By C. J. De Mel, Jadetimes News
The Titanic is one of the most famous shipwrecks that history has ever known. The artifacts found from this gigantic ship have made people all over the world stop and gaze in awe. The everyday items that have become relics among the many things salvaged from the ocean floor speak in their own way about this great ship and its ill-fated journey.
The Alligator Skin Handbag: A Window into a Life Lost
One of the most touching items found is a purse made of alligator skin that is remarkably very well-preserved, even after it had lain for decades at the bottom of the ocean. This small, fashionable accessory belonged to Marian Meanwell, a milliner of 63 years who traveled to America to join her recently widowed daughter. Personal mementos had been placed in the bag—a faded photograph and a handwritten reference letter—to give a glimpse into her life. Unfortunately, Marian was booked on another steamer, the Majestic, but a change in plans put her on board the ill-fated Titanic, where she, along with 1,500 others, lost her life.
Perfume Vials with a Potent Past
One of the most recurring themes among survivors is survivor's guilt, such as in the story of Adolffe Saalfeld, a second-class passenger and a perfume salesman. His small vials of perfume were found among the wreckage and still had a big smell. However, he lived, and supposedly felt the weight of his guilt all his life, a load shared among many men who left the ship behind while so many did not.
Champagne and the High Life of Titanic's First-Class Passengers
The Titanic was literally a floating palace, tasked with giving its first-class passengers unparalleled luxury. Artifacts recovered include numerous champagne bottles, some of them still sealed with their original corks. These bottles, meant to be part of an opulent experience, now stand as reminders of the kind of life that formed a part of the Titanic's charm.
Rivets Revealed: The Science of Sinking
The Titanic was believed to be unsinkable, but this was proven tragically not to be the case on its first trip out. Rivets were one among the structural parts recovered from the ship, which have been analyzed in order to gain more details on the moment of its demise. Some of these rivets have a high concentration of slag, a glassy material which might have given the rivets brittleness and therefore, in cold North Atlantic water, an increased tendency to fail. This has therefore contributed to the research that is still going on about the actual causes of the ship's sinking.
The Class Divide: A Tale of Three Plates
Even in tableware, there existed a social hierarchy onboard the Titanic. Comparing a first-class dinner plate, delicate china, and a thin line of gold trim with a plain, sturdy third-class mug, the contrast is striking. These objects reflect two vastly differing experiences of passengers depending on their social stature.
Preserving Titanic's Legacy: A Future in Recovery of Artifacts
The legal salvage rights to the wreck are possessed by RMS Titanic Inc., which continues to recover these artifacts under very strict conditions and conserve them. However, their plans for recovery of artifacts from the wreck itself—most recently, the Marconi radio equipment—continuously stir great controversy. Some think that the Titanic should be left at rest as a gravesite. Others believe that it is for the greater good of those who perished to both preserve and share these artifacts.
With the corporation accepting new expeditions and producing fine-tooth 3D scanning of the wreck, more potential for artifact finding is created. The more recovered items, the more that can be learned about the Titanic and its passengers, and the night of 1912 that was oh so tragic.
