Titanic - 100 years later

Titanic was a British passenger ship that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her first voyage from Southampton, England to New York City. 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. She was built between 1909–11 by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. She carried 2,224 people.

Note: In English language boats are referred to as 'she' because
«they are traditionally given female names, typically the name of an important
 woman in the life of the boat's owner, such as his mother. (...).»

In, wisegeek.com

Her passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere seeking a new life in North America. The ship was designed to be the last word in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. She also had a powerful wireless telegraph provided for the convenience of passengers as well as for operational use. Though she had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she lacked enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Due to outdated maritime safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for 1,178 people – a third of her total passenger and crew capacity.

On 14 April 1912, four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm (ship's time; GMT−3). Over the next two and a half hours, the ship gradually filled with water and sank. Passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly filled. A disproportionate number of men – over 90% of those in Second Class – were left aboard due to a 'women and children first' protocol followed by the officers loading the lifeboats. Just before 2:20 am Titanic broke up and sank bow-first with over a thousand people still on board. Those in the water died within minutes from hypothermia caused by immersion in the freezing ocean. The 710 survivors were taken aboard from the lifeboats by the RMS Carpathia a few hours later.

The wreck of the Titanic remains on the seabed, gradually disintegrating at a depth of 12,415 feet (3,784 m). Since its rediscovery in 1985, thousands of artefacts have been recovered from the sea bed and put on display at museums around the world. Titanic has become one of the most famous ships in history, being her memory kept alive by numerous books, films, exhibits and memorials. 

In, RMS_Titanic (abridged and adapted)

In 1997, James Cameron directed, wrote, co-produced and co-edited Titanic, a fictionalized account of the sinking of RMS Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The sinking of the ship is once more remembered, and tribute is paid to those that lost their lives in the freezing icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, with the 3D version of the same film that has just been released this April. 

«It's better than good. It's smashing.»

David Edelstein, NY Magazine

Up next, follows James Cameron’s new CGI model of the Titanic sinking: As part of an upcoming documentary commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the Titanic disaster, National Geographic has released this updated animation of the sea-liner's collapse by noted detail stickler James Cameron. Using forensic data from the wreckage, Cameron and his team have amended the ship's 1912 foundering.                                                        In, io9.com

Dive into curiosity.discovery.com... 

                                                          

  ...and appreciate a gallery of Titanic pictures.

                                                          

Last, but not the least, Titanic's 1997 soundtrack, performed by Celine Dion, which I dedicate to my nephew Samuel Leça, the most Titanic fascinated person I know!...

                                                          Enjoy, Sam!...

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Building Titanic: an interactive timeline