Titanic, page 1
A Note from Mary Pope Osborne About the
When I write Magic Tree House® adventures, I love including facts about the times and places Jack and Annie visit. But when readers finish these adventures, I want them to learn even more. So that’s why my husband, Will, and my sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, and I write a series of nonfiction books that are companions to the fiction titles in the Magic Tree House® series. We call these books Fact Trackers because we love to track the facts! Whether we’re researching dinosaurs, pyramids, Pilgrims, sea monsters, or cobras, we’re always amazed at how wondrous and surprising the real world is. We want you to experience the same wonder we do—so get out your pencils and notebooks and hit the trail with us. You can be a Magic Tree House® Fact Tracker, too!
Here’s what kids, parents, and teachers have to say about the Magic Tree House® Fact Trackers:
“They are so good. I can’t wait for the next one. All I can say for now is prepare to be amazed!”
—Alexander N.
“I have read every Magic Tree House book there is. The [Fact Trackers] are a thrilling way to get more information about the special events in the story.”
—John R.
“These are fascinating nonfiction books that enhance the magical time-traveling adventures of Jack and Annie. I love these books, especially American Revolution. I was learning so much, and I didn’t even know it!”
—Tori Beth S.
“[They] are an excellent ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at what the [Magic Tree House fiction] has started in your imagination! You can’t buy one without the other; they are such a complement to one another.”
—Erika N., mom
“Magic Tree House [Fact Trackers] took my children on a journey from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, to so many significant historical events! The detailed manuals are a remarkable addition to the classic fiction Magic Tree House books we adore!”
—Jenny S., mom
“[They] are very useful tools in my classroom, as they allow for students to be part of the planning process. Together, we find facts in the [Fact Trackers] to extend the learning introduced in the fictional companions. Researching and planning classroom activities, such as our class Olympics based on facts found in Ancient Greece and the Olympics, help create a genuine love for learning!”
—Paula H., teacher
Text copyright © 2002 by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Sal Murdocca
Cover photograph copyright © National Museums and Galleries of Northern
Ireland, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House
Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally
published by Random House Children’s Books, New York, in 2002.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping
Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Magic Tree
House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
The Magic Tree House Fact Tracker series was formerly known as the
Magic Tree House Research Guide series.
Visit us on the Web!
MagicTreeHouse.com
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Will.
Titanic / by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne;
illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house fact tracker)
eISBN: 978-0-307-97519-5
1. Titanic (Steamship)—Juvenile literature. 2. Shipwrecks—North Atlantic
Ocean—Juvenile literature. 3. Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks,
etc.—Juvenile literature. I. Osborne, Mary Pope. II. Murdocca, Sal, ill.
III. Title.
GR530.T6 O63 2011 910.9163’4—dc22 2010052316
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
For Joe Harmston
Historical Consultant:
KAREN KAMUDA, Vice President, The Titanic Historical Society Inc.®, and Publisher, The Titanic Commutator
Education Consultant:
MELINDA MURPHY, Media Specialist, Reed Elementary School, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District, Houston, Texas
Once again, special thanks to Paul Coughlin for his ongoing photographic contribution to the series and to our superb creative team at Random House: Joanne Yates, Helena Winston, Diane Landolf, Cathy Goldsmith, Mallory Loehr, and as always, our wonderful editor, Shana Corey.
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
1. The Biggest Ship in the World
2. Sailing Day
3. Life on the Titanic
4. Iceberg!
5. All Hands on Deck
6. Into the Lifeboats
7. The Titanic Sinks
8. Rescue
9. Lessons from the Titanic
10. Finding the Titanic
Doing More Research
Index
About The Authors
In the early 1900s there were no airplanes. The only way to get across the ocean was by ship.
In 1906, a British company called the Cunard (kyoo-NARD) Line launched two new ships. The ships were large and comfortable. They could cross the Atlantic Ocean in five days. They quickly became the most popular ocean liners in the world.
Large passenger ships that travel on the open seas are called ocean liners.
A few years later, news of three new ocean liners began to spread around the world. These ships were being built for a company called the White Star Line. The White Star ships would not be quite as fast as the Cunard ships, but they would be much larger and fancier. Some people called them “floating palaces.”
One of these floating palaces was the Titanic.
