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A photograph of lifeboats containing survivors from the sinking of the Titanic hang on the wall at an exhibit in the South Street Seaport Museum commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in New York
A photograph of lifeboats containing survivors from the sinking of the Titanic hang on the wall at an exhibit in the South Street Seaport Museum commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in New York Reuters

It has been almost exactly a 100 years since the ill-fated voyage of the RMS Titanic - an incident that though horrifically tragic has since become a legend in its own right.

The sinking of what was dubbed, at its launch, an "unsinkable" ship shocked the whole world (back in 1912) and still does today. The ship, owned by the White Star Line, was on its maiden voyage, from Southampton to New York City, when it went down with 1,500 people.

The story of the ship and its victims and survivors continues to fascinate the world, in some morbid manner and the 100 year anniversary has sparked an outpouring of messages, condolences and remembrances about the historic event.

One of these memorial events is an exhibition of formerly unseen artifacts, photographs, paintings and other memorabilia from that time and, indeed, even that day.

"It was like scoring the winning goal at the buzzer, so we were excited. We jumped up and down and celebrated and then someone looking at the clock in the control room said, 'she sinks in 20 minutes,'" Dr Robert Ballard, said, in 1985, when he discovered the wreckage site of the ship, adding, "And we realized that we were there, and we were very embarrassed that we were celebrating and the mood changed, particularly when we started to see where the bodies had landed and we realized this was a cemetery and not something that you should desecrate."

The exhibit, which is being held at the Mystic Aquarium in the US state of Connecticut, is titled "Titanic-12,450 Feet Below" and also has interactive technology which includes sea floor footage of the site that allows visitors to understand what happened and became of the ship that sank in the middle of the Atlantic in 1912.

In addition, Belfast, in Ireland - the birthplace of the ship - has opened the world's largest Titanic exhibit, costing nearly £100 million - the Titanic Belfast.

The six-floor, nine-gallery museum showcases four hull-like structures and takes visitors through the legendary liner's history. It is built on the exact spot where the Titanic itself was designed and constructed by thousands of Belfast's shipbuilders.

Meanwhile, check out these photographs from the Titanic-era...

New York