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And now it's time for Who Smarted.
Psst.
Hey, smarty pants.
I'm in Ireland at a museum dedicated to a famous ship.
In fact, it's one of the most famous and talked about ships of all time.
There was even a movie about it.
Actually, there were a whole bunch of movies and TV shows made about it.
Any guesses what this famous ship could be, Smarty Pants?
Is it A, the Mayflower, B, the Santa Maria, or C, the RMS Titanic?
Well, there's no arguing that the Mayflower, the Santa Maria, and the Titanic are all famous ships.
But when it comes to movies books, TV shows and just pop culture, no ship seems to fascinate people more than Sea the Titanic.
Anyway, like I was saying, I'm at Titanic Belfast, a museum located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, dedicated to the Titanic.
Any guesses why the Titanic Museum is in Belfast, Ireland?
Why, it's because this is the place where the Titanic was designed, built, and launched today.
To begin the self-guided tour, please put on your headsets.
Yep, that's me.
Let me just slip on these headphones and begin my self-guided tour.
Let's see.
Right now, I'm in a replica of a third-class cabin.
I gotta say, for the world's biggest boat at the time, this cabin is pretty small.
Hello, trustee.
My name is Violet, and I'll be your virtual tour guide today.
For starters, I can see how you would think this cabin is small.
However, for the time period, it was actually very spacious.
I see.
And what time period are we talking about?
That would be... Wait, wait.
Don't just tell us.
Let's see if the smarty pants can guess.
Are we talking about 1901, 1910, or 1912?
The answer is... Now you can tell us, Violet.
If you said 1912, you're right.
What else would you like to learn about the Titanic?
Well, I'm sure the smarty pants would like to learn things like What kind of ship was the Titanic?
Where did its name come from?
And how and why did it sink?
Iceberg!
Ahead!
I can answer those questions.
Great!
Then let's take a Titanic whiff of science and history on... Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun.
Who's smart?
Okay, smarty pants, let's start off with a basic question to help everyone get a good idea of what we're talking about when it comes to the Titanic.
What kind of ship was the Titanic?
Was it A, an ocean liner, B, a cargo ship, or C, an aircraft carrier?
If you said A, an ocean liner.
And in case you're not sure what an ocean liner is, it's a large passenger ship that travels on the open seas.
And speaking of large, the Titanic definitely was large.
Any idea where it got its name from?
Tell him, Violet.
Titanic's name came from the Titans, who were giants from Greek mythology.
And just how big was the Titanic?
To visualize how big the Titanic was, think of a football field.
Now multiply that field by three.
That's how long it was.
And it was as tall as an 11-story building and had room for over 2,500 passengers.
Whoa.
Yep, I'd say that's pretty... titanic.
Although, compared to today's modern luxury cruise ships, the Titanic is actually not that big.
But at the time, it was the biggest.
It was built at a shipyard here in Belfast, Ireland, right where the museum is.
When the Titanic was being designed and built, they felt they were designing a special ship that people would remember forever.
Of course, nobody thought it would be remembered over a hundred years later.
For the reason that it is,
Thomas Andrews, who designed and planned the building of the Titanic, wanted to make a ship that was as comfortable as possible for its passengers.
Comfort is definitely important, but unfortunately it is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to the Titanic.
But let's start with the good things.
The Titanic was definitely beautiful.
It sure was.
One of its most famous features was a large staircase covered by a glass dome to let in light.
Ah, yes.
I can see that in some old pictures.
The Titanic also had some innovative or new features for safety, like a double bottom and safety compartments.
And, like any other ship, it was required to pass sea trials.
Smartypants, do you know what sea trials are?
Why, they're a series of tests to make sure a ship is safe in the water.
True or false?
The Titanic passed its sea trials.
The answer is true.
It had to, or it would not have been allowed to sail on its first, and unfortunately last, voyage.
Smarty pants, how long was the Titanic's maiden, or first, voyage supposed to be?
Was it a year, a month, or a week?
If you said a week, you're right.
Now.
Here comes a tricky question.
Where did the Titanic depart from, and where was it headed?
