Tag Archives: Titanic news

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Titanic Wreck Found (1 Sept 1985)

Titanic Leaving Queenstown 11 April 1912. Believed to be the last photograph of ship before it sank.
Public Domain

On the early morning of 1 Sept 1985, the wreck of the RMS Titanic was found 400 miles east of Newfoundland in North Atlantic by a joint U.S.-French expedition. The liner lay 13,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and its finding would excite the world that continues to this day.

Ever since Titanic sank in 1912, there have been many attempts in locating the wreck. However the depth of the ocean, the vastness of the search area, and technological limitations made that impossible. Robert Ballard, a former Naval officer and oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts had tried in 1977 without success. In 1985, Ballard along with French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel, decided to set out in search of the wreck using more sophisticated technology to help locate the wreck.

This time they were equipped with more sophisticated technology to aid them in seeing what was on the ocean floor. The Argo, an unmanned and experimental submersible sent photographs up to the research vessel Knorr.  And on the morning of 1 September, while investigating debris on the ocean floor, it passed over a massive boiler that came from Titanic. The following day the wreck of the ship was found and that it had split in two with a debris field between the stern and forward sections, The ship and much of the debris was in good shape despite being down there since 1912. The discovery electrified the world and confirmed (but was discounted in the British enquiry) that Titanic had split in two. Unmanned submersibles were sent down to look at the wreck giving us the first look at the ship in its watery grave. The images are just as haunting today as they were back then.

The use of the submersibles for this type of deep diving to wrecks opened up a new world of exploring shipwrecks outside of the normal diving depth humans could endure. Ultimately manned submersibles would be developed to allow researchers to slowly descend to those great depths and study the wreck of Titanic and other ships as well. While genuine controversy exists over the later salvage of Titanic (Ballard was not part of that and opposed it), the discovery of the wreck and the technology used to find it has opened up new worlds in seeing the fascinating world in our oceans.

Sources


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Friday Titanic News-Visiting Titanic Wreck Poses Challenges, Titanic Memorabilia Gets Priced

Touring the Titanic wreck is no easy thing, unless you are doing it virtually. First you have to fork over a lot of money to go on an expedition. And if you are good health, you get inside a submersible craft that will slowly descend for 2 1/2 hours down to the wreck. The atmospheric pressure is immense and the craft small enough for 3 people and the equipment. The article is incorrect about there not being a toilet. Previous submersibles didn’t have them, but the OceanGate Titan does. However because of the tight space, using it is a last resource. According to their website,

“By limiting Mission Specialist’s diets before and during the dive, the need to use the bathroom is largely eliminated.”

Vintage News recounts how this journey goes leaving you at the end wanting to just watch a video of the wreck or a computer simulation of it.

Source:

The Public Can Tour the Wreckage of the Titanic – And It Might Be a Terrifying Voyage (Vintage News, 10 Aug 2022)

The two-and-a-half-hour trip down to the Titanic wreckage isn’t your standard vacation boat trip. The underwater pressure on the ocean floor is roughly 5,541.9 pounds per square inch, enough to explode the submersible vessels used in the expeditions if even a small hole or scratch occurs. The submersible vessels can only fit three people. Each expedition takes roughly eight to ten hours round trip, and with limited space, basic amenities like a private bathroom are out of the question.

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I do not watch The Antiques Roadshow that much. Occasionally though they come upon a real prize. Many people have brought Titanic related items to such places, only to be disappointed. Not in this case according to the Express. The lucky person had some memorabilia that is worth some decent money. And something autographed by  a Titanic survivor is going to get a good valuation.

Source:

Antiques Roadshow: Titanic survivor relative blown away by items’ value ‘Didn’t expect it’(Express, 11 Aug 2022)

Antiques Roadshow expert Clive Farahar left one guest “amazed” when he explained the valuation of Titanic items she’d been left by her relative Millvina Dean, who was the last remaining survivor of the doomed passenger liner.

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Wayback Machine:

Vintage Battlestar Galactica opening. The old BSG series, I think, had more heart and soul than the newer one. While it had many flaws (and I have written about it here and here.) it had something the newer one didn’t.

