Butt left on a six-week vacation in Europe on March 1, 1912, accompanied by Millet. Butt booked passage on the RMS "Titanic" to return to the United States. He boarded the ship at Southampton, in England on April 10, 1912; Millet boarded the ship at Cherbourg, France, later that same day. Butt was playing cards on the night of April 14 in the first-class smoking room when the "Titanic" struck an iceberg. The ship sank two and a half hours later, with a loss of over 1,500 lives.