By Wendy Bernshausen
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

More than 90 years ago, 1,523 people lost their lives in one of the greatest known tragedies of all time. The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic has saddened us and yet fascinated us, leaving the followers of the tragedy transfixed over details of that fateful night.

On April 14, 1912, the "unsinkable ship" hit an iceberg and plunged to its resting place 12,460 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic. The disastrous combination of natural elements and human error have contributed to the mystery of discovering what exactly happened that night.

It is this undying interest in the Titanic that makes "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit" at the Houston Museum of Natural Science so engaging.

The search for the Titanic began in 1953. Texas oilman, Jack Grimm, made three attempts at locating the Titanic in 1980, 1981 and 1983. Setbacks ranging from bad weather to a lack of necessary technology left Grimm empty handed.

Finally, in 1985 Robert Ballard led a conjoined effort between the United States and France. On Sept. 1, 1985, Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic resting 2.5 miles below the surface using submersible vessels and sonar systems.

"Here at the bottom of the ocean lay not only the graveyard of a great ship, but the only fitting monument to more than 1,500 people who had perished when she went down," Ballard said.

Scientific speculation, survivor interviews, actual images of the wreckage, artifacts and ship data have been the driving force of Titanic's living history. For years now, the resurrection of Titanic has captured the interest of both young and old.

Visitors of the exhibit are welcomed aboard with a boarding pass much like the travelers aboard the Titanic received. The touching part of this is that the pass is clearly printed with one of the actual traveler's name and class assignment.

Individual audio headsets are used on the self-guided tour to explain the artifacts, pictures and real life recreations of rooms aboard the Titanic.

Commentaries from survivors and curators of the artifacts are included in the narration.

The exhibit follows chronologically from its departure from Queensland Ireland on the morning of April 12, 1912, to the tragic night of April 14, 1912.

As visitors board the exhibit, they are immersed into history beginning first with the construction of the Titanic. The Titanic is held together by three million rivets that were installed by hand. Actual hardware of the ship and tools used to perform regular maintenance on the ship are also featured.

Capt. Edward J. Smith is quoted, "I could not conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel, modern ship building has gone beyond that."

The exhibit also features stateroom recreations, including miscellaneous artifacts such as letters, personal items, jewelry, dinnerware, clothing and money.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the exhibit is the iceberg recreation. Visitors are asked to put their hands on this huge block of ice and see how long they can keep their hand on it.

The point of this portion of the exhibit is to help visitors understand exactly what Titanic victims went through that tragic morning.

Saltwater freezes at 28 degrees, and the water that night was colder than the iceberg that made Titanic a legend. In fact, most of the victims did not drown. They died of hypothermia.

An entire wall of the exhibit is dedicated to Titanic's victims. This display leaves one asking, "What does their silence say to us today?"

From the discovery of Titanic's ruins Sept. 1, 1985, to the present, the conservation of the physical evidence as well as the memory of those onboard remains a constant. More importantly, the rights to salvage what is left of Titanic still remains a controversy.

R.M.S. Titanic Inc., the company that has been salvaging the Titanic since 1987, could lose its rights to the Titanic for abandoning the wreck. The U.S. District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. of Norfolk, Va., ruled in 1994 that they have sole salvage rights as long as they maintain a "regular presence" at the wreck site.

It has now been two years since R.M.S. Titanic's last expedition and because of the company's financial trouble, there is no indication of when they will be able to return.

This is pressuring the United States, Canada, France and Britain to finalize an international agreement that would effectively ban the salvage of the Titanic.

The exhibit runs through Jan. 5, 2003. Visit the HMNS Web site at www.hmns.org for exhibition hours and ticket information.

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