Sinking of the RMS Titanic April 1912 when she left Southampton on the first leg of her journey to New York. A few hours later she called at Cherbourg in northern France, a journey of , where she took on passengers. Her next port of call was Queenstown (now Cobh) in Ireland, which she reached around midday on 11 April. She left in the afternoon after taking on more passengers and stores. By the time she departed westwards across the Atlantic she was carrying 892 crew members and 1,320 passengers. This was only about half of her full passenger capacity of 2,435, as it was
Sinking of the RMS Titanic to "awaken public opinion to safeguard ocean travel in the future" and wrote a public letter to "The Times" urging changes to maritime safety laws. In places closely associated with "Titanic", the sense of grief was deep. The heaviest losses were in Southampton, home port to 699 crew members and also home to many of the passengers. Crowds of weeping women – the wives, sisters and mothers of crew – gathered outside the White Star offices in Southampton for news of their loved ones. Most of them were among the 549 Southampton residents who perished. In Belfast, churches were packed,