After the collision, the Marconi-invented distress call, or CQD, was blasted out across the cold seas, followed by a series of messages dispatched by the wireless operators to any nearby ships. "Come at once. We have struck a berg. It's a CQD, old man," was sent to the nearby Carpathia, while the Frankfurt, a German ship, received this message: "We have struck an iceberg and sinking by the head.”

The multiple CQD distress calls were later followed by an SOS – the first use of this new form of distress signal. The operators joked that they may as well try out the new dispatch, as they would likely never have the opportunity again.

As the ship continued to sink, telegraph operators Phillips and Bride (pictured here being carried ashore having survived the sinking despite serious injury) desperately tried to contact nearby ships for rescue, but none would make it in time.

What life on board the Titanic was really like