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
SMS Leopard (1912) SMS Leopard (1912) SMS "Leopard" was an auxiliary cruiser of the Imperial German Navy intended for use as a commerce raider. She was intercepted attempting to break out into the Atlantic and was sunk with all hands in a fierce gun battle with British warships. "Leopard" was built as the British freighter Yarrowdale by W Dobson&co Newcastle in 1912. She was operated by R MacKill&Co of Glasgow. On 11 December 1916 "Yarrowdale" was captured by the German commerce raider "Möwe" in the Atlantic. "Möwe's" captain, KK Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien was impressed by "Yarrowdale's" potential as a raider, and on 12