It is rare that one has the opportunity to gain direct physical contact with an event that happened in 1912 and one which has entered the cultural consciousness of mankind. I am sure when I say the word “Titanic” you understand exactly what I mean. A ship that some said was “unsinkable” because of the new “Water Tight” compartments in her innovative and luxurious design. Yet Titanic was a ship which sank on her maiden voyage one cold April night in the northern Atlantic after a collision with an iceberg taking some 1500 souls to a watery grave.

For the last couple of months the Titanic exhibition has been in Dublin showing artifacts recovered from the wreck (which is at 15,000 feet below sea-level) and which the family visited yesterday. It was a fascinating visit with reconstructions of a 1st and 3rd class cabins and where you can see some 300 items ranging from the bell rang by the lookout who spotted the iceberg, the chronometer and “speed communication device” from the bridge through to personal items of jewelry, clothes, bags of some of the passengers. In between was s port-hole bent out of shape by the sinking, plates and knives and forks from 1st, 2nd and 3rd class dinning to name a few. The exhibition is well laid out and informative. For example a 3rd class ticket cost £8 where the most expensive 1st class ticket cost £600 – or £500 and £62000 in modern money!

For me the single item that create a direct personal contact to that famous ship was a small piece of her hull which you could touch. A tingle of electricity when down my spine when my hand touched the Titanic and hence the tragic events of that night,

If you get the opportunity its well worth the visit.

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