 

 

Shop for books in our Titanic Book Store

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Sunday Titanic: Titanic Survivor Shipwrecked Again; Remembering Young Titanic Victim

Collapsible lifeboat D photographed by passenger on Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.
Public Domain(Wikipedia)

Feeling Lucky? This Lady Survived The Titanic And Then Went Down On The Rohilla Off Whitby (Darlington & Stockton Times, 6 Aug 2022)

Mary worked as a stewardess on the large vessels belonging to the White Star Line and, on April 15, 1912, with her youngest daughter Daisy aged six back home, she was on the Titanic when it struck the iceberg. Mary quickly clambered aboard lifeboat 11, was picked up by Carpathia after a few hours bobbing around, and was dropped off at New York on April 18, 1912. Before the year was out, she was working aboard another White Star liner, Majestic, and in 1914 when war broke out, she was transferred to HMHS Rohilla. Two-and-a-half years after surviving the sinking of the Titanic off the coast of America, she survived the wreck of the Rohilla off Whitby.

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Young Victim Of Titanic Tragedy Remembered (Tavistock Times Gazette, 6 Aug 2022)

At the time, Harry’s death was reported by the Western Morning News in 1912 describing Rogers as a ‘smart and steady young fellow’, whilst also stating that ‘both mother and grandmother are in much distress, fearing the worst.’ Harry’s mother remained living in Devon until 1955 when she died. Unfortunately, Harry’s body was never recovered and his death is now remembered on the Tavistock grave. The family vault is situated in Plymouth Road Cemetery with Harry’s name listed on his father’s tombstone.

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The 110-Year-Old Titanic Violin That Miraculously Survived The Sinking Ship (ClassicFM.com, 5 Aug 2022)

Despite some reports to the contrary, there is no evidence that his violin was found strapped to his chest in its case. We do know, however, that it must have been recovered, along with a satchel embossed with Hartley’s initials, as a telegram transcript from Maria Robinson to the Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia reads, ‘I would be most grateful if you could convey my heartfelt thanks to all who have made possible the return of my late fiancé’s violin’. When Robinson died in 1939, her sister gave the violin to the Bridlington Salvation Army, who passed it on to a violin teacher. The teacher passed it on further, and in 2004 it was rediscovered in an attic in the UK.

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Straus Memorial Park, New York City, 1915. This memorial and park was dedicated on 15 April 1915.
Photo:Public Domain (U.S. Library of Congress, Bain Collection,call number LC-B2- 3446-4)

The Heartbreaking Story Of Ida Straus, The Woman Who Went Down With The Titanic Rather Than Leave Her Husband Behind (Allthatsinteresting.com, 3 Aug 2022)

The couple married in 1871. Isidor worked for his father’s business — L. Straus & Sons — which was a pottery brand that later integrated into the glass and china department at Macy’s. He worked hard, eventually all the way up to being a co-owner of the entire Macy’s chain. Ida Straus was both a housewife and a very busy mother, as the couple had seven children together. (One son, Clarence, died around the age of two.) Even though Isidor also had his hands full with work — in addition to his duties serving as a member of the U.S. Congress for a year — the couple was said to be particularly close.

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Find books  on Wallace Hartley Titanic Musicians

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Titanic Portholes Added More Water Says Author; Recovering Bodies from Titanic

 

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

Titanic Mystery Blown Wide Open As Decision By Passengers On Board ‘Doubled Sinking Speed’
Irish Mirror, 25 June 2022

After the huge boat smashed into the obstacle, water began to flood into the enormous vessel, causing panic on board. However, to make matters worse, many passengers then opened their portholes to see why the ship had come to a grinding halt. According to Tim Maltin, a British author, historian and TV presenter who spent more than six years trawling through the first-hand account of those who survived the disaster, this was detrimental.

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CS Mackay Bennett (circa 1884)
Artist Unknown
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

What Happened On The “Death Cruise” That Recovered Bodies From The Wreckage Of The Titanic
IFL Science, 22 June 2022

The vessel had been quickly turned into a “morgue ship” following the disaster, fitted with 100 coffins, all the embalming fluid in the city of Halifax, and 100 tons of ice to preserve bodies in transit. It wasn’t enough. The crew found many more bodies than they were expecting, most held half above the water by life vests, floating in the icy water. Upon the ship’s return, carrying 190 dead from the Titanic disaster, Captain Lardner told the press that they had been unable to return all the dead to shore, and that many had been buried at sea.


Titanic

Cambridge Ontario Chinese Settlers Has Titanic Connection

Here is an interesting story about Chinese settlers that had a connection to Titanic.

