It's now been more than 111 years since Titanic departed Southampton and set out on her fateful maiden voyage to New York City.
However, the White Star Line's legendary 'unsinkable' ocean liner would not have got much further than the Belfast dry dock where she was born if not for a state-of-the-art piece of technology made right here in Edinburgh.
Capital engineering firm Brown Brothers specialised in marine technology and were responsible for the steering gears of many of the great ocean liners from the golden era of steam-powered transatlantic travel - including the RMS Titanic.
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But while Titanic's link with Edinburgh is now all but forgotten, was definitely not missed by Hollywood director James Cameron and his production team.
If you've ever watched the classic 1997 movie starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, you'll remember the scene in which Titanic captain Edward Smith meets his fate all alone in the ship's wheelhouse.
Having sustained critical damage from the iceberg collision, Titanic is all but submerged and in her final moments. Captain Smith stands still as ice cold North Atlantic water crashes in all around him. He's a goner, that much is clear.
It's a truly heart-stopping and unforgettable scene, but if you pause the footage and look closely enough you'll spot lettering engraved into the helm of the ship's main wheel: Brown's Patent Telemotor, Rosebank Ironworks Edinburgh.
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But what was a 'Brown's Patent Telemotor' and what part did it play in the sinking of the Titanic?
Steering the Titanic
At the time of her maiden voyage in April 1912, Titanic was the largest and most luxurious passenger ship ever built.
With a length of more than 850 feet and weighing in at 50,000 tonnes, this was no canal boat, and making a manmade marine vessel of that epic size move where you wanted it to was no mean feat.
The RMS Titanic could be shifted to port and starboard by turning the ship's colossal 78-ft-tall rudder, which was connected to a steam-powered steering engine located in a room on C deck at the very back of the ship.
Amazingly, the ship's helmsmen could control the rudder from the wheelhouse, which was located just behind the bridge - more than 500 feet away from the stern of the vessel. It was all thanks to a clever bit of technology invented here in Edinburgh.
Brown's Patent Telemotor
Based at Rosebank Works just off Broughton Road, Brown Brothers was a major employer in Edinburgh and respected worldwide for manufacturing vital ship components, including steering wheels and steering gears.
In the 1870s, the firm devised their patent telemotor, an innovative mechanism which allowed for the removal of the dozens of complex gears and chains that had previously clogged up space on steamships between the wheelhouse and engine room.
Using hydraulic technology, the steam valves of the rudder engines could be connected to the main wheel in the wheelhouse. On massive ships such as the Titanic, where the wheelhouse was situated hundreds of feet away from the engine room, the telemotor was a crucial piece of kit.
The genius of the Titanic's telemotor was recently explained in a fascinating video by Oceanliner Designs on YouTube.
In his video How Did They Steer The Titanic?, researcher and illustrator Michael Brady said: "The telemotor was a very clever device. Because of this system, one man could turn a 101 tonne rudder with relative ease".
Titanic conspiracies
On the night of the Titanic's sinking, the telemotor was brought into use for the final time as First Officer William Murdoch gave the ultimately futile order to try and turn the ship away from the iceberg that would claim the lives of an estimated 1,500 passengers and crew.
Some say First Officer Murdoch made a mistake by ordering the ship 'hard a starboard' (right) when he actually meant left - an idea that has largely been debunked.
Others, meanwhile, claim, incorrectly, that the rudder was too small, or that the ship would have remained afloat had she hit the iceberg head on rather than attempting to navigate around it - the latter point ignoring the simple fact that the crew were duty-bound to do all they could to avoid a collision.
There are no known photographs of Titanic's wheelhouse from before the sinking, but some of the Brown Brothers components have survived.
Sitting at a depth of nearly 4,000 metres beneath the North Atlantic Ocean, the wreck of the Titanic has been in a state of decay for well over a century, but while the famous ship's wheelhouse and wheels have all rotted away, the cast iron remains of the Edinburgh-manufactured Brown's Patent Telemotor can still be seen to this day.
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