RMS Titanic

Since the first rivet was laid, the Titanic has inspired generations. At the time it was built, she was the largest ship ever constructed. Imagine living in Belfast in the early 1900s walking passed the Harland and Wolf shipyards, and seeing this awesome ship rise from nothing as the steel structure was assembled. I imagine it was like nothing they had ever seen before.

When I was a kid, probably five or six years old, I was obsessed with the Titanic. My parents got a VHS copy of the National Geographic documentary Titanic - Exploring the Discovery of a Lifetime. I must have worn out the tape in the VCR from watching it in my parents' bedroom every day after school. I'm sure my parents grew tired of hearing out it, but they fed into it, buying me books and indulging me, listening to the many facts I had learned during my extensive research.

I idolized Dr. Robert Ballard, the researcher who discovered the Titanic. While watching the film about his discovery mission, I had my stack of Titanic books, most were written by him, at the ready for easy reference. I would spend hours building Lego replicas of his research vessel, including the deep-dive research submarine Alvin he used on his famous expedition. These Lego creations were by my side to act out his search as I watched the documentary, in awe.

These days, it is my son's turn to obsess over the mighty Titanic. He checks out any book he can find from his school library and tells me all about them during the week. He has been building his own cross-cut Lego model of the ship, protecting it all costs. He has not seen the documentary that drew me in when I was his age, though he has asked me if he can see the movie. The other day, I found him hiding out in my office watching Lego Titanic videos on YouTube.

But what is it that fascinates us about this ship, over a century later?

For me, it is the sheer magnitude of scale that this ship took. The specs of the ship are incredible. Specs are courtesy of the Royal Museums Greenwich

· Overall length - 882.75 feet

· Two 8-cylinder engines

· One low pressure turbine

· 46,000 total horsepower

· Service speed 21 knots

· Estimated top speed 24 knots

· Total passenger capacity 3320

· Laid down March 31, 1909

· Launched March 31, 1912

· There were only enough lifeboats for 1/3 of the passengers on board

· Total losses - 1523 people

· Titanic sank April 15, 1912

No body had ever tried to build a ship of this size before. The Olympic class ships, as Titanic and her two sisters were called, required that new gantries and dry docks be built to accommodate the projects. The engineering alone of the Titanic foreshadowed the massive cities on the sea that we call cruse ships today.

Looking through pictures and footage of the Titanic show us that travel a century ago was an even to be prepared for. Even the 3rd-class passengers wore their very best for the journey to America in hopes of a better life. The amenities on this ship were incredible. The first ship to feature a swimming pool had launched just a few years prior and the designers of Titanic made sure to spare no expense. Even the radio room on Titanic was the most state of the art at the time.

The thing about this ship that sticks with us the most and draws new interest every day, is the massive loss of life. The loss of life was so great that it is the only thing that can overshadow the size of the massive ship. Researching the ship over the years, I have found that there is no other way to explain the cause of the ship sinking than to sum it up to human arrogance. The White Star Line, the owners of the ship, even went so far as to say that the ship was practically unsinkable. They believed that even if an event did occur they had done everything right and there was nothing that could possibly go wrong.

Titanic will forever be remembered and has already reached legendary status. There are things about that fateful night that we will never know. The last surviving passenger from Titanic, Millvina Dean, was only nine weeks old at the time of the voyage. She passed away in 2009. As the wreck of the Titanic continues to crumble deep under the Atlantic Ocean, we are left in awe of what could have been.