Titanic Unit Study

On April 10, 1912, the largest moving object ever built set sail from Southampton, England, on its first voyage to New York. The RMS Titanic was called “unsinkable.” Four days later, just before midnight on April 14, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, and by 2:20 the next morning it was gone. More than 1,500 people lost their lives, and the world was changed forever.

This Titanic Unit Study explores the ship, the people on board, and the night it sank, along with the science of icebergs and buoyancy, the math of the lifeboats, the safety laws that followed, and the discovery of the wreck in 1985. Many of the survivors’ own accounts are free to read online, a bowl of water and some ice cubes make a great iceberg experiment, and the library has more Titanic books than you could read in a year.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the Titanic and why it was considered “unsinkable.”
• Explain the events of the night the Titanic sank and why so many lives were lost.
• Compare the experiences of first, second, and third class passengers.
• Understand the science of icebergs, buoyancy, and watertight compartments.
• Explain how the disaster led to new safety laws at sea.
• Learn how the wreck was found and how scientists study it today.
• Read and compare survivor accounts, books, and films about the Titanic.

Bible References

• Psalm 107:23-30: Those who go down to the sea in ships, and God calming the storm.
• Mark 4:35-41: Jesus calms the storm on the sea.
• Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction. Discuss what it meant to call a ship “unsinkable.”
• John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this. Discuss the people who gave up their places in the lifeboats.

Timeline

• 1909: Construction of the Titanic begins at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.
• May 31, 1911: The Titanic is launched into the water.
• April 10, 1912: The Titanic leaves Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage, stopping in Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland.
• April 14, 1912, 11:40 p.m.: The Titanic strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
• April 15, 1912, 2:20 a.m.: The Titanic sinks. The Carpathia rescues the survivors in the lifeboats a few hours later.
• April 18, 1912: The Carpathia arrives in New York with the survivors.
• April-May 1912: The U.S. Senate and the British government hold inquiries into the disaster.
• 1914: The first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea requires enough lifeboats for everyone on board, and the International Ice Patrol begins watching for icebergs.
• September 1, 1985: Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel find the wreck of the Titanic.
• 2012: The 100th anniversary of the sinking is remembered around the world.

Vocabulary

ocean liner	maiden voyage	iceberg
lifeboat	steerage	first class
hull	bulkhead	watertight compartment
bow	stern	starboard
port	crow’s nest	lookout
wireless	distress signal	SOS
survivor	inquiry	submersible

• WordWeb: Free downloadable dictionary software.
• Dictionary.com: Online definitions and pronunciation.

Book Resources

For Kids

• Finding the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard: An easy reader about how the wreck was found, told by the explorer who found it.
• The Titanic Lost and Found by Judy Donnelly: A Step into Reading book about the sinking and the discovery of the wreck.
• Pig on the Titanic: A True Story by Gary Crew: A picture book based on a real passenger’s toy pig music box that came along in a lifeboat.
• DK Eyewitness: Titanic by Simon Adams: Photos of the ship, the people, and artifacts from the wreck.
• SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting: A middle-grade novel about an Irish boy traveling to America on the Titanic.
• Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams: A middle-grade novel about a boy and his family on board the Titanic.
• Murder on the Titanic by James Walker: A mystery set on the ship, for older kids.

Survivor Accounts

• The Loss of the S.S. Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons by Lawrence Beesley: Written in 1912 by a science teacher who survived in lifeboat 13.
• Titanic: A Survivor’s Story by Archibald Gracie: A survivor’s account of the sinking and his rescue.
• Sinking of the Titanic: Eyewitness Accounts edited by Jay Henry Mowbray: A collection published in 1912, just weeks after the disaster.
• The Story of the Titanic, As Told by Its Survivors edited by Jack Winocour: First-hand accounts from passengers and crew.
• The Mammoth Book of the Titanic edited by Geoff Tibballs: Accounts from survivors and newspapers of the time.
• The Titanic Disaster Hearings by Tom Kuntz: The official transcripts of the 1912 U.S. Senate investigation.

