Titanic Facts 3

-The sole survivor: Olympic, sister ship to Titanic and Brittanic, was the only ship to see a full naval career. The Olympic's career spanned from 1911 to 1935 before Cunard White Star (who bought White Star Line that year) decided to retire the surviving sister. She was sold and scrapped. Some of Olympic's interiors were installed in bars, hotels, and the clock from the grand staircase is now at a museum.

-The Ocean of the Dead: Once the life lost in the disaster became all too real, White Star Line chartered four ships from Nova Scotia to retrieve the lost souls who did not make it. All four ships brought embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy, among other supplies. By the time the first ship reached the disaster site, the embalming supplies were exhausted due to the amount of bodies that still floated in the ocean. Sadly, third class passengers and crew were buried at sea and not taken back to Halifax. The captain of the Mackay-Bennett and the undertakers decided it was best to only preserve the bodies of  first class passengers. This was to resolve any disputes over large estates. Bodies were taken back to Halifax to be identified by family members. Two thirds of the bodies recovered were buried in Nova Scotia. Over the span of two months after the disaster, they managed to find just 333 bodies of the 1517 who lost their lives. The last was found on May 22nd and buried in Nova Scotia.

-The Last of the Survivors - She was only 9 weeks old when the Titanic sank. Millvina Dean, died at the age of 97 in May of 2009. 

-Wrong Place at the Wrong Time: Violet Jessop may have had the best luck in the world or the worse? She was on board the Olympic when it collided with the HMS Hawke, the Titanic when she struck an iceberg and sank, and on board when the Brittanic struck the mine and sank and lived to tell the tale of all three. 

 -The Site is a Graveyard: Though the ship looks peaceful and majestic, it is still a place that should be respected. Amongst the debris scattered on the ocean floor are shoes, jackets, briefcases filled with personal possessions. All traces left behind from those who lost their lives on April 15th in the bitter cold of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most powerful photos is two pairs of shoes. One pair is of an adult female and another smaller, perhaps that of a little girl, both side by side, meaning they drowned together and that’s where their bodies landed on the ocean floor.. The reason why there are no bodies on the ocean floor are due to bacteria eating pathogens or fish. They eat the flesh, the bone, and everything else, but they leave shoes alone due to the leather context. But these pieces of clothing are reminders that the Titanic site is a graveyard and more than 1,000 people whose bodies were not recovered, it’s their final resting place.