13. One Of Titanic’s Four Funnels Was Just For Show (And Crushed Many To Death)

Other than the slow reaction time of crew members spotting the iceberg, another fatal flaw that night ultimately came down to the ship’s design. The Titanic was the biggest luxury cruise liner in the world at the time, and since it was to embark on its first voyage ever, expectations were high. The most expensive First Class ticket to New York was $4,350 (nearly $70,000 in today’s money!). Unsurprisingly, the ship’s designers wanted to go all-out to make the ship look good.

What the crew didn’t anticipate was that something that was added for pure spectacle rather than function would later come back to haunt them as it ended up killing passengers. The four iconic cream and black-tipped funnels on the Titanic were an impressive feature of the sip. Only three of the four worked—the fourth was added purely for show. For the sake of looking symmetrical, however, many people were crushed by the falling funnels, when the ship eventually split in two.

12. The String Quartet Really Did Carry On Playing While She Sank

Remember the group of musicians solemnly playing while the ship was going under in the movie? This is completely true. James Cameron might have used artistic license here and there to keep audiences hooked for near to 3 and half hours, but he kept many of the important details in, such as this one. While the passengers and crew frantically ran up and down the ship looking for loved ones and tried to make their escape in the lifeboats, the ship’s string quartet played on to lift spirits and distract from the doom that was facing them all.

The bandmaster, Wallace Hartley, and his fellow musicians were not employed by the ship’s company, White Star Line, which meant that they had every right to find a lifeboat and save themselves from the sinking ship. Instead, they chose to play on for over 2 hours as the ship sank ever deeper. Just as in the 1997 movie, they played a selection of lively music and the famous Hymn Nearer My God to thee to keep morale up. None of the band members survived.

11. A Lifeboat Drill Was Cancelled On The Day The Ship Sank

One of the most haunting revelations on the morning of the sinking is the fact that a lifeboat training drill–which could have very well saved hundreds of more lives later that night–was canceled at the last minute. The ship’s Captain, Edward J. Smith, canceled what could have been invaluable lifeboat training for the crew and never rescheduled or carried out another drill for the four days that they were out at sea.

Titanic was seen as the grandest and most luxurious ship in the world, and many months of preparation went into her interior designs and finishing touches. Because of this, the crew on the Titanic apparently had very little time to prepare for the actual voyage itself. When the lifeboats were dropped overboard on the night she sank, this was the first time the crew had ever manned them before. If it weren’t for this blasé attitude to safety, many more lives could have been spared.

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