Unless you’re a Titanic aficionado, familiar with even the most minute details of the 1912 sinking that claimed 1,500 lives, you might assume that with all the Titanic books, movies and traveling exhibits, there isn’t much else to reveal.
You would be wrong.
“Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” which opens Saturday at the Great Lakes Science Center and continues through Jan. 5, is a visual and historical feast of 250 artifacts and video of the skeletal ship, which is two miles below the sea. It’s incredible that these artifacts endure given that, as one story panel explains, they’ve been subjected to an inhospitable environment that included little light and oxygen, and pressures up to 6,000 pounds per square inch. The artifacts were retrieved by crews during seven dives between 1987 and 2004. The most recent dive, in 2010, was for preservation research and video footage.
Artifacts include a perfume merchant’s vials that were so well-sealed in leather that they still emit a scent. The vial encasement is punctured with holes for visitors to get a whiff. There’s china etched with the logo of the elite White Star Line, the company that owned Titanic. Paper and metal currency are on display, as are workers’ tools. Visitors will see the warning bell that wasn’t rung soon enough, the steering wheel stand and the ship’s telegraph.
