It’s hard to escape Titanic news at the moment, as we mark 100 years since the ship sank. I refrained from calling her unsinkable, as apparently the White Star Line never called her that, but it was stated in a shipbuilding publication that her design made her ‘practically unsinkable’. I confess to following @TitanicRealTime as the story holds a special place in my heart and it does fascinate me.
On Friday the 13th February 1998, my boyfriend took me to a late night screening of the James Cameron film. It finished after midnight, on Valentine’s Day. He then took me for a drive up to the hill in Wellington that overlooks the city, in a re-enactment of the evening we met (that’s another story). I had become rather soppy after the film, so he mentioned he didn’t have any tissues but would this do .. and pulled out an engagement ring. Since then, Titanic has been our thing.
I don’t know why so many people are fascinated by this event, but I’ve seen a few lately that couldn’t care less and are a bit sick of the hype. To each their own. The story always brings me back to my wedding proposal though, thanks to James Cameron. Though I’ve never been into history, the stories of this ship and it’s people have captured my heart. So much so that when we saw a full page framed print of the New York Times front page re the sinking, we transported it from our Melbourne holiday back to Wellington, then to Brisbane where it now sits above our dining room table (see here for the front page http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/browser/1912/04/16/P1)
If you’re interested in finding out more about the ship’s design, build and sinking, I can highly recommend the book on my shelf ‘Titanic & her sisters Olympic & Brittanic’ http://www.amazon.com/Titanic-Her-Sisters-Olympic-Britannic/dp/1902616103
We were married on Saturday April 17 1999, two days after Titanic’s sinking anniversary (and exactly 4yrs after we met). And for our 13th wedding anniversary this year, James Cameron has kindly provided his Titanic movie in 3D at the cinemas, so that’s our night sorted (well, part of it anyway).
Titanic is no more and no less than any other tragedy, but it certainly seems to have been romanticised, even before James Cameron turned his hand to it. If you are interested in finding out the truth behind some of her stories, check out these websites:
http://www.titanic-titanic.com/titanic_myths.shtml
http://www.titanic1.org/articles/titanicmyths.asp
-SCuffy