What was in those leatherbags

Mikael Jonsson · Jun 16, 2002

Hi.

I read a while ago here on the messageboard that several leather bags have been found in the debris field. Those bags had protected the contents very good, but what was it in them?

Has any paper or soft material been recovered from the wreck?

Maureen Zottoli · Jun 16, 2002

Hi Mikael.

I am not an expert, but I know of one bag that was found and it contained the clothing of a man neatly packed.

Anything paper and soft material would normally be destroyed over time and yet anything that was protected by an enclosed leather case or bag was still intact. I believe that some bags contained postcards and other paper products. There are better experts than me on this.

Maureen.

greg robertson · Jun 16, 2002

Think that money and banknotes were recovered from a bag.
Another was maybe a carpenters bag containing wooden pieces such as a hammer.

Mikael Jonsson · Jun 16, 2002

Hi.

I received an email from one person who lost her granduncle on Titanic. She told me that they had found his bag in 2001 and it had been recovered. Inside there was letters, books and postcards that still was possible to read.

That was very interesting. What if they find a camera in a leaterbag with photos from the sinking. That would be something extra.

Maureen Zottoli · Jun 16, 2002

Interesting Mikael. I know that someone conducted an experiement to determine whether there were micro organisms on Titanic and he used film as bait for the little guys to eat. When he came back there were eaten trails on the film that he could study. So, I guess that I am not sure whether the microbes would be repelled by the tanned leather (it is the tanning process that makes the leather not appetizing by the way) or if the film would be something that would cause them to invade a piece of leather. Good question.

Stefan Christiansson · Jun 16, 2002

Probaby not from the sinking, but what if someone took picture on the voyage and then developed them in the dark room on board.

It's not very unlikely that they would store the developed pictures in a leather case of some sort. Either a leather folder or in their leather bags. That would be a natural place to keep the pictures.

Do you guys think that the pictures might have survived to this day if they were kept in a protecting leather case?

Paul Rogers · Jun 16, 2002

Stefan - I wasn't aware that there was a darkroom on board. It seems (to me) a strange thing to have onboard a ship.

Was there really one in existence? If so, does anyone know where it was located?

Regards,
Paul.

Joshua Gulch · Jun 17, 2002

I don't know about Titanic, but Queen Mary's dark room was a small wedge-shaped room on the starboard Promenade deck, just aft of the foreward observation lounge.

Josh.

Stefan Christiansson · Jun 17, 2002

Paul: Yes there was a dark room on board the Titanic. This was located on A-deck just aft of the first class lounge. Accessed from the promenade deck.

Daniel Klistorner · Jun 17, 2002

The dark room does appear in the original plans and by 1911, however after that, either on Titanic in 1912 or Olympic there is no mention of a dark room either on deck plans or anything written that I have ever seen. It would be very strange, IF a dark room existed for no one to say anything about it. So, my conclusion is, if there was ever an idea to have a dark room, it never ended up becoming a reality aboard eithger of the ships. At least on A deck, perhpas it was moved elsewhere, but I've not seen anything in regards to that.

Stefan Christiansson · Jun 17, 2002

I do believe a darkroom could have existed without us reading anything about it. This facility would not have been used very often.
This of course could also be a good argument to remove this feature all together. But I don't think it's fair to rule it out because of the lack of mentioning. Just my thoughts.

Perhaps they settled on a solution were they would use the same room for multiple tasks, that resulting in the dark room dissapearing from the later deckplans.

I do believe there would have been a possibility for photographic enthusiats to develop film onboard.

Mikael Jonsson · Jun 17, 2002

Hej Stefan. Kul med fler svenskar

It's not impossible that they will find photos taken aboard Titanic. As mentioned earlier they found a letterbag with perfect preserved postcards as late as last year.

With a little bit of luck they will find more leaterbags. I think they already have found 3-4 if I remember correctly so there is a chance.

Paul Rogers · Jun 17, 2002

Stefan and Daniel:

Thanks very much for the information. Interesting stuff! If there was a darkroom, I wonder who provided the chemicals etc. and, if provided by the Line, whether or not they were free to passengers.

Perhaps a photo will indeed turn up one day. Of course, Murphy's law means that if a photo is found, it'll probably be a wonderful shot of somebody's thumb obscuring the lens!

Regards,
Paul.

Stefan Christiansson · Jun 18, 2002

Probably! LOL

Alot of other features in first class were charged seperately, so the dark room would probably not have been an exception.

I would suspect the line provided the chemicals but the passenger would pay a fee for use of the dark room (If there was one).

Maureen Zottoli · Jun 18, 2002

Only if you took the photos Paul.

If I took the photos, ...welll then a totally different picture....then lens cap would have been on the whole time. (SMILE)

Maureen.

Maureen Zottoli · Jun 18, 2002

Hmmmm. a dark room. Seriously, Daniel, was the dark room on the earlier plans possibly in the same are of the "cloakroom" that is located on A Deck just near the 1St class promenade?

YOu are right, perhaps there would be more chatter about it if there were one. But I wonder if the room were a cloak room and a dark room.

Are the chemicals used in photgraphy at that time too dangerous to have inside a cloakroom?

Maureen

Jason D. Tiller · Jun 18, 2002

Mikael,

Another one of the leather travel bags that was salvaged from the debris field was found to contain coins, bills, rings, watches, bracelets, and necklaces.

It was on display at an exhibition that I worked at. The handles had worn away and so did some of the leather, but other than that it was in very good condition.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Jason

Iain Stuart Yardley · Jun 18, 2002

Have a look at the "William Allen" thread on the passenger message board - his bag was apparently recovered and there was another thread somewhere with pictures of tickets etc which were also recovered from the bag. Don't know if this was one of the bags you were talking about though, Mikael?

Cheers,

Boz