100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking

Titanic at the docks of Southampton April 1912If you had been alive in 1912, and scored yourself a ticket on the RMS Titanic, you would have been jumping up and down with excitement. It was the biggest most fancy passenger steamship ever built at the time. It was like a really posh floating palace. Some of the richest and most famous people in the world bought tickets on that first and only voyage.

You would also have felt very safe, because the Titanic was built with 16 double strength watertight compartments, so she could survive a head-on crash that would only flood the first four compartments. Or if another ship rammed her in the middle only two compartments would flood.

And then the unimaginable happened. On her first voyage, less than three hours after hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912 she sank. Over 1,500 people lost their lives.

Find out more about the Titanic by taking part in fun stories and activities to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, at your local library during the April holidays.

The Library has lots of books and resources in the collection too. Search for Titanic in the easyfind catalogue You can also find loads of Titanic websites here.