The Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912)
The construction, loss, and legacy of the Titanic, the White Star Line liner that sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 with over 1,500 people aboard. The disaster exposed gaps in maritime safety regulation, produced the first international Safety of Life at Sea convention, and left a wreck that would not be found for 73 years.
Timeline
Keel Laid at Harland and Wolff
The White Star Line commissioned the Titanic from Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff as the second of three Olympic-class liners designed to compete on the transatlantic route through size and luxury rather than speed. The keel was laid in Yard 401 on 31 March 1909, beginning a three-year construction effort that employed thousands of Belfast workers.
Location: Belfast, Ireland
Launch and Fitting-Out
Titanic was launched before tens of thousands of onlookers, sliding into the River Lagan after 62 seconds. It was then fitted out over eleven months with lavish first-class accommodation, a swimming pool, and the era's most advanced safety features, including sixteen watertight compartments that led the press to call it practically unsinkable.
Location: Belfast, Ireland
Maiden Voyage Departs Southampton
Titanic departed Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York, calling at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading into the open Atlantic. Aboard were roughly 2,224 passengers and crew, from wealthy industrialists and immigrants in steerage to the ship's designer Thomas Andrews.
Location: Southampton, England
Collision with the Iceberg
At 11:40 p.m. ship's time, lookouts reported an iceberg directly ahead. The ship turned, but the iceberg buckled plates along the starboard side across six of sixteen watertight compartments, exceeding the four-compartment limit the design could survive. The Californian, a nearby ship, allegedly failed to respond to distress signals, a controversy debated ever since.
Location: North Atlantic Ocean
The Ship Sinks; More Than 1,500 Die
Titanic sank at about 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after the collision. Only about 705 people survived, most in lifeboats launched partly filled. The ships carried 20 lifeboats with capacity for 1,178, reflecting British Board of Trade regulations written for far smaller vessels; third-class passengers faced documented barriers reaching the boat deck.
Location: North Atlantic Ocean
Two Official Inquiries
The United States Senate investigation opened on 19 April 1912, and the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry under Lord Mersey ran from May to July 1912. Both examined lifeboat shortages, wireless procedures, speed in an ice field, and the role of the Californian. The Mersey report attributed the loss to excessive speed in a known ice region and recommended lifeboat space for all aboard.
Location: London, England / Washington, DC
SOLAS — The First International Safety Convention
The disaster prompted the first Convention on Safety of Life at Sea, signed in January 1914, requiring lifeboat space for every person aboard, a 24-hour radio watch on ships, and the International Ice Patrol to monitor iceberg hazards in the North Atlantic. SOLAS, revised repeatedly since, remains the governing framework of maritime safety.
Location: London, England
The Wreck Is Discovered
A joint American-French expedition led by Robert Ballard located the wreck 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) down, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of Newfoundland. The ship had split apart, settling as two main sections separated by a debris field. The discovery opened decades of scientific survey, salvage debate, and legal protection of the site.
Location: North Atlantic Ocean
Centenary and a Full Digital Scan
On the disaster's centenary, ceremonies in Belfast, Southampton, and at sea remembered the dead, and UNESCO extended protection to the wreck as underwater cultural heritage. In 2023, deep-sea mapping firms published the first full-sized digital scan of the wreck, allowing detailed study without disturbing the site.
Location: Atlantic Ocean / Belfast, Northern Ireland