The Journey

The Titanic's maiden voyage was always intended to make headlines, but no one aboard had expected those headlines to spell out disaster. Look through this section for a deep dive into the journey across the Atlantic from Titanic's boarding to the inquiries by the British Wreck Commissioner and the U.S. Senate on the disaster.

Boarding began about 1-2 hours before the ship set sail. Each class enters on different gangways. First and second class would have their name written on a passenger list upon arriving, then porters would bring their luggage inside while the passengers went in to stroll the promenades or visit their cabins. Third-class on the other hand went through a health inspection before taking their luggage to their cabins themselves. Some luggage could be stored in the cargo holds but it was possible they could be lost.

After the Titanic left Belfast on April 2nd, 1912 she sailed to Southampton on the 3rd where the official maiden voyage would commence.

The intended route was Southampton to Cherbourg, next to Cobh, and off to New York City.

Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on April 10th, 1912 at around noon.
The boat reached Cherbourg, France around 6:30 pm
- Here 22 passengers got off the ship having only taken the trip to cross the English Channel. 274 passengers boarded at Cherbourg.
The ship left Cherbourg around 8 pm and arrived at Queenstown, Ireland the next day (April 11th) at around 11:30 am
- Here only 7 passengers disembarked while 123 passengers boarded.
The Titanic left Ireland at 1:30 pm on the 11th and was due to arrive in New York on April 17th, 1912

The stretch from Queenstown to New York was about 2,825 miles and was supposed to take a little over 5 days. Sadly, as we know, the Titanic would never reach New York instead sinking only approx. 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and 1,300 miles east of NYC.

The beginning of the trip ran quite smoothly from launch till the evening of the 14th. The boat sailed at a cruising speed of about 21 knots (24mph) and at its fastest went 24 knots (26mph). While this is not the absolute fastest a boat at the time could go (for example the RMS Mauretania owned by the Cunard Company could go 25 knots (about 30mph)) this speed was quite impressive for a ship of Titanic’s size. With an estimated 1,846 people on board enjoying favorable weather, luxury accommodations, and a dotting crew. See a more detailed picture of the accommodations aboard the ship on the Passenger page.

The Day of Impact

Lifeboats

Click here for a list of what lifeboats launched in what order

Click here for a list of Titanic survivors and what lifeboats they were on

The Sinking

2:20 AM As the Titanic's bow continues to sink, the stern rises higher out of the water, placing great strain on the midsection, and the ship breaks in two between the third and fourth funnels. Reports would later speculate that it took some six minutes for the bow section, likely traveling at approximately 30 miles (48 km) per hour, to reach the ocean bottom. The stern momentarily settles back in the water before rising again, eventually becoming vertical. It briefly remains in that position before beginning its final plunge.

The stern disappears into the ocean, and the Titanic is gone. Water pressure allegedly causes the stern, which still has air inside, to implode as it sinks. The stern lands some 2,000 feet (610 meters) from the bow. Hundreds of people are in the freezing water. Although there is room in most of the lifeboats, crewmen are fearful that the boats will be swamped. Several boats eventually return, but too late. A few people are pulled to safety, but most die of exposure.

Over the next several hours, numerous ships try in vain to contact the Titanic. At one point, the Birma's wireless operator, believing that he has heard the liner, sends a message: “Steaming full speed to you; shall arrive you 6 in the morning. Hope you are safe.”

Lost at Sea

The sinking of the Titanic took the lives of about 1,500 people, a little under half of which were crew and another large portion was third class. Most of the crew made a dutiful decision to stay aboard aiding in passenger rescue until they would go down with the ship. This includes many officers, all 50 bellboys aboard the ship, and large quantities of industrial crewmen such as cooks, firemen (stokers), engineers, and more. Many of the stokers stayed.

Stories from the Lifeboats

"The oarsman laid on their oars and all in the lifeboat were pointless as we watched Her in absolute silence. Save some who would not look and buried their heads on each other's shoulders." -Lawrence Beesley

"Striking the water was like a thousand knives being driven into one's body. The temperature was 28 degrees, four degrees below freezing." -Charles Lightoller

"The sounds of people drowning are something that I can not describe to you, and neither can anyone else. It’s the most dreadful sound and there is a terrible silence that follows it." -Eva Hart

Only 706 of the approx. 2,240 passengers and crew on the Titanic survived.

Many survivors would go on to lead fairly normal lives. Unfortunately some 10+ would later die of suicide, one of which was Frederick Fleet the crewman who first sighted the iceberg. Some others lived very long lives, some even over 100 years old.

Some speculate that some survivor stories have been sensationalized which very well may be the case, looking for fame or fortune. However many of these accounts are impactful stories from the disaster.

For more in-depth videos on the survivors and their lives after the disaster click here

The ship was insured for over £1m by Lloyd’s, an English insurance company. Who managed to pay out the high levels of claims arising from the tragedy within 30 days. It would be remembered as a longtime loss for the company.

List of survivors here

List of centenarians

Titanic Survivers

To learn more about insurance claims and lawsuits click here

Learn more about Molly Brown here

3:30 AM The Carpathia arrives in the area, firing rockets.

4:10 AM Number 2 is the first lifeboat to reach the Carpathia. It will take several hours for the ship to pick up all the survivors. Ismay writes a message to be sent to the White Star Line's offices: “Deeply regret advise you Titanic sank this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg, resulting serious loss life; further particulars later.”

