Titanic lands in Seattle! Iceberg wasn't quite the end of the great ship after all

E-mail this article Print this article Other links An assortment of Titanic facts

What is it that draws people to stories of tragedy, like the one about the big ship that sunk to the bottom of the ocean, plunging 1,523 passengers to their deaths?

Is it Leonardo DiCaprio? Perhaps.

But Mark Lach would like to think otherwise.

"All around the world people saw 'Titanic' and I think were brought closer to this historical event," says Lach, who designed the Titanic artifact exhibit opening this week at the Pacific Science Center. "In many ways, the film certainly brought it to life, but when you see these real pieces, these personal items, it becomes much more than a Hollywood creation. It really comes alive."

"Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" Runs Saturday through September at the Pacific Science Center in the Seattle Center. Tickets range from $13 to $15 and are available at Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 206-292-2787. See www.titanicseattle.com for more information.

He's talking about eyeglasses, jewelry, handwritten letters, pajamas -- some 200 artifacts retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean floor around the sunken ship that are part of the world's largest collection of Titanic memorabilia. "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" opens Saturday, taking over 12,000 square feet of the Pacific Science Center after a successful seven-month run in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. More than 7 million visitors have boarded the Titanic exhibit internationally and in the United States.

Debuting here

Ten new artifacts recovered in 2000 will make their debut at the Seattle show, which will be the exhibit's first visit to the West Coast. The Pacific Science Center partnered with RMS Titanic Inc., which has exclusive rights to own objects recovered from the wreck site, and SFX Exhibitions, an entertainment production company, to bring the exhibit here.

While Lach prefers not to compare his exhibit to the Oscar-winning 1997 film, "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" could certainly be called theatrical. Actors in period dress positioned throughout contribute to its real-life feel, as do sounds and smells corresponding to each display.

"There are a lot of experiential moments in this exhibit - a lot of touch and feel," Lach says. "Hopefully we give you the experience of being on the Titanic."

The experience begins with a boarding pass bearing the name of an actual Titanic passenger. Along the way, "passengers" walk through replicas of first-class and third-class cabins, a veranda café, the boiler room and the sweeping grand staircase made famous in "Titanic," the film.

"I've seen so many people walk in (to the staircase) and say, `Wow, it looks just like the one in the movie,' " Lach says. "Well, of course, the one in the movie looks like the real one."

Here, in the grand staircase, time is frozen at 11:30 p.m. - 10 minutes before the ship hit the iceberg the night of April 14, 1912. Actors in period dress positioned on the staircase and throughout the exhibit contribute to its real-life feel, as do sounds and smells corresponding to each room.

Size is impressive

Perhaps the exhibit's most impressive display, however, is the 15-ton, 13- by 28-foot section of Titanic's hull. Recovered in 1998 on the second attempt - a procedure involving lift bags and cables - it is the largest piece of the ship that will ever be brought to the surface. The cracked portholes in the starboard side of the black hull - the side that hit the iceberg - once looked into first-class cabins C-79 and C-81. Those cabins were unoccupied when the Titanic, which was only two-thirds full, sailed.

Education is in the details and remains the foremost goal of this exhibit, which features rooms devoted to the construction of the Titanic as well as to the recovery and conservation of its artifacts.

About 6,000 items have been retrieved from the debris field surrounding the Titanic during six recovery expeditions since 1987. Key to these treasure hunts were a $25 million French submersible called Nautile and two Russian submarines. The vessels have mechanical arms capable of scooping, grasping and suctioning the artifacts.

Lach traveled the 2.5 miles to the ocean floor to view the Titanic last summer. He says the experience filled him with a new responsibility to accurately portray the subject.

"It's amazing how this story attracts people," Lach says. "It really touches all those human emotions - the fantastic expectations, the hopes and dreams, the luxury of the Titanic. Then, of course, the tragedy is so compelling, and the science, too, of people going down and retrieving the artifacts."

The story is not without controversy. There are those who feel the Titanic should be left in peace rather than stripped to pieces.

"I believe it's a legitimate position to have," Lach says. "But I've seen too many people be genuinely moved after seeing these pieces. These artifacts tell a story, and they bring honor and dignity to those who lost their lives."

Among the more chilling aspects of the experience are the memorial wall, where people can see if the passenger whose name is on their boarding pass survived, and the wall of ice, where people can feel just how cold the water was that night - only to be told that the water was in fact four degrees colder.