We Go Inside the Titanic: History, Artifacts & Traveling Exhibit Experience

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Imagine it's 1912, and you are standing next to the sheer

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towering scale of the RMS Titanic.

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It sits docked in Southampton.

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It's a floating palace of iron and luxury, a testament to human ingenuity that

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the world proudly declares unsinkable.

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The air's filled with cheers of thousands, the scent of fresh lacquer, and the

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boundless optimism of a new century.

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But four days later, in the freezing starlit darkness of the North

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Atlantic, that optimism shatters.

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A sudden scrape against ice, a frantic rush of black water into

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the hull, and within hours, the grandest ship in the world is gone.

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It became one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history,

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claiming the lives of over 1,500 souls.

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It was a tragedy that didn't just end lives.

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It permanently altered our relationship with progress, safety, and the sea

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Welcome to Talk with History.

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One filmmaker, one historian leading history-inspired world

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travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

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I am your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn.

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Hello.

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Today, we aren't just talking about the history books.

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We're bringing you along on our visit to the Traveling Titanic Exhibition.

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Jenn and I are diving deep into what it's like to stand inches away from

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actual items of the ship recovered from two and a half miles beneath the ocean.

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We'll talk about the haunting experience of watching a detailed

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recreation of the sinking of the ship, and how this traveling exhibit

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beautifully connects us to the raw human stories behind the tragedy.

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Today, we are stepping onto the deck of history's most famous shipwreck

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All right, Jenn.

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You, when you were in college, saw this movie 10 times in the theater I learned

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this very early on in our relationship.

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You told me your brother had to carry you out of the theater sobbing I think the

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first time or the second time you saw it.

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Yeah, I don't think I've ever cried hysterically-

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at a movie.

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It was the Titanic.

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It probably was the only time I've ever done this to this degree, 'cause I've

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cried at other movies, but to the f- to, to the fact I couldn't even get up

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out of the seat and my brother had to kinda lift me up, walk me to the car.

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I remember he put me in the car, put my seatbelt on and shut the door.

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I was so hysterical at the end of the movie.

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Yeah.

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So, so, I, I lead with that because Jenn loves all, all things Titanic.

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We actually have another video on the Titanic memorial outside of Washington,

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DC, so I'll link that in the show notes if you guys wanna see that.

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It's kind of an interesting piece of Titanic history.

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Um.

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Yeah, and we visit some Titanic, um, victims, uh, and their burial places.

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Oh, yeah.

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One of them in, in, in Buffalo.

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Richmond.

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Richmond.

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Richmond.

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And Buffalo, New York.

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Yep.

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Um, we always seem to find them, and I wanna pay my respects.

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So it's just something that's fascinated me since I was a kid.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Now, I, I say all of that to kind of sh- you know, let our audience know, you know,

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how, how much Jenn enjoys this topic.

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But w- interesting fact, when you were up in Baltimore w- with American Cruise

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Lines, you were out there kinda seeing the, the history sites, and I don't

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think you expected to find this, this traveling Titanic Experience exhibit.

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This is kinda one of those traveling exhibits that travels, you know, it moves

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it around the country, and I will put a link in the show notes to see if there's,

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it's coming to a s- a city close to you.

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So if this interests you, take a look at the podcast show notes or the video

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show notes, and I'll, I'll put the link to this specific exhibit, this

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traveling exhibit, and you can see if it's gonna be anywhere close to you.

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But tell us about this exhibit.

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It's unlike anything I've ever done before.

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It's one of those immersive experiences, and what I mean by that is I've seen

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Titanic e- exhibits before in, uh, Las Vegas and thing like s- things like that

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where they have a lot of the artifacts.

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Like a more museum style.

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Yes, and you, you get a character before you walk in.

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You see if you survive.

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This was much more you were on the ship, and you got to see the grand

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stair- uh, staircase, and you got to stand there, and you got to

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see the water rushing toward you.

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But the most amazing one was where you got to sit in a lifeboat in

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a dark room and watch the ship as it slowly, the lights went out

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and- A- and they let you film.

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Like you asked.

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Yes.

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They let you film the whole thing, so I, I was very surprised by that because a

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lot of times exhibits like this won't.

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They'll kinda be against that.

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You could, they'll say, "You can take pictures but no video." But they let

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you film the whole thing, so there are some really cool shots that you

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got in the video, which again will be linked in the, in the show notes

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of the podcast, that, and I'll show it on the video one, of this kind of-

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It's neat 'cause you're from behind, so you can see the rest of the people

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in this exhibit sitting in a lifeboat.

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It looks like they're in a lifeboat in the water looking at the Titanic

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off in the distance, 'cause this dark room… So it was really neat.

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It was neat.

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It was cold in there, like it would've been that night.

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Yeah.

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And you see the ship rise up, and you see it break in two, and

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then you see how fast it sank.

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It, you, you're kind of there for its last moments, and it was really immersive.

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Plus, they also have a, uh, VR, uh, option, where you can put the VR headset

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on and basically walk around the Titanic.

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Oh, wow.

