🔎 Start your learning adventure with Investigation Declaration

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to walk through the Titanic?

Jenn got to visit the Traveling Titanic Exhibition—a one-of-a-kind immersive experience that recreates the ship's iconic spaces including the grand staircase, bridge, and dining rooms.

Inside, original artifacts sit alongside Hollywood treasures like Kate Winslet's life vest. From a Navy pilot's perspective on maritime history to filmmaker insights on Titanic lore, discover why this historic exhibit is perfect for history-loving travelers.

📍 Visit this exhibit near you

🎥 Video from inside

🎥 Video version of this podast

-------------------------------------------------------

🗺️ Planning a visit? We've mapped every historic stop from this show in History or Drive. Check it out and follow along. 🗺️

🚗 Download our History or Drive travel app

Turn your next road trip into an American history adventure. Discover hidden local history, epic historic sites, battlefields, and maps with easy, one-click driving directions — history and travel right in the palm of your hand!

-------------------------------------------------------

🎙️ Talk with History is the #1 Road Trip podcast for travelers on Feedspot!

⭐ Enjoying the journey? Leave us a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help other history and travel lovers find the show!

-------------------------------------------------------

Imagine it's 1912, and you are standing next to the sheer

towering scale of the RMS Titanic.

It sits docked in Southampton.

It's a floating palace of iron and luxury, a testament to human ingenuity that

the world proudly declares unsinkable.

The air's filled with cheers of thousands, the scent of fresh lacquer, and the

boundless optimism of a new century.

But four days later, in the freezing starlit darkness of the North

Atlantic, that optimism shatters.

A sudden scrape against ice, a frantic rush of black water into

the hull, and within hours, the grandest ship in the world is gone.

It became one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history,

claiming the lives of over 1,500 souls.

It was a tragedy that didn't just end lives.

It permanently altered our relationship with progress, safety, and the sea

Welcome to Talk with History.

One filmmaker, one historian leading history-inspired world

travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

I am your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn.

Hello.

Today, we aren't just talking about the history books.

We're bringing you along on our visit to the Traveling Titanic Exhibition.

Jenn and I are diving deep into what it's like to stand inches away from

actual items of the ship recovered from two and a half miles beneath the ocean.

We'll talk about the haunting experience of watching a detailed

recreation of the sinking of the ship, and how this traveling exhibit

beautifully connects us to the raw human stories behind the tragedy.

Today, we are stepping onto the deck of history's most famous shipwreck

All right, Jenn.

You, when you were in college, saw this movie 10 times in the theater I learned

this very early on in our relationship.

You told me your brother had to carry you out of the theater sobbing I think the

first time or the second time you saw it.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever cried hysterically-

at a movie.

It was the Titanic.

It probably was the only time I've ever done this to this degree, 'cause I've

cried at other movies, but to the f- to, to the fact I couldn't even get up

out of the seat and my brother had to kinda lift me up, walk me to the car.

I remember he put me in the car, put my seatbelt on and shut the door.

I was so hysterical at the end of the movie.

Yeah.

So, so, I, I lead with that because Jenn loves all, all things Titanic.

We actually have another video on the Titanic memorial outside of Washington,

DC, so I'll link that in the show notes if you guys wanna see that.

It's kind of an interesting piece of Titanic history.

Um.

Yeah, and we visit some Titanic, um, victims, uh, and their burial places.

Oh, yeah.

One of them in, in, in Buffalo.

Richmond.

Richmond.

Richmond.

And Buffalo, New York.

Yep.

Um, we always seem to find them, and I wanna pay my respects.

So it's just something that's fascinated me since I was a kid.

Yeah.

Right.

Now, I, I say all of that to kind of sh- you know, let our audience know, you know,

how, how much Jenn enjoys this topic.

But w- interesting fact, when you were up in Baltimore w- with American Cruise

Lines, you were out there kinda seeing the, the history sites, and I don't

think you expected to find this, this traveling Titanic Experience exhibit.

This is kinda one of those traveling exhibits that travels, you know, it moves

it around the country, and I will put a link in the show notes to see if there's,

it's coming to a s- a city close to you.

So if this interests you, take a look at the podcast show notes or the video

show notes, and I'll, I'll put the link to this specific exhibit, this

traveling exhibit, and you can see if it's gonna be anywhere close to you.

But tell us about this exhibit.

It's unlike anything I've ever done before.

It's one of those immersive experiences, and what I mean by that is I've seen

Titanic e- exhibits before in, uh, Las Vegas and thing like s- things like that

where they have a lot of the artifacts.

Like a more museum style.

Yes, and you, you get a character before you walk in.

You see if you survive.

This was much more you were on the ship, and you got to see the grand

stair- uh, staircase, and you got to stand there, and you got to

see the water rushing toward you.

But the most amazing one was where you got to sit in a lifeboat in

a dark room and watch the ship as it slowly, the lights went out

and- A- and they let you film.

Like you asked.

Yes.

They let you film the whole thing, so I, I was very surprised by that because a

lot of times exhibits like this won't.

They'll kinda be against that.

