'Titanic' at National Geographic Museum

 RMS Titanic under construction. Tools used in the making of the ship are on display at the National Geographic Museum through Monday/Library of Congress

It's not too late to get tickets for the last weekend (through New Year's Eve on Monday) of the stunning display of artifacts and pieces of the remarkable story at the National Geographic Museum of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  The history of the search for the ship after it sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 unfolds in pictures, objects, and words.

Who is not interested in this incredible Titanic tale? 

Part of the show includes an elaborate set from the movie, Titanic, and pieces from the ship never publicly shown.

 

An artist's rendering of the collision between the Titanic and the iceberg. With global warming now prevalent more than 100 years later, this iceberg now might be a fourth of its size illustrated here/Mary Evans Library, Library of Congress

Oceanographer Robert Ballard at National Geographic's Titanic exhibition with submersible companions, Alvin and Jason, which were critical instruments in the successful hunt for the ship in 1985/Photo by Patricia Leslie

If it were not for the persistence, skill, and drive of

oceanographer Robert Ballard and his team, the Titanic might still lie undiscovered in ocean waters, but a secret mission from the U.S. Navy to Dr. Ballard led to the missing ship.

Declassified documents and the cooperation of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the U.S. National Archives help now to tell the story behind the hunt.

Dr. Ballard had a one-year assignment from the Navy to find and report on conditions of two nuclear submarines, the Scorpion and the Thresher which both sank in the 1960s. To keep the goal of the trip secret from a participating French team, the ostensible purpose of the voyage was to search for the Titanic.

Dr. Ballard knew the Titanic rested somewhere between the two subs, but he only had had a year to complete the job on the subs.  Any leftover time could be used, the Navy agreed, to look for the Titanic.  

Near the end of the year, all that remained for Dr. Ballard's team to find the Titanic were 12 days.

Below are pictures from the exhibition, Titanic: The Untold Story.

Oceanographer Robert Ballard at the Titanic exhibition at National Geographic Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A Titanic deck chair, one of only seven to remain in existence. Dozens of these chairs were thrown into the water, hoping passengers could use them as support to survive in the icy waters. The ship's chief baker, Charles Joughin  threw nearly 50 overboard, according to the label copy. Rather than drowning, most victims died from hypothermia.  This particular chair was salvaged by the crew of a rescue ship, the CGS Montmagny/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This is the only known life jacket to be associated with a passenger who was Madeleine Astor, wife of John Jacob Astor. When he made his way to enter a lifeboat with his wife, he was turned away because he was a male ("women and children first!" which included Mrs. Astor's nurse [Mrs. Astor was pregnant] and maid). .Mr. Astor helped his wife put on the life jacket shortly after the ship struck the iceberg. The 14-carat gold pocket watch below was engraved with his initials and found on his body with $25,000 in cash on April 27, 1912. Mr. Astor's eldest son, Vincent, from another marriage, carried his father's watch for more than 20 years, and Mr. Astor's youngest child, John Jacob Astor VI was born on August 14, 1912. This is the first time since the sinking, that the watch and the life jacket have been together.  In today's dollars, Mr. Astor was worth about $2.2 billion and the Astors' ship suite, about  $26,000 daily. Their dog, Kitty, also died on the Titanic.  Mr. Astor is buried in Trinity Cemetery, New York/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Mr. Astor's pocket watch found on his body on April 27, 1912 with $25,000 in cash.  See above/Photo by Patricia Leslie

These wooden pieces from the Titanic's Grand Staircase floated to the ocean's surface after the ship sank. On the top is a piece of stair tread and on the bottom, a piece of a wooden cap. The black rectangle in the plastic case on the left is an exhibition tool designed to protect the artifacts/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Captain E. J. Smith's uniform.  Although he went down with the Titanic and his body was never recovered, what is the source of this uniform?  The label does not say. One of his last acts was to release his crew to escape. Captain Smith hesitated to order passengers to board the lifeboats until he realized, in consultation with the ship's designer, the eminent tragedy/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A set from James Cameron's movie, Titanic. The label says Mr. Cameron was meticulous in every detail of his movie, making everything as real and lifelike as possible, spending hours in research and using a module to dive into the Atlantic to inspect the remains of the ship himself/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Above are pieces of fabric from the Titanic's restock inventory to replace normal wear and tear of a floral valence and curtain tie/Photo by Patricia Leslie

China used by various classes of Titanic passengers.  On the far left is the captain's table dinner plate, Spode pattern R4331, a rare design with gold trim, the most expensive of china decoration. Examples have been found at the Titanic wreck site. The white plate at the top is a first-class deck service plate with the White Star Line logo found in the center and similar to third-class china found at the bottom.  Deck plates often broke which explains why less expensive china was used there. The second-class dinner plate is the delft pattern on the far right.  The third-class china at the bottom is actually from the S.S. Republic, another White Star ship which sank in 1909. It shows the relative luxury third-class passengers enjoyed, with an egg cup and coffee service/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the upper far left corner is the crew's handwritten luncheon menu, the only one known to exist. Next to it are two photographs of the Titanic Captain E. J. Smith, taken between 1907 and 1911 when he captained the RMS Adriatic. Beside them are pieces of one of two known cup and saucer sets of the captain's table china service, given by crewman James Kieran to his wife on the morning the Titanic sailed.  The  keys on the far left were carried by lamp trimmer Samuel Hemming who escaped in Lifeboat 4, and the four buttons are like the ones ship officers wore on their coats/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On the left are a hammer and plane used by a construction worker on the Titanic when it was built in Belfast by Harland & Wolff.  On the right is an anti-vibration block to test the ship's engines at full speed and reduce vibrations":that would put strain on the testing building," according to label copy/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This is the only known deck chair from the rescue ship, Carpathia, which was one of the  "widows' seats" so called because new widows, rescued from the Titanic, sat in them on their way to New York.  In the chair is a blanket used by second-class passenger Marion Wright Woolcott  to keep warm on the lifeboat/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the National Geographic Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What: Titanic: The Untold Story

When: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily through Dec. 31, 2018. The last ticket is sold at 5 p.m.

Where: National Geographic, 1145 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036

Admission: Adults: $15; seniors, military, students: $12; children ages 5-12, $10; children under age 5 are admitted free. No charge for members.  

Closest Metro station: Farragut West or Farragut North

For more information: 202-857-7700


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