HEADLINE NEWS ARCHIVE 2009

The archive contains the headline and a small portion of the article itself. Obviously the full article is not reprinted here and the URL link will take you to the full article. However it is important to note that URL links go stale and the article no longer available to be read. Many newspapers and news agencies do have archives that can be accessed online. However please note they may charge a nominal fee to access the article you are seeking. In some cases the news source cited can only be accessed by subscription. This will be noted in the header for the article.

 

---

MAY

Last Titanic Survivor Dies At 97 (30 May 09, BBC News)
The last survivor of the sinking of the Titanic has died aged 97. Miss Dean, who remembered nothing of the fateful journey, passed away on Sunday at the care home in Hampshire where she lived, a friend told the BBC.

Remembering The Titanic (27 May 09, BBC Berkshire - UK)
A Crowthorne man has written a poem in memory of a member of his wife's family, who survived the sinking of the Titanic. Paddy Boyle was inspired to write his poem on Percival Blake, after a relative, shortly before her death, revealed for the first time some of the details of his connection to and survival of the Titanic disaster.
 
Titanic Voyage Is Trip Of A Lifetime (27 May 09,BirminghamMail.net - Birmingham,UK)
The Balmoral will leave Southampton in early April 2012 and sail close to Cherbourg before docking at Cobh, formerly called Queenstown, in Ireland, where the Titanic made its final port of call on April 11, 1912. There passengers can enjoy a Titanic heritage tour. The cruise will continue following the route of the RMS Titanic and arrive over the spot where the liner sank on April 14. Then there will be a special memorial ceremony between 11.40 pm when the ship hit the iceberg and 2.20 am on April 15.

Tribute To Titanic Family Among Festival's Floral Displays (26 May 09, This is Wiltshire.co.uk - Swindon,England,UK)
The theme of the festival was ‘helping hands’ and featured displays from the Royal British Legion, St John Ambulance, Melksham 60 Plus Club, FAB, Talking Newspapers and the town twining associations, among others. One striking design was inspired by the Titanic plaque in the church which commemorates a family that used to live in Canon Square and who died on board the Titanic.

Man Dies Exploring Wreckage Of Ship Off Greece (25 May 09, The Associated Press)
A member of a National Geographic team exploring the wreckage of Britannic, the Titanic's sister ship, in the Aegean Sea died of decompression sickness Sunday, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Carl Spencer, 37, was rushed to the Athens Naval Hospital in the afternoon after diving to film the wreckage of the Britannic, four miles (6 kilometers) off the island of Kea, southeast of Athens, the ministry said.
 
Titanic Display in Norris Arm (23 May 09, VOCM - St. John’s,NL,Canada)
It's only been open to the public for several days, but already the Titanic exhibit at the Fox Moth Museum in Norris Arm is attracting many visitors.  The exhibit is on loan from the Johnson Geo Centre and features a wide assortment of story boards detailing many aspects of the Titanic story.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition To Open At Science Museum of Minnesota(21 May 09, International Falls Daily Journal - International Falls,MN,USA)
On June 12, the Science Museum of Minnesota will open the doors of Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, an exhibition that features a spectacular collection of more than 250 authentic artifacts recovered from the haunting wreckage of the world-famous ocean liner.

Titanic Link To Lambeg Auction Item (21 May 09, Lisburn Today - Northern Ireland,UK)
Nearly 100 years after its launch the ill fated liner still holds a fascination and one of the highlights of the Lambeg sale will be a small wall mounted Vanity Unity with drawer, made with off-cuts from the ship. It was made by William Ernest Brownlee, a ship's carpenter who worked on the Titanic and lived in Maryville Street, the item has been in the Brownlee family's possession for almost 100 years. Passed down from William's mother to his wife, then to his daughter, sister and finally his niece, family members were always told it was 'titanic scrap'.

Great Granddaughter Of Titanic Survivor Has Titanic Wedding (20 May 09, Branson Courier - MO, United States)
The column goes on to say that when asked if she thought getting married around the artifacts from the disaster could be, as Vartanian herself put it, “A bad omen” she said, " Yes. I mean, the thing sank and more than 1,500 people died. It was a tragedy, an absolute tragedy that happened. The difference for my family is that it was ultimately about hope and freedom.” She continued, “For my family, it brought life.”

Finding Their Way: Marine Art Museum Exhibit Explores Early Navigation Tools (19 May 09, Winona Daily News - Winona,MN,USA)
Pieces on display from the Burrichter/Kierlin Collection include two early globes, an 1880 harbormaster telescope, a signal cannon, gimbaled lamps designed to keep candles upright during high winds and passport documents for ships signed by Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. Several pieces from an earlier Titanic exhibit are on display, including a model of the boat, telegraphs of its sinking and “Titanic Sunrise,” a commissioned painting by James A. Flood.

'In The Lifeboat, My Mother Found She Had Me But Not My Brother' (19 May 09, Irish Times - Dublin,Ireland)
But now Millvina’s future looks much rosier, after Don Mullan, an Irish author and photographer who was moved by her plight, successfully challenged the wealthy director and stars of the Titanic movie to help her out. Director James Cameron has given a one-off payment of $10,000 (€7,400), while actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio have together donated an initial $20,000 (€14,800). The pair say that “we are honoured to contribute to the Millvina Fund. Our hope is that others will feel inspired by Millvina Dean’s remarkable story of survival, and we hope she can rest easier in knowing that her future will become more secure through this fund.”

Titanic' Exhibit Sailing On From Museum Next Monday (17 May 09, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Milwaukee,WI,USA)
But there's more going on during the exhibit's final Milwaukee voyage. Titanic enactors, who portray actual passengers and crew members, will have expanded hours for their costumed meet-and-greets during this week: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday; and 2 to 7 p.m. next Monday. They'll be ready to reveal what actually happened aboard Titanic - who was saved and why.

Titanic Exhibition In Lisbon To Thrill Visitors (16 May 09, Portugal News - Lagoa,Algarve,Portugal)
Lisbon is to host a Titanic exhibition from Saturday until August, the ‘Titanic – The Artifact Exhibition’, showcasing several artefacts which were recovered from the shipwreck that took the lives of 1,500 people on April 15th 1912. Organised by RMS Titanic Inc, the company that holds the rights of the 5,000 plus recovered artefacts from the cruise ship that sank in the North Atlantic, the exhibition has been visited by over 18 million people in seventy cities worldwide. Now it has arrived in Lisbon, more precisely at the Rossio Station.

