"Even God himself could not sink this ship" - White Star Employee quote - 1912
The Titanic
The Titanic, which most people felt was practically unsinkable, left Southampton on the 10th of April, 1912 with 2,223 people. On April 14th, 1912, four days into the trip and about 375 miles south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time. The glancing collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea; the ship gradually filled with water and foundered around 2:20 AM. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. By 2:10 AM the Titanic's upper decks were underwater, and less than ten minutes later, she broke apart and foundered, with well over one thousand people still aboard. Those still aboard who did not go down with her were cast into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Many of those in the water died within minutes from hyperthermia. Many of the lifeboats were only half-full as they were lowered ... in fact, the first lifeboat lowered was capable of holding 65 people, but only carried 28. Just under two hours after the Titanic foundered, the ship Carpathia arrived on the scene of the sinking, where she brought aboard an estimated 706 survivors --- leaving 1,517 dead.