Category Archives: Titanic

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-8 Titanic Myths Busted, Belfast Airbnb Goes Titanic

  1. 8 Titanic Myths Busted
RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912
Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons

James Cameron’s Titanic was a wonderful presentation and got the atmosphere right but had some inaccuracies says Claes-Göran Wetterholm, the Swedish historian and curator of the London Titanic exhibit. He gave an interview recently where he debunks many of the myths. There is nothing new here, but it is interesting to read.

8 Titanic Myths Busted — From Band’s Last Song To The Real Jack And Rose (New York Post, 27 Jan 2022)

Swedish historian Claes-Göran Wetterholm, the curator behind a new immersive Titanic exhibition in London, tells The Sun: “The Hollywood movie, ‘Titanic,’ directed by James Cameron is the best movie ever to be made about what never happened. “There are so many things I cannot agree with in it and when I met Cameron at the premiere I told him this. But the film’s theme is fantastic and perfectly captures the atmosphere on the ship. “I have spent many years researching what really happened that night and have spoken to survivors and family members of survivors to help uncover the real story.”

2. Titanic Themed Airbnb

I have read of many things done to redecorate a home with a Titanic theme. It seems someone over in Belfast, who rents out space he decked out in such a theme, through Airbnb. Judging from the pictures though, it may be a bit much for some.

This Titanic-Themed Airbnb Might Be The Most Questionable Listing We’ve Ever Found (TimeOut. 26 Jan 2022)

But if exceptionally bright colours, a lot of images of couples kissing and dozens of paintings of weird-looking crowds is your kind of thing, who are we to judge? The rest of the rental leans heavily into the romantic image of Titanic (rather than, y’know, the mass death bit), featuring a nautical-themed breakfast bar, ambient sea sounds and even a ‘kissing room’ hot tub. So, what about the other amenities? Well, Rose has three bedrooms and can fit up to five guests. It’s got Wi-Fi, a flatscreen TV and all your usual kitchen and bathroom stuff. The host, David, has a pretty impressive 4.88 star rating, with guests generally praising his rental as ‘unique’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘hospitable’.


Titanic

Titanic News-Wedding Plans Disrupted and Studying Titanic Wreck Ecosystem

  1. Wedding Plans Disrupted When Fiancée Does Not Want Titanic Wedding
Croquembouch wedding cake
Photo:Eric Baker(Wikipedia)

I do often see news reports of Titanic themed weddings so often that I hardly take notice of them anymore. Some are more extravagant than others certainly catches the eye. But what happens with the person you are marrying is not keen on the idea?

‘My fiance won’t speak to me because I’ve said I don’t want Titanic-themed wedding’ (Daily Mirror, 25 Jan 2022)

Unfortunately, one groom-to-be has been left feeling conflicted after his fiance expressed a longing for their nuptials to be themed around the classic romantic tearjerker, Titanic. The fiance is said to be ‘obsessed’ with the movie, while he doesn’t really care for it all that much. Taking to Reddit’s AmITheA**hole forum, the 23-year-old groom revealed that his fiance wanted to go all out for the theme, decorating an old hall like the Titanic dining room, with absolutely everything themed around Titanic or the 1910s. As well as an iceberg wedding cake – arguably a rather morbid feature given the historical basis of the film – the fiance wants their first dance to be to the sound of Celine Dion weepie, My Heart Will Go On.

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

2. OceanGate To Study Titanic wreak ecosystem

Those who have visited the wreck have noted that nature has adapted itself to the wreck in interesting ways. And now OceanGate plans to make that a serious study before the wreck is totally consumed by the Atlantic Ocean.

Titanic Expedition Chief Scientist, Steve W. Ross, PhD., Spearheads First-Ever Effort to Study the Marine Ecosystem of the Iconic Titanic Wreck Site (PR News, 18 Jan 2022

OceanGate Expeditions announces that Dr. Steve W. Ross, Research Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, will be the Chief Scientist of the 2022 Titanic Survey Expedition. Dr. Ross will lead a team of accomplished scientists in a first-of-its-kind survey of the marine ecosystems on and near the Titanic. The wreck of the Titanic, sitting at 3,800 meters on a barren abyssal plain, serves as a refuge for life forms like corals, squat lobsters, brittle stars, and rattail fish. The scientific team will utilize the 5-crewmember Titan submersible as a research platform to observe and record the deep dwelling sea life.


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.


