Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2005. Mattie was visiting my parents in Los Angeles, and together we all journeyed to San Diego to visit Legoland. As you can see Mattie and Peter went on rides together. Thankfully Peter likes motion and rides, because if Mattie were relying on me to take him, it would never have happened. I do much better with both feet on the ground, and was very happy to capture these moments on camera!



Quote of the day: Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great makes you feel that you, too, can become great. ~ Mark Twain

How do you like this for a backdrop? This is the beauty of Simi Valley, which is where we drove today to see a very special Titanic exhibit. As my loyal readers know, I am fascinated by the Titanic and intrigued with the notion that people thought they could build an unsinkable ship. However, what I most appreciate about Titanic exhibits is learning about the lives of those aboard that ship on that ill-fated voyage. Today's exhibit was about a 45 minute drive from Los Angeles. 

My mom snapped a photo of my dad and me. 

This is how the exhibit greeted you! Frankly I had no idea we were going to learn about the history of how the Titanic was discovered on the sea floor in the 1980s, but it helped to understand the excitement and courage it took to find this massive ship (missing since 1912).  

This placard says..... The world was stunned with Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Jean-Louis Michel of the French Research Institute of Exploitation of the Sea discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985, not knowing Ballard's search for the Titanic was a cover story for a top-secret Navy mission to investigate the wrecks of two nuclear submarines: the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion. 

Ballard met with the Navy in 1982 about funding his new deep water imaging technology, Argo. Admiral Thunman was not interested in the Titanic, but wanted to re-examine the wrecks of the subs. If there was time and money left over, Ballad could do what he liked. 

Argo's first test in 1984, was at the site where Thresher sank. The heavy nuclear reactor had sunk first. With Argos, Ballard was able to see smallest pieces of debris, strewn over a mile. In September of 1985, Ballard mapped Scorpion's final site, similar to Thresher's where the imploded sub was at the end of the debris field, though Scorpion was in two pieces. He realized that currents carried the lighter pieces farther away as they fell.  

Armed with this new found knowledge, he discovered Titanic in 9 days. Because the mission was classified, he could not explain why he had changed tactics to look for the debris field instead of the wreck itself. Admiral Thunman and then Secretary of the Navy John Lehman were notified that a false mission ended up a true success. 

This photo simulates the debris field Dr. Ballard and his team saw on route to finding the Titanic. 

“Alvin” – the titanium submersible sphere that brought Dr. Bob Ballard down to the wreckage of Titanic; the first such submersible to do so. Can you imagine riding in this for 8 hours to the bottom of the ocean floor to explore the wreckage?

A replica of the Titanic on the bottom of the ocean. Created for James Cameron's film.

This remote controlled vehicle was called "snoop dog." Used by James Cameron and his team to capture photos and documentation of what the inside decks of the Titanic looked like. 

James Cameron was quoted as saying.....The tragedy has assumed an almost mythic quality in our collective imagination, but the passage of time has robbed it of its human face - I wanted the audience to cry for Titanic. Which means to cry for the people on the ship.

The exhibit featured the amazing research James Cameron conducted to obtain as much information about the Titanic as possible, in order to direct the movie, Titanic. Movie sets, props and costumes from the blockbuster movie included Rose's suite and Jack's third class cabin. James Cameron spared no expenses at re-creating these sets and as well as also created a life sized model of the Titanic in Mexico to film the movie on location. This is Jack's (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) cabin in the movie, but it was based on an actual third class cabin on the Titanic. 

I can't imagine that James Cameron had the main stairwell and a great deal of the ship re-created. Using high end materials. The movie wasn't simulating the ship using computers, but instead it created a real life model to make this as authentic and realistic as possible. In fact hundreds of actors for this movie were taught about life in the early 1900's, so that their mannerisms, how they walked and socialized would appropriately capture this by-gone era. 

This was Rose's cabin in the movie. This first class cabin was based on the depiction of the Straus cabin aboard the Titanic. A cabin used by the Mr. and Mrs. Straus, owners of Macy's department store. It was supposed to be very lavish and the most expensive cabin on the ship. Equivalent to us paying $75,000 today. In fact, they tell us that Macy's closed its doors for a week in 1912, to mourn the loss of its owners. 

A replica of one of the 16 lifeboats aboard Titanic. This boat was recreated for the movie. Though just a model, James Cameron's work truly brought the Titanic alive for the world by creating these realistic structures. 

A deck chair from the Titanic, one of only eight known to exist. The rest of the chairs were thrown in the ocean, as people jumped from the ship and hoped to use the chairs as flotation devices. People didn't die from drowning in the North Atlantic, but from hypothermia. 

