RMS Titanic Archival Collection

Planning, Building, and Launching

The keel of the Titanic was laid on March 31, 1909, and she was launched on May 31, 1911; she passed her trials before the Board of Trade officials on March 31, 1912, at Belfast, arrived at Southampton on April 4, and sailed the following Wednesday, April 10, with 2,208 passengers and crew, on her maiden voyage to New York.

Officers

The Titanic's officers were no novices and were well trained in the knowledge of this and all other dangers of the sea. From the Captain down, they were the pick of the best that the White Star Line had in its employ.

Crew Members

The RMS Titanic's crew had a complement of 860, made up of 475 stewards, cooks, etc., 320 engineers, and 65 engaged in her navigation. A complete listing of all Crew Members, photographs, and related stories is included.

Provisions & Cargo

The condition of the food served at sea on the great liner like the Titanic is always prime. Refrigerators that have the capacity for 500 tons of food are freshly filled for each voyage, and they keep everything put Into them in perfect condition.

Manifests & Passenger Lists

Unlike most transatlantic voyages from the early 1900s, the RMS Titanic ended up producing more lists of passengers and crew than perhaps any other journey on record. The plethora of manifests evolved and expanded as researchers, compendiums, encyclopedias, book authors, and others are all seeking to produce a list with some distinction.

Fashions On Board

The Titanic Era fashions were as elegant as you might envision to more simple clothing. Dressing up for dining in either the First or Second Class required more formal attire - tuxedos for men, day or evening dresses for women.

Titanic Lifeboats - 1912

The fundamental mystery of the Titanic disaster is likely, therefore, always to remain an inexplicable puzzle. The subsidiary cause, which was owing to the tremendous loss of life—the lack of sufficient boats to carry all passengers and the whole of the crew—is more easily accounted for.

Anatomy of the Disaster

Explore the events, ship, and personalities that made this particular disaster the most written about the marine disaster of all time. From being touted as "Unsinkable" to it chilling dive to the bottom five days into its maiden voyage. After reading these incredible and sometimes incredulous stories, one might wonder if this was a vortex of the Bermuda Triangle.

Victims

The RMS Titanic claimed 1,503 lives on 15 April 1912 -- 832 passengers and 685 crew members, representing approximately 68% of the total souls on board of 2,208. The tragic loss of life was all but guaranteed as the Titanic had only 20 lifeboats with a capacity of 1,178.

Survivors

The survivors were picked up in boats by the Cunard steamer "Carpathia" shortly after the "Titanic" had gone down, and were landed at New York on Thursday night April 18, 1912.

Aftermath

Picture, if you will, the World's most renowned ship going to her doom in the darkness of the night, taking with her 1,635 passengers and crew with a mere 705 survivors. Public inquiries and investigations on both sides of the Atlantic culminated in new laws passed making ocean-going travel safer. With the myth of the unsinkable ship debunked, the aftermath of the tragedy of the Titanic will live on for infinity.

American Inquiry and Titanic Investigation - 1912

A total of 82 witnesses testified about ice warnings that were ignored, the inadequate number of lifeboats, the ship's speed, the failure of nearby ships to respond to the Titanic's distress calls, and the treatment of passengers of different classes.

Book Collection

Our collection features both hardcover and softcover books devoted to the many topics that comprise the world of the RMS Titanic, the ship, passengers, survivors, findings, movies, and more.

Ephemera and Reproductions

Ocean Liner ephemera, the brochures, tickets, passenger lists, baggage tags, voyage abstract of logs, landing cards, lithographs, postcards, and photographs were often kept as voyage souvenirs and later coveted by collectors. This collection of selected RMS Titanic reproductions are part of the GG Archives.

Magazines and Journals

Our collection features publications that were entirely devoted to the Titanic or had substantive articles about the RMS Titanic, the ship, passengers, survivors, findings, and more.

Movies and Motion Pictures

It seems an impossibility—and is today-to attempt to photograph at depths of one or two miles, and yet what has been accomplished the past month was deemed equally unattainable a few years ago. It is unlikely, but by no means impossible) that children of those who went down in the “Titanic" may live to look upon an actual picture of that great steamship resting on the ocean's floor.

Collectibles & Memorabilia

While the actual RMS Titanic ephemera and other collectibles are both scarce and pricey, there are plenty of reproductions available for a reasonable price, suitable for many Titanic aficionados. You'll quickly notice that packaging of the collectibles are often the priority since the product (reproductions of available documents) is essentially the same from all suppliers.

Memorials

Expressions of tender, heartfelt sympathy for those who were in great grief; sorrow for those who died; glowing words of tribute for the heroism which had thrilled the world and then strong words urging legislation and regulation to prevent a recurrence of the Titanic catastrophe marked the memorial meeting on April 21, 1912. Many memorials were planned and created that documented the heroism displayed during the Titanic Disaster and to recognize the people who died in this tragedy.

Documentary Videos

Educational, entertaining, documentary videos covering the RMS Titanic provides the visual component in learning through extraordinary films made around the time of the disaster in 1912 to present day, incorporating new discoveries to help viewers understand what really happened.

Image Library

All our RMS Titanic-related images organized by source, date, and page, used throughout this section to illustrate the numerous articles, essays, and other items in this section.

RMS Titanic Images - Charts, Tables, Diagrams, Graphs, Maps

RMS Titanic Images - Historical Charts, Tables, Diagrams, Graphs, Maps is a collection from many sources from the 1910s. These images present a memorable way to infuse a sense of what happened to the world's most famous tragedy!

