D DECK—At the bow of this deck was the third-class bar, some more first-class staterooms, a reception room, and a restaurant. To the stern were the hospital and infirmary, and the second-class bar and dining saloon, with second-class accommodations at the very back of the deck and a few third class.
E DECK—This deck had a mixture of staff accommodations, along with first-, second-, and third-class rooms, although there were separate entrances for each. Running right through the center was Scotland Road, which stretched nearly from end to end of this deck, allowing staff to get where they were needed quickly. Elevators also operated from this deck upward to make it easy for the stewards to take trolleys of food, linens, etc., to the first-class passengers on other decks. First class had their own elevators.
F DECK—At the front of this deck were squash courts and the Turkish baths. The heated swimming pool was only the second to have been built on a ship (the first being on her sister ship the Olympic). There was also a third-class dining saloon and more accommodations.
G DECK—The front part of the G deck housed the first-class baggage area, the post office, and a racket court. The majority of this deck was taken up with the boiler rooms, coal bunkers, and engines, which reached down to the lowermost deck—the tank top. To the stern were most of the food preparation areas, along with more third-class rooms.
ORLOP DECK—The orlop deck stored refrigerated goods, and was where the mailroom was located directly beneath the post office on the deck above so that the mailmen could easily access all the parcels and letters waiting to be sorted on the journey to and from New York. There were also large storage areas at the bow for other cargo, including motorcars and livestock.
TANK TOP—The tank top was where the engine connected to the propellers.
Animals on the Titanic
• There were at least twelve dogs on board the ship, most of whom belonged to first-class passengers and had their own ticket to travel. The dogs stayed in kennels on the F deck and were looked after by the ship’s carpenter. (They were walked daily on the poop deck!)
• Chickens were kept in the cargo area. One of the passengers complained about being awoken every morning by a crowing rooster in the hold.
• A canary joined the cargo at Southampton and was dropped off with its owner in Cherbourg.
• There was a ship’s cat called Jenny on board. Jenny’s job was to keep the ship free from rats and mice, and she slept in one of the galleys. She is said to have joined the ship at Belfast, Ireland, where the Titanic was built, after leaving her sister ship, the Olympic. While on board, she gave birth to a litter of kittens. When they reached Southampton, Jenny was seen leaving the ship with her kittens. One of the stokers, Jim Mulholland, saw this as a bad omen and decided to leave the ship at Southampton, too. Mulholland later credited Jenny with saving his life.
• A large Newfoundland dog named Rigel was said to have swum in the icy water for hours, barking to guide the Carpathia to the lifeboats when it arrived on the scene and saving hundreds of lives. But this turned out to be a hoax.
• A small pig was spotted on board; however, it turned out to be a very realistic-looking mechanical pig that belonged to Edith Rosenbaum Russell, who survived the sinking.
Animal Facts
DOGS
• A dog’s sense of smell is at least ten thousand times stronger than a human’s.
• Dalmatian puppies are born completely white, and their black spots slowly develop as they grow.
• Dogs can be taught to learn words, commands, and tricks and are roughly as smart as an average two-year-old human. They can also help to detect when a human is ill and are even able to sense when humans with diabetes or epilepsy are getting sick and can alert them.
• Dogs and humans have been allies since at least as far back as the Ice Age, when humans used wolves to help them hunt for food.
• The largest dog breed in the world is the Great Dane. They can grow up to forty-four inches tall.
CATS
• When kittens are born, they are blind for almost two weeks, so they stay close to their mother and siblings.
• Cats have excellent balance. They are great at jumping, and if they fall, they will almost always land on their feet.
• Cats love to sleep and will snooze on average for up to sixteen hours a day.
• They have a great sense of hearing, smell, and vision. They are able to see at night even in almost pitch darkness.
• Cats need to be fast on their feet to catch their prey. They can run up to thirty miles per hour.
RATS
• Rats have a good memory and are very smart. They can even learn tricks.
• They are good swimmers (although they prefer to stay on land), and their long tails mean that they have great balance and are excellent climbers.
• Rats rely on their whiskers to help them find their way around, as their eyesight isn’t so great.
• The average rat can grow to between seven and nine inches long, but some can grow up to twenty inches.
• Despite what many people believe, rats are very clean and friendly animals. They don’t like to be alone. If one rat in a group is sick or injured, the others will take care of it.
Glossary
BOILER ROOM: the place where the coal was loaded into the furnaces
BOW: the front part of a ship
BRIDGE: the room from which a ship is commanded
BUNKER: where the coal was stored
COLLAPSIBLE: a folding lifeboat, made from canvas
DOCKER: a person who worked at the quayside, loading and unloading cargo
FIREMEN: men who loaded coal into the bunkers to fuel the engines
FURNACE: a heating device that burned the coal to produce steam to run the ship
GALLEY: the kitchen on a ship
GANGPLANK: a narrow walkway from the dock to a ship
HULL: the lowermost, watertight part of a ship
LUGGER: a small sailing ship
OODLE: a stew made from carrots, onions, gravy, and the unwanted cutoffs of meat
PORT: the left-hand side of a ship (when looking toward the bow of the ship)
PORTHOLE: a small round window in a ship
PROMENADE: an area along a deck where passengers can take a stroll
QUARTERMASTER: the officer on a ship responsible for steering
QUAY: the dock running alongside the water to load and unload people and cargo onto ships
QUAYSIDE: the quay and the area around it
SCARPER: to run away
SOLENT: the body of water separating the Isle of Wight from mainland England
STARBOARD: the right-hand side of a ship (when looking toward the bow of the ship)
STEAMER: a ship powered by steam
STEERAGE: the part of the ship providing the cheapest accommodations
STERN: the back part of a ship
STOWAWAY: someone who has sneaked on board a ship without a ticket
STRAIT: a narrow passage of water
WHEELHOUSE: the location of the ship’s wheel
WIRELESS: a radio system without wires that allowed ships to communicate with people on shore or nearby boats
Further Reading
BOOKS
Ballard, Robert D. Exploring the Titanic. London: Hamlyn Young Books, 1988.
Brewster, Hugh, and Marschall, Ken. Inside the Titanic. New York: Little, Brown, 1998.
Chrisp, Peter. Explore Titanic. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, 2011.
DK Eyewitness: Titanic. New York: DK Children, 2014.
Mayo, Jonathan. Titanic Minute by Minute. London: Short Books, 2016.
Stewart, Melissa. National Geographic Kids Titanic. Washington, DC: National Geographic Kids, 2012.
WEBSITES
bbc.co.uk/archive/titanic (This features recordings of some of the survivors telling their stories.)
bbc.co.uk/history/titanic
diaperheritage.com (This site has information
about the floating bridge that Mutt took to cross over the Solent.)
encyclopedia-titanica.org
nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/life-aboard -titanic
titanicfacts.net
ultimatetitanic.com
DOCUMENTARY
James Cameron’s Ghosts of the Abyss (2003). (This documentary shows footage taken of the Titanic wreckage.)
Scott Palmieri
Katrina Charman lives in a small village in the middle of Southeast England with her husband and three daughters. Katrina has wanted to be a children’s writer ever since she was eleven, when her schoolteacher set her class the task of writing an epilogue to Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Her teacher thought her writing was good enough to send to Roald Dahl himself. Sadly, she never got a reply, but the experience ignited her love of reading and writing. She invites you to visit her online at katrinacharman.com.
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