The Hidden Stories of Items Found in the Titanic Wreck

A stylish bag made of crocodile skin and small perfume bottles that still emit a strong scent… The BBC explored the secret storage room where the items found on the world-famous shipwreck Titanic were stored, and investigated the stories behind the valuable objects there.

The exact location of the warehouse is kept secret because some of the objects inside are very valuable, but we can say that it is located in Atlanta, the capital of the US state of Georgia.

Inside the warehouse are thousands of objects, from an overturned bathtub and a collapsed porthole (a round window in a ship’s cabin) to eroded glassware and small buttons.

Here are the secret stories of some of these items and their owners:

Crocodile skin bag with a tragic story

A bag made of crocodile skin remained intact for decades in the depths of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Some delicate objects preserved inside the bag made it easy to find its owner.

The bag belongs to a woman named Marian Meanwell, who was travelling in the cheapest section of the ship.

“This beautiful and elegant bag belonged to a 63-year-old milliner. She was travelling to the US with her daughter, who had just lost her husband,” says Tomasina Ray, director of collections for the RMS Titanic company that recovered the valuables from the wreck.

Among the mementos in the bag is a faded photograph thought to be of Marian Meanwell’s mother.

Some documents that Meanwell had taken with him in preparation for his new life in the USA were also found in his bag.

“Mrs Meanwell was a good tenant who paid her rent on time,” reads a reference letter from her former London landlord.

Also in the bag was a health inspection card that third-class passengers were required to bring to prove that they would not be carrying any disease into the United States.

This document, damaged by water, also revealed the tragic story of Meanwell.

Meanwell was originally listed for another White Star Line ship, the Majestic, but it never sailed. The Majestic name was crossed out of Meanwell’s card and he was transferred to the Titanic.

Meanwell, whose fate changed, became one of the 1,500 people who lost their lives in the sinking of the Titanic.

“That’s why it’s so important that we can tell the stories of Meanwell and these objects. Otherwise, this woman would just be another name on a list,” Tomasino emphasizes.

Perfume bottles that still emit a strong scent

Some of the items recovered from the depths belong to ship survivors.

When Tomasina opens the plastic container containing the small perfume bottles, a strong, sweet scent is released.

The smells emanating from these sealed bottles, which have remained on the sea surface for decades, are still very strong.

“There was also a perfume merchant on board who had more than 90 of these little perfume bottles with him,” Tomasina says.

The man, whose name was Adolphe Saalfeld, was traveling in second class cabins.

Saalfeld was one of 700 survivors.

But while women and children were given priority during the evacuation of the ship, some of the men who survived were upset by this. Tomasina speculates that the man, who was already dead when they found the items, “may have felt remorse for being saved.”

Champagne bottle

The collection also includes a champagne bottle filled with wine and capped with a cork.

Tomasina says some water may have seeped in from the cork.

When the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912, the ship broke apart and its contents were scattered, creating a large debris field.

Tomasina says that “there were many bottles and cooking pots on the ocean floor because the ship was cut off from the galley.”

Thousands of bottles of champagne were being carried on the ship at the time.

The owner of the cruise ship wanted first-class passengers to have an experience of opulence, with the best food and drink.

“The ship was like a floating palace and the Titanic was intended to be the most luxurious cruise ship,” Tomasina explains.

Rivets

The Titanic, which had advanced safety features for its time and was said to be “unsinkable”, was making its maiden voyage from Southampton to the United States when it hit the iceberg.

In the collection shown by Tomasina, the thick metal nails, or rivets, that hold the steel sheets together also attract attention.

It is thought that more than 3 million rivets were used on the ship.

“There was a theory that when the Titanic sank, substandard materials were used and that’s why it sank faster,” Tomasina says.

Some of these rivets were tested to determine whether they were pure or not.

Tomasina says that “the rivets contain a high concentration of slag, a glassy substance that can further reduce the material’s resistance to cold,” and that if they were more sensitive, the heads of these rivets would come off more easily, which is why the fracture could be so large where the iceberg hit.

But according to Tomasina, there is still much to be learned to understand exactly why the ship sank.

Class distinction

Life on board differed between classes.

Even the cups and plates that the passengers ate and drank from were separate from each other.

A simple but sturdy white cup was used for the third graders, while more delicate plates with delicate blue floral motifs were used for the second graders.

The first class ate from even more elegant porcelain plates, with gold trim around the edges and decorations that glittered in the light.

With the permission granted by a US court in 1994, RMS Titanic Inc. became the only company legally entitled to remove items from the wreck.

However, they are required to follow very strict rules, such as keeping the artifacts together and properly preserving them to prevent them from being sold separately.

Until now, the artifacts were collected at the debris field.

The company recently caused controversy when it announced that it wanted to go to the wreck and retrieve an item from the ship: the Marconi radio that the Titanic used to transmit distress calls on the night it sank.

Some argue that the shipwreck is a graveyard and should be left alone.

In response, Tomasina says, “We respect the Titanic. We want to preserve its memory. Not everyone can dive into the Titanic and get there, and we want to bring it to the public.”

In its latest exploration of the wreck, the company took millions of photographs to create a detailed three-dimensional scan.

Therefore, it may be necessary to open more space on the shelves in the hidden warehouse.

The team is not only examining the condition of the Marconi radio room, but also identifying objects they would like to recover on future dives.

Perhaps these items will help them uncover other, never-before-told stories about the Titanic and its passengers.