Titanic exhibit explores historic ship’s story, local connections

It has been nearly 100 years since Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg, claiming more than 1,500 lives.

The ship, touted as “practically unsinkable,” left port at Southampton, England, April 10, 1912. It stopped in France and Ireland before it set off on its maiden voyage to New York City. The White Star Line, which owned Titanic, knew that the sheer size of the ship wouldn’t make it one of the fastest passenger ships, so they settled for making it the most opulent. Cruising on Titanic meant spending a week in luxury, especially for first-class passengers.

The ship was traveling at top speed through waters the crew had heard were especially icy. The ship hit an iceberg at 11:39 p.m. April 14. It sunk at 2:20 a.m. April 15, 1912.

In observance of the disaster, the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum has created an exhibit chronicling the ill-fated vessel and some of the lives lost.

The event captured the imagination of the world. There have been movies, Broadway plays and books about what could have happened that night. Those of a certain age may remember a time when no one knew where the wreckage lay at the bottom of the ocean. Explorers didn’t find it until 1985.
This year James Cameron is re-releasing his Oscar-winning movie, “Titanic,” in 3-D. One cruise ship company is offering a Titanic Memorial Cruise that will stop in each port and offer lectures about the disaster and a memorial service at 2:20 a.m. April 15 over the site of the wreckage.

Volunteer Jeff Danner, who sort of looks like Capt. Edward Smith who went down with his ship, has been researching Titanic for six or seven months.

“Day by day by day, I was just amazed,” he said of what he learned.

Titanic was one of three Olympic-class ships – with Britanic and Olympic – built around the same time. More than 3,000 people worked for four years to build Titanic – the size of the ship was unlike anything anyone had seen before.

“Nothing had ever approached something like this,” Danner said.

But there are local connections to Titanic.

John Bertram Brady, 41, was traveling in first class when the ship went down. He was from Pomeroy, Wash., and his body was never recovered.