14 April 1912 A.D. RMS Titanic Hits Iceberg
14 April 1912 A.D. RMS Titanic Hits Iceberg Editors. “RMS Titanic hits iceberg.” History.com. 2010. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rms-titanic-hits-iceberg . Accessed 13 Apr 2015. Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic fails to divert its course from an iceberg, ruptures its hull, and begins to sink. Four days earlier, the Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. While leaving port, the massive ship came within a couple of feet of the steamer New York but passed safely by, causing a general sigh of relief from the passengers massed on the ship’s decks. The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and spanned 883 feet from stern to bow. Its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoya...