The RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,514 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage. One of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, she was built between 1909-11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She carried 2,223 passengers. Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, people from Great Britain, Ireland and elsewhere, seeking a new life in America. The ship had a swimming pool, gymnasium, libraries and restaurants and was the last word in comfort and luxury. Though she had advanced safety features watertight doors and compartments she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all on board she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people, only slightly more than half the people travelling.
After leaving Southampton on April 10 1912 Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland, before heading in towards New York. On April 14 four days after departure and crossing about 375 miles south of new Found land she hit an iceberg at 11:45 pm. The impact caused Titanic’s hull plates to buckle inwards and opened five of her sixteen water compartments. Over the next two and a half hours, the ship