Events around the world mark 100 years since Titanic tragedy

Source: AP-USA TODAY

LONDON (AP) – From Titanic's birthplace in a Belfast shipyard to its resting place in the North Atlantic, thousands were gathering Saturday to remember the cruise ship that embarked on its maiden voyage as an icon of Edwardian luxury but became, in a few dark hours 100 years ago, an enduring emblem of tragedy.

The ship was traveling from England to New York, carrying everyone from plutocrats to penniless emigrants, when it struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912. It sank at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, with the loss of more than 1,500 of the 2,208 passengers and crew.

Aboard the Balmoral, a cruise ship that is taking 1,309 history buffs and descendants of Titanic victims on the route of the doomed voyage, passengers and crew will hold two memorial services at the site of the disaster, 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland — one marking the time when the ship hit the iceberg, the other the moment it sank below the waves.

A minister will lead prayers, floral wreaths will be thrown into the sea and a shipboard band, which has been entertaining guests in the evenings during the cruise, will play Nearer My God To Thee, the tune the Titanic's band kept up as the vessel went down.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-04-14/titanic-anniversary/54274518/1

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By Lefteris Pitarakis, AP

Passengers in evening dress dance on Friday during a reception on the MS Balmoral Titanic memorial cruise ship over the Atlantic Ocean