The engineering marvel of its day, the “virtually unsinkable” Titanic, built for the White Star Line, took less than two years to complete at a cost of about $7.5 million dollars. The ship carried more than 2,200 passengers and crew on its maiden voyage to New York City, departing from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912 with stops in Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland. Even though it was constructed with a double reinforced steel hull and 16 watertight compartments, as an added safety feature, the Titanic sank in less than two and a half hours after striking an iceberg in the late evening of April 14, 1912. 1,496 died and 712 survivors were rescued by the Carpathia, which responded to Titanic's distress signals after the collision.