All throughout the day on Sunday 14th April 1912 the Titanic had received telegraph reports from ships such as the Baltic, the Caronia, the Amerika, and the Californian warning of ice. However, according to the testimony of Titanic's surviving officers, the only message posted in the chartroom was from the Californian.

At 11:40 p.m
the Titanic collided with an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. Awoken by a grinding sound Captain Smith went to the bridge to investigate and discussed the noise with Third Officer Pitman. Ten minutes later Fourth Officer Boxhall revealed the seriousness of the situation by stating that "the water was up to F-Deck in the Mail Room."

At 2:40 am on the 15th April 1912 the 'unsinkable' Titanic sank. When the Titanic had commenced its Maiden voyage four days earlier, 2,227 people had been on board.  1,522 people lost their lives in the disaster. Among the dead was Bertram Dean. His wife Georgette and their two children Vere and Millvina survived, being among the lucky passengers put into lifeboats. Despite their being an insufficient number of lifeboats, many of the boats left partially full. At dawn on April 15th, 1912, the Carpathia under Captain Rostron arrived and rescued the 705 passengers who had not died in the icy, North Atlantic waters.