On April 15, 1912, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic sank on her maiden voyage after running afoul of an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The disaster sent more than 1,500 people to their watery graves, and, like many events of widespread public interest, gave rise to countless copyrighted poems, songs, books, dramas, and artworks. Reposted from the History of Copyright Timeline at the U.S. Copyright Office.

Public domain (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Titanic.jpg), via Wikimedia Commons.