Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition isn't the first Titanic expo but it does have something different. Namely, 300 artefacts from Titanic’s debris field. RMS Titanic, the expo organisers, have conducted seven expeditions down to the wreck to date, retrieving 5,500 artefacts. Three hundred of these can be seen at this expo. As well as the story of Titanic’s history.
Building the Titanic
Ten thousand men worked for several years to build Titanic. Millions of rivets were hammered in place, holding the thick metal plates together. Much of the riveting was done by hand, riveting being a skilled job. The newer technique of hydraulic riveting used machines for installation and steel rivets instead of iron, but it wasn’t suitable for the inaccessible parts of the ship.
Shipbuilders Harland and Wolff used both methods, and both types of rivets. The rivets on display are surprisingly solid, surprisingly large. But they needed to be as the steel plates were an inch thick. The rivets and plates play a key part in the debate regarding the ship’s sinking.
In 1907 Titanic’s Captain, Edward J. Smith, commented to the New York Times, regarding the earlier Adriatic:
“I cannot imagine any condition which could cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
Unfortunately, he was proved wrong. Five years later, on 15 April 1912, at 2.20 in the morning, Titanic sank and over 1500 people lost their lives. It was the ship’s maiden voyage and she had been at sea for less than five days.
On board Titanic
The cabins were luxurious: even in steerage (third class) they were better than most, with a higher proportion of actual cabins rather than open berths, and with real mattresses instead of straw. Only first class had running water, but even they bathed in sea water, rinsing down in fresh. Baths had large nickel-plated standpipes instead of plugs, which must have been unwieldy.
Steerage passengers also had access to baths: just two for more than 700 people. This was considered acceptable, at a rate of one bath per person per week. Many steerage passengers hadn’t experienced indoor plumbing before, hence the self-flush toilets.
First class passengers had extra luxuries such as a gym and Turkish bath and an à la carte restaurant. They had to pay extra for these though. Second class passengers, on the other hand, ate nearly as well as first for no extra cost, due to proximity of the galleys (kitchens).
Exhibits on display include beer, wine and champagne bottles, shaped slightly different to the ones we know today. The champagne bottle holds a rather flat liquid: unlike the wine, the champagne corks didn’t implode. The poignancy of these long-lost bottles is remarkable.
Titanic passengers
This is where history hits home. The exhibition takes visitors through a series of rooms, from construction and layout to functions such as cargo and the mailroom. Towards the end, we learn the individual stories of Titanic passengers and see the things they travelled with.
Franz Pulbaum, was a machinist in his late twenties, he had his fare paid by his younger brother, who was already in America. His belongings were recovered in 1993, found in a trunk. Items included a striped necktie, a pair of blue garters and some silk socks. The socks were brand new and still attached at the toe. Franz didn’t survive.
Adolphe Saalfeld was a self-made business man and perfume maker. He took on board with him a leather satchel filled with samples. Adolphe survived, but his perfumes didn’t. But of 65 vials, 62 were later recovered, along with their case. Some of the vials still contain samples, still retain their scent.
Titanic’s future
Titanic's prognosis isn't good. The ship is disintegrating, and is likely to vanish in the next 40-90 years. Iron-eating organisms, corrosion by salts and acid and abrasion of the sediments are taking their toll. Some people point out that visits to the ship have exacerbated the decline, adding human damage to natural disintegration. Others agree, adding that Titanic is a graveyard and should be treated as such.
The contrasting view argues that time is limited; that if items such as these artefacts aren’t recovered and preserved now, it will soon be too late. And that recovering and preserving the artefacts appropriately is a way of remembering those who died.
Seasoned Titanic explorers visiting this expo will find few new Titanic facts to whet their appetite. But all Titanic visitors can expect to be enlightened by the artefacts themselves, from the huge porthole or large piece of the hull to the fragile jewellery or the single boot, only partially damaged and still with its holes for laces. These items resonate with energy. They remind us, each and every one, that people lived – and died – on Titanic. Ninety-nine years ago they sank to the ocean floor. Today we can look at these items again.
Look, and wonder.
Further Information
Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition is at the 02 Arena, London, until 29 September 2011.
Ellie Stevenson - Ellie writes on history, travel, careers & the arts. Her novel, Ship of Haunts (http://tinyurl.com/cyryp2m) is on Amazon as an ebook.
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