Last week I was required to visit the Maritime Museum of Southampton as a part of my studies. Although the content of the museum was not the priority - the delivery of the museums exhibits and its accessibility to the public were - the ongoing Titanic exhibition there really reignited my interest in the Titanic's voyage.
Maybe it was being 5 years old when the hugely successful Titanic film was released in 1997 with memories of the whole family watching the film or perhaps because I have always associated the year 1912 with a) the birth of my grandfather and b) the sinking of the Titanic - the event has always been engraved in my memory. I always knew that Southampton was the port from which the ship left with the aim of reaching New York but I had never really delved any deeper into this fact.
Coincidentally it was this trip to the museum which was compulsory and not attended to by my own will that opened up my eyes again to what exactly happened nearly 99 years ago. The exhibit (incidentally the best part of the museum) tells the story of the Titanic from its construction, to its passengers, its journey as well as the huge connection the ship had with the city of Southampton where literally hundreds of locals were employed primarily as staff on the RMS Titanic.
Seeing as this was the first time I was able to see genuine artefacts from the wreckage, mainly small things such as letters sent from on board, retrieved cuff links or locker keys it really added to the human element of the tragedy which the 1997 could only do to a certain extent when starring actors such as Kate Winslet and Leonardi di Caprio in such a romantic film. The stories of lesser characters in the wider picture of the Titanic which really hit home how sad the whole story really was, of the workers near the engines who never saw the light of day and were probably the first to die when disaster struck.
James Cameron, the director of the blockbuster film put it most succintly when he said "And above all the lesson: that life is uncertain, the futue unknowable... the unthinkable possible." If the huge, 'unsinkable' Titanic was able to sink then just what isn't possible in this world that we live in?
From there on I went on to watch videos and read about the wreckage in its sorry state today and how eventually the story of Titanic may be forgotten as time goes on. But as time went on this opinion of mine changed and several things have assured me that the memory of that great ship will remain long into the future. Firstly it is the many memorials that exists on both sides across the Atlantic.
Southampton alone in its city centre contains a very nice memorial to the engineers of the ship as well as one to the musicians who allegedly kept playing even as the ship sunk. Furthermore it is the film indeed that will keep the story of the Titanic alive as well as hopefully many celebrations and memorials next year in order to mark the centenary of the event of the 14th April 1912 which claimed 1517 lives at sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment