Tag Archives: news

Titanic

Titanic News: Menu & Hebrew Pocket Watch Auctioned Off; Last Remains of Titan; Maryland Fried Chicken & Titanic

“Remaining Titan Submersible Debris Salvaged.” MarineLink,
https://www.marinelink.com/news/remaining-titan-submersible-debris-509516.

Phoenix International Holdings, under the direction of the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), have recovered the remaining debris of the Titan submersible from the North Atlantic seafloor near the RMS Titanic shipwreck. All work performed by SUPSALV and Phoenix was conducted on behalf of the US Coast Guard’s Marine Investigation Board as part of their investigation into the loss of Titan. Authorities from the U.S., Canada and France are currently combing through evidence recovered from the Titan submersible that suffered a catastrophic implosion en route to the wreckage of the Titanic in June.
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Hebrew Pocket Watch
Photo: Jewish Standard

“Sold at Auction: Hebrew Pocket Watch, Frozen in Time by Titanic Wreck.” Jewish Standard, 16 Nov. 2023, jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/sold-at-auction-hebrew-pocket-watch-frozen-in-time-by-titanic-wreck.

A pocket watch, frozen in time when the Titanic went underwater, sold for £97,000 (about $118,700) on Saturday, in an auction held by the British firm Henry Aldridge and Son Ltd. That’s nearly 40 times the value of the ticket that Sinai Kantor, a Russian Jew on his way to New York City, spent for his ticket on the “unsinkable” ship.
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Sketch of J. Bruce Ismay giving testimony before U.S. Senate Titanic inquiry.
Public Domain (via Wikipedia)

Pittsburgh Filmmakers Behind ‘Unsinkable’ Tell Story of Titanic and U.S. Senate Hearings.” CBS News, 16 Nov. 2023, www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/unsinkable-titanic-movie-pittsburgh-filmmakers.

In that vein, a few years ago, Brian and Cody’s fascination peaked when they heard the story of the U.S. Senate hearings that happened in the wake of the Titanic disaster in 1912. This inquiry helped give the public an accurate account of the infamous night the ship went down, and it called into question just who was accountable for the tragedy. “Our main thing was to try and figure out why we never heard of this,” said Brian. “There was this big Senate investigation and there was no accountability or anything. And through our research, we realized, that is the story.”

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Maryland Fried Chicken
Photo: America’s Test Kitchen

Maryland Fried Chicken: A Storied Dish With Titanic History.” BBC Travel, 14 Nov. 2023, www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231112-maryland-fried-chicken-a-storied-dish-with-titanic-history.

Maryland fried chicken – essentially, pan-fried chicken with a cream gravy – didn’t always need the French accent to appeal to the upper class. In the early 19th Century, fried chicken was squarely a special-occasion dish, frequently cooked by enslaved African American women for wealthy Maryland households.

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Titanic Lunch Menu 14 April 1912
Photo: AP

“‘Remarkable’ Titanic Menu Sells for £84,000 at Wiltshire Auction.” BBC News, 12 Nov. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-67397384.

An evening dinner menu for first-class passengers onboard the RMS Titanic has sold for £84,000 (US $104,584) at auction. The sale on Saturday was run by Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “The menu is a remarkable survivor from the most famous ocean liner of all time.” The menu bears an embossed White Star Line flag and would have originally shown gilt lettering depicting the initials OSNC (Ocean Steamship Navigation Company) alongside the lettering “RMS Titanic”.

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“Hebrew Pocket Watch, Frozen in Time of Titanic Wreck, to Be Auctioned.” The Times of Israel, 11 Nov. 2023, www.timesofisrael.com/hebrew-pocket-watch-frozen-in-time-of-titanic-wreck-to-be-auctioned.

A pocket watch, frozen in time when the Titanic went underwater, is set to sell at auction Saturday, with an expected sales price of nearly $100,000. That’s nearly 30 times the value of the ticket that Sinai Kantor, a Russian Jew on his way to New York City, spent for his ticket on the “unsinkable” ship. Numbers on the Swiss-made, silver-on-brass watch are written in Hebrew numerals and its hands are nearly all deteriorated, due to saltwater exposure — but dried water marks indicate that time stopped at 2:25 a.m., about five minutes after the Titanic sank. Its back features an embossed, solemn, muscular Moses holding the Ten Commandments on a background of date palms.