Mobile Museum To Show Titanic Items (12 May 09, Statesman Journal - Salem,OR,USA)
"Titanic: Treasures From the Deep," a new mobile museum featuring artifacts recovered from the wreck site of the Titanic, will appear Thursday through Sunday at Lancaster Mall. Admission will be free.
The tour will highlight the story of the Titanic, its passengers and efforts to preserve the ship's memory. It incorporates science and history to teach audiences about Titanic's fabled past and recent recovery efforts. 

Stars To The Rescue As Last Titanic Survivor Struggles To Stay Afloat (10 May 09, Irish Independent - Dublin,Ireland)
After a moving appeal by photographer Don Mullan in the Sunday Independent a number of Hollywood stars have come to the aid of the last survivor of the Titanic. The director and cast of the 1997 blockbuster film have made a "considerable donation" to secure the financial future of 98-year-old Millvina Dean who has had to resort to selling her autograph to pay her nursing home bills. The stars of the film on the 1912 tragedy which grossed over $1bn were deeply touched to hear of the last survivor's plight. Millvina Dean, the youngest passenger, who was just nine weeks old when carried onto the Titanic at Southampton, survived and is now living in Southampton, England. She needs money for her care.

Frozen In Time ... A Memory Of Titanic (9 May 09, The Sun - London,UK)
A pocket watch which stopped at the moment a doomed Titanic passenger jumped into the sea is up for sale. Swede Malkolm Johnson, 33, could not get on a lifeboat after the ship hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912. He flung himself into the Atlantic wearing a life jacket — but perished due to the cold. His body and possessions were recovered, with his watch stopped at 1.37am.

Premier Exhibitions Has $10M Annual Loss (7 May 09, Triangle Business Journal - Raleigh,NC,USA)
Premier Exhibitions Inc. sank to a loss in fiscal 2009, due to a decrease in revenue, higher cost of sales and general and administrative expenses, as well as higher depreciation and amortization. The Atlanta-based developer of touring museum-quality exhibits had a net loss of $10 million and a loss per share of 34 cents, compared with net income of $12.3 million and earnings of 37 cents a share in fiscal 2008. Revenue dropped 12.3 percent to $54 million The company's attendance levels at exhibitions declined due to the company's inability to locate and open new profitable exhibition venues and the impact of current economic conditions that significantly reduced consumer discretionary spending 

Divers' Museum Lets Public Plunge Into Sea's Past (2 May 09,The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Newark,NJ,USA)
The stories bring to life relics displayed in three rooms of a decaying complex in Wall Township that played a key role in the development of wireless communication in the early 1900s. Taken over by the military during World War I, the former Camp Evans was decommissioned in 1992 and today is the home of InfoAge Science and History Center, a coalition of nonprofit groups working to save the historic buildings. The complex was built in 1914 by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who developed the wireless communications designed for the maritime trade and used on the Titanic. Despite the 1,500 lives lost when the ship sank in 1912, the federal government attributed the 705 lives saved to the wireless device. In the aftermath of the Titanic disaster, all trans-Atlantic voyages were required to carry the technology, making Marconi a fortune he used to build the complex.

Cooper G/T Students Wrap Up Semester With Titanic Extravaganza (1 May 09, KCBD-TV - Lubbock,TX,USA)
The students of Lubbock Cooper's Gifted and Talented programs took their learning to the next level. Thursday night, they went on an educational romantic trip back in time. G/T students, their parents, and honored guests attended a recreation of the last first class dinner aboard the Titanic. Even Captain Smith joined passengers for the evening of music and fine dining.

---

APRIL
The Titanic Reading Program Is A 2009 Superstars In Education Winner (29 April 09, The News Journal - Wilmington,DE,USA)
Students discussed theories such as "Was the Titanic in fact designed for disaster?" "How much did it cost to travel as a first class passenger?" "Why were there only enough lifeboats for about half of the passengers?" "How does the US Coast Guard respond to ocean disasters today?" Several hundred people (students, parents, teachers, and administrators) were in attendance. Diane Wallace, creator of the Titanic Reading Program, and many students dressed in 1912 attire. H B DuPont Middle Earns “SuperStars in Education Award” HB duPont Middle won a “Superstars in Education’’ award from the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.

Titanic Explorer's Ashes Headed for Space (28 April 09, Space.com - USA)
The ashes of a Titanic shipwreck explorer are poised to launch into space on Saturday in a suborbital memorial service to blast off from New Mexico. A small portion of the cremated remains of Ralph White, a cinematographer who documented the 1985 expedition that discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic, will fly to suborbital space and back alongside the ashes of 15 other people when their SpaceLoft XL rocket launches from New Mexico's Spaceport America at about 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on May 2.

Cork Titanic Society Planning To Erect ‘Lost At Sea' Memorial (25 April 09, Southern Star - Cork,Ireland)
Cork Titanic Society is planning to erect a ‘Lost at Sea’ memorial in the inner harbour and is holding its annual commemoration for same at 12.15am Mass in the Church of the Holy Cross, Mahon, in Cork Harbour on Sunday, May 31, to which everyone is welcome. Details were outlined at a reception recently in City Hall attended by commander of the society, Frank O’Sullivan; his father, chairman and co-founder Tim O’Sullivan, Farranree; Basil Switzer and society president and city councillor Dave McCarthy.

Liverpool Gets Ready For Titanic 2012 Centenary(24 April 09, Liverpool Daily Post - Liverpool,England,UK)
With the centenary of Titanic’s sinking, after hitting an iceberg, just three years away, Liverpool today hosts a meeting of what are dubbed the Titanic Ports. These are seaports associated with what was the wonder of her age, the world’s largest manmade movable object. There will be representatives from Liverpool, obviously, and Belfast where she was built. Others will come from Southampton, which was her maiden port of departure. Joining them will be delegates from Cork, whose out-port, Cobh (then called Queenstown), was her last port of call. At a later date, it is hoped to bring in representation from Cherbourg (Titanic’s first port of call), New York (her unreached destination) and Halifax, Nova Scotia (where many of the dead are buried).

Surprises And Emotions Surface At Titanic Exhibit (24 April 09) Denver Post - Denver,CO,USA
So it's tempting to think you know all there is to know about the doomed liner, which sank on its maiden voyage 97 years ago this month. What possibly could be left to learn? Apparently, quite a bit. Over the next several days, RMS Titanic Inc., the sole entity that can legally recover objects from the site of the shipwreck, brings its mobile exhibit, "Titanic: Treasures From the Deep," to area history buffs.

