Titanic: An Immersive Voyage Will Open in Cincinnati in February
RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912 Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons
Explore artifacts and life-size recreations from the world’s most famous ocean liner, the Titanic, in an exhibit coming to Cincinnati. “Titanic: An Immersive Voyage” will open in Cincinnati next month at 18 West Fourth Street downtown. The exhibit will feature more than 300 real artifacts, recreations of parts of the ship, immersive storytelling, 3D views and more.
For information, tickets, and times of operation go to Expo Titanic. At this time people are being put on a waitlist to buy tickets when they are available.
Note: This exhibit is also opening in New Orleans in March. To purchase tickets early, you need to get put on the waitlist at the same site noted above.
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Screenshot 27 Jan 2025
A Lego exhibition of famous shipwrecks – including RMS Titanic – is going on display in the UK for the first time. Eight models, ranging from 1-3m (3.2-9.8 ft) long, will be on show at Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in Lego Bricks at Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent from 8 March for six months.Amongst them will be HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, both fitted out at Chatham, before being wrecked near Canada in 1846 while seeking the Northwest Passage.Paul Barnard, from the tourist attraction, said they were “thrilled to bring this internationally renowned exhibition to Chatham“.
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.)
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Child Survivors of Auschwitz, 1945 Public Domain (via Wikimedia)
On 27 Jan 1945, Soviet Union troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. In doing so, it revealed the horrors the Germans had perpetrated there. Auschwitz was a series of camps designated I, II, and III with also smaller satellite camps. Auschwitz II at Birkenau was the place where most of the exterminations at Auschwitz were done. Using four “bath houses,” prisoners were gassed to death and cremated. Prisoners were also used for ghastly medical experiments overseen by the infamous Josef Mengele (the “angel of death”).
As the Red Army approached, the SS began a murder spree and blew up the crematoria to try to cover up the evidence. When the Red Army finally got there, they found 648 corpses and 7,000 starving camp survivors. They also found six storehouses full of men’s and women’s clothes and other items the Germans were not able to burn before they left.
[I was unable to post for a few days, so sorry about posting these stories sooner]
Poster for the 1932 film The Mummy Image:Public Domain
The “Mummy Curse” has bounced around the Internet for ages (and in print before that). Most people know Titanicsank because it hit an iceberg. Not so fast, say the backers of mummy curse. Except of course there was no mummy aboard the ship and the story of a mummy causing problems in the British Museum were all made up. IFL Science explores the topic.
Camden Town (London borough of Camden) is going to become home to a Titanic immersive experience. A group has submitted plans to construct this permanent exhibition, which will be built in a large basement but not change much outside.
Now 113 years later, visitors to?Camden Town will be given the chance to walk in the footsteps of one of the passengers who died in the disaster. Details of a new immersive reality experience based on the tragic sinking – 1,517 people died – have been revealed in planning documents published on the council’s website. Titanic VR:?Echoes From The Past is due to open in a basement site in Camden High Street and aims to give participants the chance to explore the wreck. They will be guided through key events by the character of William H. Harbeck, a filmmaker who died on the Titanic, but shown here searching for mysteriously lost film reels never found in the wreck. It has long been thought that footage that he took on the ship was lost to the sea.
Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast Date Unknown Image: Titanic Exhibition Centre
The Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast is to be closed permanently according to news reports. The centre was used for a number of different exhibitions over the years but suffered damage in recent years from severe storms. Located in the Titanic Quarter, it was a place where many important exhibitions were held. It was opened in 2015. Planned exhibitions have been moved to other venues.
A ‘special gift’: Handmade model of Titanic now part of Staten Island’s Noble Maritime Collection
The Noble Maritime Collection recently hosted a group of Staten Island students to unveil a seven-foot model of the RMS Titanic in the museum’s Navigation Classroom. The large-scale, handmade model was recently donated to the museum by the family of Peter P. Blanchard III (1951-2022), the great-grandson of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), whose home and art collection comprise The Frick Collection art museum in Manhattan.
Château de la Chasseigne Image source: The Abandoned World
TikTok Explorer Claim That Chateau in France Once Owned By Titanic Survivor Is False
According to a TikTok explorer, a chateau in France (abandoned since 2003) lies crumbling away as people are afraid to buy as it is haunted. The castle was owned by Engelhart Cornelius Ostby, who died on Titanic. His daughter Helen did survive, and his body was retrieved and buried here in the United States. The chateau was taken over by his family, but the article is unclear on more details about how it passed out of their ownership. It apparently was bought by an Indonesian businessman, but he abandoned it in 2003 (he owed unpaid property taxes and other things). So, it has sat there slowly disintegrating from the pictures shown. Wallpaper is peeling and other things show its age. Apparently, there has been vandalism to the property. There is some attempt to preserve the castle. As for the ghosts, the story doesn’t quite get deep into it.
