SHANNON URTNOWSKI
A&E Assistant
More than 1,500 passengers died the night of April 12, 1912, as the “unsinkable” RMS Titanic plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic. It is now possible to journey through the lives and stories of passengers and crew members who both died during the tragic sinking and lived to tell the tale, as some of the cruise-liner’s most breathtaking artifacts are available for viewing at “Titanic: the Exhibition.”
The exhibit, located at the Queen Mary in the Long Beach Harbor, is incredible because it holds many items that have never been in California, four of which have never been seen at all.
These items include various personal pieces that belonged to passengers and decorations that rested in different rooms of the Titanic.
The exhibition seeks to capture the essence of what it was truly like to be on board the Titanic as it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on its maiden voyage.
“It’s a perfect setting,” said marketing public relations and manager Angela Berrigan. “The Queen Mary was one of the real luxury liners in 1934, so it really brings you into the times.”
No better ship could be found to host the exhibition, Berrigan said.
The only difference between the two ships is that the Queen Mary is larger and has a diesel engine, while the Titanic had a steam engine.
The Titanic exhibition is a true experience from start to finish, as each room of the Queen Mary is modeled after the Titanic.
“It’s a media exhibition, so each room has unique lighting, sounds and projections,” Berrigan said.
Items that rested 2.5 miles under the Atlantic Ocean and are more than 90 years-old can be seen inside the Queen Mary.
“There’s a champagne bottle intact with champagne still in the bottle, suitcases and clothing, plates and dinnerware from all class, and even a piccolo from one of the musicians who played as the Titanic sank,” Berrigan said.
Visitors can trace the life of the passengers by tracing the recovered items.
For example, one of the passengers on the ship was a perfume salesman who was traveling across the Atlantic to start a perfume business in the States. The entrepreneur’s perfume bottles were since recovered.
“You can still smell the oils from the perfume after all these years,” Berrigan said.
The exhibition is unique because there is so much Titanic history in one
collective show.
In a previous exhibition, the Queen Mary held a similar exhibition that showcased only
40 items.
“The exhibition has nice memorabilia to remember the people that died because there were not enough lifeboats,” said assistant director Graham McBride.
The Titanic only had enough lifeboats for half the passengers. Along with artifacts from the passengers and crew, the exhibition has recreations of first and third-class cabins so viewers can see how passengers traveled while aboard the Titanic.
Visitors are also able to touch a real iceberg, like the one that caused the sinking.
Berrigan said the biggest treat of the experience comes from a single card each visitor is given at the entrance of the exhibition.
“You are given a boarding pass, and the boarding pass has a real passenger’s names, their class, and where they were traveling to and from,” Berrigan said.
At the conclusion of the exhibition, the visitors come across a large wall that has a list of all the passengers who were aboard the Titanic when it sank.
Not only are visitors able to personalize themselves with someone aboard the Titanic, but they can also see if their passenger lived
or died.
The wall pays respect to many people who faced grave tragedy, and it has moved many visitors, McBride said.
McBride said he especially loves meeting people who were related to passengers aboard the Titanic the night it sank.
“It’s great to see people come and enjoy it who knew people on the ship,” McBride said.
Once, a woman came whose mother was a surviving passenger on the Titanic, McBride said. “It’s excellent to meet someone like this.”
The Titanic exhibition by Premier Exhibitions received its artifacts from the RMS Titanic Foundation.
The artifacts were recovered through the collaborative efforts of the French Oceanographic Institute and the Moscow-Based PT Shirshov Institute of Oceanography.
“Small submarines on a 110-foot tether go down and recover the artifacts,” Berrigan said. These 12 to 15-hour dives into the Atlantic ocean were conducted during the summers between 1987 and 2004.
With so much having been done to make this exhibition open to the public, McBride said he is displeased with the amount of publicity it has received.
“It has become clear that 60 to 70 percent of the people who come have simply come to see the Queen Mary and stumble across the exhibition,” McBride said.
The Titanic exhibition opened Dec. 17 and is running until Sept. 4. It is open daily from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Tickets cost $16.95 for adults and $12.95 for children ages 5 to 11.
“It’s an exhibition that shouldn’t be missed,” Berrigan said.
03-23-2006
