When that great ship went down
By Frank Bradley

Above, flyer announcing "Titanic - The Artifact Exhibition." The exhibit is at the Atlanta Civic Center at 395 Piedmont Ave. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday through Sunday. Below, Ben and Claudia Kennedy of Hiawassee, Ga. study one of the many recovered artifacts.

You would have had to be there to truly appreciate the terror of that night, and of course no one who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 is alive today.

Still, some measure of the enormity of the event can be felt emotionally as you walk, look and listen at "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" just opened at the Atlanta Civic Center this past weekend.

Conceived a hundred years ago, built before World War I, the Titanic was a big ship - 11 stories high and almost three football fields long.

On its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, the ship was carrying 2,228 passengers, among them titans of commerce and industry, artists and movie stars, senior members of governments, immigrants dreaming of a new life, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Fewer than a third of them survived the cold dark waters of the North Atlantic.

Below, in 1998, a 17-ton portion of the Titanic's hull, which once enclosed two first-class cabins on the Titanic's C Deck, was recovered from the ocean's floor using cables and lift bags filled with lighter-than-water diesel fuel.

The story of the Titanic is a story of a major engineering feat, a story of lavish living among the wealthy, a story of the lack of safety concerns in an ocean of floating icebergs. But most of all it is the story of the ship's passengers from firstclass millionaires to third-class immigrants, who displayed incredible acts of courage, selfsacrifice and heroism.

Among those lost at sea were Isidor Straus, co-owner of New York's Macy's

Department Store, and his wife Ida. When only women and children were being allowed into the lifeboats, Ida chose to stay with her husband on the sinking vessel rather than part with him after 40 years of marriage.

Major Archibald Butt, a Georgian and a military aide to President William Taft, in true soldierly fashion, helped others to the lifeboats, but failed to save himself.

Annie Clemmer Funk well understood the importance of family. She perished after giving up the last place in a lifeboat to a mother whose children had already been seated in the boat. Annie was returning home from missionary work in India to be at the bedside of her own ailing mother.

Rosa Abbott, a single mother traveling with her two sons, refused to leave the ship without them and all three perished when the ship took its final plunge. The Abbott boys were not allowed into the lifeboats for at ages 16 and 14, they were considered men.

At 20 minutes till midnight on April 14, the ship's lookout struck a large bell three times and spoke the words, "Iceberg right ahead."

On the bridge, the ship's First Officer gave the order to spin the wheel "Hard-a-starboard," while telegraphing to have the engines stopped and reversed. The bow of the ship eased to the left missing a head on collision, but below the water line, a rock-hard spur of ice punctured a large portion of the hull. From that moment, nothing could have saved the ship.

Telegraph calls for help went out, but only one ship was close enough to be of help. While there were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers, those available were lowered into the water, women and children to be evacuated first; however, with all the confusion, it took more than an hour from the time the ship was struck by the iceberg before the first boat was in the water.

The Carpathia, which was 58 miles away from the Titanic, sped through the ice fields but

didn't reach the site until an hour after the ship had sunk. Beginning at 4:10 a.m., the boats began to pull alongside the ship, and the rescue began.

In the aftermath of the disaster, new safety regulations for ocean travel were put into place.

The wreck of the Titanic lies about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, two and a half miles deep on the ocean floor. Its location was not discovered until 1985 by a team of scientists from the U.S. and France.

In the last 20 years, RMS Titanic, Inc., an Atlanta based firm, has conducted seven research and recovery expeditions to the wreck recovering 5,500 artifacts with the goal of preserving and displaying these objects in memory of those who perished with the Titanic.

The Titanic exhibition will be available for public viewing in Atlanta during the next six months, then will move to another city.

Visitors are quickly drawn back in time to 1912, as each receives a replica boarding pass of an actual passenger upon entrance. The visitors are then immersed in the Exhibition as they take a chronological journey through the Titanic: from the ship's construction to life on board, told through more than 300 authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations, a suitcase, a gentleman's top hat, china etched with the logo of the elite White Star Line, even a three ton section of the ship's hull - these and many other objects offer haunting, emotional connections to lives abruptly ended or forever altered.

The exhibit is at the Atlanta Civic Center at 395 Piedmont Avenue. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

The admission fee is $20 for adults with discounts for children and seniors. There are $10 tickets for school groups.

For ticket information, you may visit www.titanictix.com, or call 1-866-640-0303.

Some comments from those who have seen the exhibit in Atlanta:

"Very humbling experience. I'm very glad I came." "A day in history that will never be forgotten. The presentation is well done." "We were left speechless." "Shows beauty and tragedy in one place. I highly recommend the exhibit." "An impressive collection of artifacts. Tastefully displayed." "I can say that this was the best exhibition I have attended."

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