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.

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DECEMBER

Docking In Pigeon Forge: Titanic Museum Set To Open In April (21 Dec 09, Maryville Daily Times)
Titanic Pigeon Forge, an interactive museum meant as a tribute to the 2,208 passengers and crew aboard that fateful ship, is set to open in April 2010. Modeled after one in Branson, Mo. that opened three years ago, this attraction is the creation of John Joslyn and wife Mary Kellogg-Joslyn who are now splitting time between both cities as they prepare to set sail with this $25 million project.

Titanic Artifacts Exhibit An Amazing Adventure (19 Dec 09, Charleston Gazette)
The exhibit is quite extensive, so allow 1 1/2 to two hours for it if you really want to take it all in and read all the informational signs. It is in Las Vegas until 2018, so there's plenty of time to see it. I strongly recommend doing so. If you can't make the trip out west, though, you have two options to see similar versions closer to home. One is at the Louisville (Ky.) Science Center until Feb. 15, and the other is at COSI in Columbus, Ohio, from March 27 to Sept. 6. The main difference with these exhibits is that there is no "big piece" in them. But the Columbus exhibit includes costumed characters, and at Louisville, you can also watch James Cameron's large-format film "Ghosts of the Abyss."

First Look Inside England's New Titanic Museum (18 Dec 09, USA Today)
The final plans for Southampton's £15m Sea City Museum can today be exclusively unveiled. The museum, which will reshape the city's Civic Centre forever, is expected to attract 150,000 visitors a year. The Daily Echo can reveal a dramatic cruise-liner inspired extension which will be the largest museum display area in Hampshire. Known as "The Pavilion", Southampton City Council hopes it will bring international blockbuster exhibitions to the city for the first time. The old magistrates' courts will be transformed into two permanent exhibitions, titled "Southampton's Titanic Story" and "Gateway to the World."

Titanic Exhibition Attempts To Recreate Experience Of Being On Doomed Ship (17 Dec 09, Belfast Telegraph)
‘Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition’, which opens to the public at the Citywest Event Centre in Dublin on Saturday, will attempt to recreate the experience of being on board the doomed Belfast-built ship. The human stories of those who died and those who survived are retold through recreated sets identical to the rooms aboard the ship, and using more than 300 haunting artefacts recovered from the Titanic's wreck site in the Atlantic Ocean. Visitors will be able to walk her decks, peer into her cabins, and meet her passengers and crew.

Call For 'Titanic' Exhibit To Come To Cobh (14 Dec 09, Irish Times)
The link between the maritime town of Cobh, Co Cork, and the Titanic is consistently being overlooked, according to the president of the town’s chamber of commerce, who has criticised a decision to host a major exhibition regarding the doomed liner in Dublin. Michael Martin, who is the operator of the Titanic Trail in Cobh as well as being head of Cobh Chamber of Commerce, said he was disappointed that Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition is due to be hosted in Dublin, as opposed to its “natural home” in Cobh. The exhibition, which has been seen by over 22 million people worldwide, arrives at the Citywest Event Centre, Dublin, next Saturday, December 19th.

Titanic Exhibition Sails Into Dublin (8 Dec 09, Belfast Telegraph)
Almost 100 years after the Titanic sank beneath icy waters on an April night in 1912, the spirit of the great ship is coming to Ireland. Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition, which has been seen by over 22 million people worldwide, arrives at the Citywest Event Centre, Dublin, next Saturday, December 19.

Exhibition Info
1. Exhibition Dates: 19 Dec 09-June 2010
2. Hours: 10am to 8pm, Monday - Sunday
For tickets and other information: www.titanicdublin.com

Titanic Project Still On Course (4 Dec 09, Belfast Telegraph)
The £97m Titanic Signature Project is on its way to becoming a world class destination, Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said, during a visit to the Titanic Quarter yesterday. “This project will also give potential visitors a unique and compelling reason to choose Northern Ireland as their destination,” she said. The independent charitable trust The Titanic Foundation will own and operate the attraction when it finally opens in 2012.

Titanic Exhibit Makes Second Voyage To Columbus (3 Dec 09, Columbus Other Paper)
The popular Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition will make a second appearance at Columbus' COSI (Center of Science Industry), returning to the science museum on March 27, 2010. The exhibit will stay docked in Ohio's capital city until Sept. 6, 2010. Featuring nearly two dozen never-been-seen elements, the expanded Titanic exhibit will also include a gallery devoted to Ohio’s connections to the historic voyage.  The exhibition first landed in Columbus in 2005, bringing record-breaking attendance to COSI, which was recently named the #1 Science Center in the country by Parents magazine.

Titanic Group Step Up Wheel Campaign (2 Dec 09, Belfast Telegraph)
The Belfast Titanic Society has stepped up its campaign against plans for the Belfast wheel to remain in its current location in the grounds of Belfast City Hall by meeting with the Environment Minister. And speaking to The CT after the meeting, Susie Millar, spokesperson for the east Belfast-based group, said they are “hopeful a decision is imminent”. She added: “We got a very sympathetic hearing and the minister listened to all our concerns.” The meeting followed a successful service on Sunday, marking the 50th anniversary of the memorial’s relocation from a traffic island in Chichester Street to its current position in the grounds of the City Hall, which the group used to highlight its concerns.

More Time To Catch Titanic Exhibit In St. Paul (2 Dec 09, Minneapolis Star Tribune)
The Science Museum of Minnesota announced it is extending the run of "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition." Originally scheduled to close on Jan. 3, the exhibition will remain open for three more weeks, until Jan. 24. 

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NOVEMBER

Titanic Row Over City's Big Wheel (30 Nov 09, BBC News)
Belfast's big wheel is blocking the route to a memorial to those who died in the legendary Titanic disaster. Belfast's Titanic Society could not lay a wreath at the memorial in the City Hall grounds on Sunday because the fair wheel was in their way. Either the wheel or the memorial must be moved, is the message from the society. Members finally marked 50 years of the city's Titanic memorial by laying a wreath on the gangway to the wheel. The structure behind the wheel made it impossible to do anything else. Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long who was at the ceremony said the wheel was not there permanently.

Tributes At Titanic Memorial (30 Nov 09, Belfast Telegraph)
Belfast Titanic Society has marked the 50th anniversary of the relocation of the Titanic Memorial into the grounds of the City Hall. In November 1959 the process was begun to relocate the memorial from Donegall Square North. After 39 years its position in the middle of the road had become a traffic hazard.

Douglas Woolley Claims He Owns The Wreck Of The RMS Titanic (28 Nov 09, Southern Daily Echo)
Self-confessed Titanic fanatic Mr Woolley has launched a legal challenge against RMS Titanic Inc, claiming he is the only rights-holder to the wreck of the ship, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, killing more than 1,500 passengers and crew. The retired caterer says he registered a claim for ownership of the ship in 1981, which has gone undisputed in the UK since. Southampton-based Titanic historian Brian Ticehurst rubbished Mr Woolley’s claims, describing him as a “dreamer”.