Titanic Bag Handed Back (24 April 09, Wiltshire Times - UK)
London-based advertising agency director Trevor Beattie bid nearly £2,000 for the bag and then gave it back to 97-year-old Miss Dean, who sold the bag and other items at Aldridge’s sale of Titanic memorabilia to pay for her care at a residential home in Southampton. The last survivor of the Titanic disaster, she was a babe in arms when she and her mother left the stricken liner in the early hours of April 15 1912.

True Identity Of Titanic Victim (23 April 09, South Devon Herald Express - Torquay,England,UK)
Historian Mike Holgate has discovered the answer to a mystery surrounding the identity of a Torquay man who died on the Titanic. Despite the vast amount of research undertaken during the 98 years since the sinking of the Titanic, there remains a small number of the 2,200 passengers and crew about whom nothing is known. However, while looking through old newspapers at Torquay Library, Mike unearthed the intriguing tale of a man with two names.

Historian Brings Titanic To Life For Students (22 April 09, Winona Daily News - Winona,MN,USA)
One after another, the Arcadia Elementary School students showed Titanic historian Donald Lynch their “boarding passes.” Each bore the name of a RMS Titanic passenger, and as the first row of students filed out of the high school auditorium after Lynch’s presentation, he told each how that person had fared when the “unsinkable ship” sank on its maiden voyage April 15, 1912. “You’re dead. I’m sorry,” Lynch said to a shaggy-haired boy, who hung his head at the news. “You lived. Good for you,” he said to the next student, a pig-tailed girl who instantly cracked a big smile and let out a small whoop.

Titanic Aquatic At The Georgia Aquarium Extends Run (22 April 09, Duluth Weekly - Duluth,GA,USA)
Premier Exhibitions, Inc. today announced its new blockbuster attraction, Titanic: Aquatic at the Georgia Aquarium, will be extending its run through September 7, 2009, due to the overwhelming demand for tickets. To date, this wildly successful Exhibition has had more than 150,000 attendees during the first few months of the run.
 
Sale Fails To Bail Out Last Titanic Survivor  (20 April 09, CNN - USA)
The last living survivor of the Titanic earned only a small fraction of what auctioneers hoped to raise when she sold her final remaining mementos of the doomed ship to pay nursing home bills. Millvina Dean, 97, was trying to raise money so she can stay in the nursing home she prefers. The 17 items belonging to 97-year-old Millvina Dean sold for about $8,000 on Saturday, according to auctioneer Alan Aldridge -- not enough to pay for two months at her nursing home. Aldridge had earlier speculated the sale could raise up to $50,000 for her. But the bidder who bought the Dean item with the closest connection to the doomed voyage returned it to her after the sale, Aldridge said.

Press Release: WLM, Inc. Offers $40 Million for RMS Titanic, Inc (15 April 09, MSN Money)
G. Michael Harris, world renowned Titanic explorer, adventurer and one of the original founders of RMS Titanic, Inc., announces today that his company WLM, Inc. has made two offers totaling a combined Forty Million Dollars($40,000,000) to Premier Exhibitions as well as Sellers Capital, LLC, whose holdings include Contango Oil & Gas (MCF) and Premier Exhibitions (PRXI), for the right to enhance and expand RMS Titanic Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions (PRXI). WLM, Inc. offered Twenty Five Million Dollars($25,000,000) for an exclusive, multi-year management agreement of RMS Titanic, Inc which will include all touring, expedition and salvage rights to the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

Titanic Cruise To Mark Anniversary Of Ship's Fateful Voyage (14 April 09, Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom)
It will carry 1,309 passengers - the same number that sailed on the fateful voyage - on the same route as the Titanic, leaving Southmapton in early April 2012 before docking at the Irish port of Cobh (formerly Queenstown), where the Titanic made its final call on April 11, 1912. The cruise will continue to follow the route of the Titanic and, on April 14, it will arrive at the exact location the vessel sank some 100 years before, where there will be a special memorial ceremony between 11.40pm (when the ship hit the iceberg) and 2.20am on April 15 (when the ship sank).

Titanic Sank 87 Years Ago On This Date (14 April 09, MiamiHerald.com - Miami,FL,USA)
On April 14, 1912, the cruise liner, headed from England to New York, struck the iceberg. It took only 2 hours, 40 minutes for the 882-foot ship to be totally engulfed by the icy waters off the coast of Halifax. Killed were 1,517 people -- although initial news bulletins indicated that all passengers had been safely transported to other ships. What the newspapers did not know is that there were not enough lifeboats for the 2,228 onboard. There were only 20.

New Titanic Artifacts Unveiled At Halifax Museum (14 April 09,Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada)
A rosette fashioned from splintered pieces of the Titanic's grand staircase and a simple canvas bag used to transport one man's belongings to his grieving widow were unveiled Tuesday in Halifax, where 150 victims of the infamous maritime disaster are buried. The items, which were acquired in October from an auction in England, have been placed on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic – 97 years after the ill-fated luxury liner sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

They Survived Titanic: As Newlyweds, Sturgis Couple Got Spot On Lifeboat (14 April 09, MLive.com - MI,USA)
Their exploits are buried in the history books now, but Southwest Michigan residents were involved in the Titanic tragedy and its aftermath -- first through the Bishops, who were prominent witnesses in congressional hearings about the ship's demise, and then through U.S. Sen. William Alden Smith, of Michigan, a Dowagiac native who spearheaded those hearings.

Sci-Fi's 'Hunters' Investigates Ghostly Titanic Exhibit (14 April 09, The Detroit News - Detroit,MI,USA)
Visitors to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta -- the world's biggest "fish tank" -- can spend hours watching graceful beluga whales, a 9-foot-wide manta ray and the only whale sharks in captivity outside Asia. And some who explore the aquarium's special "Titanic" exhibit might even get glimpses of ghosts. In fact, so many volunteers stationed in the shipwreck exhibit reported ghostly encounters last fall that aquarium officials called in professional ghost-busters to investigate.

Titanic Collection Exhibit Opens Tuesday (13 April 09, Standard Freeholder - Cornwall,Ontario,Canada)
René Bergeron became enamored with the ship in the mid-1990s when he watched a black and white movie, A Night to Remember, which told of its sad tale. It didn't take long for his fascination to turn into a passion and soon he began collecting documents, objects and memorabilia surrounding the ship's history and its ill-fated voyage. Today, he has more than 1,000 pieces. Of these, he'll be showcasing about 300 during a special five-day exhibit at Bergeron Sleep Shop from April 14-18.

