"Titanic" maiden voyage began shortly after noon on 10 April 1912 when she left Southampton on the first leg of her journey to New York. An accident was narrowly averted only a few minutes later, as "Titanic" passed the moored liners of the American Line and "Oceanic" of the White Star Line, the latter of which would have been her running mate on the service from Southampton. Her huge displacement caused both of the smaller ships to be lifted by a bulge of water and then dropped into a trough. "New York"s mooring cables could not take the sudden strain and snapped, swinging her around stern-first towards "Titanic". A nearby tugboat, "Vulcan", came to the rescue by taking "New York" under tow, and Captain Smith ordered "Titanic"s engines to be put "full astern". The two ships avoided a collision by a distance of about . The incident delayed "Titanic"s departure for about an hour, while the drifting "New York" was brought under control.