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Stuart Kelly
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 2:16 pm: | 
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Seeing the post below about the desperate measures RMS Ti seems to be taking to remove one of the anchors (I don't know how they could do it without cutting the bow into pieces and totally ruining one of the most famous views of the wreck, or by removing the crane if it is the centre anchor they are taking)it makes me wonder what RMS Ti has been up to in the time it has had "custody" of the wreck and what it plans to do with all the stuff they have.
Last night, I watched a video of the 1986 TV documentary "Titanic: the Nightmare and the Dream" It was seeing this programme when it was originally broadcast when I was nine years old that helped get me hooked on Titanic. Seeing the footage Ballard took in 1986 with the signs reading "First Class Entrance" and "This Door for use of Crew only" gave me an eery feeling. Anyone seeing the wreck and debris field as it is now must have nothing like a comparable experience to the guys back in 1986. I don't see RMS Ti's necessity to bring up all these objects only for a small proportion of them to be made available for public viewing. If they have brought up thousands of objects, I personally would like to see thousands of objects and not just a few dozen that RMS Ti chooses.
Are there any resources out there that gives a detailed description of how "RMS Titanic Inc." has treated the wreck and what artefacts it has brought up? I remember reading in the Epilogue to the 1989 edition of Ballard's "Discovery of the Titanic" about how the 1987 expedition did not treat the wreck with respect and detailed some of the damaged caused on that occasion. It would be interesting to know what exactly has happened to the wreck up to date
Also, what are RMS Titanic's future plans for all the stuff they have brought up? Much of it, in itself, is pretty low-grade material. One of the few artefacts that was photographed and published was a lid of a toothpaste dish depicting a portrait of Queen Victoria. I have seen identical dish lids in a local Antiques Shop and the value of them was placed at £5 each. It was said in the 1986 documentary that many of the artefacts in the debris field would fetch a fortune at auction. Is there any question of the collection of artefacts (where is it being stored?) being broken up and at least some of them sold at auction? |
Colleen Collier
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 4:32 pm: |
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By chance, have they taken the dolls head, or the tea cup that was on top of the boiler? Nothing has been said, and I haven't seen it in any books either. Colleen |
Bill Willard
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 9:10 pm: |
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RMSTI has recovered almost 6000 artifacts to date. As you mentioned, some are not worthy to exhibit, due to the damage done by the ocean. Many are still undergoing conservation, and you may not see them for some time.
Exhibits, since 99, have been done in coordination with SFX, the concert people. Most exhibits have around 200 artifacts, some more than 200, but none with less that I know of.
When George Tulloch was in charge, the company focused on 1 exhibit at a time, so all major pieces could be in the same venue. A nasty, and alleged illegal takeover occured in the latter months of 1999, and the new management discarded previous philosophy and went to multiple exhibits, as many as three and four at a time. Obviously major pieces now must be distributed to different venues, watering down the product.
The new management wanted to recover an anchor by cutting an anchor chain between the windlass and the howser (or hauser.. help Michael!). The chain and anchor piece, no longer attached and held fast, would fall just as if it were dropped in a harbor perhaps. My fear, and Michael Standart echoed his thoughts as well, is the unequal and sudden upheaval of a stable system that is quite fragile.
More later
Bill |
Adam Leet
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 10:56 pm: |
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That's funny. I was under the impression they were after one of the kedge anchors...
Adam |
Michael H. Standart
| | Posted on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 12:30 am: |
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Bill, I think the term you are looking for is "hawse pipe".
For those who may not have been following the other thread in the Salvage folder, my concern is over the structural integrity of the bow section and what may happen if one of the anchors is cut away. Maybe nothing will happen.
Or the sudden loss of weight on one side while leaving several tons on the other will be the proverbial straw that'll break this camel's back! Both sections hit the bottom pretty hard and some of the damage is as clear as what is revealed in the photos. What we don't know is just how badly the framing suffered, but impact with the bottom coupled with 89 years of decay in an acidic environment and the tender mercies of iron eating bacteria couldn't have helped much.
Even using ROV's, the manned operating submersible will have to remain fairly close as the teather can only reach so far. Close enough perhaps to have bits and pieces of hull fall on their heads? I hope not. At 12,500 feet and 6000psi of pressure, if something goes wrong, the crew in that submersible will be dead befor they even realised they had an accident!
Cordially,
Michael H. Standart |