8:30 AM The Californian—who at approximately 5:30 AM learned of the Titanic's sinking—arrives. It searches the area for several hours but fails to find any survivors.

8:50 AM The Carpathia, carrying the 705 Titanic survivors, heads to New York City, where it will arrive to massive crowds on April 18.

On board the Carpathia the captain, a reporter, and a scientist documented much of the disaster including interviewing survivors, many of whom were devastated women and children. While some stories may be somewhat oversensationalized many give us a good sense of what it was like for survivors directly after the disaster.

Some Titanic crew survivors helped the Carpathia crew once aboard including Harold Bride who knew the wireless operator on the Carpathia, Harold Cottam. The duo worked tirelessly on the ship delivering messages of survivors to shore while the Carpathia sailed to land. On board, many Carpathia passengers lent clothes, makeshift blankets, and even spare bunks to the survivors.

Also, the infamous Unsinkable Molly Brown (whose real name was Margaret Brown) helped distribute extra blankets and supplies. While talking to lower-class passengers she realized many women had lost everything, including their husbands who at the time were one of the only ways for women to obtain a comfortable life. She rallied the first-class passengers to donate money to help those less fortunate, before they reached New York $10,000 had been raised.

Read some of those stories here

The sinking of the Titanic would result in over 1,500 confirmed deaths. Of this were 130 first class passengers (accounting for about 40% of first class), 166 Second class passengers (accounting for about 60% of second class), over 500 third class deaths (accounting for about 75% of third class), and a little less than 700 crew (accounting for almost 80% of the crew). The class divide displays the prioritization of those deemed worthy due to class which unfortunately sometimes stayed present through the disaster. The gender divide was even more stark with approx. 70% of women and children survive compared to about 20% of men.

There are 61 known child deaths from the sinking (1 first class, 2 second class, and the rest third class).

One of those 1,500+ victims was the only black man aboard the Titanic, Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche who was from Haiti. He passed with his body never recovered after ensuring his family were placed in a lifeboat together.

For a list of child deaths click here

Read his story here

As the survivors sailed to New York on the Carpathia the Mackay-Bennett, a cable-laying ship, was chartered by the White Star Line to retrieve as many bodies as possible. She arrived at the wreck site on April 20th, 1912 (5 days after the sinking) and recovered 306 bodies (116 of which were third-class passengers who were buried at sea due to a lack of preservation supplies). They returned to the port of Halifax, Canada with about 190 bodies on board, many of which were buried there.

Click here to learn more

Many memorials have been dedicated to the victims and crew of the Titanic notably in Belfast, Liverpool, Southampton, Halifax, New York, and Washington D.C.

Read a more detailed list of monuments here

The United States Senate inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic would begin April 19th, 1912, and last until May 25th with a total of 18 official days of investigation. The inquiry would be made by a subcommittee of the Commerce Committee of the United States Senate, chaired by Senator William Alden Smith. More than 80 witnesses gave testimony or deposited affidavits discussing the ice warnings, number of lifeboats, speed, distress calls, and handling of the evacuation of the ship. The committee would present a full report on May 28, 1912, with recommendations about emergency preparations that would be implemented after the disaster.

The British Wreck Commissioner’s inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic on behalf of the British Board of Trade began on May 2, 1912, and concluded on July 3rd. Over 42 days of official investigation High Court judge John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey heard from White Star Line officials, government officials, surviving passengers and crew, those who had aided in the rescue efforts, and counsels and experts on marine law and shipping architecture. The final report was published on July 30, 1912, and its recommendations along with those from the U.S. Senate Inquiry led to many changes in safety practices.

Click here for a detailed website documenting both inquiries

The Butterfly Effect

Looking back many people have theorized about what could have been done differently for the Titanic to possibly have been saved. These what-ifs have consumed researchers, survivors, and Titanic fanatics for decades.

Some revolve around superstitions such as the boat having sank with no moon in the sky which would have also allowed them to see and the boat having not been christened which may have caused the unlucky fate.

Many what-ifs surround the reactions of the officers heading toward the impact of the iceberg. Many believe if the officer at the wheel had hit the iceberg head-on, it would have saved the ship, not having water in so many compartments as the slash on the side caused. Other human errors that may have contributed to the scenario were if they had seen the iceberg sooner to turn quicker, if the lookouts had binoculars or glasses, if they had listened closer to ice warnings and decided to stop for the night, and if they hadn’t been going so fast allowing them time to turn.

Other what-ifs regard the design of the ship assuming that if the bulkheads had been much higher or if the center propeller had been able to turn both ways the ship may have not sunk or may have avoided the iceberg entirely. One of the most famous what-ifs about the Titanic is that the boat did not have enough lifeboats and the ones they did have were not nearly filled to capacity. Some of that is also due to human error with many passengers ignoring warnings to put on lifeboats and board the lifeboats until it was too late.

Perhaps one of the most tragic what-ifs comes from the telegraph room where the wireless operators frantically sent out distress signals. Had the nearby ship the Leyland Line steamship the Californian been awake to hear the messages it could have taken action sailing from approx. 20 miles away to come to save the Titanic. Instead, the ship did not come to Titanic’s aid which the crew would come under immense scrutiny for during the inquiries.