If you’ve ever wondered about the true stories of the Titanic’s passengers, there’s a hidden warehouse that holds a wealth of the ship’s narratives.
The Titanic is history’s most renowned shipwreck, yet despite extensive research, it feels like we’ve only begun to uncover its depth.
However, there’s a secret warehouse that offers many clues about the people aboard the Titanic.
Situated somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia, this warehouse houses thousands of items and artifacts that survived the disaster.
According to the BBC, the shelves of the warehouse are filled with recovered items ranging from glassware, buttons, a dented porthole, and even an overturned bathtub.
The RMS Titanic Inc, the organization that salvaged these artifacts, informed the BBC that they have retrieved 5,500 items from the wreck, many of which are displayed in museums or exhibitions around the globe.
One significant item is a handbag made from alligator skin that belonged to a 63-year-old passenger named Marian Meanwell.
“It’s a really beautiful, fashionable little bag,” said Tomasina Ray, director of collections for RMS Titanic Inc, to the BBC.
“She was a 63-year-old milliner,” she added. “She was traveling to the US to be with her daughter who was recently widowed.”
The contents of Meanwell’s bag also survived, including a faded photograph believed to be of her mother and necessary paperwork for her new life in America.
Other fascinating items in the warehouse include tiny vials of perfume that are still ‘very potent,’ according to Ray.
“There was a perfume salesman on board and he had over 90 of these little perfume vials,” she explained. These belonged to a passenger named Adolphe Saalfeld, who was one of the 700 survivors of the shipwreck.
“He had passed by the time we found this,” said Ray. “But it’s my understanding that he did live with a bit of guilt — survivor’s guilt.”
The warehouse also contains a champagne bottle that still holds champagne with its cork intact.
“A little bit of water probably would have gotten in through the cork as it compressed and equalized the pressure. And then it just sat on the bottom of the ocean,” Ray explained.
“There are a lot of bottles on the ocean floor and a lot of stock pots and kitchen pots too, because Titanic actually broke up around one of the kitchens,” she added.
The warehouse also reveals the variety of cups provided to passengers based on their class.
Third-class passengers received simple mugs featuring a bright red White Star logo. Second-class passengers had cups with blue floral decorations, while first-class passengers used plates made from more delicate china.
RMS Titanic Inc is the sole company legally allowed to recover items and artifacts from the wreck. The firm has recently announced plans to retrieve the Marconi radio equipment that sent the Titanic’s distress calls from the site.
“Titanic is something that we want to respect,” Ray shared. “We want to make sure that we’re preserving the memory, because not everyone can go down to Titanic, and we want to be able to bring that to the public.”