11-02-06
By Carl H. Larsen
It's never too late to board the Titanic.
The irrepressible story of the world's most
famous ship is coming to the forefront once again
in places ranging from Cobh (Queenstown), Ireland
— where Titanic made its last port call — to the
United States. All this leads up to one day —
April 15, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the
sinking of what was then the world's most elegant
and largest ocean liner.
The countdown begins in earnest this year.
Already Titanic enthusiasts can order
commemorative polo shirts and medallions tied to
the disaster's anniversary. And a Titanic Memorial
Cruise in 2012 — which will pause over the wrecked
ship for a memorial service timed to the 2:20 a.m.
sinking nearly a century ago — has been a sellout
for months.
On its maiden voyage from Southampton, England,
to New York City, the Titanic, under way on a
crystal-clear night at nearly top speed, struck an
iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14. Two
hours and 40 minutes later, it sank in 13,000 feet
of water. Some 700 of more than 2,200 people
aboard were saved. The ship wasn't seen again
until 73 years later, when an expedition led by
oceanographers Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis
Michel discovered the wreck on Sept. 1, 1985.
Today, it seems that no one is ever far from
the Titanic. In coming months the 1997 Broadway
musical "Titanic" will enjoy a revival by theater
groups in the United Kingdom, and the blockbuster
1997 movie directed by James Cameron is due for a
new release, this time in 3-D.
More than 22 million people have seen traveling
exhibitions of artifacts taken from the wreck
site. One of the exhibits is on view until May 31
in London and another can be seen at the Luxor
Hotel in Las Vegas. One large permanent exhibit is
in Branson, Mo., and another in Pigeon Forge,
Tenn., where a Titanic tourist attraction, built
as a scaled-down model of the ship, opened last
year, displaying numerous artifacts and
re-creating the famous first-class grand
staircase. The shipwreck is a permanent fixture in
many museums, including the Maritime Museum of the
Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia; the Mariners'
Museum in Newport News, Va.; and the South Street
Seaport Museum in Manhattan.
Beyond film director Cameron and oceanographer
Ballard, much of the credit for keeping the
Titanic story alive goes to the late author Walter
Lord and history buff Edward S. Kamuda, of
Springfield, Mass. Lord, who tracked down many of
the survivors, wrote "A Night to Remember" in
1955, bringing the disaster back from the depths
of history. From a small museum in Springfield,
Mass., Kamuda runs the authoritative Titanic
Historical Society, which he founded in 1963. Next
year, the society plans to unveil a Titanic
memorial in Springfield.
For $749 per couple, the Grand Hotel on
Michigan's Mackinac Island plans a Titanic-themed
weekend May 13-15 that includes lodging, meals and
an interactive dinner-theater event featuring an
11-course dinner that re-creates the last dinner
served to first-class passengers. There will be a
screening of "Titanic," as well as seminars and an
Edwardian-era fashion show.
But for Titanic enthusiasts, the real place to
begin the journey is in Northern Ireland.
"Many cities and locations lay claim to a
Titanic story, but only one place can take credit
for her legendary design, build and craftsmanship
— Belfast," boasts a statement from the Belfast
City Council.
On March 31, the city will begin a two-month
"Titanic 100 Festival" with a variety of
activities and tours. Belfast remembers Titanic
not so much as a terrible disaster but as a feat
of human engineering and construction that
occupied thousands of workers at the city's
Harland and Wolff shipyard. The festival is
scheduled to end with a ceremony on the Titanic
slipways commemorating the ship's launching on May
31, 1911. To mark the event, the Ulster Folk and
Transport Museum plans to open a special Titanic
exhibit on May 31. An oft-heard phrase in the city
today is: "She was fine when she left here."
In Belfast, guide Susie Millar leads a Titanic
tour through the city, stopping at sites that
include the dry dock where Titanic was fitted out
and at the home of Thomas Andrews, the ship's
designer who perished in the wreck.
Millar's great-grandfather, Thomas Millar,
worked at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and was a
crewman on the Titanic who also perished. Her tour
includes the city's new Titanic Quarter, a
185-acre redevelopment project. A technology
center, it features hotels, offices and businesses
adjacent to the shipyard where Titanic was built.
The centerpiece will be the Titanic Signature
Project, a multimedia building and museum designed
by Eric Kuhne and Associates of London. It is
scheduled to open in time for the anniversary of
the sinking.
"This is as close as you can get to the Titanic
without going to the bottom of the ocean," said
Millar as she led me aboard the SS Nomadic, a
tender docked in Belfast that was used to ferry
passengers to the Titanic in Cherbourg, France.
Another museum dedicated to the Titanic, also
slated to open for the anniversary, is the $25
million Sea City Museum under construction in
Southampton, England, the port from which Titanic
set sail on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912.
The museum will feature two permanent exhibits
focusing on the Titanic story and the city's role
as a major port. Four out of five crew members
aboard the ship hailed from the city on England's
south coast, and it's said that nowhere was the
loss of life felt as hard as it was in
Southampton's working-class neighborhoods.
One interesting observance being planned to
commemorate the disaster is a tour to the rugged
headlands of Cape Race, Newfoundland.
"Cape Race is the closest point of land to the
Titanic wreck," said tour operator Dave Snow, who
works with a Canadian group called Receiving
Titanic. At a Marconi radio outpost on the coast,
news of the disaster relayed from other ships was
first received on land and sent on by telegraph to
newspapers and others desperate for information.
"There is no other place on land more
appropriate for remembering Titanic and personally
connecting with the tragedy," said Snow.
He added that on that commemorative night in
April 2012, those looking out to sea from Cape
Race may very well sight an iceberg lurking in the
ocean.
WHEN YOU GO
To track events leading to the 2012 anniversary
of the Titanic sinking, here are some good
starting places:
Belfast, Northern Ireland:
www.gotobelfast.com
Belfast Titanic tour with guide Susie Millar:
www.titanictours-belfast.co.uk\
Cobh, Ireland, guided tour with Kevin Jordan,
Jordan Executive Travel:
www.jetravel.net
Grand Hotel Titanic package:
www.grandhotel.com
National Museums of Northern Ireland:
www.nmni.com/titanic
Receiving Titanic for events in Cape Race,
Newfoundland:
www.receivingtitanic.com
RMS Titanic, for information on exhibits of
artifacts recovered from the wreck:
www.rmstitanic.net
Search "Titanic" on Southampton, England's,
official tourism site:
www.visit-southampton.co.uk
Titanic Historical Society:
www.titanic1.org
The Titanic Memorial Cruise is sold out, but
wait-list requests are being taken as well as
bookings for a shorter U.K. memorial cruise:
www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk.
Titanic visitor attractions in Branson, Mo.,
and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.:
www.titanicbranson.com and
www.titanicpigeonforge.com
Where to stay:
The Merchant Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland:
www.themerchanthotel.com
Castlemartyr Resort, Cork, Ireland:
www.castlemartyrresort.ie
For general information:
www.discoverireland.com and
www.visitbritain.com
Carl H. Larsen is a San Diego-based freelance
travel writer. To read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at
www.creators.com.
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