Hi there, this is a relatively big topic that's going to require multiple posts. I'm going to try and keep it as narrow as possible to your question because there are thousands of pages to read through from the immediate inquiry and then a century of testimony and half remembered stories from survivors.

I think the best way to address this is to break it up into the following sections:

1. I'll provide direct testimony from witnesses who claimed they saw Titanic break up. This will answer your question as to what it looked like.

2)I'll provide a few accounts from those who claimed she sank in one piece. I'll then talk about why they may have been mistaken, and why there was uncertainty as to the split.

3)I'll go back to testimony and provide examples of survivors describing the sounds of the break up, which should answer your last question.

My source for this is going to be both the American and British Inquiries into the Titanic disaster, held immediately after the sinking. I will mark with an A or a B to denote which hearing the testimony appears in.

Part 1: Testimony from those who saw Titanic break up

Frank Osman, Seaman-A

Mr. OSMAN. We pulled astern that way again, and after we got astern we lay on our oars and saw the ship go down. After she got to a certain angle she exploded, broke in halves, and it seemed to me as if all the engines and everything that was in the after part slid out into the forward part, and the after part came up right again, and as soon as it came up right down it went again.

Seaman George Moore-A

Senator NEWLANDS. How far were you from the ship when it sank?

Mr. MOORE. I should say just over a quarter of a mile, sir.

Senator NEWLANDS. You heard the cries of the people in the water, did you not?

Mr. MOORE. Yes, sir; everybody heard that, sir.

Senator NEWLANDS. Did you see the ship go down?

Mr. MOORE. Yes, sir.

Senator NEWLANDS. What was the appearance of the ship at that point of time?

Mr. MOORE. I saw the forward part of her go down, and it appeared to me as if she broke in half, and then the after part went. I can remember two explosions.

George Crowe, Steward-B

Senator BOURNE. Did you see the ship sink?

Mr. CROWE. I did, sir.

Senator BOURNE. Would you explain in your own way how it appeared to you?

Mr. CROWE. After getting clear of the ship the lights were still burning very bright, but as we got away she seemed to go lower and lower, and she almost stood up perpendicular, and her lights went dim, and presently she broke clean in two, probably two-thirds of the length of the ship.

Thomas Ranger, Greaser- B

Did you see the vessel go down? - Yes.

Just tell us what you saw of the ship going down; describe it to the Court? - The forward end of the ship went underneath and seemed to break off, and the afterpart came back on a level keel.

George Symons, Lookout- B

in my estimation she must have broken in half.

Frank Evans, Seaman-A

Senator FLETCHER. Did the boat go to pieces or come in two?

Mr. EVANS. She parted between the third and fourth funnels.

Senator FLETCHER. What makes you say that?

Mr. EVANS. The foremost part was gone, and it seemed as if the engineswere all gone out.

Senator FLETCHER. You did see the forepart was all gone and you could see the stern come up horizontally?

Mr. EVANS. Yes, sir.

Edward Brown, Steward B

Did you hear any noise from the ship as she went down under you - any explosions? - What I took to be an explosion, Sir - a great noise, a great report.

Could you help me with regard to this; if you did not notice say so: Did you notice whether the bow broke off? - With the first report of that explosion I saw the afterpart of the ship giving a tremble like this (showing), and I thought by the afterpart going up like this (showing), and giving a bit of a tremble that the bow had fallen off. I might be wrong.

But that was your conclusion from it? - Yes.

Mrs. Ella White, First Class-A

Mrs. WHITE. It was something dreadful. Nobody ever thought the ship was going down. I do not think there was a person that night, I do not think there was a man on the boat who thought the ship was going down. In my opinion the ship when it went down was broken in two. I think very probably it broke in two.

Emily Ryerson, First Class-A

Then suddenly, when we still seemed very near, we saw the ship was sinking rapidly. I was in the bow of the boat with my daughter and turned to see the great ship take a plunge toward the bow, the two forward funnels seemed to lean and then she seemed to break in half as if cut with a knife,

John Poingdestre, Seaman, B

You said you saw the “Titanic” sink? - Yes.

Now will you describe to us what you saw happen when she sank? - Well, I thought when I looked that the ship broke at the foremost funnel.

Alfred Olliver- Quartermaster A

Senator BURTON. Did you see the boat sink?

Mr. OLLIVER. I can not say that I saw it right plain; but to my imagination I did, because the lights went out before she went down. Senator BURTON. How did she sink?

Mr. OLLIVER. She was well down at the head at first, when we got away from her at first, and to my idea she broke forward, and the afterpart righted itself and made another plunge and went right down.

Edward Buley, Seaman-A

Senator FLETCHER. After you left her, her bow continued to go under?

Mr. BULEY. Settled down; yes, sir. She went down as far as the afterfunnel, and then there was a little roar, as though the engines had rushed forward, and she s snapped in two, and the bow part went down and the afterpart came up and staid up five minutes before it went down.

Senator FLETCHER. Was that perpendicular?

Mr. BULEY. It was horizontal at first, and then went down.

Senator FLETCHER. What do you mean by saying she snapped in two? Mr. BULEY. She parted in two.

Senator FLETCHER. How do you know that?

Mr. BULEY. Because we could see the afterpart afloat, and there was no forepart to it. I think she must have parted where the bunkers were. She parted at the last, because the afterpart of her settled out of the water horizontally after the other part went down. First of all you could see her propellers and everything. Her rudder was clear out of the water. You could hear the rush of the machinery, and she parted in two, and the afterpart settled down again, and we thought the afterpart would float altogether.

Arthur Bright, Quartermaster-A

Mr. BRIGHT. I was 50 to 100 yards away, I would say, when she went down. I could not be exact, but about that.

Senator FLETCHER. Did she break in two?

Mr. BRIGHT. She broke in two.

Frederick Scott, Greaser, B

We pulled away from the ship’s side and we had not been away long before the ship started breaking up, and her stern went up in the air, and you could see her three propellers nearly the same as you can see them on the model.

You got away? - Yes; we had just got at the stern of her when she started breaking up.

Part 2 continues below