Video: Titanic at 100: treasures auctioned off

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: It still sells movie tickets, it has a hold on our imagination. What must it have been like on board the Titanic on that awful night in the North Atlantic ? Today they commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ship's departure. Our report from NBC 's Stephanie Gosk in Southampton , England .

STEPHANIE GOSK reporting: In Southampton , England , they commemorated the day the world's most famous cruise liner set sail for the first and last time.

Ms. BARBARA COHEN: That's his obituary in the newspaper.

GOSK: Barbara Cohen 's great uncle was on board.

Ms. COHEN: I just found the whole experience very moving and very touching.

GOSK: It was the ship they dared to call unsinkable. Aboard were some of the richest and most famous people of their time. More than 1500 died in the icy North Atlantic . A tragedy, a huge news story, and an obsession still going strong a century later.

GOSK: " Titanic ," the blockbuster movie is back in theaters in 3-D. Director James Cameron has even explored the wreck and produced a National Geographic special, just one of many now crowding the airwaves. Titanic artifacts from the ocean floor are being auctioned off for the first time . Jewelry, a chandelier, third-class dishware expected to bring in millions. There's even a cruise that set out this week to retrace the Titanic 's route.

Ms. MARY BETH CROCKER DEARING (History Enthusiast): We wanted to honor and respect the people who were on the Titanic before us.

GOSK: For those who couldn't get a ticket, there's always a trip to the port the Titanic made famous. One of the reasons tourists come here to Southampton is to put themselves in the shoes of the passengers, to imagine what it must have been like to get on the world's biggest, most luxurious cruise liner , a ship that in just a few days would be at the bottom of the ocean. It was a moment in history when both human ingenuity and fallibility were on full display and it has captured the world's imagination for a century. In the end, the Titanic may have proven unsinkable after all. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, Southampton , England .

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