By Russell Bowers

While much has been written about the unsinkable Titanic, less is said about the object that eventually did sink the iconic ship on her maiden voyage

According to a report in a 2012 issue of Wired magazine, the only known photo of the iceberg that caused the buoyancy of the Titanic to become untenable, was taken on the morning of April 15, 1912, by “the chief steward of the German ocean liner SS Prinz Adalbert.”

The only reason the iceberg seemed noteworthy was that it was a time of year when icebergs wouldn’t normally be seen that far south, and there was a streak of red paint visible along the waterline.

Some of the science done around the history of this particular iceberg is speculative, but what’s known is that the snow that formed it fell on Greenland over 3000 years ago.  For three millennia, the frozen mass was part of the ice sheet that covers most of that northern country, but then it’s estimated that this iceberg calved as one of the thousands that break free every year.  

Less than 1 per cent ever make it to the Atlantic to be seen along the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Climate scientists estimate that the Titanic iceberg would have broken away sometime around the spring of 1910, eternally unaware of its fate. 

It survived the impact with the great ship, however by the Spring of 1913, it too disappeared into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The berg did survive in the form of a photo and in 2015 as part of larger auction of Titanic memorabilia. That picture sold at auction for $40,000.  

TITANIC FACTS

Breaking the Ice

The movie cost was more than the actual ship!

The ship cost was $7.5 million when it was built (1910-1912). 

In 1997 dollars (when the movie was made), that cost comes close to $120 to $150 million. And the movie was filmed and made for a whopping $200 million!

A Captain’s Last Words

Last words of Edward Smith, captain of the ship, “Well boys, you’ve done your duty and done it well. I ask no more of you. I release you. You know the rule of the sea. It’s every man for himself now, and God bless you.”

Captain Smith also died along with 1516 passengers and crew members