Titanic would be fully submersed just shy of 2 hours later at 2:20 AM–2 hours and 40 minutes after striking the iceberg.

Up until the discovery of the wreck site in 1985, it was believed Titanic went down in one piece. Survivor Eva Hart, who was 7 years old at the time, famously said in a 1993 interview:

The worst thing I can remember are the screams. It seemed as if once everybody had gone, drowned, finished, the whole world was standing still. There was nothing, just this deathly, terrible silence in the dark night with the stars overhead. The band played one version of ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ of which there are three and the one they played was the one that was played in church. I never closed my eyes at all – I saw that ship sink. And I saw that ship break in half.

Older movies, such as A Night to Remember, do not include the ship breaking in half.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiuxW3bOtYE

How could this have gone unknown for so many years? The Titanic sunk on a moonless night, so for one, it was very dark out after her lights went off.

You can read witness accounts regarding whether or not the ship broke in half by clicking here.

Just how did the “unsinkable ship” sink though?

The iceberg punched holes into the ship’s starboard side, causing six compartments to flood. Titanic could only stay afloat with a maximum of 4 compartments flooded. These compartments were separated by those infamous “watertight doors,” which became useless in such a situation.

Questions about the quality of the steel and rivets have been raised over the years.

The Californian was actually much closer and could have saved more lives. The crew’s sighting of distress flares prompted them to awaken their captain, but he did not issue any orders. The wireless operator was already fast asleep and the ship received none of the signals.

While this fact is included in the 1958 film A Night to Remember, the scene was deleted from the 1997 James Cameron film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSDWHjBgDkw

Cape Race, Newfoundland handled trans-Atlantic wireless communications at this time, being the eastern-most point of North America.

While it is impossible to determine exactly which iceberg sunk the Titanic, there is a prime suspect. The one below was photographed by the chief steward of German liner SS Prinz Adalber just hours after the sinking. The streak of red paint on its side is strong evidence of a collision with a ship.

The Titanic wireless room was manned by Jack Phillips (senior wireless operator) and Harold Bride (junior wireless officer). Only Bride survived the disaster by climbing on top of the overturned lifeboat known as Collapsible B, which was washed off the deck before it could be properly launched. 15 other men survived by floating on Collapsible B, despite that it was waterlogged and slowly sinking itself. Phillips made it onto this boat but did not live to be rescued.

Second Officer Charles Lightoller wrote in his book Titanic and Other Ships:

…I think it must have been the final and terrible anxiety that tipped the beam with Phillips, for he suddenly slipped down, sitting in the water, and though we held his head up, he never recovered. I insisted on taking him into the lifeboat with us, hoping there still might be life, but it was too late.

The final resting location of the Titanic’s wreckage is only slightly shifted from the accident site:

41.7325° N, 49.9469° W

The wreck was discovered in 1985 by a team assembled by Robert Ballard. You can view original photos from the discovery by clicking here.

The sinking of the Titanic is often considered April 14th, which is the day it hit the iceberg. However, it was at 2:20 AM on April 15th when she went fully under.

The infamous nude drawing from James Cameron’s Titanic is dated April 14th.

Commonly mistaken as “Come quickly: distress” the “CQ” is actually a phonetic version of a shortened French word “sécu” from: “sécurité.” Because this often used as a general call, the Marconi company added the “D” for “distress.”

C.Q.D. translates to:

All stations: distress.

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