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
History of the Port of Southampton were transferred to the "Mayflower", who completed the passage alone. The 16th and 17th centuries were another period of decline for Southampton, as other ports (such as London) competed for business. The Italian trade dwindled, and the port was generally quiet until the second half of the 18th century. There was a period during which Southampton was better known as a fashionable spa town and sea-bathing resort than as a port. Trade gradually increased, and soon the port was handling wine and fruit from Spain and Portugal; grain from Ireland and eastern England; woollen stockings from the Channel Islands; slate