When she set sail on her doomed maiden voyage in April 1912, RMS Titanic was the jewel in the crown of the White Star Line. A floating palace, she was the largest and most technologically advanced moving object in the world. It spent barely five days at sea, but a skilled workforce of thousands of men and women had spent years building the ship in a remarkable feat of design and engineering.

Here is the story of the riveters, who risked deafness from hammering millions of rivets that held together the enormous steel hull; the engineers, who had the gargantuan task of fitting engines to power the massive ship across the Atlantic at 23 knots; the electricians, who installed state-of-the-art communications systems and enormous steam-driven generators; and the carpenters, cabinetmakers, and artisans who labored over every last detail of the opulent state rooms.

From the engine room to the ballroom, this book—the companion volume to the five-part National Geographic documentary series Rebuilding Titanic (spring 2011)—is a testament to those who designed, built, and fitted the “ship of dreams.”