The Titanic Collection

The sinking of the RMS Titanic is widely regarded as the greatest maritime disaster of modern times.

Setting sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton on 10 March 1912, the White Star ocean liner carried around 2000 passengers, the largest of its kind at the time. The ship was designed to be the most luxurious of its kind, boasting a gymnasium, libraries, and high-class restaurants throughout, as well as three class systems for booking cabins.

4 days into its trans-Atlantic crossing it struck an iceberg, filling five of her 16 watertight compartments located in the hull. Over the next two hours the ship slowly filled with water and sank. More than 1000 passengers and crew members died, due to there not being enough lifeboats for the amount of people she carried. A strict "women and children only" policy was followed by officers evacuating passengers, meaning a disproportionate amount of men died in the disaster.

The 710 survivors were eventually rescued by the RMS Carpathia and taken to the Titanic's final destination, New York. Once the enormous loss of life was realised, White Star Line commissioned a small fleet of ships to retrieve the dead. These all came from Halifax in Nova Scotia, where relatives came from across the world to identify the bodies.

The wreck remained undiscovered on the sea bed until 1985 when a team of French and American marine archaeologists found the ship after years of searching. Since then thousands of artefacts have been brought to the surface for display in museums around the world.

The Titanic is a subject that still provides great interest today, inspiring many films, books and exhibitions. This may be due to the number of lives lost, the famous passengers and the recently solved mystery of its location on the seabed.

Created by Historypin Team