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
Sinking of the RMS Titanic handle; the total pumping capacity of all the pumps combined was only per hour. Andrews informed the captain that the first five compartments were flooded, and therefore "Titanic" was doomed. By his estimate, she could remain afloat for no longer than about two hours. From the time of the collision to the moment of her sinking, at least of water flooded into "Titanic", causing her displacement to nearly double from to over . The flooding did not proceed at a constant pace, nor was it distributed evenly throughout the ship, due to the configuration of the flooded compartments. Her initial