Titanic

Screen Rant on Titanic: Complicated Reasons For Sinking

The Famous What If

Sketch of J. Bruce Ismay giving testimony before U.S. Senate Titanic inquiry.
Public Domain (via Wikipedia)

Adrienne Tyler over at ScreenRant recently wrote about why Titanic sank and who is to blame. She examined the various pieces of the puzzle and realized that it is hard to pin just on one thing alone or one person does not work.

The tragedy of the Titanic was the result of a combination of circumstances and bad decisions, and one reason and one person to blame might never be specified.

Walter Lord, noted Titanic author, opined on the various What Ifs that could have changed the outcome of the tragedy. What if there were enough lifeboats for all? What if they looked at the ice warnings they got and realized they were sailing into an ice field? What if they had binoculars on the crow’s nest and saw the iceberg sooner? What if they had instead crashed into the iceberg head on and not tried to pivot around it?  All these questions are indicative of the story that is Titanic.

And quite a story it is since we are still talking about it over 110 years later. The ship was advertised as practically unsinkable due to its watertight compartments. With doors to slam down in an emergency to seal off the compartments, it would greatly reduce flooding and the vessel sinking. People marveled at its refinements, and it attracted the major people in society to sail aboard on her maiden voyage. She also carried a lot of new immigrants to the new world hoping to start a new life in America. Titanic was a ship the reflected the society of her day in a way that no one else ever did. Its dramatic ending has sealed it forever in history with lingering questions as to what happened and who was to blame.

Titanic leaving Belfast with two guiding tugs, 2 April 1912
Robert John Welch (1859-1936), official photographer for Harland & Wolff
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Nor can the tragedy be entirely blamed on one person. Captain Edward J. Smith, had he survived, would have likely said he was following the conventional wisdom of his day. Iceberg collisions were rare though not unheard of.  The fact that he did not chart out them out would call him into question.  J. Bruce Ismay, though head of the line that owned the ship, was not at fault for what happened either. His sin was getting off the ship alive while so many died. He did nix the idea of more lifeboats though to save space. Even then it met and exceeded the requirements of the Board of Trade. Some argue (and with data to support it), that the quality of the steel was compromised with slag making it more brittle at freezing temperatures resulting in rivets and plates being damaged by the iceberg.

There were many bad decisions from the lifeboats to running the ship through an ice field at nearly top speed. The main culprit was complacency. No one thought a disaster like Titanic could or would occur. There was an arrogance implied as well that man had mastered nature. And it was a large piece of frozen water that made many realize the exact opposite was true.

Source:

Titanic: Why Did The Ship Sink & Who Was Really To Blame?
ScreenRant, 8 Jan 2022


Titanic

Titanic Baker Buried in New Jersey

RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912
Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons

An interesting piece from Only In Your State about Charles Joughin, Joughin was a baker on Titanic and in fact had retired for the night when the ship hit the iceberg. He helped people into lifeboats and likely was on the last persons to leave the ship when the aft sank. He is famously remembered for drinking alcohol (a real no-no under Captain Smith) and tossing deck chairs into the water to use as flotation devices. He also made bread for the lifeboats as well. He survived the sinking and made it ultimately to the turned over collapsible lifeboat that Lightoller and others were on. It already had 20-25 people already on it and had to stay in the water until another lifeboat showed up and he was able to board that. He would recuperate in New York, testified at the British Inquiry, and continue with his life. He would be aboard another ship, the SS Congress, that would also sink as well. The ship caught fire and the quick thinking captain beached the vessel (no one died). Joughin would settle in New Jersey and remain there for the remainder of his life. He passed away on 9 December 1956 and is buried next to his wife Nellie in the Cedar Lawn Cemetery.

He was depicted in A Night to Remember and James Cameron’s Titanic.

Source:

The Last Survivor To Leave The Sinking Titanic Is Buried In A Rural New Jersey Graveyard (OnlyInYourState.com, 24 Dec 2021)

Additional Information:

Encyclopedia Titanica (2019): Charles John Joughin (ref: #1945, last updated: 17th October 2019, accessed 27th December 2021 08:15:41 AM)

 


Titanic

Former Ryerson House For Sale, New Titanic Exhibition in London.

