33. The Titanic was never advertised as ‘unsinkable’ – even if many people believed it could never go down.
It might seem strange now, but back at the start of the 20th century, it was widely believed that steel-hulled ships were ‘unsinkable’. But was the Titanic advertised as such? Certainly, the ship’s builders, Harland and Wolff, always insisted they never promised the Titanic would never go under. Neither did the White Star Line ever use the word in its marketing. Ironically, the only confirmed example of the Titanic being described as ‘unsinkable’ came after it had hit the iceberg. When told of the incident, White Star’s VP P.A.S. Franklin famously said: “We place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable.”