Lord Mayor Martin Morgan and John Parkinson laid wreaths

The famous ship, built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, left Belfast for Southampton on 2 April 1912.

It sank 13 days later in the Atlantic on its maiden voyage, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

Lord Mayor Martin Morgan and John Parkinson, President of the Belfast Titanic Society, laid wreaths at the Titanic Memorial in the grounds of the city hall on Wednesday.

As a boy, Mr Parkinson witnessed the liner leaving the city.

"The memory of the ship leaving Belfast is as clear in my mind today as it was all those years ago," he said.

The memorial was built using money raised from public donations in honour of the local people who lost their lives in the disaster.

The commemoration was part of a week-long programme of events in Belfast to mark the anniversary.

Mr Morgan said: "The Titanic as a ship was a marvel of its day and a reflection of the early 1900s in Belfast.

"It reflected where Belfast people stood in the world."