 

RMS Olympic First Class Lounge (1912)
Photo: Robert John Welch (1859-1936), official photographer for Harland & Wolff
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

An Immersive Titanic Exhibition Has Floated Into London (Londonist. 17 Dec 2021)

Want to see how plush the top end cabins were on the Titanic? Well now you can — thanks to a major exhibition that includes recreations of parts of the ship. We get to ‘board’ the experience along a ramp with suitcases either side, see what the third class cabins looked like, and then wander along a corridor styled as the first class section, complete with fancy light fixtures. The exhibition includes some items from the sunken ship itself — no mean feat given where it ended up. It also includes items from the dockyard where it was built, and from less remembered sister ship The Olympic, which thankfully didn’t sink. When it comes to actual items from the ship, a plate or a journal may not look like much but it’s the tragic human stories that go with them that are powerful: among them the wedding ring of a poor woman who tried to cling to the side of a life raft, but succumbed to the freezing waters — though not before the ring slipped off her finger, and was found days later in the bottom of the lifeboat.

Condo In Titanic Survivor’s Mansion Hits Market For Almost $8M (The Real Deal, 15 Dec 2021)

Let’s hope the buyer doesn’t have a sinking feeling. One of two condos in the restored mansion built by a Titanic survivor hit the market for $7.65 million – more than double the price of the then-rundown home in 2017, Crain’s reported. The unit has five bedrooms across 6,400 square feet and still has some of the original finishes from an original 1917 design by David Adler and Henry Dangler. The 16,000-square-foot home was built by Emily Ryerson and her three children after they fled the Titanic in a lifeboat while traveling home for the funeral of another son, a Yale student who had been killed in a car accident. Her husband, Arthur Ryerson, was among about 1,500 people who lost their lives.

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Nice picture of a moonset over the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in California

https://twitter.com/ggweather/status/1472235379801559043

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The Paul R. Tregurtha arrived in Duluth yesterday. It was another cold day-16 degrees F and there was a lot of people watching her arrive. I estimate between 75-100 (possibly more) that lined the park from the cam views shown in the video. She gave a master salute as she came in.

 


Titanic

Titanic News-Conspiracy Theories, Rare Postcard, and Unique Home You Can Have For Free

Owner of NJ Estate Wants to Give Away Historic Home for Free, But It Comes With a Catch (NBC New York, 12 Dec 2021)

The 82-year-old’s hope is to find someone to take care of the home after he dies someday, and is fine with giving it all away at no cost. But there is a catch: Whomever takes over the estate must preserve the blueprint as is.  The expansive property also includes a bamboo forest, and comes with a driveway with gates once owned by a family aboard the Titanic.

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Antiques Roadshow Expert Emotional As He Uncovers Value Of Titanic Postcard: ‘Powerful (Daily Express, 10 Dec 2021)

Antiques Roadshow visited the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth where visitors flooded in to value their most precious possessions. During the programme, expert Adam Schoon examined what looked like an ordinary postcard. Upon closer inspection, the auctioneer discovered it had been written by a passenger onboard the Titanic before it sank in 1912. The TV presenter examined the item before shocking his guest after revealing its enormous value.

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The Titanic Never Sank And Other Conspiracy Theories Surrounding The Tragic Ocean Liner (Laronge Now, 2 Dec 2021)

In recent years, conspiracy theorists started questioning the validity of this tragedy. It may sound wild, but they do have a few interesting points that we can’t ignore. It’s true that a ship sank to the North Atlantic’s floor in 1912 and that about 1,500 passengers died aboard that day. Although on the conspiracy front, some say the Titanic wasn’t exactly what British-owned parent company, the White Star Line, had promised. Some say the White Star Line switched up their ships in an insurance fraud scheme, while others contend that the sinking was plotted in order to kill specific people.

 For those interested in watching Great Lakes freighters arrive and depart from Duluth, check out the webcam. You can view ship schedules here.


History, Titanic

Remembering the Winter War of 1939

Fire at the corner of Lönnrot and Abraham Streets after the first bombing of Helsinki during the Winter War
30 Nov 1939
Source:Military Museum,Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture

On 30 November 1939, in what later be called the Winter War, the Soviet Union invaded neighboring Finland. The objectives were both strategic and territorial. Under the (secret)terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in August, Finland was placed into their sphere of influence. Prior to the invasion, the Soviet Union wanted Finland to cede land that would provide more security for Leningrad (formerly known as St. Petersburg, changed to Petrograd during World War I, and renamed Leningrad in 1924 after Lenin’s death).

