The RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912, after it collided with an iceberg during her maiden voyage on route from Southampton, UK to New York, USA. The Titanic was the largest passenger ship afloat at that time and was operated by the White Star Line. The sinking of the Titanic caused the deaths of at least 1,500 passengers and remains one of the biggest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

New Zealanders first learnt of the disaster on 16 April. As nzhistory.net.nz notes, the first news came by cable and was necessarily brief. The Marlborough Express was wildly optimistic, but a day later, the optimism had evaporated. On 18 April at public meetings throughout the country, New Zealanders responded to the disaster.

This postcard is from Archives New Zealand’s Patent Copyright files collection. On the 16th November 1914, Cyril Frederick William Goodreds of Corinthic Villa, Leighton Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland put forward a copyright request under the Copyright Act 1913. It was received by the Registrar of Copyright, JC Lewis, on 4 January 1915. Goodreds made the application under the category of Artistic work, titled in memoriam RMS Titanic. It was accepted after he had paid the fee of 5 shillings for the certificate of registration, which was then posted to him.

The images above are the front and back of the postcard.

Archives Reference: PC4 1915/1566

More about the NZ reaction can be found at www.nzhistory.net.nz/page/news-titanic-loss-reaches-nz

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