The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on its only voyage
On this day · 10 April 1912
At lunchtime on April 10, 1912, the largest ship afloat eased out of Southampton — and nearly hit another liner before clearing the dock.
At 12:15 p.m. on April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic cast off from Southampton on her maiden voyage, bound for New York via Cherbourg and Queenstown. She was the largest moving object ever built, and crowds packed the quayside to watch her go.
The departure almost ended before it began. As Titanic moved down the River Test, the surge of water she displaced snapped the mooring ropes of the docked liner SS New York, dragging its stern toward her hull. Quick work by tugs and a touch of reverse engine left a gap of only a few feet.
She would strike an iceberg four days later, sinking in the early hours of April 15, 1912.
The near-collision spooked some passengers, who read it as an omen. They were not entirely wrong: the voyage Southampton sent off so grandly became the most famous maritime disaster in history, claiming roughly 1,500 lives.
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