On April 16, 1912, the Los Angeles Times chronicled the sinking of the Titanic. This coverage is republished here in full, with changes only to capitalization and punctuation for ease of readability.
The Daily Province had a similar headline: “TITANIC SINKING, BUT PROBABLY NO LIVES WILL BE LOST.”
The Vancouver Sun was only two months old at the time, but chose to go with straight facts, and not speculate: “Ships Rushing to Aid Titanic, Sinking in Mid-Ocean, 1,300 Aboard.” In fact, there were just over 2,220 people on board.
But there was a lot of misinformation in the days after the tragedy.
“While badly damaged, the Titanic is still afloat and is reported to be making her way towards Halifax under her own steam, but with assistance from the Allan liner Parisian,” said the World on April 15. “The fact that the Titanic is the world’s biggest vessel is probably the only thing that prevented great loss of life. It is not believed that any other vessel could have withstood the shock.”