The world's most famous maritime disaster occurred 95 years ago today, when the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic on her maiden voyage.
The subsequent sinking of the White Star Line ship early on April 15, 1912, with the loss of 1,523 lives, has fascinated the world ever since.
Among those who perished was the former editor of The Northern Echo, WT Stead.
A commemoration service will take place in Southampton tomorrow to honour 549 people from the city who died on the luxury liner, which was thought to be unsinkable.
One of the two last surviving passengers, Milvina Dean, 95, from near Southampton, who was ten weeks old when the ship went down, will not be attending the service because of ill health.
She was the youngest of the 2,228 people believed to be on board the liner when the tragedy occurred.
The Mayor of Southampton, John Slade, will present Miss Dean with a bouquet of flowers at her nursing home.
The only other known living survivor of the Titanic is Barbara West, 95, from Truro, in Cornwall, who was ten months old when the liner sank.
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