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Daily Mail
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Necklace belonging to Titanic passenger discovered after nearly a century lost at sea
A black glass necklace belonging to a Titanic passenger has been recovered from the shipwreck after nearly a century lost underwater, experts have said. Described as a delicate survivor of 'a disaster, time and nature', the trinket features heart-shaped and octagonal beads woven in an intricate pattern. It was extracted from the wreck by RMS Titanic Inc - the only entity legally permitted to remove items from the famous ship's remains. Astonishing : The Artifact Exhibition Orlando has unveiled one of the rarest objects recovered from the ship's wreck site - a black glass necklace Tomasina Ray, president and director of collections of RMS Titanic Inc, said: 'This necklace is a powerful reminder that every artefact tells a personal story. 'From the craftsmanship to the materials, it offers a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into the style, sentiment, and everyday life of Titanic's passengers. 'Our meticulous conservation efforts allow us to protect and share those stories with the world.' The necklace was found and recovered in individual pieces and small fragments during an expedition in 2000 - after nearly a century underwater. It was located in a 15-square-mile field of debris near what remains of the front half of the ship and the back half. Researchers say it had to be carefully extracted from a hard, solid mass on the seafloor called a 'concretion'. This was formed from several objects being physically and chemically fused due to the environmental conditions and immense pressure about 12,500ft deep. Ray said: 'At first, there were lose beads, and then little bits of sting, and that sting led to more beads, until we slowly unwound fragments of this necklace that were still strung together. 'Bead after bead led to another. It is a delicate survivor of a disaster, time and nature, but it speaks to human perseverance.' It's unclear whether there's any indication whom the necklace belonged, but they likely perished in the tragedy. As bodies of the victims gradually disintegrated over the many decades, personal artefacts such as the necklace have been left behind. There's also a chance the necklace belonged to one of the survivors, who somehow became separated from the object in the chaos. Experts claim the object gives a deeper understanding of the fashion of 1912, reflecting trends and customs of the time. In 1912, black jewelry was often made from materials like French jet, a type of glass popularized during the Victorian Era for both its style and symbolism. In the 25 years since being brought back to land, the necklace has been pieced together, studied and conserved at the RMS Titanic Inc recovery lab. It's now available for the public to view at the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition tourist attraction in Orlando, Florida, which has more than 300 artefacts, costumed actors, and full-scale recreations of the ship's rooms. The exhibition is also home to the second-largest artefact ever recovered, a two-ton section of Titanic's starboard hull, appropriately called Little Piece. RMS Titanic Inc has now recovered more than 5,500 authentic artefacts over nine expeditions spanning nearly four decades. 'Each conservation effort reflects a deep commitment to honoring the lives lost and sharing their stories through Titanic's material legacy,' it said in a statement. The famous liner tragically sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912 after a collision with an iceberg, killing an estimated 1,517 of the 2,224 people on board. Titanic broke in half just before it made its final plunge in the early hours of April 15, 1912, and now two parts of the ship lie 2,600ft apart. The stern is a twisted mess of metal after it hit the ocean floor still rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, while the V-shaped bow is more recognizable, complete with railings, although much of it is buried under mud due to the force of impact. Both halves are surrounded by a field of debris consisting of bits of metal, pieces of furniture, unopened champagne bottles and even passengers' shoes. The wreck wasn't located until September 1, 1985 – a discovery that made global headlines and regenerated interest in the disaster.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
The Titanic gives up its forgotten treasures: Lost black glass necklace is recovered from the shipwreck after nearly a century underwater
It was probably owned by one of the 1,517 souls who lost their life when RMS Titanic sunk. Perhaps it was a treasured keepsake or a good luck charm given by a family member, friend or lover. Whoever it belonged to, experts say this black glass necklace is one of the rarest artefacts ever to be recovered from the Titanic wreck. Described as a delicate survivor of 'a disaster, time and nature', it features black glass heart-shaped and octagonal beads woven in an intricate pattern. It was extracted from the wreck by RMS Titanic Inc – the only entity legally permitted to remove items from the famous ship's remains. 'This necklace is a powerful reminder that every artefact tells a personal story,' said Tomasina Ray, president and director of collections of RMS Titanic Inc. 'From the craftsmanship to the materials, it offers a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into the style, sentiment, and everyday life of Titanic's passengers. 