Titanic Survivor’s Stories Are As Dramatic As The Sinking

Titanic Survivor’s Stories Are As Dramatic As The Sinking

Aimee Heidelberg - December 14, 2023

Titanic Survivor’s Stories Are As Dramatic As The Sinking
Coal retrieved from the wreck site on display by RMS Titanic, Inc. Ben Sutherland (2008, CC 2.0).

Titanic‘s Exploration and Exploitation

Titanic, however, is reluctant to give up her secrets. The wreck is deteriorating, and exploration of the site is extremely risky. Hollywood director James Cameron has developed deep-sea technology to explore the wreck (and replicated his dive footage for the blockbuster movie) but it focuses on documentation of the structure and debris field rather than artifact retrieval. Dr. Ballard has discouraged other organizations from retrieving artifacts from the site, but this hasn’t stopped for=–profit groups from travelling to the wreck. RMS Titanic Inc., for one, retrieved items from the wreck and displayed them in traveling exhibits until their parent company went bankrupt in 2016. More recently, Titanic made news for another disaster, passenger vessel Titan, imploding while bringing tourists to the wreck, killing the five men aboard. Scientists and salvage groups continue to debate about Titanic exploration and artifact retrieval, but interest in the ship lingers on.

Where did we find this stuff? Here Are Our Sources:

As hundreds of men perished, one ignored a rumor to survive. Nicholas Wade, New York Times, 9 April 2012.

Dorothy Gibson survived the Titanic – then starred in the first movie about it. Erik Hawkins, All That’s Interesting, 28 February 2022.

James Cameron takes viewers through Titanic deep dive in 1997. Paige Gawley, 22 June 2022.

Madeline Astor: The gilded beginnings and harrowing survival of the Titanic‘s most famous widow. Shayna Murphy, Mental Floss, 25 April 2022.

The engineers lost aboard Titanic. Dr. Denis Griffiths, Universidad d Cordoba (n.d.)

The first-class gym on board the Titanic. Stuart Marsh, 9Honey, 2016.

The Irish man who was hidden on a lifeboat as the Titanic sank. Senan Molony, Irish Central, 10 April 2023.

They said it couldn’t sink. Alison Gavin and Christopher Zarr. National Archives, Spring 2022, vol 22(1).

Titanic by the numbers: From construction to disaster to discovery. Lesley Kennedy, National Geographic, 22 June 2023.

Titanic‘s unsinkable stoker. (n.a.) BBC.com, 30 March 2012.

Why the Titanic still fascinates us. Andrew Wilson, Smithsonian magazine. March 2012.

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