Tickets For Titanic Artifacts Exhibit At Science Museum Go On Sale (13 April 09, MinnPost.com - Minneapolis,MN,USA)
The exhibit, which will run June 12, 2009, to Jan. 3, 2010, will feature more than 250 artifacts that have been recovered from Titanic’s wreck site, detailed room re-creations, and a gallery devoted to Minnesota’s connections to the historic shipwreck. In addition, the exhibition’s run in Minnesota will feature the worldwide debut of artifacts from Carpathia, the ship that traveled 58 miles through the icy North Atlantic to respond to Titanic’s distress call.

A Family's Titanic Miracle Lives On (12 April 09, St. Louis Post-Dispatch - St. Louis,MO,USA)
In the book, "The Irish Aboard the Titanic," author Senan Molony wrote that Daly was a musician who played the bagpipes as the immigrants waited to board. These Irish immigrants were a lively bunch, and Daly knew the jigs and reels to which they danced. Did he play at the parties below the decks? Almost certainly.

Titanic's Last Port Of Call Honours Victims (11 April 09, Irish Independent - Dublin,Ireland)
The names of 79 victims who boarded the Titanic in Cobh -- which was then called Queenstown -- will be read out as part of the ceremony. The ceremony marks the 97th anniversary of the 1912 north Atlantic tragedy in which 1,503 people drowned and which ranks as one of the world's worst maritime disasters.

The Heroic Volunteers At Titanic’s Ice Field (11 April 09, TheChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada)
I suggest, however, that those worthy of greater kudos are the courageous volunteer body searchers of Mackay-Bennett’s crew. The fact is, without their heartfelt actions in connection with the unknown child they gently lifted into their cutter, the DNA examination would not have been possible. They defined the child as "the babe."

Rusty Key To Fetch £50000 At Titanic Auction (11 April 09, Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom)
The key was for the door of a staff stairwell which was opened so that the crew could start unloading the mail from the bowels of the ship. It belonged to Edmund Stone, 33, a first-class bedroom steward, who perished when the Titanic sunk. The brass tag on the key is engraved "SERVICE FORd 'E' DECK".

Ham Operators Saved Lives Aboard the Titanic (11 April 09, KSPR - Springfield,MO,USA)
But 706 survived, and maybe solely thanks to a Marconi radio used to signal for help. Saturday Ham radio operators everywhere flocked to the Titantic Museum in Branson to commemorate the brave acts of their predecessors, many who died sending an S.O.S. And it may surprise you, but this technology did not go down with the Titanic.

On Display ...Forgotten Painting Of The Titanic (10 April 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
A previously undiscovered image of the Titanic has gone on display at a Belfast gallery. An exhibition of one of Ulster's most famous watercolour painters, JW Carey, has opened at the Emer Gallery on the Antrim Road, showing 41 restored works including one of the doomed liner in Belfast docks. The paintings were completed between 1890 and 1935 and span much of Carey's life as an artist. One of the most sought after is Holywood Golf Links, painted in early 1912. In the background a four funnelled passenger liner — believed to be the Titanic, which was in the shipyard for the early part of that year — can clearly be seen. 

Sinking Titanic Sketch Found After 97 Years (9 April 09, The Sun - London,UK)
A mystery passenger or crewman on the doomed ship made the pastel drawing. It was given to Second Officer Charles Lightoller, an unsung naval hero and the last man rescued. Lightoller, then 28, famously ordered “women and children first” into the lifeboats. He kept the drawing until he died in 1952 — and it is now to be auctioned among his mementoes. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: “It shows the moment of sinking, with the stern hanging in the air and lifeboats rowing away.

COLUMN: Who Should Own The Titanic? (9 April 09, The Leader Newspapers - Lyndhurst,NJ,USA)
Since all of these countries were represented on the ship through their citizens, no one country should have ownership of the Titanic and its artifacts. But my head says establishing international ownership and security of the site will be a huge task. There are so many things to be considered, like the question of Ballard and RMS Titanic, Inc.’s legal rights to the site. And then there are questions  about how the various nations can share ownership of the site, protect it and procure and preserve its artifacts.

Bringing Titanic, Heritage To Town (9 April 09, Arcadia News Leader - Arcadia,WI,USA)
Last fall, a man by the name of Don Lynch made a phone call to the Arcadia Public Library looking for information on his ancestors. The woman at the other end of the phone, library assistant Jennifer Losinski, immediately recognized the names of the family Lynch was looking for: Isadore Gaveney, one of his more prominent ancestors, was instrumental in organizing Arcadia’s Carnegie Library and is depicted in a portrait on the library wall. Losinski soon realized that Lynch is a fourth generation Gaveney, descendent of some of the most influential men and women in this area, including one of Trempealeau County’s pioneers, James Gaveney. But when Lynch came to visit the city, Arcadia Historical Society treasurer, Carol Berklund, discovered Lynch’s ancestors aren’t the only captivating members of his family. Lynch himself, as Berklund learned during a tour she gave him of our city, is a well-known Titanic historian who has collaborated on many important Titanic projects--including the making of the famous James Cameron movie.

What Did Molly Brown Eat At The Last Dinner On The Titanic? (8 April 09, Examiner.com - USA)
It is possible to recreate the last dinner on the Titanic in the modern kitchen, thanks largely to Rick Archbold and Dana McCauley, authors of Last Dinner on the Titanic. Not up for preparing a First Class eleven course dinner for eight? You can still observe that fateful day in April by visiting the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver and making this one pot dinner from the Titanic’s Third Class tea menu.

Titanic To Live Again…In Lapland? (7 April 09, IceNews - Reykjavik,Iceland)
Sukari is now working on this new venture to build another shopping centre in the small village of Kiiminki, around 630km north of Helsinki. Although he could not tell the exact dimensions of the Titanic replica, the original was 269 metres long, 28 metres wide and 53 metres high. “It could have a hotel and a number of restaurants inside,” Sukari commented to the AFP, adding that the cost would run between 30 and 40 million euros. He plans to make the new Titanic as true to the original as possible. “I am sure Japanese tourists, who go skiing in Lapland, would be interested to see it,” he said. If everything goes to plan, construction on the ship will begin later this year and be ready for customers by November 2011.

Titanic Disaster’s Last Survivor Meets Enthusiasts (6 April 09, Southern Daily Echo - Southampton,England,UK)
The last remaining survivor of the disaster made a guest appearance for visitors who had travelled from as far afield as the US to the Holiday Inn to mark how the “unsinkable ship” struck an iceberg and sank in the north Atlantic, taking 1,523 people with her, in April 1912. Millvina, 97, who lives in Ashurst in the New Forest, chatted to visitors and exhibitors alike as she made her way round the displays. Three function rooms housed dozens of stalls displaying hundreds of artefacts salvaged from Titanic.