'Our meticulous conservation efforts allow us to protect and share those stories with the world.' The newly conserved necklace was found and recovered in individual pieces and small fragments during an expedition back in 2000 – after nearly a century underwater. It was located in a 15-square-mile field of debris near what remains of the front half of the ship (the bow) and the back half (the stern). Researchers say it had to be carefully and painstakingly extracted from a hard, solid mass on the seafloor called a 'concretion'. This was formed from several objects being physically and chemically fused due to the environmental conditions and immense pressure about 12,500 feet deep. 'At first, there were lose beads, and then little bits of sting, and that sting led to more beads, until we slowly unwound fragments of this necklace that were still strung together,' said Ms Ray. 'Bead after bead led to another. It is a delicate survivor of a disaster, time and nature, but it speaks to human perseverance.' It's unclear whether there's any indication to whom the necklace belonged, but they likely perished in the tragedy. As bodies of the victims gradually disintegrated over the many decades, personal artefacts such as this one have been left behind. It gives the closest approximation of what it looked like around the neck of a victim of the Titanic tragedy that fateful night in 1912 Titanic: Basic facts Constructed by Belfast-based shipbuilders Harland and Wolff between 1909 and 1912, RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat of her time. Owned and operated by the White Star Line, the passenger vessel set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 10, 1912. On April 14, Titanic struck an iceberg at around 23:40 local time, generating six narrow openings in the vessel's starboard hull. The ship sank two hours and 40 minutes later, at 2:20am on April 15. An estimated 1,517 people died. There's also a chance the necklace belonged to one of the survivors, who somehow became separated from the object in the chaos. Experts claim the object gives a deeper understanding of the fashion of 1912, reflecting fashion trends and mourning customs of the time. In 1912, black jewelry was often made from materials like French jet, a type of glass popularized during the Victorian Era for both its style and symbolism. In the 25 years since being brought back to land, the necklace has been pieced together, studied and conserved at the RMS Titanic Inc recovery lab. It's now available for the public to view at the 'Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition' tourist attraction in Orlando, Florida, which has more than 300 artefacts, costumed actors, and full-scale recreations of Titanic's rooms. The exhibition is also home to the second-largest artefact ever recovered, a two-ton section of Titanic's starboard hull, appropriately called Little Piece. RMS Titanic Inc has now recovered more than 5,500 authentic artefacts over nine expeditions spanning nearly four decades. 'Each conservation effort reflects a deep commitment to honoring the lives lost and sharing their stories through Titanic's material legacy,' it said in a statement. The famous liner tragically sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912 after a collision with an iceberg, killing an estimated 1,517 of the 2,224 people on board. Titanic broke in half just before it made its final plunge in the early hours of April 15, 1912, and now two parts of the ship lie 2,600 feet apart. The stern is a twisted mess of metal after it hit the ocean floor still rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, while the V-shaped bow is more recognisable, complete with railings, although much of it is buried under mud due to the force of impact. Both halves are surrounded by a field of debris consisting of bits of metal, pieces of furniture, unopened champagne bottles and even passengers' shoes. The wreck wasn't located until September 1, 1985 – a discovery that made global headlines and regenerated interest in the disaster. Disaster in the Atlantic: How more than 1,500 lost their lives when the titanic sunk The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith. Some of the wealthiest people in the world were on board, including property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV, great grandson of John Jacob Astor, founder of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to his family's mining business, also perished, along with Isidor Straus, the German-born co-owner of Macy's department store, along with his loyal wife Ida. The ship was the largest afloat at the time and was designed in such a way that it was meant to be 'unsinkable'. It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first class cabins. There were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations. After leaving Southampton on April 10, 1912, Titanic called at Cherbourg in France and Queenstown in Ireland before heading to New York. On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm ship's time. James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him 'What do you see?' The man responded: 'Iceberg, dead ahead.' By 2.20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it. Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, arrived nearly two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water. It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor.
