RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton England to New York City, killing 1,514 people. She was a British passenger liner built between 1909–11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and operated by the White Star Line.
She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage and her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as over a thousand emigrants seeking a new life in America. She was also the most advanced and luxurious vessel of the day. The most expensive First Class suites cost £870 about $100,000 today! The cheapest 3rd class tickets were £7.5 about $850 today. Her safety features included watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she was said to be unsinkable! She lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard, with only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people around a third of her total passenger and crew capacity.
Below is the last known picture of Titanic
On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm (ship’s time; GMT−3). The collision caused Titanic’s hull plates to buckle inwards and five of her sixteen watertight compartments were opened to the sea. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship filled with water and sank. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke in half from the pressure of the stern as it raised up out of the water. The bow sank first followed by the stern there was still over a thousand people on board. The bow and stern came to rest on the sea floor 2000ft apart at a depth of 13,000 feet about 2.5 miles down.
A memorial cruise retracing the route of the Titanic to mark 100 years since the ship sank has left Southampton and will sail to the place where Titanic sank to conduct a memorial service.