Everyone, including the Russians, believed it would be easy. The Soviet Union had more troops and aircraft. It was expected the Finns would easily surrender. It did not turn out that way at all. After the initial attack and bombing of Helsinki where 61 would die, the Finns instead showed remarkable resistance. The Finnish government used pictures of the raid showing women with dead babies and those crippled by the bombings to engender sympathy from the outside world and to generate the Finnish resistance to the Russians. The Soviet Army, dressed in summer clothing as winter started to set in, quickly realized they were facing stiff opposition. President Roosevelt extended $10 million in credit to Finland (they paid it back after the war). The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union for its invasion.

The Soviet Union though reorganized and came with different tactics in February 1940. Finnish defenses were overcome and resistance, though still strong, was up against a better organized Soviet Army this time. In March 1940 the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed. The Soviet Union got what it initially demanded and more as well. Finland’s sovereignty was preserved but it came at a cost for the Soviet Union. Most Western governments considered the Soviet Red Army as poorly led.

Aftermath

Hitler and his generals viewed the Red Army as weak and that an attack on it would be successful. They would invade Russia in June 1941. Finland though would go to war with the Soviet Union. as well. There are different views as to why but generally it was to get back the land lost in the peace treaty of 1940. Unfortunately, a faction of Finnish military and political leaders decided to work closely with the German Wehrmacht for a joint attack. While never signing formally the Tripartite Pact that made them an ally of Nazi Germany, the did sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. This pact signed by Germany, Japan and other countries created an alliance against the Soviet Union.

Finland would retake the territories given to Russia but continued on. They participated in the siege of Leningrad by cutting its northern supply. The Soviet Army would eventually push them back and a ceasefire was called on 5 September 1944. The resulting agreement would require the expulsion or disarming of German troops in their territory. Under pressure from the Soviets to expel German forces, Finnish troops fired on German soldiers resulting in exchanges between the two. By November 1944 nearly all German troops had withdrawn. With the end of the war in 1945, the borders were restored to the 1940 treaty. Finland had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union. Since they fought with Germany, they had to accept responsibility for their part in the war and acknowledge they had been a German ally.

Sources:
Russo-Finnish War (Britannica.com)
Winter War (History.com)
Winter War, Continuation War & Lapland War (Wikipedia.com)


Titanic

Titanic News:Staying at Titanic Hotel, Cost of seeing Titanic Wreck Goes Up, Stories of Women Who Stayed on Titanic

 

Titanic House (former Harland and Wolff Drawing Offices) now Titanic Hotel, Queens Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, March 2012
Photo:Ardfern(Wikimedia Commons)

An Immersive Staycation At The Titanic Hotel And Museum (RTE, 27 Nov 2021)

It can be easy to forget that we live on the same island that once produced the largest moving object ever made by man, that generations of Harland & Wolff workers forged Belfast’s reputation as the engineering capital of the world, and that its most famous ship – the Titanic – would go on to inspire the first film to break the billion-dollar mark at the box office. So it’s fitting that the Titanic Hotel and visitor attraction in Belfast was a world-leading tourist destination before they opened their doors, in 2017 and 2012 respectively.

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Titanic: Explorers Set To Fork Out $250,000 To Visit Shipwreck Site (Belfast Live, 25 N0v 2021)

A new expedition to the wreck of the Titanic has been announced for summer 2022, but it comes at a hefty price. Only around 250 people have glimpsed the wreckage since it was discovered on the seabed in 1985, but a small group will make the epic two-mile journey to the site on the ocean floor next year. Oceangate Expeditions, which offers underwater expeditions across the world, has announced its second annual trip to the ship’s final resting place. It will see ‘mission specialists,’ along with researchers, survey the vessel up close from inside the company’s submersible Titan. The group of citizen explorers will travel 12,500ft beneath the North Atlantic Ocean to survey the famous Belfast-built liner that sank in April 1912. The Titanic Expedition is conducted as a series of eight-day missions in May and June but each seat now costs $250,000 – a $125,000 increase on last year.

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Who Are The Two Old Women Who Refused To Separate While The Titanic Sank? The Two Also Existed In Real Life (OiCanadian.com, 24 Nov 2021)

At the same time, they were the source of inspiration for the story of the movie “Titanic”, and their image, from the movie, where they appear embraced on the bed, waiting for the end of life, has been taken over and reimagined since the film’s release. Along with other notable passengers, such as John Jacob Astor IV and Molly Brown, Isidor and Ida Straus embarked aboard the Titanic on April 10, 1912, bound for New York.

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Interesting  Photo of Titanic Quarter from Jason McIntosh