Titanic (1997)

When most people think about the Titanic, they can't really do it nowadays without thinking of Jack and Rose in the 1997 movie.  With it being one of the highest grossing movies of all time, Titanic made a huge iceberg-sized impact in our consciousness and culture when it was released and brought on a new surge of fans and people interested in the subject.  While the movie had many flaws (this isn't the place for listing all of them), they got a lot right thanks to the dedication of James Cameron and his team wanting to recreate history as close as possible.  Whether you love the movie, or hate everything including the whimsical lyrics of Celine Dione's popular song, there's no denying that the movie has done much to further the memory and legacy of the Titanic.

When they were building the set for the ship, they ended up building one side for budget reasons and placed it so the smoke coming out of the funnels went aft with the wind.  But when it came time to film the scene where the Titanic departs from Southampton and Rose comments that "It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania," they realized that it was the wrong side historically.  In order to correct it, James Cameron decided to film it in reverse and flip the shots in post-production so that history would be honored.  In doing so, they reversed all signage to read backwards so it would be correct when they flipped the shot.  This board which came from a crate was there on the Southampton docks in the background shots.  

One of things I really enjoyed about the movie was the recreation of so many of the luxurious interiors of 1st class.  This wallpaper was used either in the 1st class Reception Room or 1st class Dining Saloon sets which were faithfully recreated in all their glory as the passenger glided down the Grand Staircase and tasted the food listening to Jack talk about his life as a "tumbleweed blowing in the wind."

One of the most beloved characters in the movie as well as most beloved people in the Titanic story was Thomas Andrews who was played so well by Victor Garber.  Speaking through a Northern Irish accent, Victor Garber brought the legendary designer to life well telling Rose, "I'm sorry I didn't build you a stronger ship."  Though he's not the first man to have portrayed Andrews, he's certainly one of the most memorable.  This is an autograph photograph which I got when I had the good fortune of meeting him.  

While the china, glassware, and cutlery in the movie weren't completely accurate, they did make the effort to make them similar to what was used on board.  This is a wine glass from the 1st class Dining Saloon set used as a prop in the movie.  Jack Dawson drank out of a similar smaller glass when toasting, "To making it count!"

Even though historically the 1st class passengers never ate in the Verandah Cafe, the 1997 film had their first dinner scene set there immediately after the "King of the World" moment.  This menu is from that scene and you can see the "Roast Lamb, Mint Sauce" offered from which Cal said, "We will go for the lamb.  Rare with very little mint sauce."  

White Star Line Binoculars

On board the RMS Titanic, there were multiple pairs of binoculars mainly used by officers and lookouts.  Contrary to what some may believe, they didn't primarily use binoculars for viewing things around them because binoculars limited their field of vision to specific areas.  When binoculars were used, they were mainly used when something was sighted far away and they needed to get a better look at it.  Before the Titanic set sail, the binoculars for the lookouts were in a locker and David Blair who was originally was going to be 2nd officer and due to a shuffle left the ship in Southampton accidentally left the ship with the keys to that locker.  So for the voyage, they were left with no access to them.  Following the Titanic disaster, this was a heavily criticized as being one of the contributing factors of the disaster.  Since then, historians have debated on whether or not they really would have made a difference and today, many believe they would not have changed the outcome.  In the debris field, a pair of binoculars were found and recovered from the wreck site.  

These binoculars were used by the 1st officer of the SS Runic which was a White Star Line steamer that sailed from 1900 until 1940 when she was torpedoed and sunk.  On top of the White Star Line connection, the binoculars were made by JW Ray & Co. which was the company that made and supplied the engine telegraphs for the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic.  

Titanic Coal

On board the Titanic, there were 29 boilers equipped with 162 furnaces meant to keep the Titanic running.  The stokers and firemen worked below, shoveling coal from the chutes where they were stored in one wall to to the furnaces on the other side.  These men rarely saw sunlight during the whole voyage and worked not only a very hot job, but also a very dirty job as they shoveled coal kicking up coal dust.  This led to their nickname being "The Black Gang."  Despite what some may believe, not all of the Titanic's boilers were lit.  They were divided by watertight compartments into six boiler rooms and 5 of them were used, leaving Boiler Room No. 1 unused.  The men hired to staff that boiler room were given another task, putting out a coal fire.  Coal fires were not uncommon at the time and despite popular belief, it did not cause or contribute to the sinking.  To get this fire out, the staff from Boiler Room No. 1 were assigned to Boiler Room No. 5 to clear out the whole chute which they did on April 13th.  The stokers were among the first to notice the collision and water as the iceberg caused water to pour into Boiler Room No. 6 and Boiler Room No. 5.  The first thing they did was get the fires out.  With the very cold water and very hot boilers, they didn't want a boiler explosion.  So they released the steam from the furnaces up through the funnels and gradually cooled the boilers.  Not very men survived from the boiler room.  During the break up, Boiler Room No. 1 and 2 were affected.  Boiler Room No. 1 was ripped apart sending the boilers straight to the bottom and the coal in the bunkers with them.  It also exposed the boilers in Boiler Room No. 2 at the back of the bow section and are still visible in the wreck today.  As it turned out, one of the boilers from Boiler Room No. 1 was the first recognizable item from the Titanic seen confirming to the French-American teams led by Jean-Louis Michel and Dr. Robert Ballard that they had found the wreck of the Titanic.  

Coal is the only artifact recovered from the ship's wreck site you can legally own.  You can typically find small pieces of coal at artifact exhibition gift shops and people have turned them into different things such as necklaces and bracelets.  This is a larger lump of coal than usual and if you look closely, you can see the red rust from the wreck site still clinging to it from contact with something at the wreck site.