Titanic Introduction

Titanic’s keel was laid on 31 March 1909 at Slip No. 3 in Harland & Wolff shipyard.  This was the largest shipyard in the world at that time.  On 31 May 1911, Titanic was launched into Belfast Lough. 

She departed on her first trans-Atlantic crossing to New York on 10 April, 1912.  Then at 11.40pm on Sunday 14 April, 1912, tragedy struck.  The ship hit an iceberg and two hours and forty minutes later, she sank to the ocean floor, with the loss of almost 1500 lives.

In her brief life, Titanic was the largest, most luxurious vessel ever built and her story – from the city of her birth to her tragic loss – continues to fascinate and move today’s generation.