On This Day: Titanic sets sail from Southampton, docks in Cherbourg, France

The Titanic picked up more than 200 passengers at its French stop

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic departed from Southampton in the UK just after noon, officially launching her maiden yet tragic voyage.

Upon her departure from Southampton, an estimated 1,846 people were on board making up the majority of the ship’s maximum capacity of 3,547 peo‐ ple.

Departing Southampton, the Titanic en‐ dured a small delay when the massive amount of water the ship displaced nearly caused a collision with the SS New York.

Titanic Belfast reports that the SS New York broke free of her moorings and swung towards Titanic, but that the quick actions of a nearby tug who pulled her out of the way saved the day and al‐ lowed the Titanic’s maiden journey to continue with just a small delay.

The luxurious new White Star liner later docked in Cherbourg, France at about 6:30 pm to pick up more passengers. The tender ships SS Nomadic and SS Traffic ferried the next batch of passen‐ gers to the Titanic.

Today, the refurbished SS Nomadic is a feature of the Titanic Belfast exhibit in Northern Ireland:

Two hundred and eighty-one passengers boarded in France: 151 were First Class, 28 were Second Class, and 102 were Third Class.

Twenty-four passengers disembarked Titanic in Cherbourg as their journey had completed.

Many of Titanic’s most wealthy and famous passengers boarded at Cher‐ bourg. Amongst them was John Jacob Astor and his pregnant wife, as well as Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff Gordon and his wife Lady Lucy Christiana Duff Gordon. Titanic Belfast reports: “Only 21 of those who embarked at Cherbourg were French, with the rest from America, England, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Syria, and Uruguay.

“However luxury French products, such as champagne, wine, and cheeses were also transferred to Titanic at the port - specifically 75,000 pounds of meat, 15,000 bottles of beer, 10,000 bottles of wine, and 12,000 bottles of mineral water!”

Titanic was docked in Cherbourg for on‐ ly a few hours before departing at about 8:10 pm and heading for Queenstown - now Cobh - in Co Cork in Ireland for its last stop before it fully headed to sea. *Originally published inApril2019.Up‐ datedinApril2024.