# Own a Piece of the Titanic **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775 "2009-01-04T03:08:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/21 "2009-01-04T23:29:32Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > No—it’s that one serves a valid educational purpose, and the other doesn’t. You don’t think the educational aspect is overrated? You think most of the 3rd graders are really getting anything out of the field trip? Maybe it’s just because it’s sanitized, and not as emotionally charged as a private viewing that makes us think it’s less exploitive. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/22 "2009-01-05T00:33:00Z")
Call me a philistine, but I don’ have much sympathy for attaching some kind of halo to a thing that people died in a century ago, or last year for that matter. Corpses are corpses and old wrecks are old wrecks, and that’s pretty much it. Anything that can be done with retrieved trash from the bottom of the sea is ok with me. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/23 "2009-01-05T03:12:36Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Or worse, using mummys for _fuel_ in locomotives, which apparently was done at one time. Also used to make pigments, and medicines. Very useful, those mummies. By the way, I’m not hot on the display of mummies, either. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/24 "2009-01-05T03:20:07Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > No—it’s that one serves a valid educational purpose, and the other doesn’t. I doubt the many people who gawk at natural mummies in an Italian tunnel, or at piles of bones in Paris and such things do so to educate themselves. It’s rather morbid curiosity. I have a certain level of respect for the dead, for graves, etc… I know it’s not particularly logical, but I’m satisfied with feeling that way. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/25 "2009-01-05T03:33:21Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Also used to make pigments, and medicines. > > Very useful, those mummies. … And the teriyaki style is delish! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/26 "2009-01-05T03:45:36Z")
I don’t have a problem with looting a grave, but I don’t like that the materials are melted down and blended into regular industrial vats. That dilutes it to the point where it has almost nothing but theoretical artifactual value anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/27 "2009-01-05T03:47:46Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > You don’t think the educational aspect is overrated? You think most of the 3rd graders are really getting anything out of the field trip? I dunno, I just remember being very impressed when I saw the King Tut exhibit. I was probably 10 or 11 years old at the time. There’s not a hell of a lot of things I remember from that time period. Something there made an impression on a 10-year-old brain. I still remember looking at the mummy and thinking that it just looked like a long piece of dried mud. But I also remember being slightly awed by the fact that I was actually looking at a dead Pharaoh. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/28 "2009-01-05T14:20:47Z")
Personally, I’m not sure why the Titanic sitting thousands of feet down is necessarily better than it being salvaged. But the fact that the metal and coal have been “blended” makes this product of no interest/value to me. I would value far more highly a salvaged lump of coal. I’m curious - the site makes no hint at the blending ratios. Makes me suspect that the proportion of salvaged material is quite minimal. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/29 "2009-01-05T15:05:13Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I have a lump of coal from Titanic and I’ve actaully handled some of the artifacts. (dishes mostly) Uh, woah, cool! Could you explain this a bit further? And a quick aside, is the coal down there doing anything? Like is the temp and pressure or the salt harming it as well? Or will there be a bunch of rust, dish fragments, and coal at the end of all this? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/30 "2009-01-05T17:00:45Z")
The most important thing to me is that I think the watch itself is ugly. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/31 "2009-01-05T17:12:24Z")
I’ve got very mixed feelings on this, myself. On the one hand, I share a lot of the issues people have with the idea of this material having been looted from a grave. On the other hand, when we’re talking about blended steel I find it hard to get very excited about it. As **Diogenes** rightly points out, the fraction could be 1000:1, or higher, and still meet the requirements of the ad copy. I’d be far, far more squicked to be told I’m eating off dinnerware from _[_. At least with the _Titanic_ artifacts, there’s a lot more public scrutiny for what’s going on with the wreck. Of course, I’m also somewhat bemused by the whole idea behind recycling some WTC steel into this [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS\_New\_York\_(LPD-21)]ship](]The Empress of Ireland[/url). If we’re talking about nautical memorabilia, I’d rather have memorabilia from either the _Brittanic_’s off-loaded luxury fittings, or from _Normandie_. Both of which have collector value independent of any catastrophe. (For all that both ships were lost.) I know it’s purely a matter of personal taste, but that’s where I’d draw the line. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/32 "2009-01-05T17:20:09Z")
I’d also be tempted to argue with the claim that steel from _Titanic_ is the rarest metals on earth - there are current industrial uses for battleship armor from the [unsalvaged wrecks in Scapa Flow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_in_Scapa_Flow). Which is literally priceless and irreplaceable for deep space probes, where trace radioactive contamination from nuclear testing fallout makes modern steels unsuitable. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/33 "2009-01-05T17:31:09Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I’d also be tempted to argue with the claim that steel from _Titanic_ is the rarest metals on earth - there are current industrial uses for battleship armor from the [unsalvaged wrecks in Scapa Flow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_in_Scapa_Flow). Which is literally priceless and irreplaceable for deep space probes, where trace radioactive contamination from nuclear testing fallout makes modern steels unsuitable. Actually, this is only partially correct. (There’s a GQ thread about this.) Its _cheaper_ to use that steel than to process modern steels to avoid contamination, and the big worry is background radiation from above ground nuclear testing which is gradually fading. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/34 "2009-01-05T18:01:00Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] I’m curious - the site makes no hint at the blending ratios. Makes me suspect that the proportion of salvaged material is quite minimal. [/QUOTE] A couple of years ago, I went to see the traveling Titanic exhibit. Near the end, they had a section of her hull that you could touch. I’m thinking that if I’d rubbed my hands all over it, there’d be at least enough atoms of steel transferred to my skin that I could later rub my hands on “new” steel, transferring some atoms of Titanic’s steel, and there’s your blend ratio. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/35 "2009-01-05T19:49:12Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Actually, this is only partially correct. (There’s a GQ thread about this.) Its _cheaper_ to use that steel than to process modern steels to avoid contamination, and the big worry is background radiation from above ground nuclear testing which is gradually fading. I don’t think this is still true - with the Pakistani, Indian, and other above-ground tests fallout contamination is back up. Yes, it will die back off with time, but we haven’t had that time, yet. (nitpick mode on)You don’t get background radiation from above ground nuclear testing, except through the intermediary of fallout contamination. The best non-technical way I’ve heard to describe the difference between contamination and radiation is that contamination is shit and radiation is the smell that the shit gives off. (/nitpick) I believe this is the [GQ thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455969) you’d mentioned. Oddly enough one of yours. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/36 "2009-01-05T20:32:23Z")
It’s not right. It’s a grave-site and a historical artifact. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/37 "2009-01-05T20:44:35Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > I don’t think this is still true - with the Pakistani, Indian, and other above-ground tests fallout contamination is back up. Yes, it will die back off with time, but we haven’t had that time, yet. India and Pakistan (as well as North Korea) all did **underground** tests, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/38 "2009-01-05T20:58:51Z")
Ironically, the article doesn’t mention whether the watch is waterproof. “DAMN IT! I spent over $100,000 on this watch, and it died instantly when I spilled Iceberg Vodka on it!” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/39 "2009-01-06T00:08:53Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Ironically, the article doesn’t mention whether the watch is waterproof. > “DAMN IT! I spent over $100,000 on this watch, and it died instantly when I spilled Iceberg Vodka on it!” Hey, I just touched mine with iceberg lettuce and it fell apart. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/own-a-piece-of-the-titanic/479775/40 "2009-01-06T00:21:44Z")
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