Saturday, January 23, 2010

A sinking feeling...


Anne and I drove to downtown St. Paul, 17 minutes north of Eagan, to view the TITANIC exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum on Friday afternoon. My boarding pass was issued to Mr. Edgar Samuel Andrew, age 18, from Buenos Aires, Argentina who traveled alone in 2nd class.

My wife scored a 1st class boarding pass; her Titanic "character" survived while my "character", poor Mr. Andrew, perished on April 15, 1912 at circa 2:20 AM in the iceberg laden Atlantic Ocean.




20 comments:

Kate said...

Yesterday when you mentioned your upcoming trip to the Science Museum, something told me that we'd be getting some photos from your visit. Sorry you didn't survive!

Lowell said...

I think I would have enjoyed this exhibit very much! Too bad it was the death of you.

But what's really nice is that there are things to do in Minneesota when the weather is inclement.

Re: Stone Creek pool - no trade. Solly Charlie!

Rob Siemann said...

You 2 good swimmers? I remember visiting Cobh, in southern Ireland, the Titanic's last port of call: a very interesting museum, every single shop or pub named after it, and so on. A bit strange.

Virginia said...

There is a wonderful children's novel called "White Star, Dog on the Titanic" that I read with my third graders many times. Perhaps your girls are old enough to enjoy it?

I'd love to see this exhibit now that I've read that book.
V

VP said...

I was, and probably still amm a Titanic nut, so I'd like very much to see this!

Judy said...

That sounds like a great exhibit. I love how they used the corner to paint the mural of the ship. Very clever. Sorry to hear of your untimely demise.

Louis la Vache said...

«Louis» would like to see this. When he was little, probably in the fourth grade, he read Walter Lord's "A Night To Remember" several times. Since then, he's never lost his fascination with the Titanic.

On a trip to Paris, with a layover at Heathrow, «Louis» found a book published in the U.K. that makes a strong case that White Star switched the Titanic with its twin, Olympic, when the two were in dry dock next to each other.

Olympic has been launched first. She was in a collision with a British cruiser in the Mediterranean. The collision wasn't serious, but bent some of the riveted hull plates. In the collision, a spontaneous-combustion fire from coal dust in one of the coal bunkers occurred, and couldn't be put out.

Olympic went to dry dock in Belfast for repairs. Titanic, nearing completion, was on the ways next to Olympic.

White Star didn't use china ware specific to the ships - they used china ware that only said "White Star Line".

The book alleges that White Star, fretful about losing revenue by having Olympic in dry dock, simply did a name change and rushed the completion of Titanic, and sent her to sea as the Olympic. The repairs to the original Olympic were done and she was sent to sea as the Titanic.

It is documented that when she went down, Titanic had a spontaneous-combustion fire in a coal bunker in the exact spot of the coal bunker fire on the Olympic as a result of Olympic's collision in the Mediterranean. Some researchers feel that the heat from the bunker fire warmed the riveted hull plates in the area of the bunker fire. The steel of the time was much more brittle than modern steel, alloys not having been perfected to the point they are today. The collision with the iceberg and the resultant taking on of the frigid North Atlantic water and the contrasting temperatures of the warm, brittle steel against the cold water caused the steel hull to snap, breaking the ship apart as it went down.

It is documented that the break in the hull occurred at the point in the ship's framing where the coal bunker fire was located.

The authors of the book back their claims up with photos of the propellers from the Titanic's wreck being stamped with Olympic's hull number.

If all of this is true, White Star pulled an Olympian trick of Titanic proportions....

Louis la Vache said...

Typo. "has been launched first" should have read "had been launched first".

cieldequimper said...

So how does it feel to have survived?

Amy said...

wow that is so interesting! I've actually got a blog going about historical northland, as an ancestor of spanish, irish and scottish immigrants I find it fascinating.

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

Very interesting. I'm rather glad I didn't have a boarding pass for the Titanic!
Cheers.
Melbourne Daily Photo

Marie said...

Mr. Andrew, requiescat in pace.

I think this is a good idea to keep alive the memory of the people who perished.

Hilda said...

That sounds like such a fascinating exhibit! And how clever to issue tickets as the boarding passes of real people. Kind of creepy too though, especially for you!

Dina said...

It makes the tragedy more personal that ways, with names.

Andreea said...

I've seen this one in Las Vegas at Luxor last Thanksgiving. Wonder if it's the same or a similar one. It has exactly the same name. Very interesting.

Kaori said...

Sounds like a great exhibition! The Titanic is always a fasinating topic to learn about :)

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

This must be one awesome exhibit to see. The closest I would get to it would probably be watching Leonardo doing the "I am the king of the World" thing on Titanic.

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

Sorry to hear that you died 100 years ago!

Louis' theory is interesting, too.

Lois said...

This looks like a fascinating exhibit! My great grandmother had friends aboard the Titanic and she used to tell the story of how the wife was put aboard a lifeboat and as she was saying goodbye to her husband, he gave her his necktie. He perished and she survived. That is an interesting theory that Louis wrote about too. I will have to research that one.

brattcat said...

Fantastic way to experience history. And what a clever title.