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“Water-stained Menu for Titanic’s First Class Restaurant Which Shows Rich Diners Feasted on Oysters,…” Mail Online, 31 Oct. 2023, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12692617/Water-stained-menu-Titanics-class-restaurant-shows-rich-diners-feasted-oysters-lamb-mallard-duck-doomed-cruise-liner-sank-goes-sale-60-000.html.

The never-before-seen menu shows the likes of millionaires JJ Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon and the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown indulged in oysters, Squab a la Godard, Spring Lamb, Tournedo of Beef a la Victoria, mallard duck and Apricots Bourdaloue. Only a handful of Titanic menus are known to exist today – but those are for the night of the tragedy when passengers had them in their jacket or coat pockets.https://youtu.be/7hYBesohRK0?si=cXh5hoNfMf02I1DJ

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History, Titanic

Friday Titanic News and the First Armed Train Robbery in U.S (6 Oct 1866)

Little-known facts about the Titanic that may surprise you
MSN.com, 3 Oct 2023
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/little-known-facts-about-the-titanic-that-may-surprise-you/ss-AA1hzKaJ

This is a gallery of interesting tidbits you may find worthwhile.

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Neil deGrasse Tyson Said James Cameron Got the Sky All Wrong in the ‘Titanic’ Sinking Scene
Insider, 3 Oct. 2023
www.insider.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-said-james-cameron-titanic-sky-wrong-2023-10

There have been many criticisms, some fair or not, about Cameron’s Titanic. So apparently the night sky was not accurate. Fair enough, coming from someone who would seem to know. I assume he set up the appropriate simulation (which can be done these days) and with all the data we have input it and then voila! You get the night sky as it should have been back in 1912. I bet James Cameron will not lose any sleep missing this important detail. Out of audience of how many-millions-and no one except the eminent Neil deGrasse Tyson, eager to sell a new book tells the world the night sky in that movie was all wrong. Well, it got some attention, which I suppose is what he wanted. I am all for being accurate and routinely disappointed when historical movies get characters and even dates wrong. Great movies like Quo Vadis, a great sword and sandal movie, is very wrong about many things (although Peter Ustinov nails Nero) but is a great movie none the less. So, I am not going to worry that the night sky in that movie was not shown as it was in 1912. Nor should anyone for that matter since the movie is historical fiction based on real events. So, pop the popcorn and enjoy the movie.

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Interesting History: The First Train Robbery in U.S. History (6 Oct 1866)

Steam Trains Vintage Poster
Karen Arnold, publicdomainpibtures.net

In the early days of this country, traveling was hazardous. Roads were poor, especially in winter. Near cities it was not too bad but the further out you were, it was more treacherous. Roads, such as they were, were poorly kept. And of course, thieves (tagged highway robbers, blackguards, and other notable names) loved to prey on travelers. Stealing from a train though seemed implausible to many since trains moved pretty swiftly, at least most of the time.

Now train robberies had occurred before this date but these were mainly done in freight yards or when the train was stationary sitting in a depot. So, it was a bit of a shock when the Reno Gang stopped a train in Jackson County, Indiana and made off with $13,000. They boarded the Ohio & Mississippi train at the Seymour depot and once the train was underway made their way wearing masks until entering a car owned by the Adams Express Company. The company delivered bank drafts, documents, and packages for clients. He was ordered to open the safes, but he only could access one. He opened it and they took gold coins totaling $10,000 and bank notes worth about $3,000. There was another safe they tried to open but couldn’t and tossed it off the train. They never got it open.

