On this day in 1912, RMS Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as the band plays on, with the loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 people.

The musicians of the RMS Titanic all perished when the ship sank.

They played music, intending to calm the passengers, for as long as they possibly could. All were recognized for their heroism.

One second-class passenger said:

"Many brave things were done that night, but none were braver than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea."

Their names: Theodore Ronald Brailey, Roger Marie Bricoux, John Frederick Preston Clarke, Wallace Hartley, John Law Hume, Georges Alexandre Krins, Percy Cornelius Taylor, John Wesley Woodward.

As some survivors later reported, the song they played was "Nearer, My God, to Thee".

Titanic sank in two and a half hours.

This is a photograph of a lifeboat carrying survivors.

"Boat No 6, 16, 11 women, 6 men, Miss Bowerman, Mrs. J. J. Brown, Mrs. Candee, Mrs. Cavendish, Mrs. Cavendish (Maid), Mrs. Meyer, Miss Norton, Mrs. Rothchild, Mrs. L. P. Smith, Mrs. Stine & Maid, Hitching Q. M."

Distress signal sent at about 01:40 by Titanic's radio operator, Jack Phillips, to the Russian American Line ship SS Birma.

This was one of Titanic's last intelligible radio messages.

'Survivors were rescued around 04:00 by the RMS Carpathia, which had steamed through the night at high speed and at considerable risk'

Photo: Collapsible lifeboat D photographed from the deck of Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.