SS Titan (1898)
NOTES:
Spawns at large oil rig
Needs infinite electric
1:1 scale with her dimensions in the book
This is MY interpretation of the SS Titan since there is no official design, but based off Emma Lynskey’s painting
What isn’t mentioned in her story is filled in with estimated guesses or based on similar ships / other parts of the story
Credit to: Oceanic Star Line for the wonderful black and white edits of the Titan!
STORY:
The Titan was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage around February 1898. She departed the Mersey river, and made for the United States at her maiden voyage. On her trial trip in late January that year, it was found her average speed was a record-shattering 25 knots, and that she displaced 70,000 tonnes. Arriving on her maiden around 5 days later, she was quickly given the blue riband award for fastest eastbound crossing, and upon arriving in Liverpool again she broke the westbound record too. Titan could make an impressive 29 knots at her maximum, she was a very unique ship. The first tripe screw ship in the world, her three triple expansion engines and her twelve boilers meant speed competition would not be broken until Lusitania in 1907. Titan carried sails, which wasn’t very common for large steamers in 1898, as stated in the book. A quote from the book also describes her as having a "sharp deadrise, like a steam yacht" (clipper bow), a "lofty bridge" that is also stated to be raised later in the book. Titan had five successful voyages and departed Liverpool in April 1898 on her last voyage. This voyage is what doomed the Titan and around 1,900 lives. Likely a day or two out, she rammed, broke apart and sank the SV Royal Age killing all on board the tiny sailing vessel, and this is believed to have cursed the liner for making no attempt to avoid the collision. Around midnight the next day, the Titan’s lookouts spotted a wall of ice. Her sinking was much more violent than the Titanic’s, despite what people may claim. Titan rose high out of the water, climbing up the wall of ice until her three propellers were half exposed. During this, she hit a shelf which tore off the ship’s starboard bridge wing and every single starboard lifeboat, only leaving 12 of the 24 usable. Titan rolled violently onto her starboard side as she slid off the ice, but due to her being on her side the twelve boilers and three engines fell through her side. Given how her engine compartment would be large and in the aft, she likely went down aft first. Only one lifeboat got off next to the bridge on the port side, and the Titan sank in around five minutes.
Also, as a side note, Titan’s high fatality count has nothing to do with lifeboat amount but rather how she sank on her side and how fast she went under, it is impossible to launch 24 lifeboats fully loaded while a ship is on it’s side and sinks in 5 minutes.
