Titanic remembrances
The centennial of the “deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history,” that is, the sinking of the unsinkable RMS Titanic is being remembered this month by numerous events worldwide.
It was on April 14, 1912 when the Olympian class liner set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York. The ship carried 2,223 people consisting of tycoons, businessmen and poor immigrants. On a moonless night, Titanic collided with an iceberg, sank and caused the deaths of 1,514 people. Some 714 survived the terrible disaster, which is vividly recalled in this centenary year through books, movies, television documentaries, news articles, music, poems and public displays of the ship’s artifacts.
The present Filipino generation is familiar with the sea disaster owing to the tearjerker movie released in 1997. Perhaps anticipating the worldwide interest over the centennial, James Cameron who wrote, directed and co-produced the fictionalized “Titanic” movie is re-issuing the 3D version of the film. When Titanic was first released in 1997, it raked in $1.8 billion in box office earnings. The film gained 14 Oscar nominations, won 11 and made the principal cast, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio overnight sensations.
One of the programs that commemorate the April Titanic centennial is the cruise that will retrace the route of the ill-fated voyage. It is supposed to educate but passage is steep: more than $4,000 for the educational and experiential, albeit virtual Titanic.
The MS Balmoral carried more than 1,300 passengers, mostly history enthusiasts and relatives of Titanic survivors when it sailed from Southern England last April 8, commencing a journey that will last 12 nights. There was a slight delay in the voyage when one of the passengers suffered an illness. The Balmoral had to drop by the Irish town of Cobh and arranged for the local coast guard to attend to the emergency.
Passengers donned costumes reminiscent of the Edwardian era, and partook of the very same menu served to the doomed passengers 100 years ago. The Balmoral invited a pastor to hold prayer services at the exact site of the disaster, marking time when the ship collided with the iceberg and the moment she sank below the waves.
The super abundance of spin-offs to the Titanic centenary is happening around Southampton, England and in Belfast, Northern Ireland where the ship was built in 1909.
In the United States, there are peculiarly attractive programs.
In Connecticut, a former US Navy officer who discovered the Titanic in a 1985 expedition has set up the Mystic Aquarium exhibition. It aims to “recreate the adventure of discovering” the Titanic’s resting place. The Mystic Aquarium is inviting people to experience the “art of the hunt,” one that will get them emotionally connected with the events leading up to the disaster and the eventual discovery of the ship’s remains.
Meanwhile, a centennial auction of more than 5,000 artifacts “ranging from pocket-size personal effects to a 17-ton slab of the ship’s hull” will be auctioned off by Guernsey’s in New York. The Titanic heirlooms are currently owned by R.M.S. Titanic Inc., who will sell the items as a consolidated or single set for the first time.
Ballard is strongly opposed to displaying any artifacts taken from the wreck of the ship, saying they’re personal effects of dead people, meant to be preserved and respected. I agree absolutely. More than 1,500 people died in the Titanic mishap, with some recently found lying near the wreckage which is resting 12,450 feet on the ocean floor.
Stuff like dinner plates, presumably from the ship kitchen invite collectors’ interest and the plain curious, but personal items like watches and jewelry belong to the dead. These are not like the treasures of the Egyptian pharaohs displayed in the museums of Cairo to instruct us about ancient civilizations. These are personal belongings that ought to be returned to the owners’ descendants as remembrances for private mourning.
