Skip to main content
Partly Cloudy icon
78º

These old Titanic photos show just how much has changed since April 1912

Saturday marks ship’s Remembrance Day

English Boy Scouts collect funds for families of the victims in this undated photo. (Bettmann, Getty Images)

Each year on April 15 marks another Titanic Remembrance Day, a time to reflect on the lives lost when the famed ship sank into the North Atlantic’s icy waters back in 1912.

The boat, once considered “unsinkable,” shocked the world when the news surfaced that it hit an iceberg.

Recommended Videos



The day is intended to remember the victims and survivors of the unfortunate sinking -- and reflect on how the world responded to the historical disaster. More than 1,500 people died that night in April.

We thought we’d dig through the Getty Images archive, and pull up some old photos showing newspaper clippings, artist renderings and more.

So much has changed, which makes sense, considering 1912 was 111 years ago.

Here is a collection of photos, just below:

A drawing comparing the length of the Titanic with the height of famous buildings of the world, including the Pyramids and the Washington Monument. (Ralph White/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
On the night of April 14, 1912, the English S.S. Titanic crashed into an iceberg and sank with a loss of more than 1,500 lives. This sketch depicting the disaster was made by marine artist Willy Stoewer in this undated illustration. (Getty Images)
A message sent from the Titanic, as received by Celtic: "CQD (requires) assistance position 41.46 N 50.14 W -- struck iceberg Titanic." ... "CQD" was the international signal used before the introduction of "SOS." This is from the Bodleian Library in Oxford. (Corbis via Getty Images)
This photo shows the ill-fated luxury liner, the Titanic, sailing the ocean. (Corbis via Getty Images)
Latitude 41' 46N and longitude 50' 14W, the place where the Titanic sank. This was originally published in "The Graphic" in 1912. (Getty Images)
Here's the front page of The New York Times from April 16, 1912, with headlines announcing the sinking of the Titanic ocean liner. (Getty Images)
Reverend Hartley, who was lost in the Titanic tragedy, is seen with his niece and daughter who both survived the tragedy in this 1912 photo. (Getty Images)
The prow of the Titanic under construction at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. The RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage on April 14-15, 1912. (Ralph White/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
Survivors of the Titanic disaster are greeted by their relatives upon their safe return to Southampton. (Getty Images)
(Original Caption) The main dining room of the S.S. Titanic. The largest ship in the world in its day, the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in 1912 with 2,200 people on board. (Corbis via Getty Images)
Survivors of the Titanic disaster board a tug from the liner that rescued them. (Getty Images)
Workmen stand under one of the propellors of the Titanic in this May 31, 1911 photo. (Historica Graphica Collection/Getty Images)
Here's the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune for Tuesday, April 16, 1912, headlining the sinking of the Titanic. (Getty Images)
Relatives wait on a railway platform as survivors of the Titanic arrive at Southampton, on April 29, 1912. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Letters from Titanic survivor Mabel Francatelli are displayed as a Titanic life-preserver, which was worn by Francatelli, is presented before going up for auction on April 4, 2007 in London. The life-preserver was part of a Maritime sale of memorabilia from the 1912 disaster. (Getty Images)
Survivors of the Titanic disaster near The Carpathia in a lifeboat. The arrow points to Joseph Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line. (Getty Images)
The most appalling history in maritime history: The steamship sank April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton and Cherbourg to New York, after striking an iceberg, with the loss of more than 1,500 passengers and crew members. (Culture Club/Getty Images)
The front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is shown from April 16, 1912, featuring several reports on the loss of the liner Titanic, which had sunk off Newfoundland. The paper gave the death toll at the time as 1,302, and the number of survivors as 868. Later, official figures were more than 1,500 dead and about 706 survivors. The main photograph is a montage, placing the Titanic against the Eads Bridge in St Louis, to give an idea of the ship's size. (FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
English Boy Scouts collect funds for families of the victims in this undated photo. (Getty Images)
Relatives of Titanic disaster victims are seen in 1912. The Titanic sank in April of that year, with more than 1,500 lives lost. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Here's The Denver Post's front page after the sinking of the RMS Titanic. (Getty Images)

Recommended Videos