The Titanic, designed as the largest ship ever to go to sea, was one of the White Star Line's vessels that catered to the most elite passengers. It took three years to build the Titanic and in the end the ship cost $7.5 million dollars. More than 3000 men were employed in building the Titanic. In the months, and even years, leading up to the maiden voyage of the ship; the White Star Line published numerous marketing materials claiming that the Titanic was designed to be "unsinkable."

  The construction methods used in the building of the Titanic were considered to be second to none. Sixteen compartments were said to be watertight. Builders of the Titanic had included steel doors that were supposed to have been capable of shutting in 25 seconds or less, thereby enclosing any water that might have seeped in to threaten the safety of the ship and her occupants.

  Of course, we now know from photographs taken of the ship's wreckage, that in all likelihood many of the nearly three million rivets that were employed to hold the ship's hull plates together popped loose when the vessel struck a massive iceberg. Without the rivets to hold the plating together, they quickly buckled, allowing water to enter the ship. New theories have suggested that the iron used in the Titanic's construction may not have been the best quality, containing high degrees of sulfur, which made the hull plates particularly susceptible to the icy cold waters of the North Atlantic. Builders of the Titanic can hardly be blamed for the iron's contribution to the tragic sinking, however. The iron used in the construction of the Titanic was standard for the first part of the 20th century. While the high sulfur content in the iron may have played a role in the tragic history of the Titanic, it was not the sole reason the ship sank.

   Reports from surviving crew members indicate that the ship had been ordered to proceed through the waters of the North Atlantic faster than safety permitted. Numerous other vessels had reported the presence of several ice flows in the area on the day the ship sank, yet the Titanic made no effort to slow down. When it became obvious that the ship was about to collide with a huge iceberg, crew members attempted to turn the ship, hoping to avoid the berg all together. They were unsuccessful, however, and the ship sustained numerous gashes along the hull. Some theories speculate that had the ship hit the iceberg head-on, the damage would not have been nearly so traumatic and the Titanic and her passengers would have been able to complete their journey.