 |
Hundreds of people attended the memorial service at St. Mary's Church in Southampton |
The city from which Titanic departed on its ill-fated voyage marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking.
The ship set sail from Southampton on 10 April 1912 but sank five days later with the loss of more than 1,500 lives. Commemorations have been held across the city, with a special service at St. Mary's Church.
Remembrance events were held across England, including:
Stoke-on-Trent, Captain Edward Smith's home city, where a plaque was unveiled on the street where he was born while a flare was let off next to his statue in Lichfield.
Titanic's Chief Wireless Officer Jack Philips, who has been credited with helping save hundreds of lives, was remembered in a service in his hometown of Godalming in Surrey.
In Maryport, Cumbria, the birthplace of the founder of White Star Line Thomas Henry Ismay, a service of remembrance was also held.
In Liverpool, where the ship was registered and was home to many of its crew members, events were being held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
Wreaths were also laid at the captain of the Carpathia's, Sir Arthur Rostron's, grave. Sir Arthur was hailed a hero after changing course to go to the aid of the stricken ship and pick up survivors.
In Southampton, The Rev. Dr. Julian Davies led a service at St. Mary's at which the Bishop of Southampton, the Right Rev. Jonathan Frost, also gave a blessing. He said, "It's been wonderful. We've had children involved, all with a link to those who lost their lives, family-links. And then we've had those who've come with a story to tell, and a story perhaps to offer and to lay down - something in their family that they've held for years. This afternoon at the door a number of people were speaking about it, saying 'Well, my grandfather went down with the Titanic.' It was very moving."
The Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. Mark Sisk, also gave an address at the service, which included readings and music from the Salvation Army Band and the City of Southampton Orchestra. Bp. Sisk said, "It struck New York differently because Southampton had a huge chunk of its population die but that was not New York's experience. It had a number of prominent people die and many of the survivors came and stayed. Our next mayor may very well be a descendant of a survivor. The level of interest in New York has been just stunning. I'm very honoured to be invited to preach. I did not fully grasp, until I came, the percentage of the people from this city that were on that ship."
On Tuesday [the day Titanic left Southampton in 1912], descendants of some of those who died threw wreaths from the Southampton dock where the ship departed a century earlier.
A minute's silence was also observed in the city, which had been home to more than 500 of the crew who died.