Secrets of the Titanic... online

On 04/01/2009
In Famous Wrecks
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By Martin Rigby

The Titanic disaster is THE major shipping disaster of all time. More lives have been lost in other shipwrecks/sinkings but the Titanic remains the iconic disaster.

There were of course plenty of links to Liverpool at the time of Titanic’s fateful maiden voyage in April 1912 and the documentary evidence that can be accessed relating to her crew and families is a huge bonus for genealogists interested in Titanic links.

Millions of words have been written about the disaster and a new exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum is helping to rekindle interest in the fateful day when the ‘unsinkable’ leviathan went down into the icy depths of the Atlantic after striking an iceberg.

Some 1,500 lives were lost while the survivors were plucked from flimsy lifeboats as they were tossed around in the ocean.

Objects salvaged from around the wreck and recently put on display at the museum include a wrist watch, spectacles, a White Star Line cup, a lead ventilation grille, a gold wristwatch, five tie pins and a five dollar bank note.

The items are on display after the Titanic’s salvors presented them to the Liverpool and London Steamship Protection and Indemnity Association, which in turn loaned them to the museum.