Danger Ahead!

Titanic set off for New York. At first, the ride was like a party. By April 14, the ship was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That night, the weather was clear, and stars twinkled against the dark sky. On the ship, people danced late into the night. No one knew that danger was near.

Shortly before midnight, a sailor on lookout saw something in the darkness. He knew it could be only one thing. It was an iceberg, a floating mountain of ice. The sailor raised the alarm: “Iceberg ahead!” Next, the crew tried to turn Titanic away from the iceberg, but it was too late. Finally, the ship scraped along the ice.

After the ship broke apart, it sank 12,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean.

Hulton archive, Getty Images; Illustration by Ken Marschall © 1992, from Titanic: An Illustrated History. A Hyperion/Madison Press book.

passengers in a lifeboat