History of the Titanic

• A Night to Remember by Walter Lord: The classic minute-by-minute account of the sinking, written in 1955.
• The Night Lives On by Walter Lord: Lord’s follow-up with more untold stories and secrets.
• “Unsinkable”: The Full Story of RMS Titanic by Daniel Allen Butler: The ship’s story from design to sinking.
• Titanic: A Night Remembered by Stephanie L. Barczewski: How the Titanic has been remembered over the last century.
• Titanic: Women and Children First by Judith B. Geller: The stories of the women and children on board.
• The Last Log of the Titanic by David G. Brown: A look at the ship’s final hours from a sailor’s point of view.
• Olympic and Titanic: The Truth Behind the Conspiracy by Steve Hall and Bruce Beveridge: Looks at the claim that the Titanic was secretly swapped with its sister ship.
• The Titanic: End of a Dream by Wyn Craig Wade: A history of the disaster and the inquiries that followed.
• Last Dinner on the Titanic by Rick Archbold: The menus and recipes from the ship’s last meals.
• Titanica: The Disaster of the Century in Poetry, Song, and Prose edited by Steven Biel: How people wrote and sang about the Titanic.

Finding and Exploring the Wreck

• The Discovery of the Titanic by Robert D. Ballard: Ballard’s own story of finding the wreck in 1985, with photos.
• Return to Titanic: A New Look at the World’s Most Famous Lost Ship by Robert D. Ballard: Ballard returns to the wreck years later.
• Adventures in Ocean Exploration by Robert D. Ballard: From the discovery of the Titanic to his other deep-sea expeditions.
• Ghosts of the Abyss: A Journey into the Heart of the Titanic by Don Lynch: Photos and stories from James Cameron’s dives to the wreck.
• Ghosts of the Titanic by Charles Pellegrino: The science of the wreck and what it tells us.

Fiction for Teens and Adults

• The Wreck of the Titan by Morgan Robertson: An 1898 novel about a giant “unsinkable” ship that hits an iceberg, written 14 years before the Titanic sank.
• Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge: A novel set on board, for adults.
• Raise the Titanic! by Clive Cussler: An adventure novel about raising the wreck.

The Movie and the Musical

• James Cameron’s Titanic by Douglas Kirkland: Behind the scenes of the 1997 film.
• Titanic and the Making of James Cameron by Paula Parisi: The three-year story of making the film.
• Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster by Kevin S. Sandler: Why the 1997 film became such a huge hit.
• Titanic: The Complete Book of the Musical by Maury Yeston and Peter Stone: The script and songs of the Broadway musical.

Music

• Nearer, My God, to Thee: Survivors said the ship’s band played this hymn as the Titanic sank. Listen to it and talk about why the musicians kept playing.
• Music from the Motion Picture Titanic: The soundtrack from the 1997 film.
• My Heart Will Go On: Céline Dion’s 25th anniversary video of the famous song from the film.

Video Resources

Some Titanic documentaries describe the deaths in detail, so preview them before watching with younger children.

• Modern Marvels: The Titanic Engineering Disaster: How the ship was built and why it failed, from the History Channel.
• Secrets of the Titanic: A full documentary on YouTube.
• Titanic’s Final Moments: Missing Pieces (2006): New evidence about how the ship broke apart.
• Titanic’s Ghosts: A documentary about exploring the wreck.
• PBS Secrets of the Dead: Titanic’s Ghost: The mystery of a piece of the wreck, with a 2013 update.
• Titanic Revealed: A documentary about the ship and the wreck.
• Molly Brown: An American Legend: The true story of the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, a survivor who helped others in her lifeboat.

Feature Films

Compare a film with the true story. What did the filmmakers get right? What did they change? Parents should preview, since the 1997 Titanic is rated PG-13.

• A Night to Remember (1958): Based on Walter Lord’s book and known for its accuracy. Amazon, or stream free on the Roku Channel or Tubi.
• Titanic (1953): Amazon Prime Video
• The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964): The musical starring Debbie Reynolds. Amazon Prime Video
• S.O.S. Titanic (1979): Amazon, or stream with a library card on Kanopy.
• Titanic (1997): James Cameron’s film. Amazon Prime Video

Science

• Iceberg Experiment: Freeze water in a small container, then float the ice in a clear bowl of water. How much is above the water and how much is below? Add salt to the water and see if it changes. This shows why the lookouts couldn’t see most of the iceberg.
• Watertight Compartments: Divide a plastic container into sections with clay walls that don’t reach the top. Float it, then fill one end compartment at a time. The Titanic could stay afloat with four compartments flooded, but the iceberg opened five or six.
• Sink or Float: Test why a heavy steel ship floats but a small steel nail sinks. Shape a ball of foil and a foil “boat” from the same size sheet and compare.
• What’s Eating Titanic?: A NOAA lesson on the “rusticles” and bacteria slowly eating away the wreck.

