Comment du Jour

RMS Titanic 100 Years of Fact and Fiction

Bonhams Auction in NY

A century ago, on the night of 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic of the White Star Line, sank in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. This near iconic martime tragedy has been etched in memory of generations, but the story of this ill-fated oceanliner is often recalled as a mix of fact and fiction--the latter, courtesy of the silver screen.

That's why when the prestigeous Bonhams Auction House put a Titanic sale together in New York, my first reaction was a hesitating curiosity to see the items, from what a Hollywood film called "A Night To Remember." I'm glad I went.

The lots comprise a respectful selection of Titanic-related items ranging from an Invitation to the launch in May 1911 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to news accounts of the disaster, to surviver documentation.

This is not a saved sunken treasure focus, but a thoughtful presentation of items connected to the ship's story, the sinking and the media presentation of the aftermath.

Significantly the exhibit includes a number of telegrams--Marconi Marine Cables which reveal the time line of the accident and the rescue attempts of reasonably nearby vessels. The radio traffic cables offer a searigly poignant, albeit somber, log of the actual timeline of the Titanic tragedy. An 14 April message at "Eleven PM New York Time. Titanic Sending out signalsof distress answered his calls... Titanic replies and given his position 41.46N 5 14W and says 'We Have Struck an Iceberg' Our distance from Titanic 505 miles." Another telegram at 11:40 PM to the Olympic "Titanic Says tell Captain we are putting the pasengers off n small boats."

There are 37 messages to the RMS Olympic outlining the unfolding disaster at sea.
The RMS Carpathia was reasonably nearby and assisted in saving over 705 passengers and crew.

The RMS Titanic has sailed into the mists of history--it's the duty of this generaion to keep scholarship alive so that fact is separated from fiction. We owe it to those who perished, to the heros who survived, and the oceanliners which came to the rescue. Bonhams has presented RMS Titanic with dignity.