Romanian Ruminations

The Titanic Docks in NYC

"The Titanic docks in New York City," read the posters on the L.I.R.R. trains, promoting the Discovery Times Square Exhibit in Manhattan. Last Friday, two Romanian Adelphi students - my friend Anca Constantin and I - decided to see what it was all about.

First things first: before boarding the imaginary ship that sailed us 97 years back in time, as any legitimate passengers, we received our tickets. The organizers reprinted each boarding pass with snippets of information about the passenger's life and the people who accompanied them, which were handed out to visitors before they entered the exhibit.

Anca received the ticket of Henriette Yrois, a French top model accompanied by wealthy American filmmaker William H. Harbeck. Henriette enjoyed playing cards, traveled second class on the "unsinkable ship," and was thought to be Harbeck's lover. I received the ticket of a Spanish lady, Maria Josefa Perez de Soto y Vallejo, who had recently married a rich man named Victor Penasco y Castellana. Embarked on an adventurous honeymoon, they visited various countries and decided to make the transatlantic journey to New York on impulse. Although Maria's mother-in-law had warned the couple it was inauspicious to travel by sea on one's honeymoon, the newly weds booked first class cabins on the Titanic. 

The exhibit included technicalities regarding how the ship was built and glass cases shielding artifacts recovered from the depths of the ocean, such as change purses, perfume bottles, necklaces, plates, and silverware. Visitors could observe duplications of first and third class cabins, walk through fake third and second class hallways, and hear the clamor of the boiler rooms. Additionally, there were many stories on display, conveying the circumstances that led various passengers to board the ship. For instance, one family chose the Titanic because its staff allowed children to attend dinner in the dinning room, while other ships did not. Unfortunately many middle class families who were planning to forge new lives in America, booked third class cabins to save money, which minimized their chances of surviving the hapless disaster.

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies is that people were reluctant to leave the ship because they thought it was unsinkable. Due to the chaos that arose when it was obvious the Titanic was going under, the 20 lifeboats on board were filled only halfway or one third of their capacity. The evacuation was so disorganized that first class passengers managed to save more than three dogs, while humans were freezing in the water. Although the lifeboats could have rescued nearly 1,115 people, more than half of the 2,223  passengers on the Titanic died. 

The exhibit ended with a list of all the survivors and people lost during the tragedy. Ultimately, Maria's mother-in-law was right: the transatlantic journey proved to be inauspicious for couples. They either died together, as Henriette and William, or were separated - Victor, as many other men, perished, while Maria, as many fortunate first class women, lived to tell the tale.