Jani and the Titanic Exhibition

Jani and volunteers who gave us our boarding passes

by Jani
Edited by Mom
January 10, 2008

December 24, 2007 was an amazing day for me. I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see an exhibit called Titanic. On the maiden voyage of Titanic, an ocean liner that was said to be 'unsinkable', there were about 2,200 passengers and 16 lifeboats plus 4 collapsible lifeboats. Titanic was named after her colossal size. Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for everyone so about 1,500 people went down with the ship on April 14-15, 1912.

What got me interested in Titanic was James Cameron's movie version of the story. At first, I kind of believed it, but then I studied and read about it and found out most of it wasn't true. On Titanic there was no Jack or Rose, the main characters of the movie.

Before mom and I entered some ladies who work at the Titanic exhibit gave us boarding passes, and we got to be the identity of a Titanic passenger. I was Jane Richards and my mom was Kate Marshall.

Jane Richards (age thirty-three, married name Mrs. Frederick C. Quick) had two daughters, Winifred (age eight) and Phyllis (age two). She was traveling to Detroit, Michigan, to return to her husband Fred. Ms. Richards was visiting relatives in Southampton, England. Kate Marshall (age nineteen) was running off with a married man, Henry Morley, twenty years her senior. He also was her boss at the candy shop she worked at in Worcester, England. They were traveling to Los Angeles, California.

When we entered we saw hats, glasses, suitcases, parts of the ship and other things found on the sunken liner. We came to a long hallway that looked like the real Titanic corridor of passengers rooms. Later in the exhibit we went to a room that looked like where 1st and 2nd class passengers ate. There were menus with food that they could order. They also showed the different types of dishes they ate off of.

In the beginning, it was brightly lit and there was cheerful orchestra music and towards the end it got darker with loud grinding noises. On April 14, 1912, at 11:40 PM, Titanic hit an iceberg. The Titanic split in two and sank. Titanic took 2 or 3 hours to sink. We saw a light shining in the shape of a lifeboat on the floor.


Jani at the Titanic Exhibition
As we turned the corner I was surprised to see an iceberg. At first, I thought it was plastic. I saw other people touching it so I touched it and knocked on it to see if it was really made of ice. It was cold and wet. They had put it there to inform us all how cold the water really was on that fateful night.

There were pictures of Titanic passengers throughout the exhibit, mostly those in first and second class. I don't remember any third class passenger photos.

The first class passengers were the rich people on board. They had all the fancy rooms at the top of the ship. Their dishes, silverware, food, eating areas ... pretty much everything was luxurious. Second class was kind of in-between. They had nice rooms but in the middle of the ship. Third class rooms were smaller and basic with four bunks to a room. Some had to share rooms with people they didn't know. Third class, also called 'steerage' was at the lower part of the ship. Steerage sounds like a name used for cattle; it is a disgraceful name to call people.

Titanic sank at 2:20 AM. Escaping the disaster were women and children first, according to class, but a few men boarded the lifeboats. The lifeboats were able to fit sixty-five people but some left the ship with less. Most third class passengers and crew members died. All thirteen postmen and musicians were lost. Most people that perished on Titanic, died from hypothermia.

The people:

324 1st class passengers, 201 survived;
277 2nd class passengers, 118 survived;
708 3rd class passengers, 181 survived;
885 crewmembers, 212 survived;
13 postmen/musicians, none survived;
Grand total: 2,207 on board, 712 survived;

Basic Statistics
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

After just seeing a freezing iceberg, we entered the final section and there was a wall with passengers' names in order from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and crew to inform us about who lived and died during the Titanic disaster. We checked our boarding passes to find out if Jane and Kate lived or died. Then we checked if my children lived. I was a little bit disappointed because the exhibit wasn't what I had in mind. For one thing, no photography was allowed and I would have liked to take pictures. I still enjoyed the exhibit though.

After Titanic, mom and I went and got tickets to Blossoms of Light, a holiday display of lights decorating the Denver Botanic Gardens.

When we first got to Botanic Gardens, we saw a lady selling 3D glasses because they make some of the lights look really cool. There was a choice between snow man and snow flake. Since I picked snow flake all the lights looked like little snow flakes.

Mom got out the cameras so we could take pictures. I took many pictures of statues, trees with lights, people and signs. It was fun.

Winter Outing in pictures:
www.rootswomen.com/gallery/Jani_241207



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