Judge Will Decide Fate Of Titanic Artifacts After Jan. (24 Nov 09, The Virginian-Pilot)
A federal judge said today she would decide sometime after Jan. 4 the fate of thousands of artifacts from the Titanic shipwreck. Premier Exhibitions Inc., the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc., has asked U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith to award it sole title to the artifacts with covenants to preserve them forever.

Titanic Branson To Close Its "Titanic" Movie Tribute Gallery (21 Nov 09, Branson Courier)
You’ll have to move quickly to experience Titanic Branson’s exclusive tribute to James Cameron’s movie masterpiece TITANIC.  After a successful two-year run, the extraordinary one-of-a-kind exhibit will close January 1, 2010, announces Titanic Museum Attraction owner John Joslyn.

Book review: Lost Voices From The Titanic – The Definitive Oral History (21 Nov 09, Edinburgh Evening News)
This new book about the world's most famous shipwreck confirms unpleasant truths about the 1912 tragedy. Nick Barratt focuses almost entirely on the words of those who designed and built the ship, and on accounts from passengers who survived the sinking. The material from the survivors is riveting, although the first part of the book is too heavily laden with statistical material.

Absecon Lighthouse In AC Unveils New Collection Of Titanic Memorabilia (18 Nov 09, Press of Atlantic City)
The exhibit includes small pieces of debris from the ship, which sank on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg. It also includes movie props, newspapers and books detailing the sinking and several panels telling the story of the ocean liner, its passengers and the disaster. The collection, valued at more than $150,000, was originally assembled in the late 1990s and intended to be part of a traveling commercial show about the shipwreck. But those plans fell through and the collection's owners - Donna Andersen, of Atlantic City, and John Glassey, of West Atlantic City, approached the lighthouse about donating the items.

Taxpayers 'May Foot Nomadic Bill' (12 Nov 09, BBC News)
Taxpayers could face a £7m bill to restore a government-bought ship linked to the Titanic, a committee has found. The SS Nomadic was bought three years ago by the Department of Social Development and brought back to Belfast as a potential tourist attraction. Public Accounts Committee chairman Paul Maskey said significant unforeseen costs had been incurred since then. A DSD spokesman said the £7m figure was wrong and most of the money would come from EU and heritage lottery grants.

Titanic-Artifacts Case Delayed For Appraiser (10 Nov 09, The Virginian-Pilot)
A hearing on the future of the Titanic artifacts has been delayed until Nov. 23 to enable a key witness to testify. Premier Exhibitions Inc., the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc., has asked the federal court to award it sole title to thousands of artifacts fished from the wreck site at the bottom of the North Atlantic, where the Titanic sank on its 1912 maiden voyage.

Public Sculpture Unveiled At The Titanic Quarter (4 Nov 09, Belfast Telegraph)
The public artwork, which was funded by Titanic Quarter and Arts and Business NI, cost £200,000 to create. It is beside the Abercorn Residential Complex (ARC), the first phase of residential development at Titanic Quarter. The artwork depicts recognisable Titanic elements on an outer frame. The public sculpture is by Essex-based artist Tony Stallard and is his largest public artwork to date. “It is ambiently lit with blue and white phosphorous lighting that suggests the adjacent marine environment and the searchlights of ships,” explained Mr Stallard. “It is intended to symbolise Belfast as an industrial pioneer at the time of building the Titanic. It references the industrial heritage of the area and can be seen as a reverie of the past, to create nostalgia of what was once heroic.

Titanic Museum Drops Anchor In Pigeon Forge (4 Nov 09, Springfield Business Journal)
 Branson-based Cedar Bay Entertainment LLC has dropped anchor in the eastern Tennessee tourism hub of Pigeon Forge for its second Titanic attraction - a $25 million endeavor that will be larger and more interactive than its sister ship in the Ozarks. Construction on Titanic Pigeon Forge, which began in January, is expected to wrap up in the first quarter of 2010, and the attraction will welcome its first guests in April, said Cedar Bay President John Joslyn.

Titanic £97M Plan On Course For 2012 Finish (3 Nov 09, Belfast Telegraph)
The £97m Titanic Signature Project is "on course" to be ready for the centenary of the doomed liner after the Executive finalised its financial commitment, according to the government department leading the project. A spokesman for the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) said the Executive agreed to go ahead with its £43.5m contribution after legal issues were resolved. All the funders of the project were embroiled in the fine detail of a legal agreement on the funding, development and operation of the project.

How the World's Largest Cruise Ship Floats (3 Nov 09, LiveScience.com)
The two typical measures of size are length and weight, which is measured as displacement, or the weight of water the ship must displace to stay afloat. "She is 1,180 feet long and displaces 100,000 tons," said Paul Miller of the Department of Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland, referring to the Oasis of the Seas. For comparison, the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912, was 883 feet long (269 meters) and weighed about 58,000 tons. In terms of space available, the Oasis is nearly five times larger than the Titanic. Specifically, the Oasis can hold 225,282 gross registered tons, while the Titanic could hold 46,329 grt.

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OCTOBER

Titanic's Links To Liverpool (31 Oct 09, Liverpool Echo)
More than 100 members of Titanic’s crew on her tragic maiden voyage – about nine per cent – were from Merseyside or had close links with the area. Most of her key officers and crew had originally sailed from Liverpool for White Star. In Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress gallery there is a display of White Star items from the pre-Titanic era.

Titanic Expedition in 2010? 100-Year Memorial Cruise Planned For 2012 (27 OCt 09, Post Chronicle)
A Titanic expedition by the company that has exclusive rights to salvage the submerged shipwreck, is planning another dive for 2010, just as news of a Titanic Memorial Cruise says it is scheduled to sail exactly 100 years after the ill-fated voyage on April 10, 1912, cruise organizers said.The salvage ship RMS Titanic expedition would its first trip down to the wreckage since 2004, and seventh dive of its kind, says RMS Titanic president and CEO Chris Devino. The memorial cruise ship, the Balmoral, intends to track the route of the Titanic, CNN reported Tuesday.

Titanic Artifacts Hearing Opens In Federal Court In Norfolk (26 Oct 09, The Virginian-Pilot)
A federal judge opened a hearing this morning that will determine the fate of thousands of artifacts from the doomed Titanic luxury liner that sank in the North Atlantic nearly 100 years ago. Premier Exhibitions Inc., the parent company of RMS Titanic Inc., has asked the court to award it sole title to the artifacts with covenants to preserve them forever, or alternatively, a cash award of the estimated value of the pieces: $110 million. A cash award appears unlikely because no company or museum has stepped forward with an offer to pay that kind of money.

US Court Aims To Establish Ownership For Over $100M In Titanic Artefacts (26 Oct 09, guardian.co.uk)
After the wreck was discovered in 1985 by an oceanographer, Robert Ballard, various claimants emerged including insurance companies that paid out to the survivors and the relatives of the dead nearly a century ago. After a series of court battles, an American company, RMS Titanic Inc (RMST), emerged as the owner of the salvage rights, allowing it to keep possession and put on touring display the 5,900 artefacts it has lifted from the ship during six dives. But the company does not own the ship nor the recovered items - from the ship's whistle and children's toys to a section of the hull - and has gone to court in pursuit of limited ownership as compensation for the huge salvage costs.
The ashes of a woman who became the last survivor of the Titanic have been scattered following a memorial service. Millvina Dean was nine weeks old when the liner sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic on its maiden voyage from Southampton on 15 April 1912. Miss Dean died in a care home in Hampshire on 31 May at the age of 97. Miss Dean's ashes were scattered from a small launch on the water of berth 43/44 at Southampton Docks, the terminal from which the ship set sail. 

