Taking a few days off to deal with a nasty cold. Till then, posting will be erratic.
A letter written in French dated 8 Aug 1955 written by Rose Amelie Icard was recently put on Redditt for translation assistance. What was revealed, if true, is a striking account of what happened that fateful night in 1912. Miss Icard likely was a maid to first class passenger Martha Stone. She recounts how they were shaken out of bed and initially told there was nothing wrong only to learn it was very serious. And she witnessed Ida Strauss saying she would stay with her husband, Isidor.
“She put her arms around the neck of her husband, telling him: ‘We have been married 50 years, we have never left each other, I want to die with you.”
She also heard Captain Smith order “Women and children first” and that Benjamin Guggenheim helped women and children. Icard passed away in July 1964.
The letter was written to a Madame Ausein, possibly a daughter of a woman that survived the sinking. The Reddit user claims he bought her letters and passport at an auction. The letter has not yet been authenticated.
Source: Titanic Letter Reveals New First-Hand Account Of Disaster(21 Mar 2014,The Telegraph)
An 11-year old Icelandic boy named Brynjar Karl has a dream–to use Lego bricks to build his Titanic masterpiece. With the help of his mother, he has made a plea via YouTube to Lego for more bricks. Let’s hope his dream comes true!
Source: 11-Year-Old Boy With Autism Is Asking Lego To Help Him Be Even More Awesome(18 Mar 2014,Huffington Post)
Shop Amazon – March DVD Sale – Up to 52% Off Over 4,900 Titles
Spring officially begins today at 12:57 PM EDT (16:57 UTC). Equinoxes occur twice a year, in March and September. When these events happen, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly the same. However below the equator the season flips so it is the beginning of autumn in Sydney, Australia. The first full day of spring (or autumn) will be 21 Mar 2014.
Madeline Keane, writing for the Irish Independent travel section, had this to say about Titanic Belfast:
From your first view of it, designed to look like the famous prow – in the shadow of the great Harland and Wolff shipyard, framed by the massive twin yellow cranes, Samson and Goliath – Titanic Belfast is captivating and moving. Brilliant 3D visuals bring you from the bowels of the boat through the bow to the bridge – we both felt slightly seasick. And there’s a magnetic journey to the ocean floor in the company of oceanographer and former US Navy officer, Professor Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck in 1973. He’ll deliver a lecture there on March 20. And yet, for all the fantastic touch screen galleries, faithfully recreated state rooms and exceptional archive material, ultimately it is the human tales of courage and cowardice which break your heart.
She also notes if you are planning a visit to Titanic Belfast, book ahead of time because thousands are showing up to see it.
Source: Titanic Odyssey Records Tragedy That Still Haunts(16 Mar 2014, Irish Independent)
The Feast of St. Patrick is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, the U.S.Episcopal Church, as a commemoration by the Evangelical Lutherans, and venerated in Orthodox Church. It is a public holiday in Ireland. The shamrock was used by St.Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity. In Ireland it is celebrated by families getting together for a meal. If the day falls on a Friday during Lent, observant Catholics receive dispensation to eat meat. If the feast day falls during Holy Week (and it does occasionally), the feast day is moved to avoid conflicting with the Holy Week calendar. A more recent occurrence are public festivals in Ireland and use of the day to promote Irish culture.
According to Atlanta Business Chronicle, Premier Exhibitions (which owns RMS Titanic, Inc and Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition), reported in a regulatory filing that the board of directors approved a review of “strategic alternatives.”
“The board of directors is working to pursue all appropriate actions to enhance the value of the company for its shareholders,” said Mark A. Sellers, chairman of the board of Premier Exhibitions. “To that end, we have determined that a broad evaluation of strategic alternatives led by a top tier investment bank should be the next step in that process and we are very excited to have engaged a prominent, New York based investment bank as our adviser.”
That sounds like they are preparing to sell the company or perhaps parts of it to other interested parties. With the Titanic artifact sale up in limbo at this point (a consortium backed out since it could not raise the money) and likely no deal in the immediate future, it probably means they would prefer someone else have that headache. Do not be surprised if a sale ends up being done either to a gulf state business or to a Chinese company. Both areas been making moves to capitalize on the Titanic tourist trade.
Source: Premier Exhibitions Investigating ‘Strategic Alternatives’(11 Mar 2014,Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Update 5 April 2014-The Irish Times reported on 21 Mar 2014 Bob Ballard’s additional comments while he was in Belfast to speak. The newspaper reports:
Dr Ballard also worked for 30 years with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It located the Air France Flight 447 plane which crashed in the Atlantic in 2009 with the loss of 228 passengers and crew. “When you have lost something the first question that is asked is where did you lose it? You can’t do anything until you can narrow the search and right now the search area is getting bigger not smaller,” he said.
The possible location appeared to be “changing oceans” from day to day, he added. What was vital was to localise the search area and to do that before the batteries on the craft’s black boxes ran out of power. “They have 30 days from when the plane went down. That’s when the clock started,” he said. Dr Ballard, who delivered a lecture at the Titanic centre yesterday evening, agreed that there were almost elements of the Mary Celeste mystery to the case.
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Bob Ballard, who co-founded Titanic in 1985, was recently asked about finding debris from the missing jetliner. According to turnto10.com he opined:
“If you know anything about the circulation of the current this time of year in that area, it’s counterclockwise. And so it makes sense that the debris would be to the east and south of the impact site,” Ballard said.
The speculation now is that the plane did not crash but was hijacked.
Source: Titanic Discoverer Weighs In On Missing Jetliner(13 Mar 2014, turnto10.com)
