A sinking feeling

You have to wonder about the maid who was sacked by her employer, Captain Edward James Smith, shortly before his ship, the RMS Titanic was due to sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912.

The woman stole an egg cup from the first-class dining room as she left the ship.

What did she think when she later heard about the Titanic's sinking and the deaths of more than 1500 people, including that of her former employer?

The egg cup is on display in a recreation of a first-class dining room aboard the Titanic as part of the huge exhibition at Moore Park, Sydney.

Before attending the exhibition, I had read the odd article about the tragedy, and watched the 1997 James Cameron movie, but had not thought too much about the human cost of the sinking.

They were all just statistics, separated from me by more than 100 years.

After walking through the displays, it was hard not to feel a little emotional at the huge human cost.

While the artefacts on display were fascinating, the exhibition also put faces and lives to the names and statistics.

The White Star Line's ``unsinkable'' RMS Titanic'' was on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 10, 2012, with 2228 passengers and crew on board.

After it hit a giant iceberg on April 15, 1912, it sank, and more than 1500 people died by either drowning or the intense cold.

Only 713 were saved by the Carpathia: 201 first class passengers; 119 second class; 181 third class and 212 officers and crew.

Three-quarters of the immigrant passengers in third class died.

In addition to looking at some of the thousands of artefacts salvaged from the ship after it was found in 1985, visitors to the exhibition can wander through and past the recreated boiler room, steerage sleeping quarters, grand staircase, promenade deck and even view the last sight many of the third-class passengers would have seen as they tried to escape through the locked gates in steerage.

There is the recreated first-class dining room, with replica furniture, as well as dinnerware, silverware and linen, that were used by guests on Titanic's sister ships.

The stolen egg cup sits at a place setting in the first-class dining room.

There are passengers' personal belongings recovered from the Titanic, both as it sank and during its salvage, as well as memorabilia from the James Cameron 1997 movie.

You could buy the sapphire necklace that Rose (the main actress) threw into the water, for $50 at the gift shop.

There is a place to have your photo taken as you re-enact the ``flying'' scene, as well as images and sound effects, newspapers, books and original tickets, and a piece of coal from the mine that supplied the ship.

There was a recreation of a promenade deck, compete with a chilly atmosphere, stars, and a large iceberg right next to it, that was too cold to hold your hand against for long.

There is a recreated ocean floor under thick glass so visitors can walk over it and see some of the artefacts as they may have been deposited on the sea floor years ago, and footage of a submersible exploring the wreck site.

Only boots remain where the bodies eventually settled.

One interesting fact was that some of the ship's coal in one of the bunkers had caught fire before the ship left Southampton. Titanic was also accidentally rammed by another ship as it left its dock. Some experts said as a result, those two factors might have weakened the hull, which meant the iceberg caused more damage than it might otherwise have done.

The iceberg's impact did not cause a big gash in the ship's side, as originally thought, rather there was a series of fractures in the steel plates, which let the water in.

What is perhaps most striking in the exhibition, is the huge roll of all the passengers and crew who were aboard the ship indicating whether they lived or died.

Here are just a few entries:

The Titanic was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and her architect Thomas Andrews died in the sinking.

The chairman of the White Star Line, Bruce Ismay, was the man who decided they did not need more lifeboats as they would clutter the deck. In the event, there were insufficient for all passengers and crew. He ignored the maxim of ``women and children first'' and saved himself and as a result carried the label of a coward until he died in 1937.

Ida Straus was given a spot in a life raft but refused to leave her husband Isador and died with him.

Eva Hart was 6 when she boarded the Titanic. She and her mother survived while her father Benjamin died. She died in 1996.

Actress Dorothy Gibson survived and went on to star in a movie about the sinking.

Margaret ``Molly'' Brown survived and helped care for the other survivors. Debbie Reynolds starred as her in the movie Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Major Archibald Butt died on the ship and was last seen beating back passengers who tried to board the overcrowded lifeboats.

Michel (3) and Edmond (2) Navratil had been kidnapped by their father from their mother in France. The father died and the children were looked after by strangers until they were reunited with their mother a month later.

Benjamin Guggenheim was travelling with his mistress Leontine Aubart, her maid and his valet. The two men put the women in a life boat, went back to their rooms and dressed in tuxedoes and waited to die.

The exhibition was stunning, and well worth visiting.

Be prepared to spend some time there as there is so much to see.

 

The Exhibition

•  "Titanic: The Exhibition (where you are the passenger)" runs at Byron Kennedy Hall, The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, Sydney until December 15.