They signaled for the train to stop, hopped off, and disappeared into the night. The Reno Brothers were well known gang before and after the Civil War and caused lots of headaches. The gang frequently robbed post offices, homes, and murdered those who might talk about them. Their audacious robbery of a train would soon be imitated by other gangs and would become part of the lore of the old west. Trains carrying gold, cash, and other precious metal would become targets and became frequent in the 1870’s-1880’s. And they would become more deadly over time. Railroads were anxious to stop this banditry as it caused lots of bad press, angry passengers, and impacted shipping. So, they began adding armed guards to their trains along with horses in some cases so they could give chase. Bounties were made and the famous Pinkerton Agency was used to help track them down as well.

To make it more difficult to offload safes, they were made extra heavy all but making it impossible to toss them off the trains. And the people on the train may not have access to those safes for security reasons either making it useless to try and hold up the train (except to rob the passengers). While in the early days targeting trains was easy, deadly shootouts between the armed guards and gangs made it not worth trying as time went on. The Reno Brothers, an already notorious gang before and after the Civil War, added this to their roster of crimes that included robbing post offices, banks, homes, and murder. It did not end well for them. In 1868 after another successful train robbery that netted them $96,000, they were captured and held in jail pending trial. They had badly beaten an armed guard in the robbery and when he died while they were in jail, a vigilante mob was formed. They broke into the jail and took the Reno Brothers (Frank, William, and Sim) out and hung them from a tree.

Like most gangs, they had their supporters who threatened retaliation. The vigilantes-officially called the Jackson County Vigilance Committee-made it known that any retaliation would be met fiercely, which seems to have worked. While many in law enforcement wanted to bring them to trial and were not happy with this action, none of the vigilantes were identified or brought to trial for their actions. This ended one of the darker periods in southern Indiana history. The Reno Brothers Gang though would fade in memory while other gangs (such as the James Gang) would become more well known.

Sources

“The Reno Brothers Carry Out the First Train Robbery in U.S. History.”
HISTORY, 24 Nov. 2009
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-u-s-train-robbery

Daley, Jason. “How the Reno Gang Launched the Era of American Train Robberies.” Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Oct. 2016
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/reno-gang-launched-era-american-train-robberies-180960702

HistoryNet. “Reno Gangs Reign of Terror.”
HistoryNet, 9 Aug. 2016
www.historynet.com/reno-gangs-reign-of-terror

“Reno Gang and the 1st Big Train Robbery”
Legends of America, June 2021
www.legendsofamerica.com/we-renogang
Accessed 6 Oct. 2023.

Titanic

Update on Tik Tok Titanic Switch Theory

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

Since the Tik Tok viral video claiming Titanic was switched with Olympic, many are asking if the claim has any validity. Judging from comments posted around the Internet, some are certainly thinking it is a possibility. Reaction from those in the Titanic community-organizations and scholars-has not been seen as much but has been reported by news outlets. Now as said in another posting, this claim is nothing new. There have been many conspiracy theories about the disaster over the years (including a mummy’s curse) and for the most part debunked. Most Titanic historians do not spend a lot of time discussing them (except in directed conversations about them). When they do pop up from time to time, then you hear from them on the validity of the claims.

This time this theory got the social media treatment, so it spread far and wide faster than what happened in the past. The response from the Titanic community was left running catch up with this chetah as it spread quickly around the world. The fact so many readily found it believable was shocking to say the least. Now there is an effort to set the story straight. The Associated Press wrote up a fact check on the switch theory. Amongst the things they found:

–Both ships were inspected by British authorities prior to sailing and met the required specifications.

–Each ship had a specific yard number (400 for Olympic, 401 for Titanic) which was put on metal and wood panels throughout the ship. Many of the artifacts brought up from the wreck bear the yard number 401 on them. When Olympic was retired, its fittings went up for auction and they bore the number 400 on it.

–In order to pull off the switch, it would require considerable labor and a place to do it in. You would need a large place like where it was built (Belfast) to do just that. You could not do this quickly since you need to remove a lot of fittings and markings from one ship to the other. And with all that labor needed, it would be hard if not impossible to keep it a secret.

In other words, pulling off such a switch for a rather paltry insurance payment (Titanic was not insured at full value) would hardly seem feasible nor practical. Nor would you sink the ship just to kill 3 people as some theories would suggest. To sum up, artifacts from Titanic and looking at the wreck itself confirm it is RMS Titanic that sank in 1912. Even the great detective Sherlock Holmes would agree with this finding.