Titanic means “huge and powerful.”
It took more than two years to build the Titanic. When the ship was finished, it was as long as three football fields. It was as tall as an 11-story building. It had room on board for more than 2,500 passengers. It was the biggest ship in the world.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of giants.
The Titanic was built at a shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.
Much of the planning of the Titanic was done by a man named Thomas Andrews. Andrews tried to make the ship as comfortable for its passengers as possible. He included several dining rooms, restaurants, and cafés. One of the cafés had real ivy growing up the walls. Another looked just like a sidewalk café in Paris.
The Titanic had a gym with exercise machines and mechanical horses. It also had its own swimming pool—one of the first ever on an ocean liner.
Thomas Andrews tried to make the Titanic as safe as possible, too. The ship was built with a double bottom. That meant that anything that hit the bottom would have to rip through two thick layers of steel to cause a leak.
The lower part of the ship was also divided into 16 parts, or compartments. If an accident caused a compartment to become flooded, it could be sealed off from the rest of the ship. Even if four compartments were flooded, the Titanic could stay afloat.
Andrews thought these safety features made the Titanic the safest ship on the ocean. Some people even called the Titanic “unsinkable.”
Getting Ready
Once the Titanic was built, it had to be tested. On April 2, 1912, the captain and crew practiced turning the ship left, right, and in a circle. They practiced starting and stopping. They practiced running at different speeds.
A ship’s tests are called its sea trials.
After its sea trials, hundreds of workers got the Titanic ready for passengers. They finished painting rooms and laying carpets. They loaded tons of food and coal on board.
Finally, on April 10, 1912, the Titanic was ready to sail.
Even though its first voyage was scheduled to be only a week long, the Titanic needed a lot of supplies. Here are some of the things it carried:
For its first voyage, the Titanic was to sail from Southampton, England, to New York City. It would make stops along the way in France and Ireland. The trip would take about a week.
The captain of the Titanic was Edward Smith. Captain Smith had sailed for nearly 40 years with the White Star Line. He was planning to retire after the Titanic’s first voyage.
Captain Smith commanded a crew of more than 800 people. There were officers to steer the ship while Captain Smith ate his meals or slept in his cabin. There were engineers in charge of the Titanic’s giant engines. There were stokers to shovel coal into the Titanic’s boilers to keep the engines running. And there were hundreds of workers to take care of the Titanic’s passengers.
Boilers are tanks where water is heated to make steam.
Sixty chefs would cook the passengers’ meals. Thirty-six dishwashers would wash up after them. Several hundred stewards and stewardesses would clean their rooms and wait on them in the dining rooms, restaurants, and cafés.
The first passenger to come aboard the Titanic on April 10 was Thomas Andrews. Andrews arrived at the dock at 6:30 that morning. He wanted to make sure everything on board the ship was perfect.
Andrews worried that some of the deck chairs should be a different color. H
Later that morning, other passengers began to arrive. Over 1,300 people had bought tickets to sail on the Titanic. Some had business in New York. Others were taking a vacation. Many were moving to America to start a new life.
Most of the Titanic’s passengers sailed from England, but a few hundred would board the ship in France and Ireland.
As the passengers arrived, stewards helped them find their way to their rooms. Rooms on the Titanic were divided into three groups—first class, second class, and third class.
There were passengers on the Titanic from at least 33 countries.
First-class rooms were on the upper decks. Nearly all the passengers traveling first-class were very rich. There were bankers, writers, painters, and department store owners. There was a movie actress and a world-famous tennis player.
A ticket for a first-class room cost over $400. There were even two sets of first-class rooms that cost $3,300 each—more than a brand-new car cost in those days. These rooms were 50 feet long and had their own private outdoor decks.
In 1912, $400 was worth more than $5,000 in today’s money.
Many first-class passengers brought along servants. Most of the servants had rooms near the people they worked for.
Some first-class passengers also brought along their pets. There were at least nine dogs and several prize chickens and roosters on the voyage.
Passengers traveling second-class paid much less for their tickets. The average price for a second-class ticket was $65. The rooms in second class were not as fancy as those in first class, but they were still very nice. One young woman wrote that traveling in second class on the Titanic was like staying in a first-class hotel.
Most of the Titanic’s passengers were traveling in third class. Many of them were immigrants. That means they were leaving their home countries to live in America.
