Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
She was to have been the last word in luxury ocean-going liners; the White Star Line's RMS Titanic and her sister ships, Olympic and Britannic, were built in response to the Cunard Line's speed record-setting Mauretania and Lusitania, answering speed with unparalleled luxury and comfort, even for their third-class passengers. Unfortunately, it was not to be, for the Titanic's maiden voyage would end in tragedy and become the most famous maritime disaster of all.
Note that this program was made in 1996, before James Cameron's Titanic movie would cause a huge surge in interest about the ship.
For much more detailed information about the Titanic backed by excellent research, I recommend the channels:
Titanic University: youtube.com/channel/UCCDP0wiebmCcUAH2gMUoYFQ
Titanic: Honor and Glory: youtube.com/user/FourFunnelsEnt/videos
The animation of the sinking has been edited out since it was re-used on a later show called 'Great Blunders in History' that is unfortunately blocked by A+E Networks. It is a fairly crude animation anyway, so it is not a big loss: it doesn't show the breakup of the Titanic, probably due to budgetary or technical limitations of 90s television CGI.
There is no evidence J. Bruce Ismay put any pressure on Captain E.J. Smith to go at full speed through the ice floe. Titanic and her Olympic-class sisters were not built to set speed records, and Captain Smith would not have likely taken such a risk merely because Ismay wanted it. Unfortunately, this hasn't stopped Ismay from being repeatedly made the scapegoat of the disaster (partly due to a character assassination campaign by the very powerful media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who heavily disliked Ismay), a trend that was perpetuated by the Cameron movie.
She was to have been the last word in luxury ocean-going liners; the White Star Line's RMS Titanic and her sister ships, Olympic and Britannic, were built in response to the Cunard Line's speed record-setting Mauretania and Lusitania, answering speed with unparalleled luxury and comfort, even for their third-class passengers. Unfortunately, it was not to be, for the Titanic's maiden voyage would end in tragedy and become the most famous maritime disaster of all.
Note that this program was made in 1996, before James Cameron's Titanic movie would cause a huge surge in interest about the ship.
For much more detailed information about the Titanic backed by excellent research, I recommend the channels:
Titanic University: youtube.com/channel/UCCDP0wiebmCcUAH2gMUoYFQ
Titanic: Honor and Glory: youtube.com/user/FourFunnelsEnt/videos
The animation of the sinking has been edited out since it was re-used on a later show called 'Great Blunders in History' that is unfortunately blocked by A+E Networks. It is a fairly crude animation anyway, so it is not a big loss: it doesn't show the breakup of the Titanic, probably due to budgetary or technical limitations of 90s television CGI.
There is no evidence J. Bruce Ismay put any pressure on Captain E.J. Smith to go at full speed through the ice floe. Titanic and her Olympic-class sisters were not built to set speed records, and Captain Smith would not have likely taken such a risk merely because Ismay wanted it. Unfortunately, this hasn't stopped Ismay from being repeatedly made the scapegoat of the disaster (partly due to a character assassination campaign by the very powerful media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who heavily disliked Ismay), a trend that was perpetuated by the Cameron movie.