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Claims the Titanic was secretly switched with a sister ship are unfounded
AP News, 27 Jan 2023

 


Titanic

Titanic Iceberg Shape, Kosher Kitchen on Titanic, Greek Titanic, and Titanic Switch Theory Resurfaces

 

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

Scientists Reveal The Biggest Secret of the Titanic Iceberg
Curiosmos.com, 16 Jan 2023

The iceberg that sank the Titanic was believed to have had a very unusual, elliptical shape. With the help of computer modeling, researchers were able to figure out the origin of the iceberg. To do so, they used data obtained in 1912 and updated it with new information about wind and ocean currents. This allowed them to conclude that the iceberg was probably part of a small cluster of glaciers in southwest Greenland.

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Kosher ladle used by WSL for Kosher kitchen
WSL ladle for use only in the Kosher kitchen (lettering is on tip of ladle)
Source: The Purser’s Locker

 

 

The Titanic had a kosher kitchen. Who knew?
Jewish News, 19 Jan 2023

The photograph I saw was of eggshell white China plate settings on a white damask tablecloth, the plates wreathed in a black scroll design, at the top of the plate, interwoven into the design spelling “White Star Line,” and at the center of the plate three Hebrew letters were printed in black: kof, shin, raish, spelling “kosher.” Not only was kosher service provided for their Jewish passengers, but with such dignity and elegance. Somehow, I had just never given it any thought. In my mind, formal kosher service provided in the context of non-kosher social or travel situations, was an American phenomenon.

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The ‘Greek Titanic’: The Worst Naval Disaster in Modern Greek History
Greek Reporter, 19 Jan 2023

The sinking of the Greek passenger steamer Himara on January 19, 1947 near South Evia resulted in the loss of at least 383 people and has been written into history as the “Greek Titanic.” Previously named Hertha, the vessel was handed over to Greece from Germany after WWII as a form of war reparations. While sailing off south Evia Island in thick fog in the early hours of January 19th, the ship suddenly struck a rocky islet between the Evian towns of Stira and Agia Marina. Although the ship was only one nautical mile off Agia Marina and it took at least ninety minutes to sink, the freezing cold water and strong currents resulted in the deaths of 383 passengers and crew.

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RMS Olympic Arrives In New York on Maiden Voyage, 21 June 1911
Source: U.S. Library of Commerce/Wikimedia Commons
Public Domain

Old Conspiracy Theory Finds New Life on Tik Tok

Most who study Titanic, whether professional or amateur historians, encounter the various conspiracy theories surrounding its demise. From the supernatural to using the Illuminati, each conspiracy theory shares the same desire to find a different explanation about what happened. Luckily all the conspiracy theories agree a ship sank and agree an iceberg was the reason for it. There are some who opine perhaps it was sunk by torpedo. I personally believe Marvin the Martian caused it when he was testing out a new weapon, but I am alone in that opinion.

The Titanic Switch Theory is nothing new either. It has been around in one form or another since the sinking. It has been thoroughly debunked. Not only would it have been impossible to pull-off, but the wreck also shows no evidence it was the Olympic that went down. A person on Tik-Tok has decided it was time to dust off this old chestnut and breathe life into it. The disheartening thing is not that she did this, but that so many people believe it. She may not know that this has been completely debunked. I suspect by now she does as responses on news sites and social media indicate many are pointing this out.

A long time ago I took a class in critical thinking. The point of the class was to look how various well-known philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, St. Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas, and others constructed their arguments in ways that were logical. The class also taught what a badly constructed argument was and how to identify them. There is funny but apt joke called politician’s logic that illustrates this beautifully:

My dog has four legs
My cat has four legs
Therefore, my dog is a cat.

In this case, finding out the truth was not hard. Yet many were quick to accept this person’s assertions without bothering to check whether it was really true or not. It is a sad commentary that many people just accepted it as fact. The truth is really out there and not hard to find out.

