With Titanic`s centenary anniversary approaching, a look at the luxury ocean liner

The Titanic, a luxury passenger ship once thought to be unsinkable, hit an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank in the early morning of April 15, 1912, killing 1,500 people.

The bow of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean (AP Photo/RMS Titanic Inc.)

The stern of the Titanic on the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean (AP Photo/RMS Titanic Inc.)  

Image: Detail of the bow of the Titanic taken from a comprehensive map of the 3-by-5 mile debris field. Credit: RMS Titanic Inc.

Undated artist impression showing the 14 April 1912 shipwreck of the British luxury passenger liner Titanic off the Nova-Scotia coasts, during its maiden voyage (AFP Photo)

Bow railing of the Titanic, photo credit: National Geographic

Photo credit: Premier Exhibitions, Inc. / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; The photo features a view of the Titanic bow from the starboard side. (2007)

Photo credit: Premier Exhibitions, Inc. / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; the image shows rusticle growth along one of the anchors on the starboard side of the Titanic bow. (2007)

 
Titanic's Crew:
Left to Right: William McMaster Murdoch, Charles A. Bartlett, Henry Tingle Wilde and Captain Edward John Smith; (Right) Capt. Edward Smith
  
(Left) Titanic leaving Southampton harbor, England; (Right) Last time Titanic left shores of Ireland

Titanic going on sea trials April 2, 1912.

( Image from NARA, RG 306, Records of the U.S. Information Agency)

Titanic going on sea trials April 2, 1912.

( Image from NARA, RG 306, Records of the U.S. Information Agency)

Titanic Artwork

Artist impression showing the 14 April 1912 shipwreck of the British luxury passenger liner Titanic off the Nova-Scotia coasts, during its maiden voyage (AFP Photo)

Disaster: An artist's depiction of the moment the ship went down shows the mad scramble to safety among the handful of passengers who managed to get lifeboats, photo credit: Bettmann/CORBIS

...Titanic survivor reveals the horrifying cries of the luxury liner’s dying victims

'It sounded like locusts on a midsummer night': Titanic survivor reveals the horrifying cries of the luxury liner’s dying victims
By EMINE SINMAZ
Daily Mail
April 9, 2012

Memoir: John B. 'Jack' Thayer III, a 17-year-old heir to a Pennsylvania railroad fortune, was one of the few people who lived to tell the tale of the 'unsinkable' ship's fate. Image courtesy Daily Mail.

The dramatic first-hand account of a Titanic survivor is to be published this month to mark the centennial of the catastrophe.

John B. 'Jack' Thayer III, a 17-year-old heir to a Pennsylvania railroad fortune, was one of the few people who lived to tell the tale of the 'unsinkable' ship’s fate.

Of the 2,224 aboard, only 710 people survived the disaster - many escaping in lifeboats before the luxury liner sank - and most were women, including Thayer's mother.

But the teen was miraculously rescued after he plunged into the icy waters and clung on to an upturned lifeboat, while watching the tragedy unfold before him.

In 1940, Thayer penned his account of what had happened in the early hours of April 15 1912 as a tribute to his father who had tragically gone down with the ship, printing an edition of just 500 copies for family and friends

Now, however, 'A Survivor’s Tale' is to be printed by New York publisher Thornwillow Press, bringing alive the doomed liner's story to those outside his inner circle.

In his vivid account, Thayer recounts his own desperate struggle for survival. 'About one in every 36 who went down with the ship was saved, and I happened to be one,' he said, in an extract obtained by the Daily Telegraph.

'We were a mass of hopeless, dazed humanity, attempting, as the Almighty and Nature made us, to keep our final breath until the last possible moment...'

(click here to read the full article and view pictures)

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Last Mysteries of the Titanic

Last Mysteries of the Titanic...as uncovered by the legendary James Cameron on his latest and last dive to the wreck, yield`s one more of Titanic`s ever yet secrets.

Discovery Channel

Titanic holds such a fascination that no wonder its the world`s most famous shipwreck. The event and the story behind the doomed ocean liner makes it so compelling to the human mind and imagination. James Cameron, who holds the same fascination helps to uncover more the Titanic`s story, beauty and secrets on his last exploration of the Titanic.