Tag Archives: Parks Stephenson

Titanic

Titanic Artifact Conservation; Titanic Survivor Letter Written Before Sinking Fetches Record Amount at Auction; Titanic Digital Recreation

Rachel Garbus, “Inside the Atlanta Warehouse That Helms Many of the Titanic’s Artifacts – Atlanta Magazine,” Atlanta Magazine, last modified April 28, 2025, https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/inside-the-atlanta-warehouse-that-helms-many-of-the-titanics-artifacts/.

Rare Cherub statue makes its Las Vegas debut at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition inside Luxor Hotel and Casino (PRNewsFoto/Premier Exhibitions, Inc.)

At first glance, the fluorescent lighting and the long metal shelves look like the interior of any storage warehouse. The white porcelain dinner plates, stacked in neat rows, could be from any restaurant—until one sees the logo stamped in red ink on their faces: White Star Line. The company has conducted nine recovery expeditions in the past 30 years, gathering more than 5,500 artifacts. Many are in astonishingly good condition. A champagne bottle, cork intact, still retains the original alcohol. “Glass did really well underwater,” Ray explains. “It’s extremely dense, so as long as it didn’t have a void in it, the pressure couldn’t crush it.” Even well-preserved objects are at risk of deterioration, however. “Once we recover things from underwater, they’re more susceptible to corrosion,” Ray explains. Her team works closely with conservationists specializing in materials like leather and paper to protect the collection into the future.

=

Richard Whiddington, “‘Letter Written Aboard the Titanic Sells for Record-Setting $400,000.,’” ArtNet, last modified April 28, 2025, accessed April 29, 2025, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/titanic-letter-archibald-gracie-breaks-auction-record-2637223.

Colonel Archibald Gracie, survivor of Titanic’s sinking
Picture is from his book on Titanic sinking. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

On the day that Archibald Gracie boarded the Titanic in Southampton, England, he wrote a letter to an acquaintance in London offering his first impressions of the ship. Gracie, a former American soldier and amateur historian, was not completely convinced. This letter, dated April 10, 1912, has sold for £300,000 ($399,000) at Henry Aldridge and Son, an auction house specializing in Titanic memorabilia. It smashed its pre-sale estimate of £60,000 ($80,600) and has set a record for a letter written aboard the Titanic.

=

Darcie Zudell, “Titanic Still Has Secrets, and a New Doc Has Bigger Answers Than You Might Expect | Den of Geek,” Den of Geek, last modified April 23, 2025, https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/titanic-still-has-secrets-and-a-new-doc-has-bigger-answers-than-you-might-expect/.

After 113 years, Titanic is still a source of innovation. Dives to the wreck have provided glimpses into its tragic story, but now technology unveils the full picture with Titanic: The Digital Resurrection, a groundbreaking special from award-winning Atlantic Productions and National Geographic, which shows how we can preserve the past and protect the future. Using exclusive access to cutting-edge underwater scanning, the special, now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, reveals the most accurate digital twin of the Titanic ever created– built from over two years of research, 715,000 images and 16 terabytes of data painstakingly pieced together. Parks Stephenson, a featured Titanic analyst, hopes audiences will go in not only hoping to learn more about that fateful night in 1912, but also observe how we can engage with history going forward, using it as an avenue for education.

=

Suggested Titanic Reading

Behe, G. (2012). On board RMS Titanic: Memories of the Maiden Voyage. The History Press.

Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc.)

Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)

Rossignol, K. (2012). Titanic 1912: The Original News Reporting of the Sinking of the Titanic. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Titanic News Channel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Titanic

Friday Titanic News

 

Photograph of iceberg taken by chief steward of Prinz Adalbert on morning of 15 April 1912 near where Titanic sank. At the time he had not learned of the Titanic disaster. Smears of red paint along the base caught his attention. The photo and accompanying statement were sent to Titanic’s lawyers, which hung in their boardroom until the firm dissolved in 2002. Public Domain

‘Last dance vibe’: After 100 years, the International Ice Patrol is winding down N.L. iceberg flights
CBC (0n MSN), 23 May 23

A program founded over 100 years ago, spawned by the sinking of one the most famous vessels in history — the RMS Titanic — is quietly winding down. Over the next couple of years, staffed flight missions of the International Ice Patrol will become a thing of the past as satellites and drones become more advanced. “I think we’re towards the end of the era of the aviation mission and soon the satellites will be doing all of the work,” tactical commander Lt. Alex Hamel told CBC News during a recent flight.

