Titanic: Reenactment of the Sailing

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, the cruise ship, Balmoral, is recreating the doomed ship’s maiden (and last) voyage. The Balmoral set sail from Southamptom, England, just as the Titanic did, on Sunday April 8, 2012. The ship is carrying 1309 passengers, almost the same number as were on the Titanic. Many of the passengers are relatives of passengers of the Titanic.

The passengers will hold a memorial service at the exact spot the Titanic hit the iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. Many of the passengers are dressing for the occasion, in attire from 1912.


When the Balmoral left the port of Cobh in Ireland, late Monday, April 9, 2012, it ran into bad weather, and then a passenger developed heart problems and the ship had to turn back to Ireland so an Irish coastguard helicopter could pick up the sick passenger.

The managing director of the travel agency that chartered the voyage could not say if the return to Ireland would cause the ship to miss making it to the exact location of the sinking on time for the memorial service. I hope they don’t sail quicker than they should just to make it there on time. That was one of the mistakes made on the Titanic itself – trying to get to New York ahead of schedule, and going to fast.

Another ship, Journey, left from New York on Tuesday night to sail to the same spot and commemorate the doomed ship’s sinking. It will be interesting to hear how it goes, because two large cruise ships can’t be in the same place at the same time.

What is it about the tragedy of the Titanic that interests people so much? I know that I’m fascinated by the events of that fateful night, but I can’t say exactly why. There isn’t another tragedy that fascinates me the same way. However, it would be so eerie to be at the exact spot where the ship sank, at the exact time 100 years later, in the middle of the night. I’m not one who believes in ghosts per se, but I have a very vivid imagination and I don’t think I would be able to sleep well that night, because there may be some spirits lingering where such tragedy happened.

I am looking forward to Julian Fellowes miniseries, Titanic, which will air on Saturday and Sunday nights. I think it’s the stories of the people who lived and died that night that interest me the most, and I believe this miniseries tells the real story of the real people better than James Cameron’s movie did. To me, James Cameron’s movie was just a love story with the Titanic tragedy as the background. I’m excited to learn more about the real story, and the real people.