Titanic Postcard Sells For £10,000 (21 Oct 09, Mirror.co.uk)
A postcard written by a passenger on the Titanic has sold for £10,000. Stanley May wrote: "On board Titanic, April 11th 1912. We have all had a fine trip. I am sure you would like to have been with us on this fine ship." The card was posted from Queenstown, Ireland, where Mr May got off the doomed liner.
Tom Maddox of Estell Manor, the owner of East Coast Diving in Northfield, will share his experience of being one of the last divers to see the Titanic during a Greate Egg Harbour Historical Society presentation 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Egg Harbor Township Community Center. In was in 2005 that Maddox went with a crew filming the special “Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces” for The History Channel.

Memorial Sought For Irish Titanic Victims (19 Oct 09, The New York Irish Emgirant)
The society has planted fourteen trees in the local primary school, and in 2002 a plague was put up in the local church listing the names of the fourteen Titanic passengers. Also on April 15 for the past 12 years, the church bell is rung for 25 minutes between 2am and 3am to signify the time and date at which the Titanic sank in 1912. The society is in the midst of planning a big centenary commemoration. They hope to build a memorial in honor of their lost ancestors. They have organized many other events for the momentous occasion. To find out more, go on to their website www.addergoole-titanic.com. It is also possible to make donations through the website to help the society achieve their goal.

Premier Exhibitions Won't Be Delisted (16 Oct 09, Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Premier Exhibitions Inc., the struggling Atlanta-based exhibitor of Bodies: The Exhibition and Titanic Aquatic, said Friday it has avoided delisting form NASDAQ. The company officially regained compliance with the NASDAQ requirement that listed securities maintain a minimum bid price of $1. Premier Exhibitions (NASDAQ: PRXI), which has seen great success in its hometown with the recently completed Titanic exhibition at the Georgia Aquarium, and its long-running Dialog in the Dark and Bodies showcases, lost $10 million in its most recent fiscal year. In the past year, the company has faced a fight for shareholder control, unsolicited bids for its richest assets, sinking exhibit attendance outside of Atlanta and a bailout from its largest shareholder, Sellers Capital LLC.

Titanic Postcard Fetches £340 At Auction (15 Oct 09, stv.tv)
A "haunting" postcard commemorating the sinking of the Titanic, which was sent just weeks after the disaster, has gone under the hammer in Perth. It was sent from Canada to Moray in Scotland on May 21, 1912 - around a month after 1,517 passengers lost their their lives when the liner hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank. The unique piece of memorabilia was found in a house in Stanley, Perthshire. The cards shows an artist's impression of the infamous vessel, with the words "the ill-fated Titanic foundered April 15 1912."
Remembering Walter Lord, Chronicler Of The Titanic (11 Oct 09, Baltimore Sun)
Lawrence, an author and editor, recently published "The Way It Was: Walter Lord on His Life and Books," a memoir she assembled from unpublished autobiographical material he had left behind after his death in 2002, and tape-recorded sessions she had made and transcribed in the mid-1980s. Lawrence, who has a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's in journalism from New York University, conducted extensive interviews with Lord in his apartment at 116 E. 68th St. in New York City, over lunch during the winter of 1987 and spring of 1988.

Resting Place At Sea For The Last Titanic Survivor (11 Oct 09, Daily Mail)
The ashes of the last Titanic survivor are to be scattered at the spot where the liner set sail almost a century ago. A harbourmaster’s boat will be used to carry her ashes on their final journey to an area close to berth 44 in the Eastern Docks at Southampton.

The memorial service will be on 24 Oct at St. Mary's Church, Copythorne.

REVIEW: "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" (7 Oct 09, Rochester City Newspaper)
Titanic was already legendary prior to the fateful night she sunk, and the story of her fate - whether learned from history class or via Kate, Leo, and James Cameron - is one of the most notorious of the last century. After almost 100 years, the story still carries mass public appeal, a fact upon which the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) is counting with its latest exhibit, "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition."

Unlocking A Titanic Mystery (7 Oct 09, OCRegister)
That's what historians found in 2001 when they exhumed the famous grave of the Titanic's "Unknown Child." New technology, the historians hoped, could identify the boy. So experts scraped off DNA while dental anthropologists analyzed the teeth under electron microscopes. After 92 years, the mystery was solved. Relatives flew in from Europe. A documentary was made. And a graveside ceremony was held for 13-month-old Eino Panula, of Finland. Something was wrong. Further DNA tests showed that a second boy, 19-month Sidney Goodwin, of England, might've been the boy in the grave. Someone had to referee. So the U.S. Military took charge. And, as they have before, they turned to a Fountain Valley woman with a pet tortoise, a dented old car and PhD in nuclear physics – DNA detective Colleen Fitzpatrick.

D-Day Dummy To Be Sold (6 Oct 09, Telegraph.co.uk)
[Editor's Note: Strictly speaking this news article is not about RMS Titanic but the name of a military operation called Operation Titanic. Operation Titanic dropped hundreds of paradummies (called Ruperts by the British) before the attack commenced on D-Day. If you saw the movie The Longest Day, this is one of the paradummies actually used and did not burn on landing.]

"During Operation Titanic hundreds of these paradummies were dropped and there are very few left, simply because they were designed to burn on landing. "This one measures 2ft 9ins and they were used to confuse the enemy and divert troops." During the operation the Americans dropped their own dummies - nicknamed Oscars. But the idea began with the Germans who dropped similar decoy parachutes during the Battle of the Netherlands in 1940. It has since been held by a French museum but is now being sold in Munich. It has a pre-sale estimate of 1,000 pounds. It is in excellent condition with a fully functioning parachute. The puppet is empty but would have been filled with sand and straw at the time it was used. Ernst-Ludwig Wagner, from the Hermann Historica auctions, said: "These are quite rare and this example came from a museum in Normandy in France."
Titanic Memorial Cruise to Mark 100th Anniversary (5 Oct 09, ABC News)
A trans-Atlantic cruise is being offered in 2012 to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic Memorial Cruise will depart, as the original ship did, on April 8, from Southampton, England, and arrive at the spot in the North Atlantic where the Titanic sank on April 15. A memorial service will be held onboard the cruise exactly 100 years after the Titanic hit the iceberg and sank, between 11:40 p.m., on April 14, 2012, and 2:20 a.m. on April 15. The cruise will then head to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where passengers can visit three cemeteries where Titanic victims are buried. The final destination for the cruise is New York, where the Titanic was headed. The memorial cruise will also make a stop in Cobh, Ireland, after leaving Southampton, just as the original vessel did.

