British cities of Southampton, Belfast and Liverpool, French city of Cherbourg, Cobh in Ireland and New York in the United States will mark the centenary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic with auctions, plays, musicals, exhibitions and new buildings.
The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage between Southampton in England and New York City after it struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. It was owned by White Star Line Shipping Company and was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
The ship sank after colliding with an iceberg in North Atlantic Ocean, 375 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, leading to the deaths of 1,517 people. Only 711 people of the total 2,228 people on board the ship survived the tragedy.
Briton Millvina Dean was the last living survivor of the disaster. Dean, who was only nine-weeks-old at the time of the sinking, died on May 31, 2009, the 98th anniversary of the launching of Titanic’s hull.
A cruise from Southampton will retrace RMS Titanic’s journey across the Atlantic ocean. It will include relatives of passengers and crew on the ill-fated ship and will set off on 8 April. A special ceremony will be held on board the cruise ship Balmoral at the time the ship went down at the spot where it sank.