Titanic's Fourth Funnel Was Fake; Why Were Only 3 Smokestacks in the Ship Functional?

Though the famous Titanic had four funnels, only three of them were functional.

Why, then, was a dummy funnel added to the ship?

Titanic's Fourth Funnel

The dummy funnel added to the famous ocean liner was not a mistake.

In 1911, which was the year before the Titanic departed from the port, most massive ships sailed with four funnels or smokestacks. These chimney-like structures helped the ship to draw fumes and heat from their huge boilers.

In the case of the Titanic, it just needed three funnels for it to be operational. However, the White Star Line thought that if the greatest ship of all time only had three funnels, the public would have ended up disappointed.

Hence, the fourth dummy funnel was added just for balance and for the ship to boast of a better look.

Britannic and Olympic, which were the sister ships of the Titanic, also had similar fake funnels.

Though this fourth funnel was a dummy, it was not totally useless. It helped with ventilation as it extracted machine fumes from lower deck spaces and from one first-class General room in the ship.

Having a single massive ventilation funnel helped in clearing the upper decks, leaving more free space for ship passengers to maximize their strolls.

As the Titanic sank, its funnels also went down with the ship. Each funnel weighed roughly 60 tons.

Followed by other funnels, the forward one fell only when the Titanic took its final dive. Since they were lighter compared to the bow, they spread with other kinds of debris.

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Titanic

The 269-meter-long Titanic, which boarded 1,300 passengers and 900 crew, was designed as a "floating hotel" that would make passengers forget that they boarded a ship.

The carefully designed interior of the ship was inspired by the Ritz Hotel, as it boasted first-class cabins based on the Empire style.

The Titanic had three engines and ten decks. Its furnaces also burned through more than 600 tons of coal.

Why Titanic Sank

The ship boasted 16 watertight compartments as part of its unique features. These were specifically designed to keep the ship afloat if it were damaged.

Because of this feature, people thought that the Titanic could not sink.

However, it collided with an iceberg near Newfoundland just four days after its departure. This ended up damaging its structure and watertight compartments.

The limited lifeboat count ended up trapping several passengers on the ship. The Titanic eventually sank and took the lives of roughly 1,500 passengers. This comprised 815 passengers and 688 crew.

After checking the wreck, scientists found out that some thin gashes were produced due to the collision. There were also separation and fracturing of seams in hull plates that were adjacent, which resultantly allowed water to enter the ship.

Further examination of retrieved parts triggered speculation that weak rivers or low-quality steel could have been the reason behind the Titanic's sinking.