THE ashes of the last survivor of the Titanic were scattered on Saturday at the terminal where the ill-fated ship set sail.

Millvina Dean, who was nine weeks old when the liner sank after hitting an iceberg, died on May 31 this year.

The disaster in the early hours of April 15, 1912, resulted in the deaths of 1,517 people in the north Atlantic, largely due to a lack of lifeboats.

Miss Dean's ashes were scattered from a small launch on the water of berth 43/44 at Southampton Docks at 1pm from where the Titanic departed 97 years ago.

This was follow by a memorial service at St Mary's Church, Copythorne in the New Forest.

David Hill, of the British Titanic Society, said: ''Our late president, Millvina Dean, was given a quiet family-only funeral in June.

''It was perfectly understandable that her family should want to say their goodbyes privately but it did mean that many of Millvina's friends were not able to say theirs.

''A memorial service has been arranged so that members of the society and friends of Millvina have an opportunity to pay their respects and say farewell to a remarkable lady.''

Elizabeth Gladys Dean, known to friends as Millvina, was born on February 2, 1912 and boarded the doomed ship with her parents Bertram Frank and Georgette Eva and her elder brother Bertram.

The family, who were third-class passengers, were emigrating to Wichita, Kansas, where her father had hoped to open a tobacconist shop.

When the accident happened, her father felt the ship shudder and quickly told his family to get on deck.

Miss Dean, her mother and brother were among the first steerage passengers to escape the sinking liner but Mr Dean was unable to get on to a lifeboat and perished in the disaster.

The family returned to Southampton, where Miss Dean went on to spend most of her life.