The Titanic leaving Belfast for sea trials on April 2, 1912. The Titanic was a British steamer that sank in the North Atlantic early the morning of April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. York City. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew on board, more than 1,500 died in the sinking, making it one of the deadliest commercial maritime peacetime disasters in modern history. The Titanic was the second of three passenger ships operated by the White Star Line, and was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.