Sea City Museum Could Help Put Southampton On The Map (5 April 09, Southern Daily Echo - Southampton,England,UK)
The £28m Titanic museum, which has a working title of Sea City Museum, has been described as the single most important development in the city for a generation. It will include a climb-aboard replica of the doomed liner and visitors will experience life from the perspective of the crew, many of whom were from Southampton. They will relive the day the liner left Southampton’s docks, to life on board and the subsequent inquiry and discovery of the wreckage.

Centenary Tribute To Titanic Builders (1 April 09, Belfast Telegraph - UK)
The centenary of work beginning on RMS Titanic has been marked by a symbolic keel laying ceremony at Titanic Quarter. John M Andrews, great-nephew of Titanic designer Thomas Andrews and president of Belfast Titanic Society, unveiled a memorial plaque on a replica keel plate which has been erected on the exact spot on the Titanic slipway where construction began in 1909. One hundred years to the day since work began on the world’s most famous ship, the historic event was attended by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Tom Hartley, and a range of Titanic enthusiasts, including two members of the South African Titanic Society who travelled from Cape Town especially for the event.

---

MARCH
Treasures From Titanic's Rescue Ship To Visit (31 Mar 09, Minneapolis Star Tribune - Minneapolis,MN,USA)
Artifacts from the ship that responded to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 will make their worldwide debut at the Science Museum of Minnesota in June, officials for the St. Paul museum announced Tuesday. The items are from the RMS Carpathia, the vessel that came to the rescue of the Titanic's many hundreds of passengers and crew in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.

Titanic Museum To Open In Southampton By 2012 (31 Mar 09, guardian.co.uk - UK)
There have been several films and myriad books and documentaries, Belfast has its Titanic quarter around the docks where she was built - and now Southampton, the city which provided most of the crew, is planning its own interactive museum, to open in time for the centenary in 2012. John Hannides, the city councillor responsible for culture and heritage, was yesterday predicting hundreds of thousands of visitors: "Southampton was the home of the Titanic, so it is only fitting that we tell our story. The impact was felt right across the world, but nowhere more so than here. I don't think we're competing with Belfast. We've not been in close contact with them, but the two experiences are not mutually exclusive."

Father's Titanic Heroics Revealed (26 Mar 09, BBC News - UK)
The story of a father's final act of love towards his family as the Titanic sank has been revealed. Arthur West scrambled down the rope of a rescue boat to give his wife and two daughters a flask of hot milk before returning to the deck, and his fate. The 36-year-old's act of bravery was revealed in an account written by his wife, Ada, which is being auctioned next month with the flask and letters. The items could fetch up to £60,000 at the sale in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Titanic Exhibit is a Huge Hit, Drawing Big Crowds (25 Mar 09, KPVI-TV - Pocatello,ID,USA)
Titanic opened 21 days ago and on average, sees 800 to 1,000 people per day, and on weekends, as many as 2,000 a day. Kelsey Salsbery with the Museum of Idaho says every hour the doors are open people are lining up to see this bit of history. Kelsey Salsbery: "We are actually very pleased with the numbers of people coming from farther away. Usually when we open we have lots of local crowd, but we are seeing people from Pocatello, 60 miles, 100 miles away from Idaho Falls and that's a great thing for tourism here in Idaho Falls."

Finnish Tycoon To Build 30 Mln(Euro) Titanic Mockup (24 Mar 09, Newsroom Finland - Helsinki,Finland)
Toivo Sukari, a Finnish businessman, intends to have a full-scale model of the RMS Titanic with a pricetag of about 30 million euros erected adjacent to his shopping centre to be built in rural Kiiminki, local freesheet Forum24 reported on Tuesday. The paper quoted Mr Sukari as saying that a life-size copy of the liner that sank in the northern Atlantic in 1912 would attract tourists and shoppers from across the world.

Fate Of Titanic, Its Treasures In Us Judge's Hands (24 Mar 09, The Associated Press)
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, a maritime jurist who considers the wreck an "international treasure," is expected to rule within weeks that the salvaged items must remain together and accessible to the public. That would ensure the 5,900 pieces of china, ship fittings and personal belongings won't end up in a collector's hands or in a London auction house, where some Titanic artifacts have landed. The judgment could also end the legal tussle that began when a team of deep-sea explorers found the world's most famous shipwreck in 1985.

Titanic Dinner Breathes Life Into Braund Story (20 Mar 09, Dunnville Chronicle - ON, Canada)
The 29-year-old farm labourer and his brother Owen along with Jim, four cousins and their neighbour Susan Webber travelled from Bridgerule, England to Liverpool. Lewis purchased ticket number 3460 for the maiden voyage of the Titanic according to the Encyclopedia Titanica website. All but Webber travelled third class in the largest and the fastest ship of that time. (Note to Danville Chronicle-RMS Titanic was not the fastest ship of that time!-ed)

Exploring The Cornish Links To Titanic Tragedy (9 Mar 09, Cornish Guardian - Truro,England,UK)
A major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall puts that right, with wonderful stories and amazing artefacts linked to the famous ship, some of which turned up at virtually the last minute. A recording of a mother from Penzance who was saved with her two infants, but lost her brother, an amazing love which ended in tragedy, the stories of people who drowned on that fateful night, the memories of those who lived, a pocket watch stopped at the time it sank beneath the waves, photographs, books, old newspaper features, even a little teddy bear which survived – this is an amazing exhibition which has to be seen.

Titanic Irish Festival Enhances An Already Great Experience (7 Mar 09, Branson Courier - MO, United States)
This year, for the entire month of March, the museum is celebrating “Titanic Honors the Irish” an event dedicated to the Irish involvement with the RMS Titanic from its building and routing to the composition of its crew and passengers on its fateful voyage. As one would expect, the event will have Irish music and a few other surprises, but what one would not expect is the integration of “new” Irish crew members and passengers in a manner that, while sharing the basic Titanic experience, does it from such a completely different perspective, that it’s an entirely different exciting experience.

First The Titanic Exhibition Now The Lecture (6 Mar 09, Falmouth Penryn Packet - Falmouth,UK)
Following the successful launch of their new Titanic Honour and Glory exhibition last night, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall is offering visitors the chance to discover more about the Titanic, with a lecture on the March 18. Join Sean Szmalc, the owner of the Titanic Honour and Glory touring exhibition, will explore the history of the White Star line. Learn more about the mechanics and machinery of the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic and immerse yourself in the artefacts and personal stories featured in this massively successful touring exhibition.