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SEPTEMBER

A 'Titanic' Exhibition At Rochester Museum & Science Center  (30 Sep 09, MPNnow.com)
A traveling exhibit now set up at the Rochester Museum & Science Center gives visitors a glimpse into the stories of the people who boarded the ship in Southampton, England, for its doomed maiden voyage. Specific lives — visitors entering the exhibit will be given a “boarding pass” identifying them as one of the actual people who were aboard the ship. And when they leave, they’ll learn whether they were among the survivors. “People will get to first-hand experience the story on the ship,” said Debra Jacobson, director of marketing and community affairs with the RMSC. Not just the logistics and technical aspects, but what it was like to be a passenger: Replicas have been set up, for example, of a first-class and third-class cabin, showing their differences, as do menus for diners in first-, second- and third-class. (First class, for instance, shows a 10-course meal.)

Exhibit Info:

Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Ave., Rochester, NY
Exhibit Hours:  9 a.m. – 5 p.m. till 18 Jan 2010, then exhibit is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission Price: $17 ($15 seniors/college students, $14 ages 3-18, $5 RMSC members). Tickets available at door or by going to www.rmsc.org. Audio tour available

Fans Of World's Fastest Ocean Liner Put Out A Distress Call (29 Sep 09, Wall Street Journal)
That would be the SS United States -- the fastest ocean liner in the world. Bigger than the Titanic and fast enough to water-ski behind, she's a steamship so sophisticated, her capabilities remained a Cold War secret for decades. She transported royalty and starlets. Her crew served frog legs in first class. Before the dawn of the jet age, the SS United States was the Concorde of her era. The once-proud ship is rusting away in the Delaware River, across from an Ikea. Its owner, cruise line NCL Group, has put her up for sale. Mr. McSweeney and a small band of the ship's most loyal fans fear the worst: That the Big U will get sold to "ship breakers" -- metal scavengers who will gut and fillet the SS United States on a beach somewhere in India, where many old ships go to die.

Police Called In Over Nomadic Row (23 Sep 09, BBC News)
The police were called to look into the removal of artefacts from the historic White Star vessel SS Nomadic, the BBC has learned. The artefacts - two ornate doors - were taken by the Nomadic Preservation Society which said it bought them in Paris and has proof of ownership. The society now wants a formal apology from the Nomadic Trust, the government-appointed body which called the police. The Nomadic Trust described the incident as "a misunderstanding".

Titanic Exhibit Opening At Science Center (22 Sep 09, WLKY.com)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet brought the story of the Titanic to life on the big screen. Now a new exhibit at the Louisville Science Center is bringing it to life locally. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" features 150 authentic artifacts from the wreck site of the ship, including six that have never been seen before. It opens Saturday, Oct. 3.

Rochester Museum & Science Center To Launch Exhibit Featuring Titanic Relics (22 Sep 09, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
The British toothpaste lid resurfaced Monday at Rochester Museum & Science Center. In clear letters around an image of Queen Victoria, you could read: "Extra Moist. Patronized by the Queen." It was one of 125 newly unpacked relics at RMSC, which opens "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" on Oct. 1, which is expected to draw 70,000 visitors before it closes on Jan. 18. All of the specimens were salvaged by deep-sea exhibitions between 1987 and 2004.

Premier Exhibitions In Danger Of Delisting (21 Sep 09, Bizjournals.com)
Premier Exhibitions (NASDAQ: PRXI), which has seen great success in its hometown with the recently completed Titanic exhibition at the Georgia Aquarium, and its long-running Dialog in the Dark and Bodies showcases, said Thursday it has been notified by Nasdaq that it has 180 days to regain compliance with the minimum share price. The stock was trading for around $1 as of 10 a.m. Tuesday, according to Yahoo! Finance. “Premier has a strong interest in maintaining compliance with Nasdaq’s listing requirements,” Premier Exhibitions Chairman Mark Sellers said in a regulatory filing.

Couple Throws 'Titanic' Anniversary Bash (20 Sep 09, OCRegister)
(Normally this kind of anniversary story would not be posted here. This one though is an exception. The couple has been married for 46 years and wanted to do something special they had not done before. If you follow the link to the page, there is a photo of them from the party.)

Jill and Carl Brown, residents of Mission Viejo for 40 years, celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary Saturday in style, staging a throwback bash where more than 100 guests dressed in early 1900s garb. It didn't stop at clothes though – the back yard was made to look like a dining room and a 25-foot stage was made to look like the ship, complete with a two-story-tall working smokestack. The couple, who have gained a reputation among friends for their over-the-top bonanzas, said they went on a cruise a few months back when the inspiration struck.

£7 Million Restoration Of Titanic Ship Goes Ahead (16 Sep 09, Belfast Telegraph)
The £7 million restoration of a tender ship which ferried first-class passengers on board the Titanic is to begin early next year after the project today secured another £500,000 cash injection. The grant from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) has pushed the total raised to refit the SS Nomadic beyond the £4 million mark, meaning work can commence in the spring. Plans to reopen the vessel to the public ahead of the centenary of its launch - and of the Titanic's - in Belfast in 1911 had been thrown into doubt earlier this year after auditors expressed concern over a funding shortfall. They said the charitable trust overseeing the project was around £3.6 million shy of its £5 million target for this year. But since then Nomadic Trust has landed a £2.27 million grant from the European Union and now an additional £500,000 from the tourist board.

Polish Titanic Reveals Secrets? (15 Sep 09, Thenews.pl)
Polish divers have explored the wreck of the M/S Pilsudski, a large ocean liner which sank during World War II.After seven months of preparations, Polish divers from the diving club “Walen” managed to reach and explore the shipwreck of M/S Pilsudski, sitting at the bottom of the North Sea. It is the first Polish expedition to the liner which used to be a point of national pride before WW II.“The ship is so big that it is difficult to swim around it at once,” said Slawomir Kruzolek, a member of the diving crew

Submersible Alvin Awaits Major Overhaul (14 Sep 09, Cape Cod Times)
Alvin — the celebrated submersible — is 45 years old and plans to replace it have been in the works for 10 years. But the original $21.6 million price tag set in 2004 by the National Science Foundation could rise as high as $35 million, said Susan Humphris, acting vice president of Marine Facilities and Operations at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Also, instead of a new submersible, Humphris said existing components of Alvin will be merged with new and improved materials. But that means instead of being able to dive 4 miles under the ocean's surface as originally planned, scientists will initially be restricted to the same 2.8-mile limit they had with Alvin.

Shipshape Re-Created Titanic Rises Above The Landscape In Pigeon Forge (13 Sep 09, Knoxville News Sentinel)
A 30,000-square-foot replica of the Titanic is being built against the mountain backdrop of Pigeon Forge. The forward half of the ship will be re-created; it is half the size of the ocean liner sunk by an iceberg on its 1912 maiden voyage. Estimated opening date for the "museum attraction" Titanic Pigeon Forge is April 2010. Built atop a hill next to the Black Bear Jamboree, the building seems to jut almost onto Pigeon Forge Parkway. When complete, its "bow" will sit in water, giving the illusion of being on the open sea in landlocked Tennessee.

“Mir” Submersibles Head For Titanic (11 Sep 09, Russia-InfoCenter)
The “Mir” submersible will study hydrothermal fields and oceanic rifts, where oceanic crust forms in the centre of mid-ocean ridges. The vehicles will also perform several dives to “Titanic” remains to mark the 100th anniversary of its collision with a giant iceberg on April 14, 1912.