There were more passengers traveling in third class than in second and first classes combined.
Third-class passengers paid about $35 for their tickets. Their rooms were simply furnished, but they were clean and comfortable. They were much nicer than the third-class rooms on other ships of the day.
The Titanic Sails
At a few minutes before noon, crew members took away the walkways leading onto the ship. They dropped the ropes that tied the Titanic to the dock. Friends, relatives, and newspaper reporters watched as tugboats pulled the Titanic out into the harbor.
Passengers crowded the decks of the ship as it slowly moved toward the sea. They waved goodbye to their friends and families back on the dock.
The Titanic blew its whistles. People on the dock cheered. Some blew kisses and waved handkerchiefs.
The Titanic was on its way.
Titanic passengers came from all walks of life. Here are just a few of the people who sailed on the ship.
John Jacob Astor was one of the richest men in the world. He was on his way home from his honeymoon in Europe and Egypt with his new wife, Madeleine.
Karl Behr and Helen Newsom had been classmates. Karl was in love with Helen, but her mother did not approve. Helen and her mother boarded the Titanic in Southampton. Karl boarded in Cherbourg, surprising Helen’s mother! Helen and Karl were married a year after the Titanic’s voyage.
Lawrence Beesley was a science teacher in London, England. He was on vacation. He took many notes during the voyage and later wrote a book about it.
Ruth Becker and Richard Becker were traveling with their mother and sister. They were returning from India, where their father was a missionary.
Millvina Dean was the youngest passenger on the Titanic—she was only nine weeks old! Her brother, Bertram, was almost two. When they grew up, Millvina worked drawing maps and Bertram worked building ships.
Anna Sofia Turja grew up in Finland and spoke no English. She was traveling to Ohio for a job. She shared a room on the Titanic with three other immigrants.
After sailing from Southampton, the Titanic’s first stop was Cherbourg, France. The ship arrived at dusk. It picked up more passengers and set sail again at about 8:30 P.M.
Twenty-four passengers and a canary got off the ship at Cherbourg.
The ship’s next stop was Queenstown, Ireland. It arrived there around lunchtime the following day. Over a hundred passengers boarded the ship at Queenstown. Most were immigrants traveling in third class.
Seven passengers got off the ship at Queenstown.
Then, at around 2:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 11, the Titanic steamed out to the open sea and headed for New York.
For the next three days, everything went smoothly. The weather was chilly but beautiful. The ship was making good time. It was even possible that the Titanic would arrive in New York ahead of schedule.
The passengers spent their days enjoying the ship. Each class had an outside deck, where passengers could go for walks or sit and chat with each other and enjoy the sea air.
Each of the three classes also had its own dining room. The first-class dining room could seat over 550 people. It was the largest room on any ship at sea!
Once the ship was under way, the three classes of passengers were not allowed to mix with each other.
First-class passengers could choose from a wide variety of foods at every meal. Among the many dishes on their menus were fresh lobster, roast duckling, fancy puddings, and French ice cream.
The second-class dining room was also very large. Passengers ate together at long tables. The food was similar to the food in first class, but there were fewer choices.
During meals, two small orchestras played for the first- and second-class passengers. The musicians also gave concerts in the first- and second-class lounges, where passengers drank, chatted, played cards, and smoked.
An orchestra is a group of musicians who play together.
The meals in third class were much simpler than those in first and second class. But there was plenty of good, healthy food. Third-class meals included soups, stews, biscuits, potatoes, and desserts.
There was no orchestra for the third-class passengers. Still, there was plenty of entertainment. Several third-class passengers had brought along musical instruments. They often played while other third-class passengers danced.
Since the early 1900s, ships had been using an invention called the wireless. The wireless sent messages using radio waves. These kinds of messages are called telegrams.
Many passengers thought it would be a treat for their friends and families to receive a telegram from the biggest ship in the world. They kept the men in the wireless office busy day and night sending messages.
On the first few days of their voyage, the Titanic’s passengers had no hint of what was to come. As one first-class passenger later wrote, “I enjoyed myself as if I were in a summer palace on the seashore, surrounded by every comfort.”
None of the passengers knew the seas ahead were filled with danger.
What did kids on the Titanic do for fun? The answer was different for different classes:
