemer 79 miles away and blocked by ice. The RMS Carpathia, 58 miles away, heard the distress call, and rushed full-steamed to help. She arrived after Titanic already sank. Carpathia turned off all heaters to move faster to pick up survivors.
The Titanic Now
The wreck of the Titanic will be nothing more than a rust stain on the bed of the Atlantic within 15 to 20 years, scientists warned today.
A newly-discovered species of rust-eating bacteria is slowly consuming the 50,000 tons of iron that makes up the sunken liner.
Experts now believe the invasive group of micro-organisms will eventually cause the shipwreck to completely decompose.
Identified using DNA technology, the bacteria and has been found on clumps of rust - known as rusticles - that have covered Titanic's iron hull in the century since it sunk in 1912.
The bacteria - Halomonas titanicae - is said to be fast consuming the rust and the iron.
Consequently, scientists believe the wreck - that is in two separate sections - will be nothing more that a huge 'rust stain' on the seabed within 20 years.
The discovery is the result of two decades' worth of research on the micro-organisms on Titanic, which sank in the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage.
It was made by Dr Henrietta Mann and Bhavleen Kaur from Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in conjunction with researchers from the University of Sevilla, Spain.
Dr Mann, adjunct professor with the department of civil engineering, said: 'I think Titanic has maybe 15 or 20 years left. I don't think it will have too much longer than that.
'It has already lasted for 100 years, but eventually there will be nothing left but a rust stain on the bottom of the Atlantic.'
The bacteria was discovered in rusticles collected from the wreck of by a team of scientists in 1991.
Dr Mann and her team began studying them in 1995, but it is only within the last few years that DNA technology has progressed enough for the bacteria to be isolated and studied fully.
The rusticles - porous, dark orange, icicle-like structures that form on rusting iron - covered the metal surface of Titanic and are home to a host of micro-organisms.
This includes 27 strains of bacteria, from which Halomonas titanicae was isolated and found to be particularly partial to iron.
Its destructive tendencies mean the delicate rusticles will eventually disintegrate into a fine powder in the salt water.
Dr Mann said: 'The rusticles on Titanic are made from a composition of different micro-organisms. It's not just one species of bacteria munching on it.
'But we have now identified one which particularly likes eating iron.
'To explain it in human terms, not every type of bacteria has the same taste. So if you present different people with a plate of chocolate and cheese, some may prefer one and some the other.
'This is a type of bacteria which particularly likes eating iron.
'Nature is very clever, and everything is recalled eventually. Nature makes it, and nature claims it back.
'In this case, the bacteria helps to decompose the ship.'
While the preservation of Titanic is now thought to be impossible, it is hoped the discovery could lead to scientists being able to prevent the destruction of other iron structures.
Dr Mann said: 'Unfortunately, because Titanic is 2.3 miles down, it is very difficult or impossible to preserve. It is film which will preserve it for history now.
'I hope that we are able to do more research into the bacteria. There are oil rigs, iron pipes and other iron structures in the ocean which may deteriorate in the same way as Titanic.
'To come up with certain things to prevent micro-organisms taking hold of them, or slowing down the process would be a useful thing.'
Ed Coghlan, chairman of the Irish Titanic Historical Society, said: 'This research backs up what divers who have been down to the wreck have seen; that the ship is falling apart.
'Fortunately it has been photographed extensively and there are wonderful videos to show us what it looked like underwater. 'In the future, people might think it is a shame we didn't do more to preserve it, but the reality is that to preserve it would cost an absolute fortune and is probably almost impossible.
'It may be that as the structure of the wreck disappears, more of the interior becomes accessible. 'We may be able to learn even more about Titanic once things like the mail bags, for example, become visible. 'Titanic is a very human story and it will be fascinating to see what happens to the wreck in the coming years.'
It is not yet known if the new species of bacteria was present on the RMS Titanic before or after it sank, or whether it is a unique strand to that particular wreck. Dr Mann and her team have published their findings in the latest issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
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