Exactly 108 years ago today - the evening of April 14th 1912 - the Titanic struck an iceberg, sinking early the next morning with the loss of over 1,500 lives. Rumor has it that Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, owner of the Titanic, encouraged the captain of the ship to travel faster than prudent through the ice fields, despite iceberg warnings, in order to set a new speed record. At this point, however, the truth will never be known. Ismay survived the sinking, while Captain Smith did not. And no, I did NOT take the above photograph of the Titanic at the start of her maiden voyage. I was way too young back then to operate a camera. The photograph actually comes from a Life magazine special issue titled Titanic - The Tragedy That Shook The World, which I purchased on the 100th anniversary of the disaster.
Also from that book is the advertisement on the right for tickets for the return voyage, which was scheduled to leave from New York April 20th, 1912. Sadly, of course, this never happened, but in a few years, it very well might. Surprisingly, an exact replica of the Titanic is currently being built and is scheduled to make it's maiden voyage in 2022. Talk about bad karma - is that not tempting fate, or what? If you don't believe that someone (in this case, a crazy Aussie, and I mean that with all due respect) would attempt to do something like this, check out the attached link at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_II. Of course, if you decide to make reservations, don't expect to pay the $36.25 one-way fare to Southampton advertised in the brochure. I would plan on at least $100.00.
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