Top 10 Facts About the Titanic Shipwreck

It was about 28° Fahrenheit. Passengers who were left to float in the cold waters would likely suffer from hypothermia and die in as little as 15 minutes.

In total, 706 people survived; 492 passengers and 214 crew members. The most likely to survive would have been 1st class women while 1st class in general had about a 61% survival rate. Standard Class had a 42% survival rate while 3rd class just had a 24% survival rate.

There was a general fear that a return toward the sinking ship would result in lifeboats being overwhelmed by desperate victims and capsizing, and a fear also of the risk of a downward suction caused by the sinking Titanic. Apparently 9 people were saved from the water although 3 died from hypothermia.

Despite it having a capacity of 65, only 12 people were on it. This boat contained 5 first-class passengers (including Sir Cosmo and Lady Lucy Duff Gordon) and 7 crew members, and was named the 'Millionaire's Boat' by the press, who accused the occupants of ignoring cries for help from people in the water.

The Titanic only had 20 lifeboats on board which at the time was somehow technically legal even though they could only fit 1,178 people in total. This was about 1/3 of the total amount of people on board, and if that's not bad enough they launched with significantly less people than they could actually hold. They planned to bring more but they decided not to because they didn't want the decks to be too crowded.

The Titanic could have survived if only 4 compartments were gashed, but this collision was enough to strike through 6. The Titanic would take in about 400 tons of water a minute.

Two of the lifeboats, collapsible boat A and B, just floated away. However 30 people were able to kneel or sit on the overturned lifeboat B after failing to turn it over. Of the 20 lifeboats, 13 were recovered by the Carpathia where they were taken to New York.

It sank 2 hours and 40 minutes after the collision while the first lifeboat was launched an hour after the collision. Apparently the musicians played almost the entire time to try and calm the passengers down.

The Titanic's crew failed to fire correct distress signals after hitting the iceberg. Random rockets were fired most likely in desperation but according to the British inquiry into the wreck, the message sent by the rockets' pattern never signaled "distress." Instead, the incorrect rocket pattern signaled to any ship in the area the message: "I'm having navigation problem. Please stand clear."