Titanic Exhibit

On Black Friday our family went to see the Titanic Exhibit in London. It was a awesome experience. The kids and I have been reading about the sinking of the Titanic for about a week prior to our field trip in preparation. As a family we also watched the film "A Night to Remember" about the sinking of the Titanic. It was a tough movie to watch and Princess was in tears at the end because people on the ship died.

We were not allowed to take pictures while touring the exhibit but I did buy a guide book so I could review the objects again and read the real stories behind the faces of some of the passengers of the Titanic. I never can seem to read everything while inside a museum couldn't be because of 2 young children by my side;)

Prior to entering the exhibition we were given a boarding pass with the name of a passenger on the ship. Throughout the exhibition we looked for information about whether or not our passenger survived the ship's sinking.


These passengers died









The lone survivor in our group!











We were able to see what a 1st class, 2nd class, and 3rd class cabin would have looked like. We saw shoes, clothes, musical instruments, money, spectacles that were brought up from the ocean floor. The children even got to touch a part of the hull brought up to the surface. There were videos of the Titanic on the ocean floor and lots of stories of the people on board. Those who survived and those who didn't. There were stories of bravery and stories of cowardice and it makes you wonder what you would have done if you were there. There was over 2000 passengers on board the Titanic and just over 700 survived. There was enough room on the life boats for about 1200.

After the exhibit my husband and I spoke to the children about an ethical question (first explaining what ethical means). Was it the right thing to bring up all the personal belongings of those who died to be shown to the world or should the site remained sacred as a grave site? The original discover of the Titanic chose not to remove any items from the sea floor saying he wanted the wreckage to remain an undisturbed grave site. However maritime laws and/or treasure seeking laws state that the first group to bring something to the surfaces lays claim to the wreckage. The exhibit we went too was the second group who founded the wreckage and brought everything to the surface to exhibit and make money. As a family we discussed what we thought of this and as there is no correct answer, it is a question we are still pondering.

We are going to continue our studies on the Titanic by reading a few new books I bought at the exhibit, watching a movie on the discovery of the Titanic on the ocean floor and completing a lap book from Hands of a Child.