It’s been 111 years since the RMS Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, taking 1,517 lives with it.
Deemed unsinkable, the Titanic – at the time the world’s largest ship – hit an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Britain to the United States.
The story of the ship’s demise as well as tales of survival – 706 people survived the tragedy – continue to fascinate people. Hongkonger Ingrid Wong Ching-yee is one of them.
She has collected artefacts – some original, others replicas – from auctions and private sales, and is showing them at the “Titanic” exhibition” at iLab, in Causeway Bay, until April 30.
It engages all the senses. As you enter the third-floor space a familiar tune greets you. It is Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme song to the 1997 movie Titanic, directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack and Kate Winslet as Rose.
“What makes this exhibition different is that people can touch many of the items,” says iLab boss Koini Chan Pui-yu, as she gives a guided tour.
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To prove the point she opens a box and hands over its contents, a piece of feather-light coal salvaged from the ocean bed. In 1985, a team led by surveyor Robert Ballard found the wreck. Since then a number of explorers have salvaged items from it, including coal from the engine room.
You can also touch a lock of hair belonging to Roger Bricoux, who played cello on the ship, and who was 20 years old when he died.
“The Titanic was buried deep, on the ocean floor – [at a depth] 10 times the height of the IFC,” says Chan, referencing the 415-metre-tall landmark in Hong Kong’s Central financial district.
Highlights include sheet music for “Ghost Dance” salvaged from the wreck, original newspaper clippings reporting the tragedy and a Sinking of the Titanic board game “the game you play as the ship goes down […] then face the peril of the open sea”!
Some items, including a deck chair, are from the RMS Olympic, the British luxury liner and a sister ship of the Titanic.
Chan winds up an old gramophone to play a scratchy rendition of “Nearer, My God, to Thee”, the hymn the orchestra is believed to have played as the 45,000-tonne vessel was sinking.
A clip from A Night to Remember, the 1958 British film adaptation of Walter Lord’s 1955 book about the Titanic, is also part of the sensory experience.
QR codes provide extra details for many of the items on display.
