BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Newport News -- Mariner's Museum -- Great Hall of Steam

VA -- Newport News -- Mariner's Museum -- Great Hall of Steam:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. MARSTE_120922_014.JPG: Titanic: Fortune & Fate: On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic -- the largest, most luxurious, most technologically advanced liner the world had ever seen -- set out on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York. At 11:40pm, on Sunday, April 14, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the calm, frigid waters off the Newfoundland Banks. With two and half hours, the liner once billed as "unsinkable" went down. Only 705 of her 2,224 passengers and crew were saved. More than eighty years later, the Titanic continues to intrigue us. The fascination lies in the stories of her people, in her remarkable design and her famous opulence, in the tragedy of her last night, and in her enduring legacy of safer ships.
2. MARSTE_120922_020.JPG: First Class: "Everything has been done in regard to the furniture and fittings to make the first class accommodations more than equal to that provided in the finest hotels on shore." -- The Shipbuilder The Titanic's first-class passenger list glittered with names like Astor, Guggenheim, Widener, and Straus. First-class passage was expensive, but well within the means of passengers like John Jacob Astor, who paid just over 224 pounds for himself, his wife, his maid, and his manservant. A single man could travel first class for 28 pounds. The pride of the Titanic was her lavish first-class staterooms and public rooms featuring rich carpeting, cut-glass fittings, elaborate carvings, and the finest paneling. On fine days, deck chairs beckoned on the promenade decks and stewards hovered nearby, ready to satisfy a passenger's every whim. First-class passengers also had their own gymnasium, swimming pool, Turkish baths, squash courts, and even a fully-equipped darkroom. The ship even offered a dining room for servants and special accommodations for first-class dogs.
3. MARSTE_120922_024.JPG: Dressing Table Drawer: This section of a dressing table is believed to have come from a first-class stateroom on the Titanic. It was picked up by members of the crew of the "funeral ship" Mackay-Bennett during the search for bodies.
4. MARSTE_120922_030.JPG: The People of the Titanic: In an era in which the Social Register listed the vessels on which the socially prominent sailed, there was a certain prestige associated with sailing on the maiden voyage of the newest, biggest, most luxurious ship -- a prestige some wealthy travelers could not resist. Many third-class passengers were lured by the Titanic's unusually comfortable and attractive accommodations for even this most modest of classes. A number of those on board had not planned to sail on the Titanic at all. In the midst of a coal strike and wanting to make the most of its newest prize, the White Star Line canceled the departures of several other vessels, transferring their coal and passengers to the Titanic. In 1912, even the most luxurious liners offered little in the way of organized activities. The Titanic's passengers spent much of the time reading, playing cards, walking on deck, or perhaps exercising in the gym or swimming pool. Each class had its own public rooms, where passengers could gather for games, conversation, or music.
5. MARSTE_120922_033.JPG: Third Class: The Titanic's third-class quarters rang with many languages -- English, Irish, French, Polish, Italian, Dutch, even Syrian. Among the 1,024 third-class passengers were many emigrating to America to pursue their dreams. Third-class travelers were critical to the profitability of the transatlantic route, and the Titanic competed by offering cabins and public rooms that were actually better than the best accommodations of most nineteenth-century liners. A family with nine children traveled for less than 70 pounds, while a mother and son paid just over 9 pounds. Public rooms were comfortable and cheerful, if plain. In the popular general room, passengers enjoyed singing and dancing to the Irish pipe, fiddle, and piano, and games were organized on the third-class open deck area. Access to other deck areas was strictly dictated by class -- a fact that became tragically clear when disaster struck and third-class passengers tried to make their way to the lifeboats. American immigration law required barriers between third-class and other passengers to limit the spread of infectious diseases.
6. MARSTE_120922_036.JPG: A Marvel of Ingenuity: At the turn of the century, the transatlantic passenger trade was hotly competitive. American financier J. Pierpont Morgan, determined to dominate this lucrative route, formed a vast shipping trust, International Mercantile Marine Company, which bought the British White Star Line. In an era known for opulence, the White Star Line's Titanic and her twin, the Olympic, were the last word in elegance and comfort. Special touches included Turkish baths, a hospital, and special refrigerated holds for flowers and mineral water. Built by Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard, the Titanic incorporated the latest in technological advances and exceeded the safety standards of the day. In a pronouncement that would prove haunting, The Shipbuilder called her "practically unsinkable." Public fascination with the Titanic began long before the disaster: 100,000 people turned out for her launch on May 31, 1911. The Titanic was aptly named, for she was the largest movable object ever made: her graceful hull was more than four city blocks long and towered eleven stories high.
7. MARSTE_120922_041.JPG: Disaster: "It did not seem to me there was any great impact at all. It was as though we went over about a thousand marbles." -- Mrs. J. Stuart White, passenger In the crow's nest, Frederick Fleet strained to see through the moonless night. Spying a "small dark mass" a mile ahead, Fleet rang the three-bell alarm and telephoned the bridge. First Officer Murdoch ordered, "Hard a-starboard. Full speed astern." But his attempt to steer around the iceberg proved fatal: slowly, slowly the Titanic swung to port, grazing the iceberg on her starboard side. Had she taken the impact on her bow, she probably would have survived. Most passengers felt only a jar or head a scrape, then quiet as the Titanic glided to a stop. Several people ran to scoop up bits of ice from the chunks that had fallen on deck. There was no hint that the ship had been seriously damaged. But the Captain and Thomas Andrews, managing director of the Titanic's builder, soon knew the truth. Below, under tremendous pressure, the sea was pouring in. Six compartments were filling with water, and the Titanic could not float with more than four flooded. Smith ordered that distress signals be sent over the wireless. No general alarm was sounded, but stewards began to urge passengers to dress and put on life vests.
8. MARSTE_120922_044.JPG: The "Wireless" Search for Rescue: Titanic Marconimen John "Jack" Phillips and Harold Bride began transmitting a variety of distress signals soon after the collision. The SS Californian was closest to the disaster scene, but the ship's only wireless operator had signed off for the night and never received the call. Several ships and shore-based stations acknowledged the Titanic's signals immediately, but the closest ship to receive the signal, the Carpathia, was more than fifty-eight miles away and could not reach the scene for several hours. With fear and confusion spreading and with power to the wireless beginning to fail, Phillips maintained contact with the Carpathia and at least ten other vessels steaming to the rescue. The end was very near when Captain Smith arrived in the corridor of the wireless cabin and told the Marconimen to "look out for yourselves -- you can do no more!" As the forward boat deck became awash with freezing water, Phillips dauntlessly continued transmitting. When the electrical power finally failed, Phillips said, "Come on -- let's clear out," then shook hands with Bride, saying, "Best of luck, old man, we'll see you later." Bride never saw him alive again.
9. MARSTE_120922_051.JPG: Officers and Crew: "A British crew for a British ship." Nearly nine hundred officers and crew signed on to serve the Titanic on her maiden voyage. Due to the British coal strike, unemployed workers from dry-docked ships were plentiful and White Star was able to fill most of the positions in Southampton. More than half the crew tended to the whims of passengers, 325 took care of the engines, and the remaining 65, including the captain and his deck officers, sailed the ship.; The captain's suite and deck officers' cabins were on the boat deck near the officers' promenade. Female crew members were few in 1912: only twenty-three women, mostly stewardesses, were aboard. The rest of the crew included engineers, firemen, trimmers, stokers, lookouts, bakers, cooks, icemen, scullions, waiters, barbers, florists, and cashiers. Special crew members included postal clerks, wireless operators, and the band. Each segment of the crew -- caterers, stewards, engineers, firemen -- had its own separate social area. Only 214 crew members survived the dreadful night.
10. MARSTE_120922_055.JPG: Second Class: Second class on the Titanic was superior to first class on many other liners -- and cost as much or more. A couple traveling with their daughter paid just over 26 pounds, while a single fare could be had for 13 pounds. Among the 271 second-class passengers were businessmen and their families, an American film producer, a pastor, a teacher, and a chauffeur. In nearby cabins were several representatives of the Titanic's builder, who were there to handle any problems that might arise on a maiden voyage.
11. MARSTE_120922_060.JPG: The Legacy of the Titanic: The public outcry over the disaster prompted investigations in both Britain and the United States, and led to the Titanic's most important legacy: greater safety at sea. As a result of the congressional investigation, the United States moved to require that vessels using American ports have enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew, that crew be trained on lifeboats, and that every passenger and crew be assigned to a specific boat. All vessels were required to provide round-the-clock monitoring of a special wireless distress frequency. The North American passenger ship lanes were moved sixth miles south for the summer route, when the threat of ice is greatest. Congress also authorized subsidies to America's struggling shipping lines -- in an attempt to ensure the safety of Americans in the face of what were seen as inadequate European standards. In response to popular demand on both sides of the Atlantic, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea convened in 1913 and has reconvened throughout the century to adopt measures to make travel safer. At that first meeting, the nations created an international ice patrol to monitor steamship lanes and report hazards to all ships. The United States took on responsibility for the service, which is handled today by the U.S. Coast Guard. Every year on April 14, the Coast Guard drops a wreath over 41 degrees 46' north, 50 degrees 14' west, the grave of the Titanic.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Mariners' Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mariners' Museum is located in Newport News, Virginia. It is one of the largest maritime museums in the world as well as being the largest in North America.

