Sinking of the RMS Titanic time of her entry into service on 2 April 1912, Royal Mail Ship (RMS) "Titanic" was the second of three sister ships, and was the largest ship in the world. She and her sister, , were almost one and a half times the gross register tonnage of Cunard's and , the previous record holders, and were nearly longer. "Titanic" could carry 3,547 people in speed and comfort, and was built on a hitherto unprecedented scale. Her reciprocating engines were the largest that had ever been built, standing high and with cylinders in diameter requiring the burning of of coal per
RMS Titanic in popular culture Archibald Gracie's "The Truth about the Titanic". Beesley started writing his book shortly after being rescued by the RMS "Carpathia" and supplemented it with interviews with fellow-survivors. It was published by Houghton Mifflin within only three weeks of the disaster. Gracie carried out extensive research and interviews, as well as attending the US Senate inquiry into the sinking. He died in December 1912, just before his book was published. "Titanic"s former Second Officer, Charles Lightoller, published an account of the sinking in his 1935 book "Titanic and Other Ships", which Eugene L. Rasor characterises as an apologia. Stewardess Violet Jessop