so what really happened to Titanic? The Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The ship was carrying over 2,200 people on board, and tragically over 1,500 of them perished in the disaster. Investigations into the sinking revealed a number of contributing factors, including inadequate lifeboat capacity, insufficient safety procedures, and design flaws in the ship itself, such as its inadequate watertight compartments.