Sir, – The article on Titanic's"last supper" (Front page, February 10th) sets out in some detail the fine fare on offer at a forthcoming RNLI fundraiser in Galway, a very worthy cause.
The article contains a number of factual errors. The group survival rate for Titanic'sfirst class passengers was in the region of 62 per cent not 94 per cent and in third class 25 per cent not 47 per cent. The figures in the article are close to female passengers saved in both classes.
Titanicwas not a cruise ship. She was one of three vessels designed to provide a passenger and cargo service on White Star's North Atlantic run from Southampton to New York, at a time when air travel to the US was not an option.
In spite of what is stated in some books, Titanicwas not the first ship to use the SOS distress call introduced in 1908 to replace CQD. The Cunarder Slavonia, wrecked in the Azores in June 1909, and an American steamer the Arapahoein August 1909 appear to have been the early users. – Yours, etc,