Titanic

In a time when the world was constantly changing, and rapidly, Titanic was a breath of fresh air that demonstrated the intense power of man. Coming in at 882 feet and 9 inches, the size alone was enough to draw over 100,000 onlookers when it launched on May 11, 1911, nearly a year before it’s…

Picture this: you are an archeologist exploring an ancient tomb in Egypt. You are navigating dark tunnels painted with inscriptions of Gods and the afterlife, until suddenly, you find yourself in the heart of the pyramid itself. The tomb of a long-forgotten elite of the Egyptian world. How do you know that you have found…

Illustration Andrea Gatti, Oceangate.com   “It was just midnight as we dropped down to the water, perhaps a minute or so after. It did not seem long before there was a great sweep of water which went over us all. A great wave rose once and then fell, and we knew that the steamer was…

Captain Edward Smith is most famous for his role at the helm of the Titanic, the disastrous last voyage in his successful career at sea. Rumors about Captain Smith and his final hours have circulated since that fateful night, leading many to blame the captain for the sinking of the ship. Let’s explore who Edward…

The Museum recently began the undertaking of compiling all of Margaret and J.J. Brown’s quotes. Along the way, we asked one of our Museum Specialists to write about the project and here is what she had to say: For the past few months I have been chipping away at what feels like an insurmountable task….

For 100 years, the Titanic has been 12,000 feet deep on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, near the shores of Newfoundland. It wasn’t until 1985 when a joint expedition between a French expedition team and the United States Navy, led by Dr. Robert Ballard, found the Titanic.  Since then, the debate has raged about visiting the site and the removal of objects. In 1985, Dr. Ballard’s team did not take or remove any artifacts from the site. Instead, they photographed and documented the ship and its condition and left a commemorative plaque paying homage to those that perished on the Titanic. By not taking anything from the site, this left the Titanic open for claim by the first salvager to bring up an artifact. In 1987, salvage company RMS Titanic Inc. was formed and they retrieved jewelry, china, and…

The following information was taken from Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters, by Violet Jessop. Sheridan House Inc., New York 1997) Travel was a huge part of the lives of most wealthy Victorian families. While at sea, they expected a high level of service. Life for ship stewards and stewardesses was not much easier than their counterparts on land. One stewardess who served on Titanic wrote in her memoirs about life serving at sea. Violet Jessop decided on a life at sea when her mother became ill. Violet was around 20 at the time and at least one shipping executive was concerned that she was too young and pretty for the job. Despite those concerns, Violet began her career that year, 1908, on a Royal Mail Line ship sailing to the…

The following is an excerpt from the Chicago Tribune, February 20, 2000: Did you know that the Titanic included black passengers? Joseph Laroche, a Haitian-born, French-educated engineer left France with his family in 1912. Like Margaret Brown, they did not intend to travel on the Titanic. Joseph Laroche was born in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, and traveled to France to study engineering when he was 15. His wife, Juliette, who grew up in a prominent privileged family, met her husband when she was 15. However, they were not allowed to marry until Joseph finished his degree. They were wed in March of 1908. Laroche was unable to find “fair wages” in France as an engineer due to his race. He was bringing his family to Haiti where his family prospered. He had worked on the building of one of the early Metro…

Once the Carpathia docked in New York City on April 18th, the reality of 1,500 lost crew and passengers devastated those waiting for news. The Halifax, Nova Scotia office of the White Star Line spent weeks recovering those lost at sea. From the Library of Congress The SS Mackay-Bennett was the first ship ready to…

“PASSENGERS SAFELY MOVED AND STEAMER TITANIC TAKEN IN TOW” (Christian Science Monitor, April 15, 1912) “ALL SAVED FROM TITANIC AFTER COLLISION” (New York Evening Sun, Monday April 15, 1912). “2,000 LIVES ARE SAVED OFF WRECKED TITANIC BY WIRELESS: VESSEL IS REPORTED SINKING.” (Denver Times, Monday evening April 15, 1912). These are just three newspaper headlines from Monday, April 15, 1912. In a world full of instant communication, it is hard to believe that for several days the true fate of the Titanic and all those onboard were not known by the public. Many confusing headlines, such as these, illustrate the lack of communication to the press from the rescue ship Carpathia and White Star Line. In fact, it was not until 6:16pm on Monday April 15 that the Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic, confirmed that it…