The Sinking Of The Real 'Titanic' Quiz

Answer: False

Although only three stacks were needed, a fourth 'dummy' stack was added so the public would not perceive rival 4-stack ships 'Mauritania' and 'Lusitania' as being more powerful.

Answer: 7

Late evening of Apr. 13, the Furness Withy liner 'Rappahannock' warned by signal lamp. The rest of the warnings came on Apr. 14: 9:00 a.m. from Cunard liner 'Coronia'; 11:40 a.m. from Dutch liner 'Noordam'; 1:42 p.m. from White Star liner 'Baltic'; 1:45 p.m. from German liner 'Amerika'; 7:30 p.m. from Leyland liner 'Californian'; 9:40 p.m. (final warning) from Atlantic Transport liner 'Mesaba'.

Answer: Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland

It was during the Cherbourg stop that such notables as Margaret 'The Unsinkable Molly' Brown boarded 'Titanic'. In reality, Margaret's nickname was 'Maggie', and she never used the name Molly during her life. That name was added later by the Broadway play titled 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown', which was very loosely based on Maggie Brown.

Many historians consider Molly Brown's heroic story to be only a legend.

Answer: 20

'Titanic' had 14 regular wooden lifeboats, two smaller wooden boats which were kept swung out on either side of the bridge, and four Englehardt collapsible boats stored on top of the officer's quarters.

Answer: 2:20 a.m.

'Titanic' struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, and went under at 2:20 a.m. on April 15. This means that it took only 2 hours and 40 minutes for the massive ship to go under after striking the iceberg.

Answer: White Star

'Titanic' had two sister 'White Star' ships: 'Olympic' and 'Britannic'. Construction on 'Olympic' was begun the same year as 'Titanic,' but she was launched earlier. A shipping accident occurred soon after the launching of the 'Olympic', causing her to need major repairs and delaying the final outfitting of 'Titanic' by about a month, thereby delaying her maiden voyage by the same amount of time. Had 'Titanic' launched on schedule, the disaster may have been avoided.

Answer: Smith

This was to be Captain Smith's final voyage, as he planned to retire after this trip. Unfortunately, it did turn into his last voyage, but not in the way he planned. He did not survive the sinking.

Answer: Carpathia

The Cunard liner 'Carpathia' arrived 1 hr and 20 min after the sinking of the ship. Questions were asked at the time about whether the Leyland liner 'Californian' was closer to the accident, and could perhaps have responded much more quickly had its radio operator been on duty.

Answer: Frigid water temperature

The near-freezing temperature of the cold North Atlantic ocean meant that a human body could last not much more than about four minutes in the water without hypothermia setting in, followed shortly by death.

Answer: 8

Eight distress flares were fired but, in a way, the answer should be 'none'. The reason is that although 'Titanic's crew did fire flares that they intended as distress flares, they did not do it properly. Then-accepted maritime procedure required that distress flares be fired at one-minute intervals.

The 'Titanic' crew fired eight flares over an hour's time, with an average of 6 to 8 minutes between flares. Because of the timing of the flares, the crew of the nearby 'Californian' mistook the flares for entertainment flares instead of distress signals, and did not respond.