Tickets For Titanic Exhibit Now On Sale (8 Sep 09, Louisville Courier-Journal)
Tickets are now on sale for “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,” which will be at the Louisville Science Center starting Oct. 3. The exhibit, which will run through Feb. 15, features 150 artifacts from the ship that sank in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage in April 1912.

Titanic Quarter's Next Development Gets Green Light (8 Sep 09, Belfast Telegraph)
t was also announced this week that a Titanic-themed boutique hotel is to be created out of the old headquarters of shipbuilders Harland & Wolff, which built the ship. A planning application has been lodged to turn the listed former Harland and Wolff HQ into a five star 90-bedroom hotel. In January, a separate planning application was lodged for the restoration of two drawing offices where the Titanic's blueprint was drawn up. The offices form a part of the former shipyard headquarters and the proposal is to make the ornate offices available for public events.

Titanic's Sister Ship Nomadic 'Left To Rot' (5 Sep 09, Belfast Telegraph)
After his post as caretaker employed by an outside body ended this week, the Nomadic and historic ships expert said he could no longer stand by, claiming she has been “very, very neglected” since the Nomadic Charitable Trust took over and allowed it to “all but rot away." Rainwater is running over original mouldings and rivets are corroded, he claimed. The trust said it would be unwise to spend money on minor issues that would be addressed in the restoration, which cannot begin until the conservation management plan (CMP) is complete.

Titanic Museum Designs Unveiled (3 Sep 09, BBC News)
Designs showing how Southampton's new museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, will look have been unveiled. The £28m project in the city from where the liner set sail on her maiden voyage in 1912, is set to feature a climb-aboard replica of the ship. The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £499,000 for the development plan, which has been matched by the council. Phase one of the Sea City Museum will open to public in 2012.

A History Lesson: Seneca Man Putting Together Exhibit To Complement "Titanic" Production In Anderson (2 Sep 09, Anderson Independent Mail)
That’s because Willard has interviewed many of those survivors personally, and he’s seen the wreckage of the ship up close. Willard, a Seneca resident, designed the vehicle that went underwater to view the Titanic wreckage. Now he’s bringing some of the footage, along with memorabilia from the 1997 movie “Titanic” and musicals based on the ship’s sinking, to the Alverson Community Theater in Anderson. The exhibit will open a couple of hours before each performance of the Broadway musical “Titanic” that takes place on the Anderson theater’s stage. Willard is also playing a part in that Anderson production, which is set to open Sept. 18 and run through Oct. 4.

Titanic Artifacts On View In Rochester Museum And Science Center Beginning October 1 (Examiner.com, 2 Sep 09)
Ninety-seven years later, the Rochester Museum & Science Center in Rochester, New York will pay tribute to the tragedy beginning October 19 with the opening of  Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, featuriing more than 125 items recovered from the wreckage..   The exhibition focuses on the Titanic’s compelling human stories as best told through authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations. Some of the most intriguing objects recovered include perfume from a maker who was traveling to New York to sell his samples, china etched with the logo of the elite White Star Line, and personal items such as a shoe brush, a sock, a cigar holder, or the top of a toothpaste jar— these and many other authentic objects offer haunting, emotional connections to lives abruptly ended or forever altered.

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AUGUST

Fresh Appeal For Maritime Museum (26 Aug 09, BBC News)
It was built in Belfast, yet no-one bothered to make an application for a museum to commemorate it. Now a fresh appeal is being made for the establishment of a maritime museum in Belfast linked to the Titanic. The Heritage Lottery Fund was criticised in Northern Ireland earlier this year, when it allocated £500,000 towards a new museum in Southampton which will include an element dedicated to the liner. But the body revealed on Wednesday that it had never been asked to fund a Titanic museum in Belfast.

"The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger" Now In Paperback (25 Aug 09, paullee.com-Press Release)
Did you know that a nearby vessel watched the Titanic go down and did practically nothing to help? Launched to great acclaim last year in electronic format, Dr. Paul Lee's book on the Titanic and the Californian is now re-released in an expanded paperback format.

In 1912, Captain Lord and the crew of his steamship, the Californian, were condemned by both
US and British inquiries for failing to respond to the Titanic's distress signals. Debate has been
vociferous since then as to whether Lord was guilty of allowing 1500 men, women and children to die
in the frigid North Atlantic waters, a charge renewed in the intervening years in books such as 'A Night To Remember.'  But is this the full story? Was Lord culpable?

If Lord was effectively guilty of mass murder, why did it not affect his subsequent career?
•    Could he have rescued anyone?
•    Why was his wireless officer not woken up?
•    Why wouldn't Captain Lord come out on deck to see the rockets fired for himself?
•    Was another ship involved that callously fled the scene?
•    Why has the biggest Titanic society studiously presented only one side of this case for years, and why do they prefer to ignore this book?

"The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger" is a 440 page detailed analysis of the case, chronologically following the controversy from initial press reports of the mysterious ship seen from the Titanic's bows, to the pronouncements made in later years by authors keen to promote their books and opinions over their rivals. Assisting in Dr. Lee's conclusions is the first printing of the internal deliberations of the UK Government as the campaigns to clear Captain Lord's name in 1965, 1968 and the early 1990s were ignited by Lord's friends. The bequeathed papers of Captain Lord's foe and namesake Walter Lord, and the Captain's ardent supporter Leslie Harrison have been scoured and provide a rich source of information on the tactics employed on both sides of the argument - culminating in a legal bid to suppress a book critical of the Californian and its crew.

Leading to a powerful and persuasive conclusion, "The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger"
is no book any Titanic - or history - enthusiast can afford to ignore.

Dr. Lee will be signing copies of his book at the Titanic Heritage Trust exhibition at the Herbert Museum and Drapers Hall in Coventry, England on September 12th and 13th, 2009.

"The Titanic and the Indifferent Stranger" can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk
or as a signed copy from the author at http://www.paullee.com/book_details.php

About the author:
Dr.Paul Lee obtained a first class degree in Physics from Southampton University in 1993; four years later, he graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from York University. He has held an interest in the Titanic since 1985, when the wreck was found. He has lectured on the Titanic at the White Swan hotel in Alnwick which houses fittings from the Titanics sister ship, the Olympic, when she was scrapped in the 1930s. He is also due to lecture on the Titanic Voyages trip to the wrecksite in 2012. This is his first book.

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Former Andrews' Home 'Decked Out' With Titanic (24 Aug 09, Belfast Newsletter)
The former Belfast home of the chief designer of the Titanic has been furnished with its very own miniature version of the famous liner. Currently the headquarters of the Irish Football Association in the south of the city - the one-time residence of Thomas Andrews located on Windsor Avenue now has even more resonance with the ill-fated ship. An official at the local football authority purchased the three-foot exact replica last month and the ornament has taken pride of place in the shadow of an ornate stained glass window, one of the key features of the historic building.