Math

• Lifeboat Math: The Titanic carried 20 lifeboats with room for about 1,178 people, but about 2,224 people were on board. How many people had no place in a lifeboat? What percentage of people could fit?
• Graphing Survivors: Use the passenger lists on Encyclopedia Titanica to make a bar graph comparing survivors in first, second, and third class.
• Measuring the Titanic: The Titanic was about 882 feet long. Measure it out in your yard or neighborhood with a long tape measure or by counting steps.

Recipes

Use Last Dinner on the Titanic or look up the menus online to compare what first class and third class passengers ate. Then make a simple meal from each class, like a fancy dessert from first class and the hearty stew and bread served in third class, and talk about the differences.

Field Trips

• Titanic Museum Attraction: Walk through a half-scale replica of the ship in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, or Branson, Missouri.
• Titanic Belfast: The museum in Northern Ireland where the ship was built. Its website has photos and stories you can explore from home.
• Watch for traveling Titanic artifact exhibitions at science and history museums near you.

Art and Craft Ideas

• Spitefuls Titanic and Endurance Dioramas: Free downloadable paper models of the Titanic and Shackleton’s ship.
• Boarding Pass: Design your own ticket for first, second, or third class.
• Newspaper Front Page: Write and lay out the headline story as a 1912 newspaper would have reported it.
• Message from the Wireless Room: Write a distress message in Morse code, like the Titanic’s wireless operators sent.

• Iceberg Ahead!: Spread out “icebergs” (paper or pillows) across the floor. One player is the lookout and calls directions while the blindfolded “ship” steers through without hitting one.
• Passenger Who Am I?: Make clue cards about real passengers, like Molly Brown, Captain Smith, or Thomas Andrews, and guess who’s being described.
• Morse Code Messages: Use a Morse code chart to send and decode messages with a flashlight or by tapping.

Lifeboat Card Game

Make a deck of passenger cards (first, second, and third class, plus crew) and lifeboat cards, with a few “iceberg” cards mixed in. Each lifeboat card can hold three passengers. On your turn, draw a card. Lifeboat cards go in front of you, and passenger cards can be placed into one of your lifeboats. If you draw an iceberg card, you must give one passenger card without a seat to the player on your left. When the deck runs out, players score a point for every passenger safely in a lifeboat.

Talk afterward about how it felt when there weren’t enough lifeboats. Add Titanic facts or vocabulary words to the cards, and use the deck as question cards for Iceberg Ahead! or any board game you make.

GeoSafari Card Ideas

• The Titanic’s Route: Locate Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg, Queenstown, the sinking site, and New York on a map.
• Parts of the Ship: Match the bow, stern, hull, crow’s nest, bridge, and funnels to a diagram of the Titanic.
• Who Was Who: Match Captain Edward Smith, Thomas Andrews, Molly Brown, Harold Bride, and Robert Ballard to their roles.
• Timeline Order: Put the events of the Titanic’s story in order, from construction to the discovery of the wreck.
• Vocabulary Match: Match each vocabulary word to its definition.

Websites and Teaching Guides

• Encyclopedia Titanica: Biographies of every passenger and crew member, deck plans, and articles.
• Belfast Titanic Society: The history of the Titanic in the city where it was built.
• Cobblestone Titanic Teacher Guide (April 2012): A downloadable guide with activities for the 100th anniversary issue.

Worksheets

Lapbook Ideas

• Titanic Timeline Accordion: The ship’s story from construction in 1909 to the discovery of the wreck in 1985.
• Three Classes Tab Book: One tab each for first, second, and third class, with what the cabins, meals, and passengers were like.
• Parts of the Ship Diagram: Label the bow, stern, hull, funnels, crow’s nest, and bridge.
• Iceberg Lift-the-Flap: Draw an iceberg with the top above the waterline and the much bigger part hidden underneath.
• Lifeboat Math Pocket: Your lifeboat math problems and answers.
• Passenger Profile Cards: Facts about real passengers and crew, from Encyclopedia Titanica.
• Route Map: Trace the Titanic’s voyage and mark where it sank.
• Safety Laws Mini-Book: The changes made after the disaster, like enough lifeboats for everyone and the International Ice Patrol.
• Discovery of the Wreck Flap: How Robert Ballard’s team found the Titanic in 1985.
• Vocabulary Pocket: Vocabulary word cards tucked into a pocket.

Evaluation Ideas

---

Related Unit Studies from Homeschooling on a Shoestring

• Shipwrecks Unit Study
• Immigration Unit Study
• Wright Brothers Unit Study