Artifacts raised from the Empress

[Jim Kalafus]

When you think about it, was not A Night to Remember profiting off the deaths of 1503 people? Are all of the Titanic videos, books, lithos, societies, websites PROFITING OFF DISASTER since, after all, had the Titanic survived her voyage the stories of her passengers and crew would not nearly be so in demand nearly a century later? Are all of the shipwreck and other disaster themed books CALLOUS PROFITEERING? Is everyone on this site, by extention, a heartless ghoul for sharing a common interest in a major catastrophe and, in most cases, contributing money to those who PROFIT from disaster by writing books, creating artwork, composing music about an event which killed 1503 people? No, of course not, these are all ridiculously overblown generalisations, but in the limited context of

>SOMEONE profited for someone else's loss.

can be said to be true.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

Just today received a lovely Third Class milk pitcher salvaged from the Andrea Doria

which is going to make an interesting display piece by nature of the way it has deteriorated. The "face" is entirely intact and looks much as it did in 1956, while the back is intact but terribly pitted and eroded- it manages to look "pretty" but still convey its history in no uncertain terms.

 

[Matthew R. Boswell]

I would still be interested in the Titanic if it had survived.
I would still be interested in the Empress.
I would still be interested in the Doria.

I am involved in a love affair with beautiful maidens and gentle giants, not with decrepit wrecks and rusty artifacts.

It's not just the deceased who I'm sorry for, I'm sorry for the beautiful lady, her corpse sitting on the cold ocean floor being ripped apart by people coming and going.

I would like to own a piece of a great liner-A brochure, a deck plan, a photograph, a model, a book, something taken off before the disaster.

In a way, I'm glad some of the sensuous maidens of the sea did sink. They didn't have to be betrayed by their creators and scrapped-sold to a maniacal grim reaper to die in fear.

The scrapped ships were murdered.
The Andrea Doria was raped and abandoned to die in the darkness, as was the Empress. The Titanic was just an accident.

 

[Matthew R. Boswell]

Which do you find more beautiful?

OR

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>The Andrea Doria was raped and abandoned to die in the darkness, as was the Empress. The Titanic was just an accident.

Ehhh? WHAT?

 

[Matthew R. Boswell]

>>Ehhh? WHAT?<<

Hoffer says it in the first chapter of SAVED!

 

[Jim Kalafus]

I definitely find view #2 more 'interesting.'
#1 is quite beautiful, 'though a common view, and captures what a noble fellow Admiral Doria was before his unfortunate rape and abandonment.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>Hoffer says it in the first chapter of SAVED!

Yes, I know, and it triggered my gag reflex there, too.

 

[Matthew R. Boswell]

>>what a noble fellow Admiral Doria was before his unfortunate rape and abandonment<<

Argument aside, that's the funniest thing I've heard today.

 

[Eddie Petruskevich]

Thanks for the letter Jim! Hoping to get on the QM2 soon as I grad college - time will tell. After viewing this thread tonight - I went back to my room to look at my Empress artifacts in their cases and casually flipped through the original copy of the book on it from 1914. It still is a wonder these pieces survived nearly a century for their stories to be told. I'm sure you appreciate yours just as much as I do mine.

Regards,
Eddie Petruskevich
http://westphalia101.tripod.com

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>In a way, I'm glad some of the sensuous maidens of the sea did sink. They didn't have to be betrayed by their creators and scrapped-sold to a maniacal grim reaper to die in fear.

The scrapped ships were murdered.
The Andrea Doria was raped and abandoned to die in the darkness, as was the Empress. The Titanic was just an accident.<<

Say what????

May I ask why any of this is an arguement against salvage/recovery/conservation/preservation?

If anything, I think it undermines your position. Personally, I'd rather not see any ship sink, and I'd rather not see any of the great ones end up in the scrapyard, but it's going to happen. If anything, this reality makes the recovery and preservation of artifacts even more important regardless of how or from where it's made to happen. If those pieces of history are not preserved, then they're lost forever.

 

[Matthew R. Boswell]

I think this thread should go back to disscussing artifact collections. I'm sorry for my comments and odd quotes...
I ask permission to delete my previous comments.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

From the Montreal Gazette:

Negotiations stalled to obtain ship wreckage for museum exhibit

Nearly a century after Canada's deadliest maritime disaster, negotiations between the country's main history museum and a Quebec diver over artifacts from the sunken Empress of Ireland have reached an impasse.

For the rest of the story, click here.