One Of Cambridge’s Early Chinese Settlers Survived the Sinking of The Titanic
CBC, 25 May 2022

Archival material for early Chinese settlers in Waterloo region is hard to come by, but records appear to show that the City of Cambridge was once home to a family with an incredible tie to the Titanic. The Bing family was first recorded in 1894, when Sam Lee is listed as having arrived in Galt, Ont. His nephew, Lee Bing, was manager of Galt’s White Rose Cafe in the 1930s and is one of the people profiled in the documentary film The Six — which tells the stories of the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. “You have a whole family that comes here, his uncle Sam, his other uncle — Coon Lee, and then Lee himself. He’s listed as 19-years-old in 1921,” said Dan Schmalz, an analyst with Cambridge Archives.

 


Titanic

Titanic News: Lost Titanic Newspaper, Jack a Time Traveler? , Bacteria Eating Titanic, and What Happens to Popular Movie Props?

[I want to apologize to my readers. I was distracted by personal matters and volunteering for a group that assists people during tax time. So was distracted and not able to post.]

Edinburgh Man Amazed To Find Lost Newspaper, Worth £6,000, From When Titanic Sank (Edinburgh Live, 8 Feb 2022)

Titanic lost: Belfast Telegraph front page on 16 April 1912
Source: Belfast Telegraph

An Edinburgh man was shocked to discover a 110-year-old newspaper from the day after the Titanic sank – after sorting through his late grandmother’s belongings. Graeme McCallum, 34, found the newspaper in a box of memories from his gran, who sadly passed away in 2006. He believes that her dad, his great-great grandfather, would have bought the Mirror newspaper, now believed to be worth £6,000, while living in Newcastle in 1912. Graeme shared the amazing find with his 70-year-old dad John, who was able to shed some light on how the over 100-year-old paper ended up in Edinburgh.

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It is amazing how many clever theories have been thought up about the fictional characters Jack and Rose from Cameron’s Titanic. It makes for entertaining reading on its own. Now a new one is that Jack was a time traveler from the future sent back to save Rose. Using some of Jack’s lines that seem to indicate historical inaccuracies as they have not yet happened, this is putting some creative minds to work about Jack the Time Traveler. And there is a tie in to another one of Cameron’s great movies, The Terminator. I will not spoil what that is here.

A Titanic Theory Turns Jack Into a Time Traveler – and the Film Offers Proof (CBR, 5 Feb 2022)

Fans of 1960’s shows may remember this one:

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Mrs. J.J. “Molly” Brown presenting trophy cup award to Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron, for his service in the rescue of the Titanic.
Photo:Public Domain (US Library of Congress, digital id# cph 3c21013)

Titanic: What Happened To The Real Molly Brown (Screen Rant, 5 Feb 2022)

Molly Brown was a first-class passenger of the Titanic who was looked down upon by other women from that same social status, particularly Rose’s mom, who described her as “vulgar” and “new money”. Molly was different from them in terms of her being open-minded, comprehensive, empathetic, and kind to everyone, not just those from first-class. Molly famously helped Jack get ready for dinner at the first-class dining saloon and lent him a suit that was for her son, and in the final act of Titanic, she did her best to convince the crew in her lifeboat to return to save more passengers, but the crewman opposed. Molly Brown is one of the characters in Titanic who are based on a real person, and the real Molly Brown’s story is an interesting one.

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Titanic Wreck Bow
Image: Public Domain (NOAA-http://www.gc.noaa.gov/images/gcil/ATT00561.jpg)

Bacteria Are Eating the Titanic (Discover, 4 Feb 2022)

There’s no doubt about that. Some experts hypothesize that the rest of the Titanic will fully disintegrate within the next few decades. And we have bacteria to blame: The minuscule microbes, a hodgepodge that both creates rust and then consumes it, are actively recycling the ship’s parts into the ocean ecosystem at this very moment.

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4 Infamous Shipwrecks Found On The Great Barrier Reef (Australian Geographic, 4 Feb 2022)

For millennia, people navigated and traded across the northern coast of Australia and the Coral Sea. When early European seafarers came face-to-face with the world’s largest coral reef system, it was not the beauty they saw, but a nearly unnavigable structure that could easily sink their ships. Throughout the past 230 years, over 1,200 vessels met their end on the reef – but only 114 have been found. Each site holds the potential for a wealth of archaeological and historic heritage, as well as tales of disaster, death and lessons learnt about the reef. Preservation, future management and care of these sites is essential.

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This Is What Happened To The Necklace From ‘Titanic’ And More Iconic Movie Props (MSN, 2 Feb 2022)

It should come as no surprise then, that some props take on a life of their own. They become cultural touchstones, instantly recognizable even by those who have never seen the film in question. In celebration of the way these sometimes ordinary, sometimes out-of-this-world objects have defined our culture and lives, Stacker surveyed popular film history and chose 25 memorable and meaningful props, and found out where they are now.