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So like you can put the goggles on- Yeah … and you can actually… Oh, that's-

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And I didn't do that part because I couldn't actually, like, film that,

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but it, it's also part of the immersive experience if you'd like to do it.

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So, uh, yeah, it was just… I, I never get bored with learning about it.

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I never get bored with finding out things and going there and seeing it.

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So for me, it was one of those moments that I, I know a lot about it, so I

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got to see a recreation of where the telegraph operators worked, and them

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sending out CQD when no one really knows what that means, and how the Titanic

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brings about all of these rules in maritime safety, which we as sailors

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know now, and we take them as, as law.

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But by, at that time, in 1912, uh, these weren't established yet.

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So, so tell me about the CQD.

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So folks may not know that SOS has not always been a universal cry for help.

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Yes.

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Uh, so CQD was their-

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There was their cry for help, but because it's, it's not universal at

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the time, and people, some people don't know what that means, and what, when

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you say, "What do you mean, Jenn?"

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They don't know what that means.

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Nowadays, we all pretty much speak English on the maritime.

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Yeah.

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Uh- Yeah.

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When w- i- if, if folks don't know, right, when we, we do a deployment,

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and it's, it's been some time, but even when I did a, did a deployment over

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the Arabian Gulf, right, y- on, on my first and second ship, um, when you're

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traveling, typically, right, the Navy ships are some of the larger ships out

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there, unless you go on by a merchant ship, but everybody on the open seas

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99% of the time speaks basic English.

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So if we're calling out our position or we're querying a ship, um, or we're

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kind of stating our intentions, we're stating it in English, and basically

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everybody on the open ocean speaks enough English or has someone that

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speaks English so they can communicate.

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Yes.

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At that time, that really wasn't quite done yet.

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Yeah, not in 1912.

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And so the standard distress call for British s- ships that were

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equipped with this wireless system, it was first introduced in 1904.

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It combined the telegraph code CQ, which means attention all

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stations, with D, distress.

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So it translates to all stations distress.

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Uh, and this is right when s- uh, SOS, uh, is coming into international

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use, and so it's not recognized globally yet, and that's why they

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kinda- They alternate between the two.

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They use CQD and they use SOS, but at the time people were like, "Only

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British ships are gonna know what CQD means," and SOS is still not picked

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up by everyone internationally.

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So this is… The Titanic is in the perfect spot for just a, the maritime

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disaster, which is what happens because the comms have not been

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standardized, and so that's what happens.

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A- and I show you the desk and how d- low the desk was to the ground

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because the men were in a smaller room.

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But if you know anything about the Titanic and those men, they stay

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there till the very last moment-

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Yep

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… uh, getting those distress calls out, and they do survive, and they're

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able to give testimony later on.

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But the other ships in the area who hear some of these things, again, it,

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this, the Titanic, this is major news.

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This ship is on its maiden voyage.

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The, the name alone is Greek mythology for the Titans.

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Like, it is a, uh, you know, a, a ship of dreams.

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No one's imagining that they're having any issues four days into their maiden voyage.

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They think it's something with their, their- That they're

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celebrating … they're celebrating.

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They're having a good time.

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They're letting off fireworks.

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Like, they don't realize that this ship is sinking.

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It's just kind of like an unfathomable thing to imagine, so

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the other ships in the area don't pay attention and don't listen.

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Um, and as we know, RMS Titanic, uh, Royal Mail ship is what that means.

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The British used RMS for Royal Mail sh- mail, like the mail, um, ship for any

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ship that's carrying mail on it, and so that's why the Titanic is the RMS Titanic.

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Um, it sinks April 15th, 1912.

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Uh, hits a iceberg.

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There's about 2,200 passengers on board and about 1,500 of them will die.

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Um, and like you said, it's one of the deadliest peacetime disasters.

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They find that the lifeboats who, well, they don't have for

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everyone on board, were only filled to an average capacity of 60%.

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Oh, I don't, I don't think I knew that.

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And then when the people go into the water, the lifeboats don't go back to get

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them because they're- Afraid or concerned that people will swarm the lifeboats- Yeah

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and pull them down, when really nobody barely had that kind of muscle.

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They're being… They're in the- they're in their clothes and- In

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ice cold water

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… ice cold

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water.

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Right.

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I- it- it's… So the, the interesting thing about this exhibit, right?

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Again, I encourage you folks to go watch the video.

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If you're listening, um, again, pod- the link to the video

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is in the podcast show notes.

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But you're walking through, so it's kinda walking you through, like, some

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of the engineering spaces, and then you get to see different artifacts.

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Ki- some are actually from the movie, right?

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You actually saw a life vest that was worn by, I think, Kate Winslet-

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Yes … right, in the movie.

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Um, so you show, you show a life vest.

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But there's other artifacts that are actually from the Titanic.

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There was a deckchair that you, that you showed on there, full-sized deckchair,

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and I was kinda surprised to see that.

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And there's other little, little things that you show throughout.

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Yeah, so that was neat.

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Like, they have a, they had, uh, I think it was Ismay's book or prayer hymnal.