Unfortunately, this proves to be false according to Snopes.com. Apparently, this story appeared in 2020 about a mysteriously abandoned secret castle that led many intrepid modern-day explorers to seek it out. The actual castle involved is Chataeu de la Chasseigne which dates back to the 1500s. TikTok Ramy Awad went there in 2022 and recorded a video there claiming it was once owned by Titanic passengers. This was picked up by news media such as the New York Post and others. He specifically told the New York Post it was owned Norwegian businessman Engelhart Cornelius Ostby who died on Titanic. This story was reposted in 2024 and was picked up by newspapers such as The Express again. Snopes asked him to verify his information that this chateau being owned by Ostby. Apparently incensed by Snopes coverage of the Israel-Hamas War, he blocked further contact.
Ostby was certainly a real person and did die on Titanic. Snopes though could not find anything that indicated he or his family had any connection to this chateau. According to Snopes, the Chataeu de la Chasseigne was owned by its family, and nothing connects Ostby to it at all. A great-grandson put it up for sale at the end of the 20th century. Rather than being frozen in time, it has been occupied. In 2005 an Italian couple owned it and added many of the things seen in the pictures. An Indonesian couple purchased it in 2017 and never returned. A non-profit trying to restore the old chateau has asked the French government to seize it if the Indonesian couple are unable or unwilling to give the nonprofit the chateau. The newly updated version by Awad still maintains the connection with Titanic but includes the Indonesian ownership later on. However, since Ostby never owned this chateau, that claim is false. He gets it right about the Indonesian aspect, but the date is off and ignores the Italian couple that owned it 2005.
The only true part of this story is that there is a Chataeu de la Chasseigne currently unoccupied and in decay as the current owner (the Indonesian couple) abandoned it.
Charles H. Lightoller, second officer of the RMS Titanic. Circa 1920-1930 Public Domain (from Wikimedia)
British Magazine Talks To Author of Lightoller Biography
He was also one of the last to leave the Titanic as it sank in the north Atlantic. He was honoured for his actions in World War One. He and his wife spied on German preparations for World War Two, and he rescued more than a hundred servicemen from the beaches of Dunkirk. ‘He was one heck of a sailor, who grasped life with both hands and relished in challenging the fates; and that life was one of tragedy and perilous adventure. Why there isn’t a film about his life is a mystery,’ says Eccles-based author James Bancroft, who has written a biography of the all-action mariner.
Cemetery Titanic Survivor Is Buried Has Garbage Dumped in It
The four surviving officers of the Titanic. From left to right, Harold Lowe, Charles Lightoller, Joseph Boxhall. Sitting : Herbert Pitman. 1912 Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
The cemetery where Titanic survivor Harold Lowe (fifth officer on Titanic) is buried was recently used as a dumping ground for garbage. St Trillo’s Parish Church in Rhos-on-Sea in Conwy County has been used as a cemetery for a long time and is maintained by volunteers according to news reports. According to Reverend Dale, the vicar, someone tossed garbage into the cemetery near where the gravestones are. Some of the debris included a fan, a bag of rubble, and even a mattress, had to be cleaned up by volunteers since the local council does not maintain the cemetery. Reverend Dale noted “I’m disappointed, really.” The dumpers showed “disrespect” to the people buried there and their loved ones who visit their graves.”
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Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. Public Domain (via Wikipedia)
On 16 January 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was formally ratified. Under the 18th Amendment, the manufacture and distribution of alcohol in the United States (outside of industrial and sacramental use) was prohibited beginning a year later on 17 January 1920. Congress passed the Volstead Act to provide teeth to the law by allowing for enforcement of this law by the federal government, specifically a special unit of the Treasury Department. President Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act but overrode by Congress.
In the 19th century, temperance movements arose to address the growing problem of families being damaged when a husband or relative became addicted to alcohol. Also it was a means of curtailing acts of public drunkenness and related problems with people gathering to drink (gambling, prostitution etc.) The movement, religiously based in many cases, gathered steam and became a political one where it campaigned the state level for abstinence laws. In December 1917 Congress passed the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification.
