In the 1980s, exhibitions of Titanic material started to
tour. (I think they are still touring today in some form.)
My husband and I were Titanic junkies at the time.
It was an emotional experience going to one of these productions.
We went to Memphis, Tennessee; Boston, Massachusetts; and Atlantic City, New
Jersey to view the sacred artifacts from the Titanic.
And they did feel sacred. All the objects owned, valued or
used by so many people who died needlessly in such a tragic way.
(If you don’t know what I’m talking about you should come up
for air from under that rock.)
The Boston exhibit was the most exciting because the “Big
Piece” had just been raised on August 10, 1998, from the grips of the ocean. My
husband memorialized the event of our touching the large piece of the starboard
hull on September 26, 1998, with a kind of a plaque for our stairway wall.
It wasn’t just a keyhole that you stuck you finger in, as so
many Titanic exhibitions give you for just a touch. No, this was the 15-ton
extraction from 12,500 feet below. The whole piece, standing up so you could
see the portholes and feel the thrill of standing right next to the ship! Water
(I presume sea water washed down the side of the “Big Piece” to help preserve
it.) There was no keyhole, you could put your whole hand on it, which the one
guard on duty let us do.
The texture was rough, very rough. After all, this ship had
been through a lot.
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