News release

Maritime Museum Unveils Recently Acquired Titanic Artifacts

Tourism, Culture and Heritage (Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2011)

On Wednesday, April 15, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will commemorate the 97th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic by unveiling a display of recently acquired artifacts connected to the tragedy.

Acquired in October, the artifacts are valuable additions to the museum's permanent Titanic exhibit, which tells the story of Halifax's connection to the ill-fated vessel. The acquisition was possible with the support of the Nova Scotia Museum Endowment Fund, administered by the Nova Scotia Museum board of governors.

"These artifacts are notable for two reasons," said museum manager Kim Reinhardt. "First, because of their association with Titanic and secondly, because they are representative of Halifax's Titanic connection. Their addition further enhances the museum's significant Titanic collection, which is the largest collection of its kind in Canada."

The objects to be introduced include a mortuary bag, a wreckwood rosette, a photograph and cap badge.

The mortuary bag was sewn aboard the Halifax cable ship Mackay-Bennett and was used to safeguard the personal effects of Body No. 41, 33-year-old Edmund Stone, a first-class bedroom steward from Southhampton who was buried at sea.

The core of the system of body recovery and identification, mortuary bags were made aboard ship as bodies were found, and they proved very effective in keeping victims' personal effects together, both on the ship and in the morgue.

The system was so successful, that during the Halifax Explosion the coroner followed the Titanic example and made identical bags for the personal effects of explosion victims.

The wreckwood rosette was made by William Parker, a Nova Scotian carpenter aboard the Halifax cable ship Minia who participated in the recovery of Titanic victims. Like many sailors, Mr. Parker collected pieces of floating Titanic debris to keep as mementos of the historic disaster.

Parker crafted the decorative rosette out of eight pieces of the mahogany balustrade from the ship's grand staircase. Titanic wreckwood is the specialty of the Maritime Museum's Titanic exhibit and many other pieces in that collection were also made by Mr. Parker, such as a cribbage board he crafted from Titanic oak.

The photograph and cap badge that will be included in the display also belonged to Mr. Parker. The signed photograph is of Mr. Parker, dressed in the cable company uniform he wore aboard the Minia. The cap badge was part of a different cable ship uniform he most likely wore aboard another vessel during 45-year career at sea.

Already in possession of Mr. Parker's sea chest and the tools he used to craft his wreckwood pieces, the museum was eager to obtain the photograph and cap badge, as both objects illustrate this regular Nova Scotian who played a role in Titanic's history.

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is located at 1675 Lower Water St., Halifax.