History

The museum was founded in 1932 by Archer Milton Huntington, son of Collis P. Huntington, a railroad builder who brought the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway to Warwick County, Virginia, and who founded the City of Newport News, its coal export facilities, and Newport News Shipbuilding in the late 19th century.

Archer and his wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, acquired 800 acres (3.2 km�) of land that would come to hold 61,000 square feet (5,700 m�) of exhibition galleries, a research library, a 167 acre (676,000 m�) lake, a five mile (8 km) shoreline trail with fourteen bridges, and over 35,000 maritime artifacts from around the globe. After acquisition took place, the first two years were devoted to creating and improving a natural park and constructing a dam to create Lake Maury, named after the nineteenth-century Virginia oceanographer Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury.

Artifacts, paintings, models

The museum’s collection totals approximately 32,000 artifacts equally divided between works of art and three-dimensional objects. The scope of the collection is international and includes miniature ship models, scrimshaw, maritime paintings, decorative arts, carved figureheads, working steam engines, and the world's only known existing Kratz-built steam calliope. The museum holds important collections of paintings and drawings by marine artists James Bard and Antonio Jacobsen. The museum offers educational programs for all ages, a large research library and archives, as well as publications and Internet resources for teachers.

USS Monitor Center

The Mariners' Museum is home to the USS Monitor Center. In 1973, the wreck of the ironclad USS Monitor, made famous in the Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 during the American Civil War was located on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean about 16 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The wreck site was designated as the United States' first national marine sanctuary. Monitor Sanctuary is the only one of the thirteen national marine sanctuaries created to protect a cultural resource, rather than a natural resource.

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is now under the supervision of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many artifacts from Monitor, including her innovative turret, propeller, anchor, engine and some personal effects of the crew, have been brought to the museum. For several years, they were conserved in special tanks to stabilize the metal. The new USS Monitor Center officially opened on March 9, 2007, and a full-scale replica of the Monitor, the original recovered turret, and many artifacts and related items are now on display. Current efforts are focused on restoring the engine.
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