You could, they'll say, "You can take pictures but no video." But they let

you film the whole thing, so there are some really cool shots that you

got in the video, which again will be linked in the, in the show notes

of the podcast, that, and I'll show it on the video one, of this kind of-

It's neat 'cause you're from behind, so you can see the rest of the people

in this exhibit sitting in a lifeboat.

It looks like they're in a lifeboat in the water looking at the Titanic

off in the distance, 'cause this dark room… So it was really neat.

It was neat.

It was cold in there, like it would've been that night.

Yeah.

And you see the ship rise up, and you see it break in two, and

then you see how fast it sank.

It, you, you're kind of there for its last moments, and it was really immersive.

Plus, they also have a, uh, VR, uh, option, where you can put the VR headset

on and basically walk around the Titanic.

Oh, wow.

So like you can put the goggles on- Yeah … and you can actually… Oh, that's-

And I didn't do that part because I couldn't actually, like, film that,

but it, it's also part of the immersive experience if you'd like to do it.

So, uh, yeah, it was just… I, I never get bored with learning about it.

I never get bored with finding out things and going there and seeing it.

So for me, it was one of those moments that I, I know a lot about it, so I

got to see a recreation of where the telegraph operators worked, and them

sending out CQD when no one really knows what that means, and how the Titanic

brings about all of these rules in maritime safety, which we as sailors

know now, and we take them as, as law.

But by, at that time, in 1912, uh, these weren't established yet.

So, so tell me about the CQD.

So folks may not know that SOS has not always been a universal cry for help.

Yes.

Uh, so CQD was their-

There was their cry for help, but because it's, it's not universal at

the time, and people, some people don't know what that means, and what, when

you say, "What do you mean, Jenn?"

They don't know what that means.

Nowadays, we all pretty much speak English on the maritime.

Yeah.

Uh- Yeah.

When w- i- if, if folks don't know, right, when we, we do a deployment,

and it's, it's been some time, but even when I did a, did a deployment over

the Arabian Gulf, right, y- on, on my first and second ship, um, when you're

traveling, typically, right, the Navy ships are some of the larger ships out

there, unless you go on by a merchant ship, but everybody on the open seas

99% of the time speaks basic English.

So if we're calling out our position or we're querying a ship, um, or we're

kind of stating our intentions, we're stating it in English, and basically

everybody on the open ocean speaks enough English or has someone that

speaks English so they can communicate.

Yes.

At that time, that really wasn't quite done yet.

Yeah, not in 1912.

And so the standard distress call for British s- ships that were

equipped with this wireless system, it was first introduced in 1904.

It combined the telegraph code CQ, which means attention all

stations, with D, distress.

So it translates to all stations distress.

Uh, and this is right when s- uh, SOS, uh, is coming into international

use, and so it's not recognized globally yet, and that's why they

kinda- They alternate between the two.

They use CQD and they use SOS, but at the time people were like, "Only

British ships are gonna know what CQD means," and SOS is still not picked

up by everyone internationally.

So this is… The Titanic is in the perfect spot for just a, the maritime

disaster, which is what happens because the comms have not been

standardized, and so that's what happens.

A- and I show you the desk and how d- low the desk was to the ground

because the men were in a smaller room.

But if you know anything about the Titanic and those men, they stay

there till the very last moment-

Yep

… uh, getting those distress calls out, and they do survive, and they're

able to give testimony later on.

But the other ships in the area who hear some of these things, again, it,

this, the Titanic, this is major news.

This ship is on its maiden voyage.

The, the name alone is Greek mythology for the Titans.

Like, it is a, uh, you know, a, a ship of dreams.

No one's imagining that they're having any issues four days into their maiden voyage.

They think it's something with their, their- That they're

celebrating … they're celebrating.

They're having a good time.

They're letting off fireworks.

Like, they don't realize that this ship is sinking.

It's just kind of like an unfathomable thing to imagine, so

the other ships in the area don't pay attention and don't listen.

Um, and as we know, RMS Titanic, uh, Royal Mail ship is what that means.

The British used RMS for Royal Mail sh- mail, like the mail, um, ship for any

ship that's carrying mail on it, and so that's why the Titanic is the RMS Titanic.

Um, it sinks April 15th, 1912.

Uh, hits a iceberg.

There's about 2,200 passengers on board and about 1,500 of them will die.

Um, and like you said, it's one of the deadliest peacetime disasters.

They find that the lifeboats who, well, they don't have for

everyone on board, were only filled to an average capacity of 60%.

Oh, I don't, I don't think I knew that.

And then when the people go into the water, the lifeboats don't go back to get

them because they're- Afraid or concerned that people will swarm the lifeboats- Yeah

and pull them down, when really nobody barely had that kind of muscle.

They're being… They're in the- they're in their clothes and- In

ice cold water

… ice cold

water.

Right.

I- it- it's… So the, the interesting thing about this exhibit, right?

Again, I encourage you folks to go watch the video.

If you're listening, um, again, pod- the link to the video

is in the podcast show notes.

But you're walking through, so it's kinda walking you through, like, some

of the engineering spaces, and then you get to see different artifacts.

Ki- some are actually from the movie, right?