Titanic Exhibit is a Big Hit Among Visitors (5 Mar 09, KPVI-TV - Pocatello,ID,USA)
After months of anticipation, "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" opened to the public Thursday. Those who saw it on the first day are giving it a giant thumbs up. Museum of Idaho Executive Director David Pennock says that when the doors opened Thursday morning, there was a crowd waiting outside. Pennock says there was a steady stream of visitors, and he expects this weekend to be even busier. We talked with some of the people who made it on the first day. Everyone we talked to says it's a must see.

Waukesha Student Wins Titanic Poetry Contest (5 Mar 09, Greater Milwaukee Today - WI, USA)
Heyer Elementary School sixth-grader Trevor Monasterio doesn’t consider himself much of a writer, but he does love history. However, when he saw the Titanic exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, he found his muse and unleashed his hidden poetry talents. "It’s amazing to think about all the people who died there and to see the artifacts they brought up from the ship," he said. "And you could feel the iceberg and find out if you lived or died on the ship, and it was just an amazing thing."

Offices Where Titanic Plans Were Drawn Could Be A Hotel (5 Mar 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Developers behind the controversial Titanic Quarter project are considering turning the historic drawing rooms — where the liner was designed — into a hotel, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today. Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks over what exactly the company plans to do with the listed administration building after two applications were lodged with the Planning Service in January to change the use of the old Harland and Wolff offices.

---

FEBRUARY

Museum of Idaho Prepares for New Titanic Exhibit (27 Feb 09, KPVI-TV - Pocatello,ID,USA)
There are only six other titanic exhibits around the world. The most unique piece at the Museum of Idaho will be pieces of the grand staircase -- made famous in the blockbuster movie "Titanic." The woman who cares for the delicate items says her favorite piece is one of the main chandeliers.

Voyage To Doomed Titanic An Emotional Trip For Diver (26 Feb 09, Brick Township Bulletin - NJ, United States)
And it wasn't just the sight of the bow of the massive, doomed liner far down on the ocean floor in the North Atlantic that got to him. It was the debris field. Dozens of square miles of wreckage of twisted steel, bedsteads, wine bottles, toilets, plates, coffee cups and hundreds of other items once used by the people who perished on the ship. Kohler saw a lot of things, but a few stand out. A perfectly matched pair of high-top shoes. The shoes lay on their sides. They were still laced, he said. "That was a person that fell to the sea floor," he said. "This was where someone died."

The Titanic Rises (25 Feb 09, Rogers Hometown News - Rogers,AR,USA)
The Rogers Public Library is proud to exhibit a faithfully detailed model of the famous steamship Titanic, in cooperation with the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson, Mo.  In conjunction with the display, the library will be highlighting Titanic-related photographs, posters and other materials in the collection.

As Time Stood Still, A Titanic Tragedy (25 Feb 09, Oneindia - Tamilnadu,India)
The time stood still for the newly wed couple as they embraced the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic when Titanic struck the iceberg. The traditional timepiece that belonged to the couple will be displayed for the first time at an exhibition held at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. The newly weds John Chapman, 37, and his bride Lizzie, 29, lost their lives on April 15 1912 as Titanic sank. Lizzi was offered a lifeboat, but refused to go as her husband was meant to stay on board. At that time she turned to her friend Emily Richards to say the final goodbye.

Country Financial Announces National Schedule for 'Titanic: Treasures From The Deep' Mobile Museum Tour (25 Feb 09, PR Newswire (press release) - New York,NY,USA)
Country Financial announced today the locations which will have the unprecedented opportunity to experience the story of the world's most famous ship. Titanic: Treasures from the Deep, a new mobile museum, will make 18 U.S. stops from April 2 to July 26, 2009. As presenting sponsor, COUNTRY Financial is making the Exhibition available at no cost to those who attend. "People in these communities will be among the first in the world to see this extraordinary new mobile museum," says Doyle Williams, chief marketing officer for COUNTRY. "In light of the tough economic times, this free family event is our way of building our brand while giving back to these communities in an innovative and engaging manner."

Most Expensive Letter From Titanic-World Record Set By Spink Smythe (23 Feb 09, World Records Academy - Miami,FL,USA)
A letter, dated April 10, 1912, from a first class passenger onboard the Titanic (written by passenger George Graham of Harriston of Canada, a sales manager for the Eaton's department store company, to a business colleague in Berlin, Germany) was sold at auction by Spink Smythe in New York City for $16,100-setting the world record for the Most expensive letter from Titanic.

Chertsey Author's Latest Book Is A Titanic Effort (23 Feb 09, The Surrey Herald - Surrey,England,UK)
The last living survivor of the Titanic is the subject of a Chertsey teacher's second book. Anthony Cunningham, 35, of Windsor Street, Chertsey, penned 'Titanic, The Last Survivor,' after meeting Millvina Dean, who was a nine week old baby on board the fated ship when it sank. Anthony, an English and history teacher at Thomas Kynvett College, in Stanwell Road, Ashford, met Millvina 10 years ago while writing his first book, 'Titanic Diaries', about people who survived disasters.

A Piece Of Titanic Becomes A Work Of Art (19 Feb 09, Gulf Times - Doha,Qatar)
The designer, who was in the news a year ago for making a watch using the steel from the Titanic ship, which sank close to a century ago in the Atlantic, now claims he has modified it further to add more uniqueness to the latest piece, which he calls “Titanic-DNA by Cabestan”. The designer said it has been created as a tribute to the five oceans. The Titanic-DNA by Cabestan, says Arpa, is the result of more than three years of meticulous planning and execution. The designer said his collaboration with Jean Francois Ruchonnet, whom he described as a visionary, has resulted in the making of this piece, using the rust iron of the legendary vessel.

Falmouth Hosts Titanic Exhibition And Springs A Few Surprises (16 Feb 09, Falmouth Penryn Packet - Falmouth,UK)
An exhibition in Falmouth next month promises to attract unprecedented interest – it is about the Titantic.
“When developing and researching an exhibition, you never can be quite sure what artefacts and stories will be revealed and available to portray within that exhibition,” said a museum official. “A museum always hopes to unearth something that has never been seen before or some incredible historical fact, but to discover seven stories with accompanying objects which have never been on public display before in association with one of history’s most tragic disasters is more than most museums could ask for.”

Titanic Exhibit Immerses Visitors (8 Feb 09, Myrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle Beach,SC,USA)
After 96 years, eight film treatments and an ungodly number of books - close to 50,000 titles are available via Amazon - is there anything you could get out of going to an exhibition about the Titanic? At the Georgia Aquarium, yes. You can get close enough to know the cold the crew and passengers felt in the north Atlantic after the ocean liner - the largest ship afloat - sank April 14-15, 1912, on its maiden voyage. More than 1,500 died. Visitors are close enough to re-created shipboard scenes to be aware of the class distinctions of that time. The 11-story, $7.5 million Titanic was a microcosm of the Industrial Age, carrying millionaires and impoverished immigrants alike from Europe to America.