Art Treasures May Be Sold To Fund 'Titanic' Museum (23 Aug 09, The Independent)
Southampton City Council, which holds one of the finest art collections outside London, is planning to sell Munnings's 1937 work After the Race – which is valued at around £4m – as well as Eve by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, which is worth about £1.5m, to help fund a museum dedicated to the Titanic, which will include a walk-around replica of the doomed ocean liner. The plan has caused consternation in the art world, where strict rules apply over the sale of publicly owned works of art.

Full Steam Ahead For Titanic's 'Little Sister' Nomadic (20 Aug 09, Belfast Telegraph)
Although plans for SS Nomadic’s restoration had been delayed due to uncertainty about funding, it’s now full steam ahead after the project won more than £2 million in EU funding, organisers have promised. They believe workers will be on board the vessel early next year to start major renovation work and are confident Nomadic’s superstructure will have been rebuilt by her centenary in 2011, along with further refurbishment. Work was delayed on drawing up a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the ship, which once carried first class passengers onto the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage, but Nomadic Charitable Trust says the second phase has now begun.

Titanic Memorial To Be Given A Face Lift (12 Aug 09, Get Surrey)
The tribute to Godalming Titanic hero Jack Phillips is set to benefit from major improvement works in time for the centenary of his death, Waverley Borough Council has announced. The memorial cloister, one of the largest tributes to any single Titanic victim anywhere in the world, was designed by eminent architect Hugh Thackeray Turner, who lived in Westbrook in Godalming, while the planting scheme was drawn up by celebrated artist and town resident Gertrude Jeckyll.

Titanic Theory Sunk (11 Aug 09, The Spoof-satire)
A long held conspiracy theory regarding the sinking of the Titanic was dispelled yesterday when a submersible took underwater photographs of the Titanic on the sea bed. It had long been thought that the iceberg was not responsible for the sinking of the Titanic but that prior to her maiden voyage, parties involved in a major insurance scam had arranged for the seams of the first class, second class and staff swimming pools to be deliberately weakened. However the recent underwater photos now discount this theory as they show that all three swimming pools on the Titanic are still full.

Surviving the Titanic: The Saga of Davit Vartanian (10 Aug 09, Armenian Weekly)
Of the five Armenians, the two who survived were Davit Vartanian, 22, and Neshan Krekorian, 25, who eventually settled in St. Catherines, Ontario and died in 1978 at age 92. The body of 26-year-old Maprieder Zakarian was recovered from the icy waters and buried in Fairview Cemetery in Halifiax, Nova Scotia. Arsun Sirayanian, 22, and Artun Zakarian, 27, also perished in the Atlantic that terrible night of April 15, 1912.

Titanic Exhibition Attracts Crowds To Dockside Museum (9 Aug 09, Yorkshire Post)
Titanic Honour and Glory is a touring exhibition that has been seen by more than 2m people since it opened in the UK in 2002. It has been named one of the top five exhibitions in the country. It is run by a small team and is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the White Star Line and their fleet of ships – which included Olympic, Titanic and Britannic.

Shipwreck Declared National Historic Site (7 Aug 09, Canada.com)
 Nearly a century after the Empress of Ireland sank in the St. Lawrence River and took the lives of more than 1,000 passengers and crew, the wreck of the elegant luxury liner that represents Canada's worst maritime disaster has finally been declared a national historic site. The mammoth, Titanic-era cruise ship — once lamented as "the orphan of Canadian heritage" because its wreck site near Rimouski, Que., was plundered by divers for decades — is also famous for its role in transporting tens of thousands of immigrants to Canada during a pivotal period in the country's growth.

Nomadic Refloats Titanic's Tale (6 Aug 09, Belfast Telegraph)
GCSE Drama students from Dominican College in Fortwilliam will stage the play ‘Titanic’ on the SS Nomadic, the Belfast-built vessel that carried first class passengers on to the legendary liner before she set off on her doomed maiden voyage. Performances are scheduled for the evenings of August 13, 14 and 15 as part of Belfast Maritime Festival, which marks the arrival of the Tall Ships in Belfast. Nomadic was saved from the scrapyard in 2006 and carried back from France to the city where she was built.

Titanic Explorer Ballard To Speak At Wichita Museum (4 Aug 09, Kansas.com)
Deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard will be in Wichita Sunday to speak and sign books at the Museum of World Treasures.Ballard, known to some as the "Indiana Jones of the ocean" because he has led more than 100 deep-sea expeditions locating and exploring such sunken vessels as the Lusitania and the Titanic, considers Wichita his home. He was born in Wichita on June 30, 1942.

100000 Visitors to Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Science Museum of Minnesota (4 Aug 09, PR Newswire-press release)
The Science Museum of Minnesota has welcomed the 100,000th visitor to its Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. It only took 47 days after opening day to reach this important attendance milestone and puts the museum on pace to exceed its 250,000-visitor attendance projection during the exhibition's St. Paul run.(Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition is open through January 3, 2010.)

In Sinking Economy, Titanic Exhibit Floats (2 Aug 09, LocalNews8.com-Idaho Falls, ID, USA)
The Titanic exhibit at the Museum of Idaho is floating in a sinking economy. Their attendance numbers are higher than they ever expected this summer. With the economy the way that it is, the museum didn't know how well they'd do this summer. Over 71,000 people have bought tickets since March and the museum is thrilled. It has one theory they are over their estimated attendance.

Titanic Memorial In DC (30 Jul 09, Examiner.com)
It took a few years after the disaster to get the monument erected, in part because the survivors of the tycoons who were on board wanted only them to be remembered. But ultimately, a memorial was chosen to honor all the men who gave up their lives in order that women and children might live. The design, selected through open competition, was conceived by sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a member of the prominent (and fabulously rich) Vanderbilt family - one of whom died on the Lusitania.

Titanic Exhibit Was A Fascinating Look At Human Nature (30 Jul 09, Georgina Advocate-Canada)
But what captivated my attention for two hours, was the small but fascinating Titanic exhibit. A group of tourists walked through the story boards, photographs, models and artifacts led by a very knowledgeable young man from the province's university. Even young children listened raptly to the well-known and less-familiar details of the sinking of the famed ship in 1912, dubbed unsinkable on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic

Titanic Exhibit Coming To Louisville (30 Jul 09, Louisville Courier-Journal-USA)
A major touring exhibit that includes artifacts from the ill-fated cruise ship Titanic will be at the Louisville Science Center starting in October. “ ‘Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition' will allow many Louisvillians to experience the Louisville Science Center again, in a new way, with their children and grandchildren,” said Joanna Haas, the Science Center's executive director. “We are proud to host this blockbuster exhibition, and thrilled to give our visitors the opportunity to explore this historical ship and to investigate, question and seek answers together.”

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JULY

Titanic Sunk By Underwater UFO (28 Jul 09, Weekly World News-satire)
Startling new evidence indicates the S.S. Titanic was attacked and sunk in 1912 near Newfoundland by laser shots fired from an alien submarine. A team of scientific experts has concluded a barrage of laser shots sent the 800-foot-long luxury liner to a watery grave with a loss of more than 1,500 lives. “We discovered three huge holes on the starboard side of the ship below the waterline,” said noted physicist
Dr. Josef Hostettler at a press conference. “We have concluded the holes could only have been made by a laser beam fired from an underwater craft,” Hostettler added.

