Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Titanic Victims 'Dead Calm'

From the April 13, 2012, New York Post by Maureen Callahan.

On April 12, 2012, the centennial Titanic cruise docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so passengers could visit Fairview Cemetery where 121 victims are buried.

One of the graves at the cemetery was that of John Law Hume, the first violinist on the ill-fated ship who had a pregnant fiancee. As the ship began to sink, he said, "We're gonna just play a few tunes to keep peoples' spirits up." He died playing "Nearer My God to Thee."

Another one was that of Alma Paulson, 29-years old, from Sweden with her four children, ages 2, 4, 6 and 8 and on her way to America to meet her husband.

The Centennial Cruise had lunch at Halifax's Five Fishermen Restaurant, formerly the city mortuary where the recovered dead from the Titanic were taken. The survivors went to New York City.

One complaint on the cruise was the absence of Titanic-themed souvenirs (Titanic coal, however, can still be bought.) A blue Titanic hat with coal in it can be bought for $20.

Then the people on the cruise went to Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which has a permanent exhibition of Titanic artifacts. Some of their items are a deck chair, pair of child's shoes, and pieces of a life jacket that may have belonged to New York millionaire John Jacob Astor.

Reliving the Event.

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