Sinking of the RMS Titanic — maritime disaster in the North Atlantic Ocean on the night of 14–15 April 1912
The sinking of RMS Titanic killed up to 1,635 people and directly led to the establishment of SOLAS in 1914, which governs maritime safety to this day.
Key Facts
- Date of sinking
- 15 April 1912
- Death toll
- Up to 1,635 people
- Survivors rescued
- 710
- Lifeboats aboard
- 20 (including 4 collapsible)
- Speed at collision
- ~22 knots
- Ice warnings received
- 7 before the collision
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Despite receiving seven ice warnings, Titanic was travelling at approximately 22 knots on the night of 14 April 1912. Her lookouts spotted the iceberg too late to manoeuvre clear, and the ship struck it at 23:40, buckling steel plates along her starboard side and flooding six of her sixteen watertight compartments — two more than her design could tolerate.
Titanic, the largest ocean liner in service and four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City, sank in the North Atlantic at 02:20 on 15 April 1912, two hours and forty minutes after striking the iceberg. With only twenty lifeboats — insufficient to hold everyone on board — and many launched underfilled, over a thousand passengers and crew went down with the ship. Almost all who entered the freezing water died within minutes from cold shock and hypothermia.
RMS Carpathia rescued 710 survivors by 09:15 on 15 April. The disaster provoked global outrage over inadequate lifeboat provision, disregarded ice warnings, and the failure of SS Californian to respond to distress signals. Subsequent maritime inquiries drove sweeping regulatory reforms, culminating in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) in 1914, the framework that still underpins maritime safety worldwide.