Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The world's largest, most luxurious, and supposedly unsinkable ocean liner was traveling from the British city of Southampton to New York on its maiden voyage a century ago when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The ship sank in less than three hours. More than 1,500 people died.

Fascination with the ill-fated ship seems endless. There are exhibits, talks, plays, documentaries, and new books coinciding with the anniversary, as well as a 3-D release of the Academy Award-winning film Titanic, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

A memorial cruise left England a week ago to retrace the Titanic's route. Many of the passengers aboard the Balmoral are relatives of those who lost their lives in the disaster. A memorial service was held Sunday aboard the Balmoral at the spot where the Titanic went down.

Richard Davenport-Hines — author of a book titled Voyagers of the Titanic about the people aboard the ill-fated ship — says the disaster still fascinates people because it evokes contemporary concerns about the dangers of seemingly failure-proof technology. Scientists say the rivets that held together the grandest ship of its time were too weak to withstand the iceberg's impact, so the Titanic's hull ripped apart like a seam along a tin can.