Saturday, August 11, 2007 1:03 AM CDT
Branson Titanic exhibit called world's largest museum attraction
By DAWN SCHABBING, Staff Writer
dschabbing@jg-tc.com
As a family, several of our vacations have involved cruising on the seas — sometimes rough, sometimes smooth, but in the end, always a treat.
And our love of ships, water and sunshine goes beyond a weeklong vacation. This fascination with ocean liners also stretches into museums, movies, reading and researching on the topic.
There have been many movies and books written about vessels, and likely it comes from the history of the Titanic — or mostly, the historic sinking of the vessel.
For more than nine decades since her maiden voyage in April 1912, her name still rings familiar to audiences.
With about 2,200 passengers, only 705 survived the maritime disaster.
The interest of the Titanic, is also prominent in Branson, Mo., where our family in recent months paid a visit to a museum that keeps its history alive. The museum is much like walking onto a cruise ship, or what was said to be a luxury liner of its day.
The museum was built along Highway 76 in Branson, with the effects of an ice berg at her starboard bow. The display shows the white ice as it might have been when it punctured the boat — and the sea water quickly flooded the decks.
Just stepping on board the Titanic at the museum gave me an eerie feeling. The interaction of the “crew and staff” aboard the Titanic made it seem real-life.
Just prior to coming aboard, I was handed a boarding pass representing one of the passengers, Rosalie Ida Blun Straus.
Mrs Straus, 63, of New York, N.Y., according to biography information, boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her husband, Isidor Straus, her maid, Miss Ellen Bird, and his manservant, John Farthing.
Her husband had acquired ownership of R.H. Macy & Co. in 1896. The couple were known to be generous to charities.
Eyewitness accounts of the survivors of the Titanic revealed that Mrs. Straus almost entered Lifeboat No. 8, but decided instead to stay with her husband. Research reveals that she was heard saying, “We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.”
The couple sat together on a pair of deck chairs as the boat sank. Her body was never recovered.
My husband, Paul, was handed a boarding pass of a crew member named John George “Jack” Phillips, 25, of Belfast, Ireland. He was a telegraphist aboard the Titanic.
In the final desperate hours, Phillips is reported to have sent many SOS calls seeking help for the passengers on the Titanic. He perished once the ship sank.
Our daughter, Megan, was given the boarding pass for Margaret Tobin Brown.
According to history, Brown grew up poor and married a poor man, but later they became wealthy. Her husband was a mine superintendent and when gold in the mine was struck, the family began to indulge in a life of luxury.
But, separated from her husband in 1909, Mrs. Brown, at age 44, was traveling alone on the Titanic in first class when the boat struck the iceberg.
She was described as assertive, ambitious and generous and was forced into Life Boat No. 6, under the orders of “women and children first.”
Brown reportedly insisted women should help row the boat to safety. She became known as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” after being quoted that her survival was due to “typical Brown luck,” and “we’re unsinkable.”
Branson’s Titanic museum is a self-guided tour and advertised as the World’s Largest Museum Attraction.
The exhibit was impressive to our family, as we learned more about the Titanic and events that surround it, than we even realized existed.
The water was reportedly 28 degrees Fahrenheit when the 46,000-ton ship went down.
Using our hands, we could “test the waters” that was kept at the same temperature to get a feel for what the passengers endured as the ship sunk.
The exhibit included 20 rooms, a display of Life Boat No. 6, and a display of the walkways at varying degrees in the final hours as the Titanic began to sink.
The exhibit shows visitors that there were some animals on board as well. Of 10 dogs, only three survived.
A timeline of the final hours told the frightening details of the passengers, crew and staff. A memorial wall honors each passenger by name.
Exactly why the Titanic tragedy occurred remains to be debated. Some research shows it was so well-constructed nothing could sink it. Other information shows that the accident could have been avoided, as officers were warned about the iceberg ahead, but orders were given to move through the icy conditions.
According to Encyclopedia Smithsonian, on April 10, 1912, the Titanic launched her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, with 2,227 passengers and crew aboard.
At 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, traveling at a speed of 20.5 knots, she struck an iceberg on her starboard bow.
At 2:20 a.m. she sank.
For decades audiences have been captivated by the disaster of the Titanic. It wasn’t until Sept. 1, 1985, that the wreckage of the vessel was found, in 12,500 feet of water about 350 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada.
A 1986 expedition documented the shipwreck more thoroughly, according to Encyclopedia Smithsonian.
Dawn Schabbing is a features writer for the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact her at dschabbing@jg-tc.com.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