All but two states ratified, a few after it had met the requisite number needed to amend the Constitution. Connecticut and Rhode Island were the two that rejected the amendment. Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin all ratified after 17 Jan 1919.
Aftermath
Enforcement at national and state levels became an issue right away. Neither Canada or Mexico were dry and illegal importation was an issue. Also with Cuba 90 miles away from Florida, it would provide another avenue for rum and other alcohols to be smuggled in. Breweries switched to making non-alcoholic beverages during this time. Wineries could only produce wine for sacramental (religious use), so they too had to turn to things like grape juice or apple cider. The law was not popular in a lot of cities, resulting in the rise of illegal places (called speakeasies) where you could drink alcohol.
To meet this need, many organized crime syndicates and gangs would supply the alcohol either by owning their own breweries and/or smuggling it in from outside the country. These crime syndicates would become enormously wealthy and corrupt local governments (police, politicians, judges) in order to stay in business. Competing gangs would sometimes duke it out on the streets leaving bodies of their enemies (and sometimes the innocent as well). Chicago became particularly notorious, both for its gangs and the depth of corruption. This prompted the federal government to target the Chicago Gang run by Al Capone. While they would raid his operations (done by the famous Elliott Ness), the financial investigation would lead to a successful conviction of tax fraud.
By the end of the decade, support for Prohibition had ebbed considerably. The rise of the organized crime, the fact many flouted the laws in large and small ways, and the difficulties encountered in enforcing the law all led to is eventual demise. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, many argued the alcohol industry could provide jobs. Franklin Roosevelt added it to his campaign plank in 1932. In 1933, the U.S. Congress passed the 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th (the first such Amendment to do this) which was swiftly passed by most states. A few remained dry (under the provisions of the 21st Amendment, a state could decide to stay dry) after that but today states no longer ban its sale. There are still some counties that are dry, including the one where the Jim Beam distillery is located in Kentucky.
On Friday the U.S. government filed to dismiss its legal challenge with the federal court overseeing the Titanic salvage. RMS Titanic, Inc has stated it has no expeditions planned at this time that would violate federal law governing the wreck. This ends a legal battle that began several years ago when the company wanted to retrieve the Marconi radio from inside the wreck.
For most of us, the notion that molasses would flood a city causing fatalities and destruction on its face seems implausible. Yet it happened in Boston in 1919.
Molasses tank in North End of Boston. Date unknown. Public Domain (via Wikipedia)
Industrial alcohol (used for machinery and other industrial applications) was very profitable and used for the war effort. It was made from fermented molasses so large tanks were constructed to hold it. A giant tank for it was built in 1915 along Boston’s waterfront on Commercial Street. Operated by the Purity Distribution Company (a subsidiary of United States Industrial Alcohol). The tank was immense measuring 50 feet high, 90 feet in diameter and could hold up to 2.5 million gallons. Back then, the usual standard was to use rivets (welding had not been invented yet) when connecting sections of metal together. Because of the fumes caused by fermentation and the pressure created, it posed a risk. There were leaks and occasional rumbles, but a vent was in place and open during the spring, summer, and fall. However, they were sealed during the winter since temperatures were usually very cool.
Shipments for molasses came in from ships in the harbor and transferred to the tank. Then later it would be transferred to an ethanol plant via pipeline in Cambridge. A recent delivery of molasses had nearly filled the tank. But for Purity, there was another issue. With the war over and Prohibition coming, the demand for industrial alcohol was going to be severely limited (there were still uses from industrial to baking but lower demand meant lower revenues for the company).
15 January 1920 was an unseasonably warm day with temperatures soaring up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and higher possibly by noon that day. With the vents closed, the fumes had nowhere to go, and pressure built up inside the tank. At 12:30 pm people heard sounds that sounded like machine guns firing. It was likely the rivets being popped out by the pressure inside the tank. And then the tank exploded sending the nearly 2.5 million tons of molasses into Boston. The wave was estimated to be 15-40 feet and about 160 feet wide. Traveling at about 35 miles per hour, it destroyed several city blocks, leveled buildings, damaged autos and killed 21 people with 150 injured. Since molasses is very thick, it made for difficult breathing if it got into your nostrils or mouths. Many died from asphyxiation or drowned. Horses were knocked down and died on the spot with so many that many compared them to being sticky fly paper.
Boston Post,January 16, 1919, describing the Boston Molasses Disaster. Public Domain (via wikipedia)
Clean-up efforts started immediately but lasted for quite a while. Molasses went everywhere and no matter where you went in Boston, you were likely to encounter the sticky stuff in some form. It was on subway platforms, inside streetcars, pay telephones, even inside public buildings. Pedestrians tracked the molasses everywhere they went spreading further. Cleanup crews were kept busy cleaning it all up using salt water. And from many accounts, it appears the city would smell like molasses for some years to come.
Boston molasses explosion Source: U.S. Library of Congress,Digital ID: (digital file from original) anrc 1496
Aftermath
Fingers were pointed at the company, who tried initially to claim it was sabotage. An investigation into how it was built, and approvals were done showed a lot of corners were cut in its design and construction. Lawsuits were filed and consolidated into one of the first-class action suits ever to be done. Stories of known leaks where kids filled buckets with the leaking molasses did not help the company either. Ultimately the company paid out to victim’s families around $628,000.
The disaster highlighted the need for more rigorous standards for construction, required safety tests for tanks containing liquids, and ongoing safety checks. It was determined the company ignored basic safety tests when constructing and ignored the groaning sounds when tank was filled. Also, the company used thinner steel than was commonly used for tanks in that day. They also covered up the leaks by painting the tank brown. Later investigations have shown that as the molasses left the exploded tank, it cooled due to the Boston temperatures making it more viscous (meaning it thickened up) as it went through the streets. This made rescue efforts more difficult and cleanup more difficult as well.
The tank was never rebuilt, and the property became a yard for the Boston Elevated Railway (later the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority). Today is the site of a city owned recreational complex called Langone Park. To the east is the large Puopolo Park which has a small plaque on its entrance commemorating the disaster.
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The four surviving officers of the Titanic. From left to right, Harold Lowe, Charles Lightoller, Joseph Boxhall. Sitting : Herbert Pitman. 1912 Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
The cemetery where Titanic survivor Harold Lowe (fifth officer on Titanic) is buried was recently used as a dumping ground for garbage. St Trillo’s Parish Church in Rhos-on-Sea in Conwy County has been used as a cemetery for a long time and is maintained by volunteers according to news reports. According to Reverend Dale, the vicar, someone tossed garbage into the cemetery near where the gravestones are. Some of the debris included a fan, a bag of rubble, and even a mattress, had to be cleaned up by volunteers since the local council does not maintain the cemetery. Reverend Dale noted “”I’m disappointed, really.” The dumpers showed “disrespect” to the people buried there and their loved ones who visit their graves.”
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.)
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: The Artifact Exhibition in Boston has extended its stay in Boston through the Memorial Day weekend due to popular demand. The exhibition opened in October 2024 at The Saunders Castle at Park Plaza has reportedly seen its weekend tickets sell out since it opened.
Tickets start at $39.50 per adult and $27.50 for children ages 4 to 12. For dates , times, and to purchase tickets, go to their website.
The Adoration of the Shepherds (Gerard van Honthorst 1590–1656) Image: Public Domain (Wikipedia)
Most Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas Day on 7 January as they follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian for liturgical feasts and occasions such as Christmas. When Pope Gregory XIII proclaimed it in a Papal Bull in 1582 proclaiming the new calendar, it took a long while for it to be full implemented (over 300 years). Some of it was due to countries being Protestant and not wanting to adopt a calendar proclaimed by a pope. Other reasons include local customs and traditions, and in some cases, governments just being slow to implement a major change (it meant resetting the calendar back 13 days when implemented). No one doubted the accuracy of the new calendar as it corrected the problems of the old Julian.
For Eastern Orthodox, it was a bit more complicated. First it was not exactly welcomed by the Eastern Orthodox bishops that the new calendar was issued by Pope Gregory XIII. It came with some additional items that Eastern Orthodox bishops did not agree with. In the end, it was decided while they had no problems with the calendar itself, the additional items Pope Gregory attached to his Papal Bull, they had to reject it. In 1923 the Congress of Constantinople attempted to correct it with a Revised Julian Calendar. This calendar synchronized with the Gregorian for nearly all the important dates (except Easter). The Orthodox Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria accepted this. However, the Orthodox Churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia rejected it. Easter poses a problem as well due to its calculations. The Revised Julian Calendar churches follow a different formula for Easter which all of the Eastern Orthodox churches that follow the Julian reject.
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On Friday the U.S. government filed to dismiss its legal challenge with the federal court overseeing the Titanic salvage. RMS Titanic, Inc has stated it has no expeditions planned at this time that would violate federal law governing the wreck. This ends a legal battle that began several years ago when the company wanted to retrieve the Marconi radio from inside the wreck.
