A lot of books and movies have been made about the Titanic disaster. The newest movie is called Titanic and is now one of the biggest movies of all time. The movie was directed by James Cameron. It cost more than 200 million dollars to film the movie. It would cost 400 million dollars to build another ship like the Titanic.

The movie opens with a treasure-hunter looking for a diamond in the ship's safe. When they opened the safe they found a drawing of a young girl. The girl is now 100 years old and she tells her story of a young rich girl named Rose and a poor artist named Jack. Rose is going to the United States to marry her rich but snobby, fiance named Cal. Jack and Rose fall in love as the true story of the Titanic takes place. Jack and Rose are fictional characters, but everything else is based on true events. Some of the characters seen in the movie were on board the real Titanic. Captain Edward Smith, Molly Brown, Bruce Ismay and Thomas Andrews sailed on the Titanic. The set, costumes and ship were built to look like the real Titanic. The events about the sinking of the ship are based on factual events. The movie has earned more than 400 million dollars to date.

ar*ti*fact - an object made by a human that is important to the past.
bulk*head - a wall that divides sections of a ship.
dis*tress - to cause trouble.
de*cay - to spoil or rot.
fac*tu*al - to be real or true.
fi*an*ce - a man engaged to be married.
fic*tion*al - not real, made by using imagination.
gla*cier - large pieces of ice and snow that forms in area where snow falls faster than it melts.
maid*en voyage - a ships first trip to sea.
snob*by - acting like you're better than other people.
su*per*stit*ious - believing in the unknown.
ti*tan*ic - large in size or strength.

An iceberg is a floating piece of ice made from fresh water. Icebergs break off from glaciers. Most icebergs form during the spring and summer months. Icebergs are different sizes. Some icebergs are the size of a small car, while others are as big as a 10-story building. Only a small piece of an iceberg is above water. More than 350 icebergs drift past Newfoundland in an area that is known as iceberg alley. Icebergs can be thousands of years old. Sailors who lookout for icebergs can sometimes smell an iceberg before they see it. Organisms die and are frozen in ice. As the iceberg melts, the organisms decay and give off a smell. The look-out on the Titanic didn't have binoculars. They had been lost when the ship was launched. The night was dark and the sea was calm when the Titanic hit the iceberg. The look-out saw the iceberg 40 seconds before the ship hit it.

• Captain Smith was going to retire after sailing the Titanic on her maiden voyage.
• Captain Smith had spent many years at sea but was never involved in a sea disaster until the Titanic.
• Morgan Robertson wrote a book called Titan in 1898. It told the story of the world's biggest unsinkable ship hitting an iceberg. He also wrote about the ship not having enough lifeboats for the passengers.
• The real name of the Titanic was RMS Titanic. RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship.
• The ship was carrying mail from Europe to North America.
• The RMS Titanic was never christened. It's owners thought it was a superstitious tradition.
• The Titanic's three anchors weighted a total of 31 tons and one link in the chain weighed 175 pounds.
• There were four elevators on board the Titanic.
• The Titanic was the first ship built with a gym and a swimming pool.
• When the Titanic was launched it nearly struck a ship named New York.
• One of the Titanic's coal bunkers was on fire as if left Southampton.