Ghost in the Ship

This afternoon, Andrew and I went to see the Titanic artifact exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum. Due to the popular draw in local community, this was extended three weeks, which allowed us uber-procrastinators to get there. I find the history of the time period and the engineering of the ship amazing, but the story itself of course, is deeply depressing. It's sad, hopeless, and numbing.

The entire visit was like walking though a literal ghost ship. While the walls and rooms were decorated to look like the inside of the ship, the decor was greatly reduced in elegance by the artifacts and tales of the dead on the walls and tables. I felt like I was being followed around by ghosts, and had a horrible (no pun intended) sinking feeling. After reading accounts of women refusing to leave their husbands, and survivors who lost family members, I too did not want to leave Andrew's side, even just in an exhibit hall.

I was glad to leave when we were done. We saw the Titanica movie first, and I'm glad we did because after the exhibit itself, I would have wanted to leave. It was just too eerie. Like the wandering dead follow the artifacts themselves.

I had a lot of questions after the movie and the exhibit. What was the purpose in going down there? Did people want to find out how a ship looked in the ocean after 70-some years? (Remembering that the Titanic was first located in 1985). Were people interested in it for the sake of history? Or science? Or treasure hunting? I guess I'm just not sure that such a tragedy should be made light of. Not that museums are doing that, but I guess it's still odd to me. And what of the artifacts themselves? Can anything be learned from their time in the ocean? Are we learning anything from the dives and item recoveries now? With all of this interest, how long will it be before the ship itself is just pulled out of the ocean? Or would they just leave it there because someday people would pay money to see it close-up? I guess I'm just cynical.

Despite all this uneasiness, I have an urge to watch the movie (1997 version) again. That makes me feel bad... For the dead and the survivors - though, there are none of those left.

Perhaps I feel weirded out by it because this highlights a couple of my largest fears: dying, and drowning. Granted, most died from hypothermia, but that doesn't really help my stomach settle. I don't really know why I'm afraid of water so much. I love swimming and boating, but I have a great and fearful respect of water and the dangers that come with it. Maybe that comes from when I was a child, and my brother jumped on me from a diving board in a swimming pool. Coughing, but alive, I gasped for air and was pulled out of the water. I don't remember the rest, but I hope that my brother was reprimanded. Even now, that brings back some fear... and I hope that memory goes away soon.