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Woman’s Conspiracy Theory Claiming the Titanic Never Sank Is Blowing Minds (24 Jan 2023)
Daily Mirror, 24 Jan 2023


Titanic

Lost Titanic Train Carriages Found

Southampton Docks Station where passengers traveling to Titanic would disembark. The station still stands today but is a casino. Circa 1900’s
Image: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Daily Mail is reporting that train carriages that likely carried passengers to Titanic in 1912 have been found in yard for over a hundred years. The dining saloon cars were part of the Boat Train Express run by London and South Western Railway to carry first class passengers from the London Waterloo Station to Southampton.

The British Titanic Society has decided to raise the necessary £550,000 to restore the cars.  During World War I and II  the cars were used by the military. By the 1970’s they were in poor condition and acquired for use in a possible heritage railway that never happened. They were bought in 2000 by a train enthusiast in the hopes of finding someone who would restore them. No one can say for certain these saloon cars actually carried passengers to Titanic, but certainly operated in that time frame.

Source:

The ‘lost’ Titanic train carriages: Two dining saloons that took passengers to ship’s doomed maiden voyage in 1912 are found languishing in railway yard
Daily Mail, 2 Jan 2023

Cruise ship news

Rogue Wave Hits Antartica Cruise Ship; Woman Passenger Dies

Photo showing damage to Viking Polaris
Photo showing damage to Viking Polaris
Photo credit: ibtimes.sg

Taking a cruise is supposed to be a fun time, but nature can offer deliver a whammy to even the sturdiest of ships. According to Fox News, the Viking Polaris ( a new ship in the Viking line built in 2022), was hit by a rogue wave during a storm while sailing at the southernmost tip of South America.

The rogue wave apparently hit with such force that it broke cabin windows. Sadly the 62-year old woman was killed by the broken glass likely in her cabin (it does not specify that in the report, but it is a reasonable conclusion) when the wave hit. Other people were injured but not life threatening and were treated aboard ship. There was some damage to the ship as indicated by a recent photo.

“It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident,” Viking said in a statement. “We have notified the guest’s family and shared our deepest sympathies.” (Viking statement on death of woman passenger.)

Interviews with some of the passengers indicates that everything was going well until the rogue wave hit. Viking is investigating what happened and has canceled the next scheduled trip until the investigation and repairs are done.

 

 

Titanic

Titanic Thursday: Survivor Account, Titanic II Ferry, Tacky Titanic

Well this is interesting. Apparently these guys from Saturday Night Live bought a decommissioned ferry and decided to rename it Titanic II. What could go wrong?

“Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost revealed this weekend that the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry he purchased with fellow Staten Islander Pete Davidson will be named “Titanic 2.” “This is why idiots should not be allowed to do things,” Jost said on Late Night with Seth Meyers Friday night.

Unfortunately they have run into problems getting their ferry insured. Seems insurers are not keen on its name.

Source:

‘SNL’ Star Colin Jost Names New Staten Island Ferry After The Titanic
New York Post, 3 Oct 2022

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Titanic advertising from New York Times, 10 April 1912.
Public Domain (Wikimedia)

Titanic Survivor Who ‘Dropped In’ Freezing Water Recalls Moment He Cheated Death
Times Now, 7 October 2022

Prentice recalled the moment the ship struck the iceberg and said that there was “no impact as such” but it just felt like “jamming your brakes on a car.” He continued, “We had a porthole open and I looked out and the sky was clear, stars were shining, the sea was dead calm and I couldn’t understand it. So I came out of the cabin and I thought I’d go forward.” Prentice went to the “well deck on the starboard side” where he could see ice, but there was “no sign of damage above waterline.” However, he soon realised that the ship had “slipped over the iceberg.”

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Tacky Titanic:

 

Titanic Bouncy Slide
Photo:public domain

Video Showing Bouncy House Shaped Like Sinking Titanic Goes Viral
NDTV, 8 October 2022

Internet users were recently left shocked after a video showing a bouncy house in the shape of the ill-fated Titanic ship surfaced on social media. The clip was shared on Instagram by user Tara Cox. It showed the tragic ship replica tilted to look like it was sinking, and the bouncy house also had inflatable icebergs attached to it for the full effect. “Omg is it just me or is this morbidly wrong. (But it does look hella fun!)” Ms Cox captioned the post.

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Historic Ships, Titanic

Chinese Titanic Survivors; Little Known Ferry Disaster

 

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

6 Titanic Survivors Who Were Refused Entrance Into the US
History of Yesterday, 30 Sept 2022

Once they had reached the shore of New York on the 18th of April, the six Chinese men were pulled apart from the other survivors and detained based on the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act was implemented back in the late 19th century due to the United States wanting to maintain white “racial purity” despite Chinese people within America making up only 0.002% of the whole American population at the time.

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MV Le Joola at Ziguinchor in 1991
Photo: Yamboo via Wikimedia Commons

It Was Worse Than the Titanic. You Likely Haven’t Heard of It
Newser, 2 Oct

As far as maritime disasters go, the Titanic stands alone—at least in our minds, but not in the history books, at least as far as victims go. In a piece for the New York Times, Elian Peltier revisits the Joola, the passenger ferry that departed on a 17-hour journey along Senegal’s coast toward the capital of Dakar on Sept. 26, 2002. It wouldn’t make it. Passengers streamed below deck as rain started that evening. Then the ferry listed toward the left and capsized. There were just 64 survivors among the 1,900 aboard; every baby and toddler perished. (Roughly 1,500 people died on the Titanic.)

Joola Disaster Books

Titanic

Food Served on Titanic; Tragedy Strikes Couple Trying To Recreate Famous Movie Scene

 

Titanic Lunch Menu 14 April 1912
Photo: AP

What Did People On The Titanic Eat Onboard?
Cruise.blog, 23 May 2022

Enjoying fine cuisine has been a long-standing tradition for ocean liners, which continues to be an integral part of cruising. On cruises today, the entire experience revolves around indulging in delicious meals, whether that’s in the main dining room or specialty dining options.Because of artifacts saved from the sunken ship, we have a pretty clear picture of what Titanic passengers ate during their 4 day voyage.

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The following news story is a sad one. A couple in Turkey walked out on a pier to recreate the famous scene in Cameron’s Titanic where Jack and Rose were on the bow of the ship. Unfortunately in doing so, they both fell into the water. Nearby fishermen rushed  to assist. The woman was saved but alas her friend did not survive and he drowned. Truly a sad outcome that was supposed to be a happy moment in both of their lives. Our prayers go out to her and the family and friends of the young man who died.

Man Drowns While Recreating Titanic ‘King Of The World’ Pose
Daily Mail, 17 May 2022

George Hodan, publicdomainpictures.net

A man has drowned while recreating the ‘king of the world’ pose from the Titanic with his girlfriend on a Turkish pier after the couple slipped and plunged into the sea. Furkan Ciftci and his girlfriend Mine Dinar, both 23, had stood at the edge of the Izmit Marina Pier in the north-western Turkish province of Kocaeli to recreate Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s famous flying pose in the 1997 film. But the couple, who had been drinking alcohol before coming up with the idea of recreating the ‘King of the World’ pose from the Oscar-winning film, fell into the ocean at around 9.15pm on Sunday. Local fishermen saw the couple fall off the pier and rushed to help them.

Titanic

Titanic News: Titanic Copycats that Have Sunk, Marconi First Radio Broadcast, and Titanic Cake Divides Internet

 

Like the SS Pendleton, it appears the Titanic replicas have sunk too.

