How will the chase begin?

As I am writing this, my excitement is becoming greater and greater to begin this journey.  For now, I will give you some background to perhaps trigger your excitement too.  My chase begins on April 8, 2012 with departure to the Titanic Memorial Cruise. 

This once in a lifetime journey, commemorating the Titanic’s tragic voyage in 1912, will follow the Titanic’s original itinerary. We will be passing Cherbourg, France (where Margaret Brown first embarked), stopping in Cobh (Queenstown in 1912), and crossing the Atlantic to arrive at the site where the Titanic sank for the 100-year anniversary of this tragic event.  Here, a memorial service will be held to pay tribute to the passengers and crew who perished on that fateful night.  Our journey will be somewhat longer than Titanic’s, as the itinerary will differ in two ways from Titanic’s original plan.  The ship will not stop at Cherbourg (though we will pass by), and after crossing the Atlantic it will stop in Halifax, Nova Scotia where hundreds of recovered Titanic victims are buried.  The ship will then end its voyage in New York City, as Titanic itself was scheduled to do. 

While on board, there will be lectures by well-known Titanic authors and experts, including several who actually dove to the ships’ underwater resting place.  There will be descendants of Titanic passengers who will be sharing their loved ones experiences and I hope to have the opportunity to share Margaret Brown’s experiences while on board. 

Passengers from all over the world will be on this memorial cruise living out their own personal fascination of the Titanic 100 years later.  It is said the Titanic carried passengers from many different countries as well.  It is hard to say how many there were but most official lists provide no breakdown by nationality beyond British and Non-British.    

I have been writing about capturing the fascination of the Titanic on this adventure, however, the fascination means something different to everyone.  It may range from building the “Ship of Dreams”, the luxury of travel,  the most advanced technology of the time,  or what it meant to so many of the passengers that had their dreams taken away so quickly.    I still cannot put my arms entirely around what my fascination is for the Titanic, but I do know that I have a true passion for this strong and courageous woman, Margaret Brown.  She was forced to travel on the Titanic due to her grandson being ill and she wanted to return home to comfort her family.  I admire her strength to take charge to help the less fortunate on the rescue ship Carpathia, and continued to support the survivors until her death.   It truly molded her life going forward.   There were so many other survivors who also gained strength from this tragedy to live on with their lives.   But do we really know who the victims were?  Was it the individuals who perished, the survivors living with the horror of the tragedy, or the families who lived on without their loved ones?    

Here we are 100 years later and the mystery and intrigue of Titanic still lives on through the movies that are created, chartered trips to the wreckage, and still today they are writing books about it.     

You can also take part in local Titanic related events by attending a screening of The Unsinkable Molly Brown film at the Denver Film Center on April 3, 2012 that includes a lecture on the myth versus the reality of Margaret Brown. 

So it will still remain a mystery to me, perhaps I can solve the mystery for myself as my journey continues and I share with you what I have found.  Let the journey begin.