The Titanic, a British passenger liner, struck an iceberg off southern Newfoundland on the night of April 14, 1912, and sank. The ship, the largest and most luxurious built up to that time, was on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, carrying more than 2,200 people. At the time it rammed the iceberg, the Titanic was travelling at a speed of 22 knots (25 mph). The shipwreck, considered by contemporaries to be the worst in history, resulted in the loss of 1,503 people. This large loss of life was partly because of the failure of a nearby ship, the Californian, to respond to the distress signals, and the insufficient number of lifeboats on the Titanic. Hundreds of lives could have been saved if the builders of the Titanic had placed more lifeboats onboard her decks. In September 1985, a joint U.S.-French scientific expedition located the Titanic at a depth of about 13,000 feet, approximately 370 miles off the coast of newfoundland.