The Titanic Exhibit

Ever since I watched the Titanic movie,I have been intrigued by its history.As part of my Titanic research I have read some excellent books like "A night to remember" and a beautiful coffee table book co-written by Robert Ballard who was the chief explorer and scientist on the team which discovered the Titanic wreck in the north atlantic in 1985.

There are numerous personal stories to be found-some courageous and many heartbreakingly sad and poignant.There is the famous quote by one Guggenheim-a millionaire who is quoted to have said "Not a single woman or child will die on the Titanic because Guggenheim was a coward".There is Captain Smith himself-on his last voyage before planned retirement who chose to go down with his ship.Then there is the "unsinkable" Molly Brown whose courage and prayer chanting aboard one of the lifeboats brought some calm to terrified souls.

I recently visited a fantastic Titanic exhibits show at the Cincinnati Arts and Museum Center where hundreds of recently salvaged artifacts from the most famous ship wreck in history were on display.It was somewhat dissapointing that the organisers did not allow photography of the items on display. It sure would have made a very interesting set.Nevertheless it was an unforgettable experience to see the artifacts brought to life by cutting edge modern preservation techniques.These are some of the articles on display from my memory-

• Fashionable leather purses belonging to first class passengars
• Beautiful jewellery again mostly belonging to the rich upper class on board the Titanic.One spectacular diamond ring stood out-gleaming and regal.
• A Gillete razor and case belonging to one of the travellers.
• A vest and oxford style trousers indicative of the staid victorian dressing of the day.
• Beautiful china used to serve First class and the 'La carte' exclusive restaurant.Much modest and heavy cups and saucers for the working class passengars in third class.
• Binoculars used on the watch towers-looked antique and heavy.
• A make believe first class lobby with matching lamps in the lobby with heavy carpetting and beautifully carved doors which would have belonged to the regal first class parlor suits.
• A make believe third class cabin with 2 bunker beds facing each other.

As you walked though each section of the exhibit you could hear or read about the passengars and detailed scientific analysis about the flawed design of water tight compartments which sank the ill fated ship.Most of the passengars died from hypothermia due to the extreme cold and not from drowning in the sea waters.The Carpathia which was the nearest ship to Titanic arrived the next morning and rescued the passengars in the life boats.

There was also a historical section on Cincinnati in 1912.Being the first boom town of the mid west it boasted of many influential figures.The archbishop of the day had critisized the owners of Titanic for their arrogance in claiming that "Even God himself could not sink the ship".

The legend and the poignant history of the most famous ship in history lives on.It was called the ship of dreams...and it was....untill about the time it met its match in the mighty ice bergs of the north atlantic.