1907 Plans are made to build two huge luxury ships, the Olympic and the Titanic, with a third, the Britannic, to be built later. 1908-1909 Construction of the Olympic and the Titanic begins in Belfast, Ireland. 1910 October 20: The Olympic is sucessfully launched. 1911 May 31: The hull of the Titanic is sucessfully launched. June: The Olympic leaves on her maiden voyage. 1912 January: Sixteen wooden lifeboats, along with for collapsible canvas-sided boats, are fitted on board the Titanic. March 31: The outfitting of the Titanic is complete. April 10: Wednesday- Sailing Day: 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Passengers arrive in Southampton and board ship. Noon: The Titanic casts off and begins her maiden voyage. 6:30 p.m.: The Titanic rides at anchor in Cherbourg, France. 8:10 p.m.: The Titanic leaves for Queenstown, Ireland. April 11, Thursday: 1:30 p.m.: The Titanic leaves Queenstown for New York. April 12 and 13, Friday and Saturday: The Titanic sails through calm, clear weather. April 14,Sunday: Seven ice warnings are recived during the day. 11:40 p.m.: The lookouts see an iceberg dead ahead. The iceberg strikes the Titanic On the starboard side (right) of her bow. (Front of ship) 11:50 p.m.: Water has poured in and risen 14 feet in the front part of the ship. April 15, Monday: 12:00 a.m.: The captian is told that the ship can only stay afloat for a couple of hours. He gives the order to call for help over the radio. 12:05 a.m.: Orders are given to uncover the lifeboats and to get passengers and crew ready on deck. But there is only enough room in the lifeboats for about half of the estimated 2,227 on board. 12:25 a.m. :The order is given to start loading the lifeboats with women and children first. The Carpathia, southeast of Tiatnic by about 58 miles, picks up the distress call and immediately heads full spead to the rescue. 12:45 a.m.: The first lifeboat is safely lowered away. It can carry 65 people, but leaves with only 28 on board. The first distress rocket is fired. Eight rockets will be fired during the night. 1:15 a.m.: The tilt of the deck grows steeper. Lifeboats now begin to leave more fully loaded. 1:40 a.m.: Most of the forward lifeboats have gone. Passengers begin to move back to the stern area. 2:05 a.m.: The last lifeboat leaves. There are now over 1,500 people left on the sinking ship. The tilt of the Titanic's deck grows steeper and steeper. 2:17 a.m.: The last radio call for help is sent out. Captain Smith tellls the crew members, "It's every man for himself." The Titanic's bow plunges under. Many passsengers and crew jump overboard. The Titanic's forward funnel collaspses, crushing a number of people. 2:18 a.m.: The ship's lights blink once and then go out. Several survivors see the ship break in two. The bow section sinks. 2:20 a.m.: The Titanic's broken-off stern sections settles back into the water, becoming more level for a few moments. Slowly it fills with water and again tilts its end high into the air before sinking into the sea. Those struggling in the icy water slowly freeze to death. 3:30 a.m.: The rescue ship Carpathia's rockets are sighted by survivors in the lifeboats. 4:10 a.m.: The first lifeboat is picked up by Carpathia. 8:50 a.m.: The Carpathia leaves the area bound for New York. She carries 705 passengers. April 18: 9:00 p.m.: the Carpathia arrives in New York. April 19 to May 25: An inquiry into the Titanic disaster is conducted by the United States Senate. April 22 to May 15: Several ships are sent to the disaster site to recover bodies. A total of 328 bodies are found floating in the area. May 2 to July 3: The British inquiry is conducted. 1913 April: As a result of the Titanic disaster, the International Ice Patrol is created to guard the North Atlantic sea lanes. 1914 February: The Titanic's second sister ship, the Britannic, is launched. She is sunk two years later during World War I. 1935 After 24 years of safe and reliable service, the Titanic's first sister ship, the Olympic, is retired and scrapped. 1985 September 1: a joint French-American scientific expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard discovers the wreck of the Titanic. 1986 July: Dr. Ballard returns to the Titanic. In a submarine he explores and photographs the entire wreck. 1987 The U.S. Congress moves to make the Titanic an international memorial. A French expedition recovers many artifacts from the Titanic wreck.
