Titanic artefacts exhibition

[happy daze john in oz]

Today after a six-week wait to get tickets I finally made it to the Titanic Artefacts Exhibition here in Melbourne museum.
The exhibition tells with the aid of story boards the history of the Titanic from conception to design, building, launch, fit out, maiden voyage, disaster, rescue and finally the official enquiry.

With each section there are genuine artefacts and photographs many increased to life size. All through the tour music of the day is playing, Straus, Chopin etc. in the background, this adds to the feeling of actualy being there. The first artefact you see is one of the ships three whistles.

It begins with the initial concept and the persons involved such as the directors of White Star, Harland and Wolfe the builders and Ismay. In this section there are artefacts such as bolts and fittings from one of the lifeboats davits, and tells how she was designed to have 32 lifeboats but ended up with just 16 and two inflatables. The building stage shows photos of the dockyard and the men working on her and artefacts such as portholes and wrenches from the engine room are on display. There are two larges pieces of coal from part of her 6,000ton load she carried and it took one pound of coal to move her one foot through the water.

Every effort has been taken to recreate some parts of the ship to give visitors a concept of how she was then. There is a fully fitted first class cabin and just outside in a glass case a number of aretfacts such as a bath pluc complete with chain, a china hand basin, first class tap fittings as well as soem personal items such as a fountain pen and eye dropper.

As you move around the exhibition it changes from ships artefacts to some more personal items and I experienced a range of emotion during my tour. The exhibitors have recreated the grand staircase complete with glass dome and the clock at the top of the stairs is set to the time the iceberg hit. The craftsmanship that went into this, if a true reproduction is nothing short of amazing. The intricate details and design are a tribute to the craftmanship of the day. Seeing this brought me great elation as I admired the fitting, but the next section changed the mood to one of despair and sadness. The centrepiece, in a glass case, a white first class stewards jacket with the name of the steward, Broome, written in indelible ink on the collar. There is a piece explaing the story of this man.
Also in this section a collection of paper money and some coins all in very good condition considering they have been on the seabed for so long. With these a number of leather wallets and purses, as well as some travel tickets and insurance cover papers.

The next section has a part reproduction of the first class Verandah cafe featuring many pieces of china, glass and silver. There is one dinner plate so ornate and pristine looking one could imagein it had just come from the manufacturer. An earthenware pot complete wth the stons from the olives it once held.

As you walk to the next section there is a corridor set out as was the first class accomodation complete with appropriate light fittings. Also in this section are displayed on story boards the thoughts and comments of some of the survivors.

There is a reconstructed third calss cabin with four bunks and a constant background noise similar to that of the ships engines to give the feeling of how it would have been for those travelling third class. There is also some life size photos of a number of the stokers and trimmers.

On to the next section containing more personal items such as a toothbrush stamped with Boots the Chemist on the handle, Gillette razor blades still in their paper wrappings and a cut throat razor. Also the pocket watch of a Cape Town horellier, Dickson, who fell on hard times and was making his way with his family to the U.S to start again. His family survived, sadly he did not. There is a trilby hat and a leatrher boot with red paint on it, thougt to have belonged to a stoker.

There is a galley section showing the menus for second and third class on that fateful night, very comprehensive in style and content. It was reported the food and service in second class was so good many passengers thought they had gone into first class by mistake. Again a large number of items from the deep. One of particular interest was a collection of Au Gratin dishes, laid out as they were found on the ocean floor. Originaly in a wooden box, long since perished, they were found in the sand in the same manner as in the box. This leads into the seabed section, which has more artefacts such as necklaces, ships officers buttons , leather bag, hair brushes, hand mirrors and other personal effects.

there is a two ton section of the ships side and a gun port door from section D complete with galls and in amazingly good condition. A number of story boards tell of Captain Smith, Molly Brown a passenger and the two radio officers who stayed at their post until the last moment. A record of the rescue by the Carpathia, often refered to as the 'ship of widows' and of the enquiry into the sinking.

I came away from there feeling that all the books I had read on the Titanic, and all the various movies made about her now made sense. There is a micro organism in the deep ocean eating at the very fabric of what is left of titanic and it is estimated that within 60 year she will be completely consumed by it. It is for this reason so many artefacst have been brought to the surface, and whilst I agree it will be good for future generations to see them I had a feeling of guilt. The ships artefacst I could cope with, but the personal items left me with the feeling that a grave had been robbed.

For those of you who can I urge you to go and see it, you will I am sure enjoy as I did the experience of it all.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi John
What a great rendition of the time you spent there at the Titanic artefacts exhibition,it really sounds like a very worthwhile thing to do,and its just a pity that it is a bit far to go!
I wonder if they may yet have something like that down here in Sydney?
I hope that you were allowed to take Pics there,and if so please do post some om site,i am sure a load of the Lads here would be pleased to see some og the old days!
All the best John and thanks
Cheers

[FOUR BELLS]

Thanks for the report,am looking forward to seeing the exhibition when I come down for the Melb meet up,
can you take Photos????,cheers Norman.

[happy daze john in oz]

You are not allowed to take photos but there are a couple of photographers there who if you grease their palm with gold will take your photo at the foot of the grand staircase. There are plenty of books etc on sale but none of them really grab the imagination. It would appear most have been designed for the very young.

[George]

Nice rendition John almost felt I was there with you. Saddly will the trueth of her sinking ever come out watched a dockumentry on it some time back. Got the feeling that both the American and British enquieries where rigged in order to protect jobs Company personal that servived and the White Star Line. Mined thats anouther story.
George
in Southampton

[happy daze john in oz]

Thanks for that George. was talking with a mate of mine today who does a lot of ocean sailing. He has spoken with a number of people in the ship building industry and there is now a theory that the steel plate used on the Titanic was not of sufficient quality to cope with the excessive cold in the ocean at that time. They believe the cold made the steel brittle and that made the effect of the iceburg worse than it may have been.

[George]

Hi John also I saw in a dockumentary that there were two types of rivets and that to keep down costs Harlands used the cheaper rivets that had air bubbles in them or something like that.
George

[jimmys]

If part of the structure of a ship is liable to be subject to particularly low temperatures then the normal grades of steel A,B,D,andEare not suitable. A special type of steel has been developed known as Arctic D for this purpose. It has a higher tensile strength than normal mild steel but its most important quality is its ability to absorb a minimum of 40 joules of energy at a temperature of -55 degrees cent. in the Charpy impact test using a standard specimen.
I would expect the Titanic plates to be Grade B which give an impact test of 27 joules of energy at a temperature of 0 degr. cent.
Grade B hardly functions at -55 degr. cent.
As any sailor who has stood a watch can tell you temperatures well below zero can be found in northern waters.
When an iceberg is hit at speed a large amount of energy is absorbed by the ship. Grade B steel falls away badly below 0 degr. cent. and it will not hold. it has no ability to absorb the impact.

regards
jimmy

[Neil Morton]

The depth of knowledged encompassed within the members of this sight never cease to amaze me.

I too have seen the TITANIC exhibition; however I could not have described it as well as you John.

Well done mate Mort.

[happy daze john in oz]

Thanks for that info Jimmy, will pass it on to my mate. It justifies the theory put forward here but am surprized it has never been raised anywhere else. But then neither the ship builder of the shipping compoany would want information such as that in the public forum. Pleases to hear you also enjoyed the exhibition Mortnj.