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Yeah,

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the, the guy who built-

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The guy

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… the Titanic.

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Mm-hmm.

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Uh, he's the, uh, one of the chairmen, the financer, JP Morgan, and there

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was a lot of famous people on there.

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So they have a couple things, like postcard, picture cards, artifacts.

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And you can go places and see artifacts that they have taken from

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the bottom of the, of the ocean floor.

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Uh, but what they have that I, you know, was so amazed by was

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just the recreation of everything.

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And you can stand on the bridge and look through the windows and see what that

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looked like through the windows for the captain and for the people on board.

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Uh, you can stand on the bow and put your arms out like you're flying.

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Yeah,

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like

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in the, in the movie.

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Like in the movie, which was really fun.

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They have one of seven full deckchairs that exist, and so it

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was neat to see that artifact, which you don't get to see very often.

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But, uh, the biggest thing for me was you get to walk into the spaces.

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You get to walk into the dining rooms.

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You get to see what the silverware looked like set out.

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You get to see what the menus were.

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You get to see the tiles that were in the pool, and then you get to walk into those

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exercise spaces and what they look like.

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Uh, no photographs exist of the pool, so they just kinda recreated

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for you for what it looked like.

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Uh, it was just amazing to be immersed in Titanic.

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I've never had that kind of experience before.

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And like I said, when you go into the room with the lifeboats

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and the sinking, it's cold.

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Like, you would be on the lifeboat cold and huddled up

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and, and watching this happen.

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So for me, it really was exciting, and I never get bored or tired- Yeah

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of doing anything Titanic because that movie, like you said, meant so much to

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me, and the story means so much to me.

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And we always talk about- women and children first, and you have these

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of the first class, the second class, the third class, the s- the steerage,

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very much class-oriented on this ship.

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And because of the chivalry of the men, m- more women and children

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survive of every class- Yep

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than, um, than the men.

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And that's what that monument is to in Washington, D.C. It's to the men

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of the Titanic who w- who did their role in not getting on the lifeboats

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and allowing women and children to go.

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Um, the lifeboats could have held about 1,100 people, roughly half the

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passengers on board, and, uh, but again, only about 700 survive because they

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don't fill the lifeboats to capacity.

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But you still have a, a higher percentage of women and children

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surviving than men because they adhered to that maritime It's not even a rule.

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It's just-

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It's kind of a… Yeah, it's, I would say it's like a, one of those unwritten rules.

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Yeah.

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Right?

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It's, it's like, you know, men opening the door for, for a woman, right?

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It's, it's one of those kind of things, the societal expectation.

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I don't know.

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Yeah.

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I- it's, it's just very chivalrous.

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Yeah.

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And I, I don't know if America or the world has gotten more towards that or

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away from that, but it's just still, when I, when I think of those men… And for

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me, it had different meaning because our oldest is 15 years old, and he's a boy,

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and at that age, they said on the Titanic, they would've considered him a man.

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Yeah.

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And they would not have allowed him on a lifeboat.

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And I thought to myself, "Wow." There were a lot of women who stayed behind

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with their children, uh, if they couldn't get on, on a lifeboat, or

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if their husbands couldn't get on.

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And I thought, "This would be one of those moments for me." If my son

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couldn't get on board the Titanic, we'd be taking down those doors and those bed

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frames and flinging them into the water, and I'd be doing a full Kate Winslet-

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Yeah

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and getting on one side of the bed with him.

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But it was just, it just is amazing.

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I still think about this, the class system that was so prevalent then,

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and the men who stayed behind so women and children could be saved.

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An- another place we visited on the channel is Molly Brown's house,

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and you think of the Unsinkable Molly Brown, in Denver, Colorado.

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Her home is there, and we tell her story.

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She was one of the women on the lifeboats who help, um, with the

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people on there and, and keeping morale up before they are rescued.

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But as you know, the subsequent, uh, trials that happen after this, and then

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most of the victims are buried in, uh, Canada, where most of the bodies d-

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would wash ashore, or the, the boats could get, uh, easier access to them.

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And, um, that's where the big museums are.

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This is where James Cameron did a lot of his research.

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But if you really wanna be immersed in what it looked like and felt

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like and stand there at the end of the grand staircase, and, and

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for me, sit in a lifeboat, it really was… I, I really loved it.

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And, uh, if it, it visits you, if you wanna be a part of that, if

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Titanic means as much to you as it does to, does to me, I don't know

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why we're still fascinated with this ship the 115 years later, but we are.

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And, uh, and it was super fun.

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If the traveling Titanic exhibition comes to a city near

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you, it's an absolute must-visit.

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It isn't just a museum display.

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It's an emotional landscape that forces you to ask yourself how you would

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respond in the face of the ultimate test.

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It honors the dead by keeping their memories alive, ensuring their names are

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spoken and their stories are remembered.

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We'll talk to you next time

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This has been a Walk With History production.

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Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

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Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

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Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

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Talk With History is supported by our community at thehistoryroadtrip.com.

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Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

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and we'll talk to you next time