A deck chair on the Carpathia. The ship that came from over 50 miles away to rescue survivors of the Titanic. These deck chairs were nicknamed the "widow makers" for the Titanic passengers, many now widowed, who rested on them during the voyage back to NY. While some originally hoped their husbands were coming on later lifeboats, or were picked up by another ship, it quickly became clear that Carpathia held all of the survivors. This is the ONLY known deck chair from the Carpathia. 








Found in 1985 during President Reagan’s administration, the Titanic quickly became a dive site for many different companies and explorers trying to get a piece of her history.  To protect the historic site and preserve it for generations, President Reagan issued the 1986 RMS Titanic Memorial Act to designate the wreck as an international maritime memorial.

None of the artifacts displayed in this exhibition were salvaged from the wreck itself – a sacred final resting place. The exhibit had an entire room dedicated to the known survivors of the Titanic, and highlighted some of the artifacts these families loaned to the museum for display.


This was Wallace Hartley. Only in his 30's and was the bandleader and violinist aboard Titanic. Apparently to land such a job on the Titanic, one had to be very talented and well credentialed. Hartley and the other 7 musicians aboard the Titanic played music as the ship was sinking to try to bring peace and comfort to those on board. He and the other musicians went down with the ship, but they felt they had a mission greater than their own survival. 

This was Edith Rosenbaum Russell. She was 32 years old and a correspondent for Women's Wear Daily. She was returning to the US from Paris with 19 trunks, filled with clothing. She also brought with her a music box in the shape of a pig, which her mother had given her as a mascot after she survived a car wreak that killed her fiance. After she refused to make the leap into a lifeboat over a 14 story drop, a sailor grabbed the pig and threw it into the boat, mistakenly saying.... well if you don't want to be saved, I'll save your baby. Taking it as a sign from her mother, she agreed to go. Years later, she visited the set of the film, A Night to Remember, with her pig and spoke with the actress that played her. 

This was Charles Lightoller. He was the second officer who gave the order "women and children first." He was the last Titanic survivor to board the Carpathia and the highest ranking officer to survive the sinking. 

This was Edwina Troutt. She was 27 years old and visiting family in England when she was returning to Massachusetts on a second class ticket. She was saved in a Collapsible D (which sounded like a canvas life boat if you can believe it) carrying a baby with her. Due to the 'woman and children only' rule, the baby's male relative could not board a lifeboat. Edwina took the infant with her, and he was later reunited with his mother. Edwina lived to 100 years old and received birthday letters from Presidents Nixon and Reagan. 

This was John Gill. He was 24 years old and married Sarah. Two months later, he sailed on the Titanic to create a home for his bride in the USA. He died in the sinking. His body was recovered by the crew of the CS Mackay-Bennett (a ship assigned to comb through the wreckage for survivors). He was assigned body number 155 (can you imagine this?"??"!) and was buried at sea! After his possessions were sent to his widow she placed them in a drawer and DID NOT speak a word for 20 years. 

I'm sure that sounds odd or profound, but I get it!

This was Harold Cottam. He was 21 years old and was the wireless operator on the Carpathia. He was the one who roused the captain of the Carpathia and pleaded to go to the Titanic's aid. He worked for hours to transmit the names of the rescued passenger. He was hailed as a hero after the disaster and even received a visit from Marconi himself, the inventor of the Marconi wireless.  

This was the captain of the Titanic. He did go down with the ship, but his quote about his abilities and the strength of the vessels he sailed were almost testing fate....

I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort. I will say that I can not imagine any condition which could cause a ship to founder. I can not conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that. 

How the tragedy of the Titanic changed the world:

1. Lifeboat regulations now require a seat for every person.
2. Wireless stations are manned 24 hours a day so that messages would not go unheeded when operators slept (which is what happened with the Titanic, there was a ship only 15 miles away from the Titanic that fateful night, yet because wireless operators were sleeping, the SOS call was NEVER received). 
3. 'Winter shipping lanes were moved farther south and the International Ice Patrol was established.
4. Many survivors experienced trauma that haunted them their entire lives, suffering from what we now know as PTSD, and at least ten survivors committed suicide. More than 40 babies were born after the Titanic tragedy, most of whom never knew their father. 

The exhibit ended with this wall sized display of the names of all 1,503 passengers and crew who died aboard the Titanic. A tragedy never to be forgotten, so much so that over a century later people like myself are moved, intrigued, and want to know more about the ship and its people.