'Titanic': Images Of Majesty And Disaster

The "Titanic" just prior to being launched into the River Lagan, in the north of Ireland, on May 31, 1911.

The "Titanic" just prior to being launched into the River Lagan, in the north of Ireland, on May 31, 1911.

She is then towed to a fitting-out berth where her engines, funnels, and interiors would be installed.

The "Titanic" departing Southampton on the southern coast of England on April 10, 1912.

A Marconi wireless message telling of the "Titanic's" distress call is displayed at Bonham's auction house in New York on April 10, 2012.

More than 1,500 of the 2,224 people aboard died when the "Titanic" sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. An insufficient number of lifeboats meant that only one-third of the passengers could be accommodated.

Lifeboats from the "Titanic" on their way to the "Carpathia" on April 15, 1912, following the disaster.

A newsboy hawks a special edition outside the offices of the White Star Line in London after news of the sinking of the "Titanic" hit the streets.

A lifeboat from the "Titanic" pulls alongside the "Carpathia" following the sinking on April 15, 1912.

A group of survivors from the "Titanic" disaster aboard the "Carpathia" after being rescued.

A crowd in New York awaits survivors from the "Titanic" to arrive aboard the "Carpathia" on April 18, 1912.

A group of survivors of the "Titanic" disaster aboard the "Carpathia" after being rescued.

Edmond and Michel Navratil, the so-called "Titanic Orphans." The boys spoke no English and it took some time to locate their mother back in France. Their father, who died in the disaster, had taken the boys in hopes their mother would follow.

The boys were reunited with their mother, Marcelle, on May 16, 1912.

An image of the "Titanic" is projected on a 500-meter-long iceberg off the coast of Greenland on April 13, 2012, in a tribute to the disaster by Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter.