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The Titanic Exhibition



St. Petersburg was lucky enough to get one of the traveling Titanic exhibits.  I was pretty stoked about getting to see it and we made it happen a few weeks ago.  I guess just about everyone has been fascinated by the Titanic story and the exhibit was every bit as good as I imagined.  It cost $19.12 to get in, clever, huh?  Patrons are given a boarding pass with a passengers name on it, and at the end you can look on a wall to find out if you made it or not.  I drew William Thomas Soloman Brown, a 2nd Class passenger from South Africa moving to Seattle with his wife and daughter.    


I must tell you that none of the pictures in this post are mine.  They did not allow cameras so these are from the St. Pete exhibit site.


My memory may be a little rusty (hehe), but I think this suit of clothes belonged to a fellow in 2nd class.  It was found in a leather suitcase and in amazingly good condition.  



Unopened perfume bottles.



Currency found in a safe.



This is a porthole.



This is a 2nd class plate and the back of a wooden chair. 



A very well preserved leather bag.  The tanning processes of the time apparently resisted decay from saltwater.


Serving cups 





A bent chandelier.



Pieces of ornate gold metal that ran along the Grand Staircase.



Unopened cosmetics.




A piece of coal from the boiler room.



All kinds of bottles.  


They had a large lock of ice at the same temperature the water was on the evening of April 12, 1912.  And yeah, it was cold.  They said you'd last around 7 or 8 minutes in water that cold.


           

It was surreal to be so close to a legend.  I kept thinking that all of these items belonged to someone and that they would never have imagined that their fate along with their possessions would be remembered, observed and studied by folks a hundred years after their ordeal.  There have been far worse loss of life at sea through the years but never has the story of one ship so captured the imagination of the entire world.  So glad I had the opportunity to see one of the traveling exhibits.  I've been interested in the story since I was a kid (who hasn't been, huh?) and never imagined I would see parts of the ship in person.

And by the way, I did not survive.  I went down with the ship, but my wife and child survived.



Comments

  1. kandiMarch 20, 2013 at 7:29 PM

    You are so fortunate to have been able to see this exhibit! Thanks for taking the time to put the photos on here for the rest of us Titanic "fans." I wonder how the new ship will fare, although I don't know the date of their voyage, I would guess that you do. :)

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