Immediately upon hearing the Lookout’s ice warning, First Officer William Murdoch calls out two commands: “Hard a’ starboard. Full Speed Astern.” Titani’s engines reverse, and the Ship begins to turn to the left.
I have to admit that I have never been swept away by the story of the Titanic. I tend to have an aversion to stories of the woes of rich people’s lives. I did watch the movie and enjoy it, but the story never stuck with me. On the other hand, I have friends who fell hook, line and sinker (pun intended) for the story of the Titanic. It took this exhibit, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, to have a major effect on me. I am talking staring at tiny objects and being transported to a different time and place. I am talking goosebumps as I walked by certain photos and objects. I am talking quotes that almost brought me to tears. It is also the first time I really understood how many people of all levels of wealth and with storied lives of their own were on board.
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is an interactive exhibit that includes a collection of over 200 curated objects brought up from a series of dives starting in the late 80’s through the 2000s. on display at the Saunders Castle at Park Plaza in Boston. Tickets for the exhibit are available from October 23rd through February 2nd the exhibit will run through May. It is a great outing to do with the family when everyone is in town for Thanksgiving, or to gift for the holidays. The exhibit is interactive with replicas of the grand staircase, first class cabins, third class cabins and more making it appealing to visitors of all ages.
Artifacts
With well over 200 artifacts, from parts of the ship, dishes from the dining rooms, trinkets and objects that guests brought on board from working class folks to the opulent first class guests, there is something of interest from the marine craft loving engineer in the family to the food lover, the dreamer, the story teller, and the historian. I loved seeing the various dishes that sank neatly to the bottom of the ocean as they were stored on the shelves in the ship’s pantry and reading the various menus that were served.
that launched Titanic’s lifeboats the night of the sinking.
Facts
President and Director of Collections, Toamasina Ray, led us through a tour of the exhibition and I learned some fascinating facts.
In the crow’s nest, the previous crew had locked the door where the binoculars were kept and accidentally left with the key. The person on lookout had no binoculars. However, the waters were very still and it was dark so there is no certitude that binoculars would have helped.
Marconi, the communication service, was not there for safety. Their main way of earning money was communication for the passengers. In fact, they even told one of the ships to shut up with the constant ice warnings, because they were interrupting the messages they wanted to send for passengers. Also the Marconi room was not manned at night so messages went “un-read”.
Launching the life boats took a lot of time. While there is always a lot of talk about how there were not enough life boats, there is a good chance that even had there been more life boats they likely would not have launched on time.
The Titanic is in international waters, but RMS Titanic Inc. is a privately owned company who has established rights to the ship. RMS Titanic, Inc. was granted salvage rights to the wreck of the RMS Titanic by a United States Federal Court order in 1994 and reconfirmed again in 1996 with several other countries also signing off. The court award includes the exclusive rights to recover the artifacts from the wreck site.
If you have seen the movie, you may remember the band playing a the ship sank. This is something that actually happened as the Titanic sank. The band members were not considered as part of the ship crew, so instead they played as requested by Titanic’s Chief Purser, Herbert McElroy, to help maintain calm. As each boat was loaded and launched, the eight musicians played lively tunes. Since they were private contractors, they were not called upon as crew to man the lifeboats, but were also not considered passengers allowed to escape on the lifeboats. None of the musicians survived.
Photos, Finds + Photo Ops
In addition to the artifacts, the exhibit includes photos of the ship, the ship’s construction. a 1/100th model of the Titanic, and several interactive areas including the replica of the ship’s grand staircase. You can read about the passengers and what a ticket on the ship would have cost today for passage as a first class guest or a lowly 3rd class passenger. For those who are not as into the stories of the ship and its passengers, they can just explore the exhibit experiencing different spaces and looking at hundreds of different objects retrieved from the wreck. That alone is fascinating not only for a moment frozen in time, but also for what types of things wealthy guests brought on board. It is also so interesting to see what survived and how such as a bottle of Champagne with the bubbly beverage still intact (relatively) inside to paper money.
See for Yourself
Ticket for Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition are available starting at $39 and can be purchased here.
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