Passengers of the RMS Titanic April 1912 at around 11:40 pm, while the RMS "Titanic" was sailing about south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink. Shortly before midnight, Captain Edward Smith ordered the ship's lifeboats to be readied and a distress call was sent out. The closest ship to respond was Cunard Line's away, which would arrive in an estimated four hours—too late to rescue all of "Titanic" passengers. Forty-five minutes after the ship hit the iceberg, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be loaded and lowered under the orders women and children first. The first
Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic were taken to the White Star Line's Pier 59 in New York, where souvenir hunters soon stripped them of much of their equipment. The "Titanic" nameplates were removed by White Star Line workmen and the boats were inventoried by the C.M. Lane Lifeboat Co. of Brooklyn. They were assessed for salvage at a collective value of £930 ($4,972) as the only salvageable items recovered from "Titanic", they may have been taken back to England aboard "Olympic", which left New York on 23 May 1912, before either being destroyed or quietly redistributed to other vessels. Although nothing now remains of the