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
RMS Titanic century. The sinking brought tremendous grief and was a blow to the city's pride. But its shipyard was also a place many Catholics regarded as hostile. In the latter half of the century, during a 30-year sectarian conflict "Titanic" was a reminder of the lack of civil rights that in part contributed towards the Troubles. While the fate of Titanic remained a well-known story within local households throughout the 20th century, commercial investment around RMS "Titanic" legacy was modest because of these issues. After the Troubles and Good Friday Agreement, the number of overseas tourists visiting Northern Ireland dramatically increased