Titanic Sale Survivor Sells Memorabilia (6 Feb 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Titanic survivor Millvina Dean is to put up more of her family memorabilia for auction to raise money to pay for her nursing home fees. In an interview with Ronan Corrigan from the Nomadic Charitable Trust, the 96-year-old woman revealed that she has another 17 items available to put on the market and will be auctioning some of them at Devizes in Southampton next month. The last remaining Titanic survivor raised £32,000 when she auctioned seven items recently, including a letter of compensation sent to her mother after the 1912 tragedy. This was bought by the Trust to display on the SS Nomadic when it has been restored.

Jordanstown Man Visits Last Titanic Survivor (4 Feb 09, Newtownabbey Today - Newtownabbey,UK)
Jordanstown man Ronan Corrigan has paid a visit to the last remaining survivor of the Titanic disaster, 97-year-old Millvina Dean. Mr Corrigan's visit was on behalf of Nomadic Charitable Trust, the group set up to fundraise for and oversee the restoration of SS Nomadic, Titanic's tender ship. It was arranged after the Trust successfully bid for a letter of Miss Dean's at auction last year when she was selling personal items to help cover the cost of her nursing home fees. Dated February 24, 1913, the letter from the Titanic Relief Fund, informed Mrs E. G. Dean, Millvina's mother, that she would be awarded an allowance of £1-7s-6p per week for her two children.

Wreck Of HMS Victory Found In English Channel (3 Feb 09, Los Angeles Times - CA,USA)
In a news conference Monday in London, Greg Stemm, chief executive of Odyssey Marine Exploration in Tampa, Fla., said the company found the remains in 330 feet of water more than 60 miles from where the vessel was thought to have sunk -- exonerating the captain, Sir John Balchin, from the widespread accusation that he had let it run aground through faulty navigation. "This is the naval equivalent of the Titanic, perhaps even more important than the Titanic," said marine archaeologist Sean Kingsley, director of Wreck Watch International, who consulted with Odyssey on the find. "It's the only intact collection of bronze guns from a Royal Navy warship in the world." The ship, he added in a telephone interview, "was the equivalent in its day of an aircraft carrier armed with nuclear weapons. . . . When it disappeared off the face of the Earth, there was a collective gasp in the establishment and the general public."

Who Knew? Gospel Songs About The Titanic (1 Feb 09, Boston Globe - United States)
One song particularly struck me -- their cover of a Bessie Jones adaptation of a gospel song about the sinking of the Titanic. I had no idea that there was a set of religious songs about the Titanic, but, sure enough, the Encyclopedia of the Blues details (under the heading "Accidental Disasters") a number of songs about the Titanic, often with moralizing lyrics.

---

JANUARY

Titantic Exhibit Takes Visitors To The Bottom Of The Ocean (31 Jan 09, Gaston Gazette - Gastonia,NC,USA)
As I continued to walk through the Titanic exhibit, I heard symphony music playing - a huge contrast from the eerie creaking sounds that was heard as I walked through the replicated hallway of a sinking ship. The irony of the upcoming doom was obviously unknown to first class passenger, Lady Lucille Duff-Gordon, who was quoted, "Fancy strawberries in April and in mid-ocean. The whole thing is positively uncanny. Why, you would think you were at the Ritz."

Grisly Titanic Ornament Fetches £220 (30 Jan 09,This is Nottingham - Nottingham,England,UK)
Rare ornament commemorating the sinking of RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage has fetched £220 at auction. Auctioneer Charles Hanson said the Edwardians "had a sinister way of celebrating disasters".
The shell-encased ornament, inset with shells evocative of the seabed and the resting place of the ship, was owned by an Arnold woman.

Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Recognizes the Election of Four New Shareholders (30 Jan 09, GlobeNewsWire (press release) - Los Angeles,CA,USA)
Premier Exhibitions, Inc. (Premier) (Nasdaq:PRXI) today announced that its Board of Directors has recognized the election of four new directors to its Board -- William M. Adams, Christopher J. Davino, Jack Jacobs and Bruce Steinberg -- in connection with the consent solicitation of Sellers Capital LLC, Premier's largest shareholder. Premier's newly constituted Board, at a meeting on January 28, 2009, terminated CEO Arnie Geller and appointed Mr. Davino as Premier's Interim CEO. Mr. Davino has substantial turnaround experience and is currently a Principal and Head of the Corporate Rescue Group of XRoads Solutions Group, LLC, a corporate restructuring management consulting company. Premier's Board currently anticipates that Mr. Davino will serve as Interim CEO for a period of at least four months.

Titanic Discoverer Speaks At UTPA (28 Jan 09, Monitor - McAllen,TX,USA)
Although Ballard and his team have explored much of the oceans, they and other scientists have seen just a fraction of what lies below. "We have better maps of Mars than we have of Earth," he said. It will be up to future generations to explore and discover the mysteries of the deep, Ballard said. "Your generation will be exploring more (of the) Earth than the last three generations combined," he said. After finding the remains of the Titanic, Ballard said he received about 16,000 letters from children asking him what they needed to do to become explorers like him and if they could join him on his next trip. Ballard, who also taught oceanography and related courses at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it got to a point where none of the students he was teaching were from the United States, because so many international students were meeting the admissions standards for those programs.
 
Titanic's ‘Little Sister’, Nomadic, May Be Shipshape For Summer (26 Jan 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Titanic's ‘little sister’ could be opened to the public during the Tall Ships festival in August, according to the team behind her restoration. There is no completion date yet for the refurbishment of SS Nomadic's new home at Hamilton Dock, but Nomadic Charitable Trust says it hopes the work will finish during the summer. “If this is the case, the trust hopes to be in a position to re-open Nomadic’s gangway to the public for the duration of the Tall Ships Festival in August,” a spokesperson said.

American Researchers Dispute Claims of 'Polite' Titanic Victims (22 Jan 09, FOXNews - USA)
"It sounds like post-modern revisionist history," said Karen Kamuda of the Massachusetts-based Titanic Historical Society. "To say that Americans act a certain way and the British act a certain way is racist." Ithaca College social sciences librarian John R. Henderson, who compiled a comprehensive report on the Titanic, suggests that the percentage of casualties on the ship was based more on social status than race. The ship had been divided into three classes based on wealth.