 


Titanic

Titanic News-Baptist Preacher Heroism, Rare Titanic Plaque Up For Auction, Chinese Passengers Documentary

[Updated 11/12/21-The date on this article was incorrect and has been updated. ]

Reverend John Harper
Source: Wikipedia (via Encyclopedia-titanica.org)
Public Domain

Titanic’s Unsung Hero Put Daughter On Lifeboat But Gave His Spot To Another Child (The Mirror, 10 Nov 2021)

The final letter sent by an unsung hero of the Titanic disaster who sacrificed his own life for others has been unearthed almost 110 years later. John Harper placed his six-year-old daughter Nina and niece into lifeboat 11 but gave up the chance to go with her so another woman or child could be saved. He did so knowing the decision would likely make his daughter an orphan as her mother had previously died. As the liner began to sink Mr. Harper, a Baptist minister, ran along the flooded decks, preaching the gospel to anyone who would listen. He also gave away his own lifejacket to another men, telling him ‘you need this more than I do’, before going down with the ship.

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Titanic: Rare Plaque Salvaged From Lifeboat Unearthed After A Century Could Sell For £50k (Belfast Live, 9 Nov 2021)

An extremely rare plaque salvaged from a Titanic lifeboat has been unearthed almost 110 years on and could sell for £50,000. The cast bronze signage came from one of the 18 lifeboats deployed on the night of the disaster in 1912 in which more than 1,500 people died. They were recovered by the rescue ship RMS Carpathia and 13 of them were taken to New York with the other five set adrift. The surviving wooden lifeboat were later broken up and stripped for scrap metal. Most of these parts vanished into obscurity, with only a few items turning up at museums and in private collections. The plaques are therefore one of the “rarest types of Titanic memorabilia”.

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New Film Tells the Stories Of Six Chinese Titanic Survivors, One Of Whom Lived In Chicago  (WBEZ Chicago, 8 Nov 2021)

When survivors of the Titanic arrived in New York on a rescue ship, six Chinese survivors were sent away. A new documentary called The Six digs into these stories. Reset talks with the lead researcher of the documentary and a family member of the survivor who learned the winding story of his father’s journey to Chicago.


Titanic

LIGHTHOLLER WATCH TO BE AUCTIONED OFF

Charles H. Lightoller, second officer of the RMS Titanic.
Circa 1920-1930
Public Domain (from Wikimedia)

Charles Lightoller’s Titanic Watch For Sale At Goldin Auctions (Just Collecting News, 19 Nov 2019)

The watch owned by Charles Lightoller, the Second Officer who miraculously survived the sinking of the Titanic, is up for sale at Goldin Auctions. The Swiss silver pocket watch bears the name “Charles H Lightoller” and his rank “2nd Officer” engraved on the reverse of its rusted case. The watch hands behind the cracked face are frozen in time at 2:20 – believed to be the exact moment Lightoller plunged into the icy waters of the Atlantic as the Titanic sank beneath him. Minimum bid for the watch is $5,000. The auction ends on 7 Dec.

Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Premier Exhibitions Bankruptcy Update

This and other Titanic artifacts could be yours! Appraised value is $240 million. All genuine offers considered. Contact Brent Williams at Lincoln International, bwilliams@lincolninternational.com , telephone (212) 257-7750 or Premier’s financial advisors, Marshall Glade, GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC, mglade@glassratner.com , telephone (404) 835-8844.

The story thus far: Premier Exhibitions, which owns RMS Titanic Inc, has filed for bankruptcy. A decision has been reached to sell the Titanic collection (the artifacts and intellectual property). One problem is the Titanic salvage award limits how those artifacts can be sold: as one collection. Past attempts to sell have failed because the price is too high. And now our story resumes….

Could a famous Hollywood director put together the money needed to buy the collection? The U.K. Daily Mail reports that James Cameron has begun a “secret” rescue mission to bring the Titanic artifacts to the U.K. He has apparently teamed up with Robert Ballard, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Royal Geographical Society to accomplish this. The figure being reported is £165 million.

Details of this “secret” mission were revealed at a court hearing last week by Ballard. Of course nothing is final and it is the very early stages. I doubt they will be the only party that will be interested. The Chinese would like to add it to their theme park and have money to spend as well. And there are investors in Dubai who also would not mind having the Titanic collection there as well that will draw in tourists. ave Vermillion, spokesman for RMS Titanic Inc, confirmed they have interest from all over the world.