USA Today
16-05-2025
- General
- USA Today
Can't get enough of Titanic? How wreck site artifacts are found, preserved and displayed
Can't get enough of Titanic? How wreck site artifacts are found, preserved and displayed More than 113 years after it sank, the RMS Titanic haunts us like few other tragedies, to the point where many of us want to know every detail about the ship and that awful night on the North Atlantic in 1912. People who want to learn about the Titanic range from those with casual interest to deeply immersed Titaniacs, a term that connects Titanic and maniac. Physical items, including passenger belongings, have special appeal, says Tomasina Ray, president and director of collections of RMS Titanic Inc., which has exclusive salvage rights to the Titanic. Without them, 'most of those passengers would just be a statistic,' Ray says. 'We wouldn't know them or their stories. We wouldn't have any details about them.' USA TODAY asked RMS Titanic Inc. about items retrieved from the wreck site and prepared for display, including its most recent addition to the exhibit in Las Vegas. Here's what happens at the site of the disaster: Where – and how – Titanic sank Can't see our graphics? Click here to view them. The Titanic struck an iceberg at about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, and sank at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15. More than 1,500 passengers and crew died and about 700 were rescued. The ship broke in two behind the third of its four funnels as it was sinking. The two sections plunged 12,500 feet into the ocean floor and came to rest about 2,000 feet apart, in a debris field consisting of spilled coal and items ejected from the ship as it sank. RMS Titanic Inc. retrieves items only from the debris field, Ray says. 'We don't take anything off the ship itself,' she says. 'We don't want to accelerate deterioration or accidentally cause damage. The shipwreck itself, we do not touch. "We look for components that are easily recognizable and readable, so we can talk to the public about them and why they're important," Ray says. How are expeditions to Titanic conducted? The debris field is impressively large. 'It's about 3 miles by 5 miles and the biggest concentration of debris is around the stern because it had a more violent breakup,' Ray says. 'It actually imploded on its way down and sent its contents flying everywhere.' The Titanic broke apart behind its third funnel, which is 'where you've got the kitchens and most of the dining rooms,' Ray says. That's why many of the dishware and ceramics are on the seafloor near the stern section. RMS Titanic has conducted nine expeditions to the wreck site since 1987. The last was in 2024. "Seven of our expeditions have been for recovery," Ray says. "Two were for data collection." Expeditions can last "anywhere from a couple of weeks to a full month," Ray says. "One we just did was 20 days on site, but it takes four days to get out there and four days to get back." It takes about two hours to descend to the wreck site, and another two hours to return to the surface. Two types of submersibles are used: ◾ROVs: Remote-operated vehicles, submersibles controlled by ships on the surface. ◾HOVs: Human-operated vehicles, subs with human crews. With remote-operated vehicles, "you're running them as constantly as you can, back and forth over the wreck site, and you're using every moment of every day when you're doing recovery expeditions," Ray says. Submersibles with humans "don't spend as much time at the bottom, just because we're limited by human capacity and the transit time," she says. How deep is the Titanic? Boiler device is latest to be put on display The break was also in front of the engine room, which held the emblematic boilers of the Titanic. The boilers are important because 'they're how the shipwreck was first identified,' Ray says. When the Robert Ballard expedition discovered the wreck in 1985, 'they first found one of the boilers sitting in the debris field.' That let them know they'd found the Titanic. Though the boilers are too large to recover, RMS Titanic has retrieved and put on display two devices used for feeding coal into the boilers: ◾Kilroy stoking transmitter: Recovered in 1994, the transmitter was preserved and exhibited in Las Vegas on April 16, 2025. ◾Kilroy stoking indicator: Recovered in 1987, the indicator was unveiled in Las Vegas in June 2020. It's been part of other traveling exhibits periodically since 1994. The transmitter was connected to multiple indicators. They alerted crew members, known as stokers, when coal was needed in the boilers. It also powered the ship's lights, water pumps, and telegraph system. 'We're joining these two pieces that were recovered on completely different expeditions,' Ray says. 'They were not recovered near each other, but they were both in the debris field, around the stern.' Conservators put the 75-pound device through several processes, including desalination to remove salts absorbed by the metal over time. Workers removed corrosion and chemicals were applied to ease removal. Loose internal components were taken out and the device was coated with a clear sealant. The transmitter is part of the permanent display of Titanic exhibits at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, including what's called "The Big Piece," a 15-ton section of the ship's hull measuring 26 x 12 feet. Other RMS Titanic Inc. exhibits include a second permanent one in Orlando, Florida, and five touring exhibits in Boston; Jersey City, New Jersey; Wrocław, Poland; Barcelona and Bratislava, Slovakia. CONTRIBUTING Carlie Procell SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; RMS Titanic Inc; U.S. Naval Institute; Encyclopedia Titanica; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