Additional Resources:

About the International Ice Patrol.

=

Wait What?! Expert Believes The Titanic Did Not Hit An Iceberg
The South African, 24 May 23

Titanic researcher Parks Stephenson told The Mirror: “I’ve got a growing amount of evidence that Titanic didn’t hit the iceberg along its side, as is shown in all the movies.,” he said. “She may actually have grounded on the submerged shelf of the ice. That was the first scenario put out by a London magazine in 1912. Maybe we haven’t heard the real story of Titanic yet,” he added.

=

The only picture of the Marconi radio room onboard the Titanic. Harold Bride is seated at his station. Photo was taken by Father Francis Browne, SJ, while aboard Titanic.
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Amateur Radio Heard SOS In Welsh Town 3,000 Miles Away
BBC, 22 May 23

When the Titanic hit an iceberg while crossing the Atlantic in 1912, its telegraphers desperately sent out distress calls hoping somebody, somewhere might hear them. But among the first to respond was an amateur radio operator some 3,000 miles (4,800km) away in south Wales. Self-taught Arthur Moore received the signal at his homemade station in Blackwood, Caerphilly county. He rushed to the local police station, but was met with incredulity. And while the radio enthusiast could do nothing to help those on board the Titanic, he went on to pioneer an early form of sonar technology which helped discover its resting place decades later.

=

Wallace Hartley’s Violin

Treasures Of The Titanic: From The Violin Played By Musician Wallace Hartley As The Ship Sank To The Watch Frozen In Time, How Surviving Items Have Resurfaced In Auctions
Daily Mail, 19 May 23

They are the everyday objects that reveal the extent of the human tragedy when the Titanic sank in 1912 with the loss of 1,500 lives.The body of violinist Wallace Hartley, who continued to perform with his fellow band members as the ship slipped beneath the waves of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg, was found days after the tragedy with his violin strapped to his chest.

=

First Ever Full-Sized Scans Of The Shipwreck Could Finally Shed Light On What Happened The Night The Liner Sank In 1912
Daily Mail, 17 May 23

More than a century after it sank, the first ever full-sized scans of the Titanic show the historic shipwreck in astonishing detail. Experts have taken thousands of digital images to create an incredible 3D reconstruction of the wreck, which now lies 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The images, published by the BBC, reveal the wreckage in greater detail than ever before, including stalactites of rust on the ship’s bow, the serial number on a propeller, and a hole over where the grand staircase once stood. They present Titanic almost as if it’s been retrieved from the water, although this will likely never happen as the wreck is so fragile that it would disintegrate under any movement. Experts hope studies of the scans could reveal more about the mysteries surrounding what happened on the fateful night in April 1912, such as the exact mechanics of how it struck the seafloor.

=

Titanic Project Brings West Belfast Schools Together
BBC, 15 Mar 23

Two west Belfast primary schools from separate communities have completed a Titanic shared education project. The film about the doomed liner, made by pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School, Slate Street, and Blackmountain Primary, is to be shown at Belfast City Hall on Wednesday. The film called Who Sank the Titanic? looks at why the ship perished on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Rare footage of the shipwreck filmed in 1986 has recently been released.

 


Titanic

Daily Mirror:Titanic Expert Claims He’s Solved 110-Year-Old Mystery from Night Of Sinking

 

New York Times Front Page 16 April 1912
Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Titanic Expert Claims He’s Solved 110-Year-Old Mystery from Night Of Sinking (Daily Mirror, 24 Jan 2022)

Parks continued: “If Evans had remained at his station and received Titanic’s distress call, could the Californian – arguably the closest ship – have come to the rescue before Carpathia? “Could Californian have averted the heavy loss of life? I would say no. “In daylight, it took her over two hours to work her way slowly out of the ice into clear water and reach the scene of the disaster. At night, it would have taken much longer.“In short, had Evans received Titanic’s distress call, it would have already foundered and most of the people in the water would have died from cold shock and exposure before Californian arrived.