EU Funding To Boost Restoration Of Titanic Tender Ship (23 Jul 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
The restoration of a tender ship which ferried passengers to the doomed Titanic was boosted today with the award of over £2 million in European funding. Last month auditors expressed concern that the £7 million refit of the derelict SS Nomadic may not be completed, on schedule, for the centenary of its launch in Belfast in 2011 due to a cash shortfall. The charitable trust responsible for the project was struggling to meet its own £5 million fundraising target for this year, with less than £1.4 million received when the Northern Ireland Audit Office examined the accounts in January.   

'Sell Art Or No Titanic Museum' Says Council Leader (19 Jul 09, Southern Daily Echo - Southampton,England,UK)
They face a race against time to get £15m to build the museum by April 2012, the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy, which claimed the lives of 549 city residents. Only 200 of the city’s vast 3,500 collection of paintings, worth around £180m, can be shown in the art gallery at any one time and some works have hardly seen the light of day in years.
 
Woodlawn Cemetery Announces Lost At Sea II Tour (18 Jul 09, titanicnewschannel.com)
Visiting cemeteries where the famous and infamous are buried is popular these days. Based upon the success of last years Lost at Sea tour, the famous Bronx cemetery will be doing another tour on Sunday July 26. The tour will be conducted by Dr. J. Joseph Edgette (the press release notes he is a professor emeritus at Widener University). This year the tour is going to the oldest parts of the cemetery with stories and memorials not included in previous tours.

The victims of several tragic voyages – including the RMS Titanic (April 15, 1912), the RMS Lusitania (May 7th 1915), SS General Slocum (June 15, 1904), the SS Morro Castle (September 8, 1934) and the USS Jeanette (June 13, 1881) – will be featured in the tour. Dr. Edgette will recount fascinating stories, including that of Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster, whose gravestone inscription honors him as a “Hero of the S.S. Titanic.” He’ll also feature U.S. Naval officer George Washington DeLong striking memorial, which depicts an arctic explorer searching for his way home.

The tour begins at 2:00 p.m.  Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. For more information go to thewoodlawncemetery.org

Source: PR-USA.net

The Titanic Baby And The Remains Of A Tragic Night (17 Jul 09, Examiner.com-USA)
As Madeleine passed a young woman carrying a baby, she paused for a moment, took off her scarf, and used it to cover the infant’s head. Madeleine went on with her husband to find a lifeboat. She survived; her husband and the Airedale did not. However, the scarf also survived… but in a roundabout sort of way…The small infant was Frank Phillip Aks. Only ten months old, Frank and his mother, Leah, were on their way to America and ultimately Norfolk, Virginia, as third class passengers. His father, Samuel, was a tailor who had come to America earlier to establish himself before sending for Leah and Frank.

Son Of Shoreham Was Titanic Hero (15 Jul 09, Littlehampton Gazette - Littlehampton,England,UK)
Mr Maynard had been living in Southampton before setting sail on the Titanic and, according to family history and reports from the Daily Sketch at the time, took a baby from Captain Smith's arms as he stood on the bridge of the sinking liner. "My mother used to say Uncle Ike saved the baby from the captain's arms as the Titanic sank," said Mrs Bartram, who lived in Adur Avenue, Shoreham, as a child.

*Check out the details about Hiram Maynard at Encyclopedia-Titanica.org

Like The Liner, Bad Luck Dogs The Titanic Signature Project (14 Jul 09, Irish Times - Dublin,Ireland)
But the Titanic Signature Project appears to be languishing under the ship’s legendary cloud of bad luck and, in turn, it has also enveloped at least one Dublin-based company operating in the North. Construction of the project was expected to begin last January. Almost seven months on, there is little evidence of any progress. This is primarily because the key funders behind the project have been caught up in a legal wrangle that is shrouded in as much mystery as the Titanic itself.

Designers Unveiled For Southampton's Titanic Museum (13 Jul 09, Southern Daily Echo - Southampton,England,UK)
The team that will design Southampton’s £15m Titanic museum has been appointed. In a major step forward for the world-class tourist attraction, Southampton City Council has appointed award-winning architects Wilkinson Eyre. The museum, which will be built in the west wing of Southampton’s Civic Centre, is to feature a massive climb-aboard replica of the doomed liner. Visitors will experience life on board the ill-fated voyage from the perspective of the crew, many of whom were from Southampton.

Regatta Buoys Morale At Pope (11 Jul 09, FayObserver.com - Fayetteville,NC,USA)
The farcical Regatta, held in Pope Pool, pitted squadron against squadron in a 50-yard race using cardboard boats held together with nothing more than duct tape and enthusiasm. "The purpose is for morale-building and esprit de corps," said Al Davis, manager of the base's Community Activities Center. "It breaks the monotony of heavy workloads." Some boaters, such as Miller and his crew, crafted vessels that Gilligan and his island mates would have envied. Others weren't so lucky. Col. Charles Dunn, commander of the 43rd Mission Support Group, won the Regatta's not-so-coveted "Titanic" award, for sinking spectacularly on the second leg of the race.

Titanic To Drop Anchor In Tennessee (7 Jul 09, Examiner.com - USA)
The attraction, Titanic Pigeon Forge, will be an amazing model of the original ship, one half of the original size. Inside, visitors will travel three decks to see 20 galleries holding “hundreds of authentic, priceless Titanic artifacts that were either carried from the ship and into lifeboats by passengers and crew, or were found afloat soon after the sinking and quickly salvaged by rescue boats,” according to Cedar Bay Entertainment. Nothing on or around the original ship was destroyed or altered to obtain these pieces, like so many other exhibits, and Titanic Pigeon Forge is a permanent exhibit.

Sociopath Captain Let Titanic's Passengers Die Without A Qualm (5 Jul 09, Scotsman - United Kingdom)
Now Scottish-American maritime historian Daniel Allen Butler, in his study The Other Side Of The Night has re-examined the evidence and has come to the stark conclusion that Lord, from Bolton, Lancashire, deliberately ignored the doomed vessel's pleas for help. Butler commissioned a series of clinical psychologists to examine Lord's sworn testimony as well as reports of his actions both before and after the tragedy. He said their conclusions were unanimous and damning: "It was never contested by Captain Lord, or his officers, that what was seen from the bridge of the Californian were white rockets, which in 1912 were the internationally recognised signal for distress.

'Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition' Offers Historic Looks At Doomed Ship (2 Jul 09, The Star-Ledger, New Jersey, USA)
Of the 350 artifacts from the Titanic now on display at the new Discovery Times Square Exposition, the smallest items are the most touching and heartrending. Powder jars and perfume bottles. Pocket watches and shaving brushes. Stick pins and tie clasps. Handwritten letters, glasses and a booklet advertising Captain Collings & Sons hernia treatment. The booklet cover shows a sailor at the wheel of a ship and these words: I'll Steer You Straight.

