The Titanic's fateful voyage in pictures

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The Titanic
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The Titanic set sail 100 years ago but its first voyage was to be its last - five days later the ship sank after hitting an iceberg. [Picture from PA]

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The ship was built in Belfast. It then headed to Southampton where it started its maiden voyage to New York in the US, stopping in France and Ireland on the way. [Picture from Southampton City Council]

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But a few days later, on its way to New York, disaster struck. This telegram - a way of messaging when telephones couldn't be used - was sent telling people that the ship needed help. [Picture from Getty]

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The boat sank very quickly as it took on huge amounts of water. Some passengers were lucky enough to escape, but some who had rooms in lower parts of the ship became trapped and couldn't get to safety. [Picture from Getty]

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Passengers were able to escape on lifeboats, with women and children leaving first. But there weren't enough lifeboats to save everyone on board the ship. [Picture from Getty]

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Edward John Smith was the Titanic's captain. When it started sinking he remained on board the ship and it's thought that he drowned when it sank. [Picture from Getty]

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When the Titanic sank the nearest ship to answer its calls for help was the Carpathia; but it was four hours away so was only able to rescue some of the passengers. [Picture from Library of Congress]

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News slowly reached the UK of what had happened and who the survivors were. [Picture from Getty]

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Even though more than 1,500 people are thought to have died, around 700 passengers were rescued. Here are some of them at docks in Plymouth two weeks after the ship's sinking. [Picture from Getty]

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Many of the Titanic's crew were from Southampton, on the south coast of England - 549 of them lost their lives. This is a memorial service held in remembrance. [Picture from Getty]

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One hundred years on, the Titanic disaster and the hundreds of people who lost their lives are still remembered. [Picture from Southampton City Council]