Well, it actually departed from Southampton England, and it was headed across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City.
With so many people on board for a week-long voyage...
The Titanic carried a lot of supplies.
This included 36000 oranges, 1750 quarts of ice cream, 16000 lemons, 2200 pounds of coffee, 1500 gallons of milk, 40000 eggs, 5900 tons of coal and 40 tons of potatoes.
It also carried something else.
Remember earlier when I referred to the Titanic as the RMS Titanic?
Well, the RMS stands for something else the Titanic carried.
I'll tell you what the initials mean, and you can guess what it carried.
Ready?
RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship, or back then, Royal Mail Steamer.
So were you able to guess?
That's right.
The Titanic carried the mail across the ocean.
Except it didn't make it.
But we'll get to that in a bit.
Violet, as the smarty pants already know, I love to eat.
Tell us what it was like to eat on the Titanic.
Where you ate depended on whether you were traveling in first class, second class, or third class.
First class passengers had the fanciest dining accommodations with a wide variety of food at every meal.
Second class also had nice places to eat.
The food in the third class was much simpler.
But all classes had a place to eat, whether it was a dining room, a restaurant, or a cafe.
Speaking of food, the Titanic almost had a passenger who was famous for something related to food.
It can't be the inventor of pizza.
That was before 1912.
Think of a sweeter food.
Milton Hershey, the founder of Hershey's Chocolate, had booked a first-class stateroom on the Titanic but canceled at the last minute.
Good thing.
We might never have had Hershey's Chocolate.
What else can you tell us about the ship, Violet?
It might surprise you to know that the Titanic had a gymnasium and swimming pool.
Woo-hoo!
Cannonball!
Cool.
What about the crew of the Titanic?
Who was the captain?
Smartypants, can you guess?
Was it Captain Smith, Captain Brown, or Captain Crunch?
The answer is... Captain Edward John Smith was the captain of the Titanic, but he had a nickname.
Captain Smith was nicknamed the Millionaire's Captain because many rich people liked to travel on his ships.
Smarty pants, true or false?
Some of the richest people in the world were traveling on the Titanic.
The answer is true.
John Jacob Astor, a passenger on the Titanic, was one of the richest people in the world.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Other wealthy passengers included Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidore Strauss, Broadway producer Henry B Harris and famed socialite Margaret Molly Brown.
Of course, not everyone on the Titanic was rich.
The passengers and third class were working class people.
And then there were several hundred people on the Titanic working as stewards and stewardesses.
Their jobs involved cleaning passengers' rooms and waiting on them in the dining rooms, restaurants and cafes.
Most of the passengers on the Titanic sailed from England, but a few hundred more people boarded the ship in France and Ireland.
Smarty pants, how many people do you think were on the Titanic as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean?
Over 1,000 people?
Over 2,000 people?
Or over 3,000 people?
The Titanic set sail with over 2,000 people from at least 33 different countries.
And did you know there were more passengers traveling in third class than in first and second classes combined.
I see.
Smarty Pants, do you think there were any kids on the Titanic?
There sure were.
Milvina Dean was the youngest passenger on the Titanic.
She was only nine weeks old.
Her two-year-old brother Bertram was also a passenger.
Five children traveled in first class, 22 children traveled in second class and 79 children traveled in third class.
Very interesting.
Ooh, smarty pants, you hear that sound?
What do you think that is?
That's right, some of you said it.
It's a telegraph.
And what is a telegraph used for? why it's used for sending messages to friends and family at home.
The Titanic had a whole room called the wireless room that was used for sending messages.
Some of these messages were just greetings to friends and family, but some later turned out to be really important.
Yep, which brings us to the reason that most people talk about the Titanic.
Unfortunately, it never made it to New York, because it sank.
Smarty Pants, do you know what caused the Titanic, a ship that was labeled unsinkable, to sink?
We'll find out right after this quick break, and a word from our sponsors.
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Now back to Who Smarted?
Okay, smarty pants, I'm sure a lot of you know this, but some of you don't.
So what caused the Titanic to sink?
Was it A, a collision with another ship?
B, an iceberg?
Or C, a giant whale?
If you said B, the Titanic sank because of an iceberg, good job.
The night the Titanic sank, a message was delivered to the wireless room reporting many large icebergs in the Titanic's path.
It would have made sense to take a different path after getting that message.
You would think that.
But they kept going on this path because the Titanic was following the standard shipping route for that time of year.
This route was considered safe because of the information they had about iceberg risks.
And the crew thought they could get through the ice field without anything happening.
Well, at the very least, they should have slowed way, way down.
Smarty Pants, true or false?
The Titanic was going really fast because it was trying to break the speed record for crossing the Atlantic.
The answer is... False.
There was no way for a ship as big as the Titanic, and built for comfort and luxury, to break a speed record.
However, it was definitely going too fast for an area filled with icebergs.
Yep, the Titanic's speed and size definitely contributed to its sinking.
So go ahead, Violet, walk us through that fateful night.
It was right before 11.40 p.m.
A lookout saw a dark shape sticking out of the sea.
Iceberg!
Ahead!
He rang his bell three times to signal danger.
The passengers weren't sure what was happening.
One passenger said the collision felt like the ship was rolling over a thousand marbles.
Stewards woke the passengers up and led them out on the deck.
In reality, the ship was taking on water quickly.
At that point, Captain Smith gave the order to evacuate the ship in the lifeboats.
But there was a problem.
Smartypants, do you know what the problem was with the lifeboats?
Was it that, A, they were broken?
B, they were too small.
Or C, there weren't enough lifeboats for everyone.
The answer, unbelievably, is C.
But why weren't there enough lifeboats for everyone?
Did the people in charge of the Titanic not care about safety?
Actually, according to the safety rules of the time, the Titanic could sail with only 16 lifeboats.
Smartypants, remember, there were over 2,000 people aboard the Titanic.
16 lifeboats is nowhere near enough.
How did they decide who would get on the lifeboats first?
You may have heard that third-class passengers were kept below deck until all of the wealthy passengers could board the lifeboats.
But that is not true.
Instead, it was decided women and children would board the lifeboats first.
The men were only allowed to board when there were no more women or children left.
So why do people think that third-class passengers weren't allowed on the lifeboats?
Some third-class passengers didn't speak English and didn't understand what was going on.
Also, many women refused to leave their husbands.
So unfortunately, many, many third-class passengers did not survive.
Same goes for many of those wealthy passengers we mentioned before.
And Captain Smith also went down with the ship.
So what happened with the lifeboats?
Did they row the rest of the way to New York City?
No.
The survivors of the Titanic were rescued four hours later by a relatively nearby ship called the Carpathia and brought to New York.
How was the Titanic eventually discovered?
Dr. Robert Ballard was part of an American and French team trying to find the Titanic.
He used a mini submarine and robot video camera to find the Titanic on the ocean floor.
It's amazing that people are still interested in the Titanic after all this time.
It's inspired so many movies.
True.
And it also inspired new safety regulations, including requiring ships to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board.
In 1914, 16 North Atlantic nations created the International Ice Patrol to look for icebergs in the North Atlantic shipping lanes.
And of course, the Titanic inspired museums like this one, so people can learn from the past.
I'm named after my ancestor, who was a stewardess on the Titanic.
Thanks for joining us on this virtual tour.
Thank you for all the great info on the Titanic.
If nothing else, I believe all ships should have enough lifeboats and enough pizza for everyone onboard.
A double shout out to Owen and Carter in Greer, South Carolina.
Thanks for letting us know that Who Smarted is part of your bedtime routine and that you especially love listening out for anyone saying meatcake.
Thanks for smarting with us and getting smarter every day and night.
This episode, The Titanic, was written by the unsinkable Sarah Swietek and voiced by Jenna.
My Heart Will Go On.
Hoban, Adam Sinks Davis and Jerry Colmer.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh, the band played on, on.
Our associate producer is Max.
Iceberg ahead!
Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian.
Down with the ship, Suarez.
With lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Audio production.