The Titanic Copy-Cats That Have Been As Ill-Fated As The Original Ship (Belfast Telegraph, 16 May 2022)

But whatever happened to the two full-size replicas, the projects for which were ‘launched’ years ago in Australia and China? Have they turned out to be as ill-fated as the original ship? The short answer is yes. Reports in Australia suggest that Palmer has got cold feet over his vanity project’s Edwardian-period details and colonial-era elegance which, frankly, are not in keeping with prospective passengers’ modern-day cruise ship expectations. At least work actually started on the ‘other’ full-scale Titanic replica at the Romandisea Seven Star International Culture Tourism Resort and theme park in China’s Sichuan Province. The £150m project itself, however, looks sunk. For ‘Unsinkable’, read ‘unsustainable’. There was an audible gasp in the room, however, when Seven Star boss Su Shaojun revealed that a replica iceberg would also be built, to help ‘simulate’ what was, in 1912, an unparalleled maritime disaster. Needless to say, this didn’t go down particularly well, especially here. Former Belfast Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers, whose grandfather had worked on the Titanic, told the Belfast Telegraph the idea was “disgraceful and shameful.” Actor Bernard Hill, who played Captain Edward Smith in the 1997 movie and took part in the Hong Kong launch, initially rejected suggestions that the replica iceberg idea was inappropriate but later regretted his involvement in the project.

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This New ‘Titanic’ Expedition Will Take You Down to the Legendary Shipwreck Before It Disappears Entirely (Robb Report, 13 May 2022)

The 2022 Titanic Expedition will start on June 15. There are a limited number of openings for this year’s missions and a spot will set you back $250,000. Aspiring mission specialists can contact OceanGate Expeditions for additional info. Oh, and there’s another expedition slated for next year if you miss out.

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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

Marconi’s First Radio Broadcast Made 125 Years Ago
(BBC, 13 May 2022)

On 13 May 1897, Guglielmo Marconi sent the world’s first radio message across open water, and he did it while visiting a seaside resort in Somerset. Marconi came to Weston-super-Mare looking to experiment with what he called “telegraphy without wires” – known to us now as radio. He was initially interested in contacting ships, but his work led to a communications revolution. It paved the way for the radio and television broadcasts that we take for granted today.

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Child’s ‘Inappropriate’ Birthday Cake Divides The Internet
(Honey Parenting, 13 May 2022)

An internet user took to the popular Mumsnet Talk forum this week to share an image of a child’s birthday cake and ask others if they thought it was inappropriate. The elaborate cake features a model of the Titanic ship split in two and sinking into the blue cake that depicts the North Atlantic Ocean. Nearby are fondant icebergs, as well as a ticket and a boarding pass. On close inspection, it appears the cake is for a child turning five, as the words, “Titanic 5th Birthday Tehl” are written on the ticket, while the name “Tehl” also appears on the boarding pass.

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

Chilling Video Shows What Sinking On The Titanic Would Really Look Like (Newsweek, 12 May 2022)

A haunting video showing what passengers and crew members aboard the Titanic may have experienced as the doomed luxury liner sank has gone viral on TikTok, amassing more than 3 million views. The clip, which appears to be the second part of a series, was shared by @titanichistory1912, a content creator whose account is dedicated to videos about the Titanic. “What the lighting would have really looked like,” read the text over the clip.

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International Ice Patrol: Remembering The Titanic 110 Years Later
(Homeland Security Today, 12 Mar 2022)

This trip also included an additional mission, honoring the lives lost during the Titanic tragedy by participating in a ceremony commemorating the 110th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The crew’s first stop was in Halifax to kick off the multi-mission patrol. They were greeted by the welcoming faces of the Titanic Society of Atlantic Canada at the Local Women’s Council house. A sense of melancholy and reverence filled the room as the events of the Titanic were revisited.

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Yes Virginia, Titanic was a real ship that sank in 1912 with over 1,500 people who died.

10 People Who Literally Didn’t Know the Titanic Was A Real Ship
(Twisted Sifter, 6 May 2022)

You know with all the hoopla about Titanic over the years-the books, movies and ongoing debates-it is hard to imagine anyone who does not know it was a real ship. In fact, I bet it was the source of some jokes making fun of people who knew nothing about Titanic. Turns out that many in fact had no idea the film was based on a real historical event. If the posts shown in the article are to be believed (and I have no reason to think not), it shows how fallen history has dropped out of education these days and replaced by other things.

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And just for fun….

Titanic sails away with €4,300 in Kilmallock
(Irish Farmers Journal, 9 May 2022)

Adam Woods reports from the Irish Angus Munster branch sale held in Kilmallock mart, Co Limerick, at the weekend.