At 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty m

At 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after Titanic struck the iceberg, her rate of sinking suddenly increased as her forward deck dipped underwater and the sea poured in through open hatches and grates.[143] As her unsupported stern rose out of the water, exposing the propellers, the ship began to break in two between the third and fourth funnels due to the immense strain on the keel.[144] With the bow underwater, and air trapped in the stern, the stern remained afloat and buoyant for a few minutes longer, rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it,[145] before plunging into the murky depths.