Titanic – The Artifact Exhibition

Over the summer the Royal BC Museum, an outstanding and one of my favorite museums, hosted Titanic – The Artifact Exhibition. Unfortunately as I write this it has already left my locale area but there are many showings scheduled throughout Canada and the United States. Our busy summer schedule of guiding and instructing prevented us from seeing it any sooner then during its closing weekend.

We’ve certainly had some blustery weather already this fall, but as we boarded the M.V. COHO for the 90 minute ride over to Victoria, the weather was picture perfect with calm seas, sunshine, and a light breeze. Victoria is a beautiful city, but I never really noticed how many hardwood trees grow in the city until we pulled in the harbor, to see an explosion of orange, red and a dozen shades of yellow splashed everywhere. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the city more beautiful; it had a fairly tale feel.

The museum was packed with guests, but it only slightly diminished from the artifacts on display. There’s a sense of awe, and as any student of the events of that night will attest to, a certain sense of despondency while viewing this collection. There are many fixtures from the ship itself that you can view, but nothing compares to the emotional impact of viewing the personal items; children’s marbles, a boot, or a steward’s jacket worn by thirty-year-old Athol Broome.

There has been some controversy over the salvaging of the R.M.S Titanic; with no louder a proponent then the discoverer Dr. Robert Ballard, and I would agree that it’s become, sadly, a bit of a circus on site, (a couple even traveled down to its resting place for their wedding ceremony). However, one of the purpose of archeology is to preserve the past for future generations, and in this case, as one who can’t afford to hire the Mir-1 to travel 2.5 miles down to the actual site, I appreciated the opportunity to view some of the artifacts from such a historical maritime event.