More Britons Than Americans Died On Titanic 'Because They Queued' (21 Jan 09, Independent - London,England,UK)
David Savage, a behavioural economist at the Queensland University of Technology, studied four 20th-century maritime disasters to determine how people react in life and death situations. He concluded that, on the whole, behaviour is influenced by altruism and social norms, rather than a "survival of the fittest" mentality. However, on the Titanic he noted Americans were 8.5 per cent more likely to survive than other nationalities, while British passengers were 7 per cent less likely to survive. "The only things I can put that down to are: there would have been very few Americans in steerage or third class; and the British tend to be very polite and queue."

Historic Home Of Titanic Shipyard Founder Razed To The Ground(20 Jan 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
Residents last night spoke of their “absolute shock” after the historical homes of Gustav Wolff — of Harland and Wolff fame — which they fought to save, were demolished. The two 19th century cottages in east Belfast were last summer spot listed by the Environmental Heritage Service (EHS) after a campaign was launched to prevent their destruction. Hundreds of letters, emails and phonecalls were made by the group of the Palmerston Residents' Association in the nine-month battle. But yesterday Terry Hoey, chairman of Palmerston Residents' Association, found the two unique cottages in the Station Road area had been razed to the ground.

Sellers Capital Gains Majority Of Premier Shareholder Support (19 Jan 09, Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA)
Sellers Capital LLC claimed Monday it is closer to getting control over Premiere Exhibitions Inc.’s board. Chicago-based Sellers Capital, which is Premier Exhibitions’ biggest shareholder with 16 percent of company shares, said it has sufficient consents to elect its four nominees to Premier's board of directors. It said it has already received consents from shareholders representing 52 percent of Atlanta-based Premier's outstanding shares. Sellers Capital claims Premier founder and CEO Arnie Geller has mismanaged the company causing a precipitous drop in revenues and stock price, all while taking an exorbitant salary for himself. Premier reported a net loss of $1.8 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared to a profit of $2.7 million during the same quarter in 2007. Its revenues for the quarter fell to $13.5 million from $16.7 million.

Titanic Letter Nets $14,000 US At Auction (19 Jan 09, Vancouver Sun - British Columbia, Canada)
A letter written aboard the Titanic by George Graham, a T. Eaton Co. Ltd., department store buyer from Winnipeg who died in the sinking, sold at auction in New York on Friday for $14,000 US. The price was well above the anticipated $10,000 US pre-sale price that had been anticipated by the Spinks Smythe auction house, suggesting that in spite of tough economic times, there is still a collectors market for Titanic memorabilia as the 2012 centennial of the disaster approaches.

Premier Exhibitions CFO Resigns (13 Jan 09, Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA)
Premier Exhibitions Inc. Chief Financial Officer Harold W. Ingalls resigned Jan. 10, according to a Securities and Exchange filing Tuesday. Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions (NASDAQ: PRXI) saw its revenues dive 20 percent in the third quarter as attendance to many of its shows faltered. Premier reported a net loss of $1.8 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared to a profit of $2.7 million during the same quarter in 2007. Its revenues for the quarter fell to $13.5 million from $16.7 million. Chicago-based Sellers Capital LLC, which owns a 16 percent stake in Premier Exhibitions Inc., wants Premier founder and CEO Arnie Geller out and it’s forcing a vote among shareholders to appoint four new members to the company’s board at its 2009 annual meeting.

The Titanic Survivor's Daughter (13 Jan 09, Baristanet - Montclair,NJ,USA)
The news that Hortense Bader-Wood, a retired Pennsylvania schoolteacher, died at 99 would seem to have no local resonance. Except that she was the daughter of a famous jeweler and Titanic survivor, Henry Blank, and grew up in a house in Glen Ridge. That house, at the corner of Ridgewood Ave. and Washington St., also happens to be the former home of RE/MAX agent Sam Joseph, whose connection with the Blank house is so strong that he had the "cress arrow" mark associated with Blank's jewelry company tattooed on his left calf.

Milton S. Hershey's Link To Titanic Highlights Exhibit (11 Jan 09, PennLive.com - Harrisburg,PA,USA)
Despite the hefty deposit Hershey placed on the doomed ship, he never stepped foot on the Titanic. An employee at his company requested that he return early from a trip in Europe to deal with business. Hershey abandoned his original plans and left Europe three days earlier on a ship dubbed The America. The ship made it back to the United States without incident. 

Letter Written By Canadian Aboard Titanic Expected To Fetch $10000 (10 Jan 09,
Globe and Mail - Canada)
Next Friday, Graham will be briefly recalled when auction house Spink Smythe puts up for sale a two-page letter he wrote to a German colleague on Titanic stationery and mailed before the ship set sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912. The letter is one of two written aboard Titanic being sold in Spink Smythe's New York saleroom and online as part of its January Collector's Series Sale. The other letter was penned by Adolf Saalfeld, a perfumer who survived the disaster.

Nomadic At 'Crucial' Repair Stage (9 Jan 09, BBC News - UK)
Work to restore a ship that ferried passengers to the Titanic has entered a "crucial" stage, according to the organisation overseeing the project. A team of engineers will look at how the SS Nomadic can be restored and become a tourist attraction in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Denis Rooney, of the Nomadic Charitable Trust, said the work could take six months. "The result will be a clear framework of how it will be restored," he said.

Premier Bashes Back At Insurgent Shareholder (7 Jan 09, Forbes - NY,USA)
Premier Exhibitions’ largest shareholder thinks the touring exhibition operator's finances may soon be in as bad shape as the dead bodies it displays. On Wednesday, Premier Exhibitions, which is responsible for Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition and Bodies, continued its war of words with Sellers Capital, which holds a 16.3% stake in the company. Sellers is seeking shareholder support to place a slate of four new directors on the board and to kick Premier Chief Executive ArnieGellerArnie Geller to the curb. Premier warned shareholders Wednesday that Sellers' intention is to take over senior management to advance its own interests over that of other investors.

Premier Exhibitions Posts 3Q Loss On Falling Attendance (6 Jan 09, Bizjournals.com - Charlotte,NC,USA)
Premier Exhibitions Inc., mired in a shareholder fight for control of the company, saw its revenues dive 20 percent in the third quarter as attendance to many of its shows faltered, according to earnings reported late Tuesday. Atlanta-based Premier, which currently is showing Bodies: The Exhibition and Dialog in the Dark in Atlantic Station and Titanic Aquatic at Georgia Aquarium, said the worsening economy will force it to “immediately” cut costs across all departments. Premier reported a net loss of $1.8 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared to a profit of $2.7 million during the same quarter in 2007. Its revenues for the quarter fell to $13.5 million from $16.7 million

---