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JUNE

Relics From The Deep And The Dawn Of Man (25 June 09, New York Times, United States)
The 12,000-square-foot Titanic exhibition, in fact, is quite satisfying. Its survey is amplified with panels telling something about those who, by the accident of circumstance, found themselves on this ship, and then survived or perished. It is astonishing to see how well preserved certain pieces of paper are, nearly a century after the sinking, because they were protected by tanned leather wallets or cases. A stock certificate for a Coney Island amusement ride is here. So are stamps, postcards and samples of paper currency.

Minnesota Science Museum's Titanic vs. Michael Bay's Transformers (25 June 09, Examiner.com - USA)
The Minnesota Science Museum has a Titanic exhibit running through to Jan 3 and it is well worth exploring if you prefer something a little more sedate and of course educational. The exhibit is definitely interesting: Titanic still draws immense interest from people all over the world as it remains the world's greatest maritime disaster. There is so much of a human story to the tragedy: foolishness, like the lookout's binoculars being lost during the voyage, intense sadness like the rescue ship Carpathia being referred to as the "ship of widows," and of course the tremendous bravery.

Titanic's 'Little Sister' May Miss Anniversary Refit Date (24 June 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
The £7m restoration of a tender ship that ferried passengers on board the doomed Titanic may not be finished in time for the centenary of its launch, an official report warns today. The charitable trust responsible for refitting the derelict SS Nomadic, known as Titanic’s ‘little sister’, is also struggling to meet a fundraising target of £5m by this autumn — having received less than £1.4m by the start of the year.

Titanic Aquatic At The Georgia Aquarium Achieves New Milestone (17 June 09, Duluth Weekly - Duluth,GA,USA)
Premier Exhibitions, Inc. today announced its blockbuster attraction, Titanic Aquatic at the Georgia Aquarium, has been seen by more than 250,000 visitors since opening in August 2008. The wildly successful attraction is the first limited-run Exhibition at the Georgia Aquarium, and will be available to new and returning Aquarium visitors until its extended-run scheduled closing date of September 7, 2009.

Funeral For Last Titanic Survivor (16 June 09, BBC News - UK)
A private service, attended by family and friends, took place in Southampton on Tuesday. Miss Dean died on 31 May at the care home in Netley Marsh, near Southampton, where she lived. She was the youngest passenger onboard the Titanic when it sank and was saved along with her mother Georgetta, and two-year-old brother Bert.

Ocalan Went To Great Lengths To Secure Titanic Passenger's Signature (15 June 09, Ocala - Ocala,FL,USA)
Of all the personalities on the cloth, from Hank Aaron to Zig Ziglar, Walter Light Jr. said he found Dean the most captivating. Light had adopted Dean as his "cousin" years ago, after seeking a survivor of the Titanic to sign the tablecloth, which his mother Olga "Joy" Light began in 1929 as a promotion for the family's St. Louis, Mo., movie theatre.

Forgotten Titanic Hero Who Saved His Family (15 June 09, The Voice - UK)
Haitian Joseph Phillippe Lemercier Laroche is not mentioned among the 1912 press descriptions of the Titanic disaster, but he is the only black man who was aboard the luxury ship when it hit an iceberg and went down on April 15, 1912, killing 1,500 passengers. Laroche’s existence on the Titanic was re-discovered in 2000. Researchers also show that Laroche‘s intriguing life story reveals he died on board the Titanic after saving his pregnant white French wife, Juliette, and two mixed-race daughters - a loving sacrifice which reminds of the heroism of the character played by Leonardo di Caprio in the hit film, Titanic.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition Opens June 12 At Science Museum of Minnesota (11 June 09, KARE - Minneapolis,MN,US)
It's an artifact from the bottom of the ocean that helps explain why the famous ship went down. And it's part of the Science Museum's Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, which opens Friday, June 12, to the public. "You actually get to see the way the rivets were put in to hold those hull plates together," said Mike Day, a senior vice president at the Science Museum. "The original popular theory was that the steel on the hull plates was brittle, and so it shattered when it hit the iceberg. But the more popular theory now is that the rivets that held those plates together were actually made from an inferior iron," Day said.
 
Titanic Fans Want Belfast Memorial To Be Relocated (5 June 09, Belfast Telegraph - United Kingdom)
The Belfast Titanic Society has hit out at plans for the Belfast wheel to remain at its current location because it obscures a memorial to the victims of the sea disaster. Currently the big wheel structure sits around and on top of the memorial — at the side of the city hall — which was built to remember the Belfast people who were lost in the Titanic disaster of 1912.

Air France Black Box Seeking Sub Is Titanic Veteran (5 June 09, Bloomberg - USA)
The mini-submarine France is sending to search for the black boxes of the Air France Airbus plane that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean has scooped up silverware from the Titanic and plugged holes in a sunken oil tanker. The eight-meter long Nautile and its sister submarine, the Victor 6000, are on their way to the crash zone aboard the oceanographic research ship Pourquoi Pas?, or “Why Not?” They are due to arrive in the search area around June 12.

Visitors 'Board' The Titanic (5 June 09, Peoria Journal Star - Peoria,IL,USA)
The exhibit includes photographs and more than 50 pieces from the ocean liner that sank in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland, 2 hours and 40 minutes after hitting an iceberg. Tonya Calvert, a third-grade teacher from C.B. Smith Primary School in Pekin, said she had taught the unit to her students who were thrilled to see the exhibit. "We had actually planned a trip to Lakeview Museum today and when we heard the Titanic museum was open the same day, we called and they allowed us to go through it first before they opened it to the public," Calvert said.

Author Tells Of Meeting With Last Titanic Survivor (5 June 09, Dorset Echo - UK)
A Dorset author today told of his meeting with the last survivor of the Titanic just before she died. Roger Hardingham, of Osmington Mills, met with Millvina Dean, 97, two weeks ago after finishing her biography and was planning a dinner event with her as the guest of honour. He said: “I had great respect for her because she was dignified about it all and she realised in the end how important it was that she was the final survivor. “She had hundreds of letters every month from people all over the world and they were from people who genuinely cared about her.

Last Titanic Survivor, Millvina Dean, Will Be Missed By Springfield-Based Titanic Historical Society (2 June 09, The Republican - MassLive.com - Springfield,MA,USA)
Millvina Dean kept a low profile about her connection to one of the world's most well known disasters until she was urged into the media spotlight by the Indian Orchard-based Titanic Historical Society. And, the society returned her goodwill, contributing to her care before her death on Sunday in England. "And now they are all gone - the last human touch," said society president Edward S. Kamuda, echoing remarks made by fellow society member, the Rev. George Demass of Oswego, N.Y. "She provided people with an opportunity to meet a Titanic survivor."

Falmouth Reveals More Titanic Memorabilia (1 June 09, Falmouth Penryn Packet - Falmouth,UK)
The National Maritime Museum Cornwall has been lent two more fascinating artefacts with a Cornish connection. Local historian and author Ernie Warmington has come forward with a Christmas card and memorial postcard. The Christmas card was sent to Lulu Drew, the widow of James Drew, originally from Constantine. Lulu and James had emigrated to America in 1896 and in 1912 they returned to Cornwall to visit family. For their return journey to America they travelled on Titanic, and their cabin was next to that of Emily Richards of Newlyn. Remarkably descendants of Emily Richards have also lent items to the Museum for the exhibition.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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