RMS Titanic Images - Deck Plans

Superb Collection of Deck Plans are provided for Boat Deck and Promenade Deck A, Poop Deck, Bridge Deck B, Forecastle Deck, Shelter Deck C, Saloon Deck D, Upper Deck E, Middle Deck F, Lower Deck G, Orlop Deck, Lower Orlop Deck, and Tank Top. Longitudinal Section Showing Decks and Watertight Bulkheads, Transverse (Amidship) Section, Cross-Section, Public Rooms, Staterooms, Boiler Rooms Nos 1 and 2, and Engine Rooms.

1912-04-10 RMS Titanic Passenger List

First Class (Saloon) Passenger List for the RMS Titanic of the White Star Line From Southampton to New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown (Cobh), Departing Wednesday, 10 April 1912, and Sunk on Sunday, 14th April 1912, Commanded by Captain E. J. Smith.

The Steamers of the White Star Line - 1909

A 1909 Brochure from the White Star Line is a Pictorial Featuring the Olympic and Titanic, Adriatic, Baltic, Canopic, Celtic, Laurentic and Megantic, Majestic and Teutonic, Romanic, Oceanic, Zeeland, and more.

1912-04-14 RMS Titanic Luncheon Menu

Privately published reproduction of the famous Luncheon Bill of Fare from the RMS Titanic feature such specialities as Cockie Leekie, Roast Beef, Veal & Ham Pie, and Virginia & Cumberland Ham.

A Century of Sea Travel: Personal Accounts from the Steamship Era

This book is a voyage through the life of the passenger steamship, a voyage described by travellers who sailed on these vessels, and it carries within it their thoughts and experiences, mirrored here in words and pictures.

Doomed Ships: Great Ocean Liner Disasters

Naval historian William H. Miller, Jr. recounts the dramatic stories behind various ill-fated passenger ships. He takes readers beyond the newspaper headlines and formal inquiries, offering firsthand accounts of heroic rescues, daring escapes, and tragic losses.

The Great Liners: The Seafarers, Volume 4

A history of the world's famous luxury liners provides portraits of the ships. It examines such great disasters as the sinking of the Titanic. This edition explores the grand hotels that traversed the Atlantic between 1840 and 1930.

Great Passenger Ships of the World 1858-1912

This initial volume deals with Ships from 1858-1912, from the first passenger ship of over 10,000 GRT to be placed in service (the Great Eastern) to those unforgettable sister ships, the Olympic and Titanic — the first of more than 40,000 GRT.

Lost Liners, Titanic to the Andrea Doria

Maps, charts, and diagrams make this handsome volume a valuable reference tool and a compelling evocation of that glorious era when floating palaces ruled the sea lanes.

Majesty at Sea: The Four Stackers

The opulent and luxurious four-funnel passenger liners, of which only fourteen have ever been built, are unsurpassed in maritime history. Built between 1897 and 1921, these great vessels vied with each other in their standards of comfort, spaciousness, and speed, and great was the rivalry between their owners.

White Star Line - Merchant Fleets # 19

Despite the misfortunes of the White Star Line, it is still regarded with esteem and affection. For those born after the end of White Star, this vol. is, therefore, deliberately comprehensive and definitive. There is the usual chronological company history. Seventy-four scale profile drawings illustrate each of the 98 ships. The career history of each ship is given.

Ocean Steamers: A History of Ocean-Going Passenger Steamships 1820-1970

A history of the steam-powered passenger ship that details its story from the SS Savannah of 1819 to the SS Hamburg of 1969. It contains historical details of all civilian vessels built in the intervening years, with numerous illustrations and previously unpublished material.

Passenger Ships of the World - 1963

Passenger Ships of the World, 1963, represents an incredible resource covering passenger ships that are Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Pacific, Trans-Pacific via Panama Canal, Latin American, Africa and the Eastern Oceans, and California-Hawaii.

Pictorial Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners, 1860-1994

One of the most comprehensive pictorial references on ocean liners ever published, this superb chronicle by noted maritime historian William H. Miller, Jr., depicts and describes virtually every passenger ship of over 15,000 tons built between 1860 and the late 1900s.

Picture History of the Andrea Doria

Graceful, fast, and luxuriously outfitted, the Andrea Doria was one of the most famous ships of the 20th century. On July 26, 1956, three years after its inaugural voyage, the famous Italian liner was assured of an immortal place in maritime history after colliding with another vessel off the New England coast and sinking.

Picture History of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth

Powerful and fast Atlantic liners of the 1930s, this volume is packed with high-quality vintage photographs of the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth, from construction to heyday to eventual decline and their successor ships bearing the same name.

Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic

History of the ocean liners of the North Atlantic crossings. A comprehensive history of Trans-Atlantic passenger ships covering 1818 - 1968, with 55 b/w illustrations, photos, and drawings.

The Only Way to Cross: The Golden Era of the Great Atlantic Express Liners

The book profiles the opulent lifestyles aboard such floating palaces as Normandie, Rex, Olympic, Amerika, Queen Mary, France, Mauritania, Queen Elizabeth II, Imperator, and Titanic.

Transatlantic and the Great Atlantic Steamships

A stirring narrative of the rapid development of the great transatlantic steamships, from paddle-wheelers to the sleek luxury greyhounds of the modern era -- and the men who designed and ran them.