You actually saw a life vest that was worn by, I think, Kate Winslet-

Yes … right, in the movie.

Um, so you show, you show a life vest.

But there's other artifacts that are actually from the Titanic.

There was a deckchair that you, that you showed on there, full-sized deckchair,

and I was kinda surprised to see that.

And there's other little, little things that you show throughout.

Yeah, so that was neat.

Like, they have a, they had, uh, I think it was Ismay's book or prayer hymnal.

Yeah,

the, the guy who built-

The guy

… the Titanic.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, he's the, uh, one of the chairmen, the financer, JP Morgan, and there

was a lot of famous people on there.

So they have a couple things, like postcard, picture cards, artifacts.

And you can go places and see artifacts that they have taken from

the bottom of the, of the ocean floor.

Uh, but what they have that I, you know, was so amazed by was

just the recreation of everything.

And you can stand on the bridge and look through the windows and see what that

looked like through the windows for the captain and for the people on board.

Uh, you can stand on the bow and put your arms out like you're flying.

Yeah,

like

in the, in the movie.

Like in the movie, which was really fun.

They have one of seven full deckchairs that exist, and so it

was neat to see that artifact, which you don't get to see very often.

But, uh, the biggest thing for me was you get to walk into the spaces.

You get to walk into the dining rooms.

You get to see what the silverware looked like set out.

You get to see what the menus were.

You get to see the tiles that were in the pool, and then you get to walk into those

exercise spaces and what they look like.

Uh, no photographs exist of the pool, so they just kinda recreated

for you for what it looked like.

Uh, it was just amazing to be immersed in Titanic.

I've never had that kind of experience before.

And like I said, when you go into the room with the lifeboats

and the sinking, it's cold.

Like, you would be on the lifeboat cold and huddled up

and, and watching this happen.

So for me, it really was exciting, and I never get bored or tired- Yeah

of doing anything Titanic because that movie, like you said, meant so much to

me, and the story means so much to me.

And we always talk about- women and children first, and you have these

of the first class, the second class, the third class, the s- the steerage,

very much class-oriented on this ship.

And because of the chivalry of the men, m- more women and children

survive of every class- Yep

than, um, than the men.

And that's what that monument is to in Washington, D.C. It's to the men

of the Titanic who w- who did their role in not getting on the lifeboats

and allowing women and children to go.

Um, the lifeboats could have held about 1,100 people, roughly half the

passengers on board, and, uh, but again, only about 700 survive because they

don't fill the lifeboats to capacity.

But you still have a, a higher percentage of women and children

surviving than men because they adhered to that maritime It's not even a rule.

It's just-

It's kind of a… Yeah, it's, I would say it's like a, one of those unwritten rules.

Yeah.

Right?

It's, it's like, you know, men opening the door for, for a woman, right?

It's, it's one of those kind of things, the societal expectation.

I don't know.

Yeah.

I- it's, it's just very chivalrous.

Yeah.

And I, I don't know if America or the world has gotten more towards that or

away from that, but it's just still, when I, when I think of those men… And for

me, it had different meaning because our oldest is 15 years old, and he's a boy,

and at that age, they said on the Titanic, they would've considered him a man.

Yeah.

And they would not have allowed him on a lifeboat.

And I thought to myself, "Wow." There were a lot of women who stayed behind

with their children, uh, if they couldn't get on, on a lifeboat, or

if their husbands couldn't get on.

And I thought, "This would be one of those moments for me." If my son

couldn't get on board the Titanic, we'd be taking down those doors and those bed

frames and flinging them into the water, and I'd be doing a full Kate Winslet-

Yeah

and getting on one side of the bed with him.

But it was just, it just is amazing.

I still think about this, the class system that was so prevalent then,

and the men who stayed behind so women and children could be saved.

An- another place we visited on the channel is Molly Brown's house,

and you think of the Unsinkable Molly Brown, in Denver, Colorado.

Her home is there, and we tell her story.

She was one of the women on the lifeboats who help, um, with the

people on there and, and keeping morale up before they are rescued.

But as you know, the subsequent, uh, trials that happen after this, and then

most of the victims are buried in, uh, Canada, where most of the bodies d-

would wash ashore, or the, the boats could get, uh, easier access to them.

And, um, that's where the big museums are.

This is where James Cameron did a lot of his research.

But if you really wanna be immersed in what it looked like and felt

like and stand there at the end of the grand staircase, and, and

for me, sit in a lifeboat, it really was… I, I really loved it.

And, uh, if it, it visits you, if you wanna be a part of that, if

Titanic means as much to you as it does to, does to me, I don't know

why we're still fascinated with this ship the 115 years later, but we are.

And, uh, and it was super fun.

If the traveling Titanic exhibition comes to a city near

you, it's an absolute must-visit.

It isn't just a museum display.

It's an emotional landscape that forces you to ask yourself how you would

respond in the face of the ultimate test.

It honors the dead by keeping their memories alive, ensuring their names are

spoken and their stories are remembered.

We'll talk to you next time

This has been a Walk With History production.

Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

Talk With History is supported by our community at thehistoryroadtrip.com.

Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

and we'll talk to you next time