Hopefully this time they will actually sell it to someone who will properly conserve it. The bidding war, if that is what it becomes, ought to be fascinating.

Source: Save the treasures of the Titanic! Director James Cameron launches top-secret £165m bid to rescue artefacts after shipwreck’s ‘owners’ are declared bankrupt (Daily Mail,1 Jul 2017)


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Titanic News Stories 1-7 Oct 2011

Due to computer upgrades, I am posting the news articles here.

 
1. PHS Graduate Writes Titanic Book (7 Oct 2011, KC Community News)
Although many books have been written about the Titanic, Paola High School graduate Stephen Hines wanted readers to experience the tragedy as if they were there with his newest book “Titanic: One Newspaper, Seven Days, and the Truth That Shocked the World.” For a year and a half, Hines pored over 208 articles from London’s “Daily Telegraph,” which was from just one week of coverage after the sinking. His aim with the book is to show readers the roller coaster of emotions the sinking brought with it, he said.

2. Titanic Centennial: Salvage And Memories (6 Oct 2011, New York Times)
On Oct. 21 Philip Weiss Auctions in Oceanside, N.Y., will offer the archive of a couple who spent the last days of their honeymoon on the ship. John Pillsbury Snyder, a Minnesota garage owner and grain-mill heir, and his new bride, Nelle, got into the first lifeboat when the crew sounded warnings. Other first-class passengers on the deck had milled around the Snyders, refusing to disembark, convinced that the Titanic just needed minor repairs. The Snyders’ lifeboat left the wreck half-full; the saved lives onboard included a Pomeranian dog. The family papers, with correspondence on Titanic stationery and photos of rescue ships, are estimated to bring $30,000 to $50,000.

3.  Top Flight Recreation Of Titanic Staircase (6 Oct 2011, Belfast Telegraph)
Sean, Francis and Pius Diamond from the family-run Oldtown Joinery in Bellaghy have been working on the RMS Titanic replica staircase for two months. Sean, who runs the firm, told the Belfast Telegraph that the project has been a painstaking process and “the most challenging” the company has undertaken in its 20-year history. Using mostly traditional joinery techniques as would’ve been the case in the making of the original creation, Sean said there are some little differences. “We are subject to building control, so certain things are different. For example, we’ve had to install a brass handrail for health and safety purposes.

4. View Of Titanic Wreckage A Deep Emotional Experience (5 Oct 2011, Edmonton Journal)
Lytle looks like Captain E.J. Smith, the man at the helm of the Titanic when it sank on April 15, 1912. The resemblance landed him a job with RMS Titanic Inc. and in 2000, a seat on one of their expeditions to the ship wreck and its debris field. This week, Lytle is in Edmonton to play Smith at the opening of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Telus World of Science. Starting on Saturday, visitors can see 200 artifacts recovered from the Titanic, from pieces of the ship to passengers’ personal belongings. They’ll also be issued a replica boarding pass at the door, with the name, age and class of an actual passenger. At the end, they can look on the memorial board to see if they were among the 706 who survived or the 1,522 who perished.

5. Titanic Centenary Must Be Exploited (5 Oct 2011, Belfast Telegraph)
The Belfast Tourism Forum believes that government and industry must work together more closely to exploit the potential from the Titanic’s centenary year in 2012.”We cannot under-estimate the importance of both central and local government continuing to work in close partnership with all the relevant agencies and our highly professional colleagues in the tourism industry to deliver the goods, to the benefit of everyone in the city,” said John McGrillen, Director of Development with Belfast City Council and chairman of the group.

6. WB Woman Shares Family’s Titanic Tale  (3 Oct 2011, Citizens Voice)
“My mother told her, ‘My daughter does not lie. I am a survivor,'” Mae said. Mae shared her mother’s gripping account of surviving the nearly century-old tragedy Friday at a “Last Dinner on the Titanic” event at the Stage Coach Inn in Butler Township. More than 30 people attended the gathering, which was organized by a historical entertainment company known as The Passion Projects. Mae took the audience back to the late night hours of April 14, 1912, when an ocean liner billed as “unsinkable” struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from England to New York.

7. Conn. Site To Mark 100 Years Since Titanic Sinking (3 Oct 2011, Boston Globe)Mystic Aquarium will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with an exhibit that will virtually take visitors to the ocean floor. The aquarium, home of Robert Ballard who discovered the wreck of the British ocean liner in 1985, says it will break ground next month on the exhibit. It is scheduled to open next April.