Recreating RMS Titanic

The most famous shipwreck in history occurred on April 15th 1912 when the massive ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an Iceberg off Newfoundland on its maiden voyage.

The ship represented the height of luxury and opulence and although the wreck was located in 1985 by Dr Robert Ballard, its ornate woodwork and luxurious decor had all but vanished. But that’s not quite the end of the story…

The Titanic was built as one of three ships with the Olympic and Britannic completing the fleet. The Britannic never really saw passenger duty and was converted into a hospital ship before being sunk by a mine during the first world war. The Olympic however, enjoyed event-free Atlantic crossings until the late 1930’s when she was decommissioned and broken up at a ship breakers yard in Jarrow.  Such was Olympic’s splendour that most of her lavish interior fixtures and fittings were not destroyed but sold and for the past fifty years, they have been absorbed into hotels, offices and even private homes, most people failing to realise the links between their furniture and the greatest trio of ships in history.

Back in 2005 I was granted behind-the-scenes access to photograph some of the artifacts recovered from the wreck of the RMS Titanic which lies two and a half miles below the Atlantic Ocean. Along with a local Maritime Historian, Stuart Lythgoe, we decided to re-unite some of these artifacts with those which were stripped from Titanic’s sister ship the RMS Olympic. By doing this, we could recreate the items in context and in a way that had never been done before.  We located different sections of Olympic’s fittings and pinpointed and cross referenced these with the relevant artifacts which had been rescued from the sea bed. We then digitally re-introduced these objects to create a single image which in some way, brought them back to life.You can see some of the photographs here or I have featured three below with appropriate descriptions.

“Thousands of pieces of debris have now been salvaged from the wreck of the RMS Titanic. This broken window from the first class lounge is one such piece.

The identical lounge suite from the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic was bought by and installed in the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick.

Here, the Titanic’s window has been digitally reintroduced into the original frame from the RMS Olympic. The two ships were practically identical in fixtures and fittings so the broken window still fits perfectly.”

“The central balustrade of the Grand Staircase from the RMS Olympic can now be found at the White Swan Hotel In Alnwick.

By studying the original photograph and also photographing the rail in the hotel from exactly the same angle and distance, it has been possible to digitally re-insert it back into the black and white photograph which was taken fifty years ago.

This coloured section of woodwork can be found, in situ at the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick.

The Grey doors have been taken from a 1930’s picture of the RMS Olympic and behind them, the first class lounge fireplace can clearly be seen. This exact fireplace now stands behind the camera position here.RMS Olympic was the ‘twin’ sister ship of the Titanic and by locating the ships interiors, its possible to glimpse at some of the beauty of the ill fated Titanic which was never photographed in detail before sinking on its maiden voyage.”

Looking back on this project I have come to the conclusion that photography can be used in a wide variety of ways and photographs of historical importance were often initially captured for very different reasons. This series of photographs are different. Here I purposefully wanted to reunite the past with the present and create a document for history. I also wanted to create colourful, vivid pictures which are based around some of the greatest ships that have ever sailed.