Together with the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse Foundation (TML), Titanic The Exhibition paid tribute to the victims and survivors on the 111th anniversary of the sinking joined by descendants in a ceremony at the Memorial Park in Manhattan, where the world’s first memorial to the victims stand.
New York, NY.– After 111th years of the tragedy of the Titanic, descendants of the victims and survivors were gathered in New York to pay tribute to their families and their memory. Angelica Harris for Alberto and Sebastiano Peracchio, Anne McGovern for passenger Mary McGovern, Mary Meda for Trimmer William George White, Dr. Josyann Abisaab for Gerios Youssef Abi-Saab and Joan Randall for Louise Kink were welcomed at Titanic. The Exhibition for a guided tour led by Luis Ferreiro, CEO of Musealia and Director of the exhibition.
Almost at the final part of the tour, Joan Randall reencountered with her mother’s little boots: Louise Kink survived the sinking of the Titanic when she was only 4 years of age. Today the boots she wore on board are displayed at the exhibition where Joan was able to share her family story with all the attendees. Only a few steps away, the descendants arrived at the Marconi room recreation where they shared some words in a phone call with Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, whose radio invention allowed them to send the SOS alert that saved those who survived the sinking. Although Princess Elettra Marconi was not able to attend to the event, she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to pay tribute on this special date.
The shoes Louise Kink was wearing on board the Titanic, which are now on display at Titanic. The Exhibition.
After the tour, everyone gathered at a public ceremony at the Memorial Park in front of the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse. Adrian Saker, President of Friends of Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, conducted the ceremony and stressed the importance of restoring the memorial: “Most New Yorkers pass by Titanic Lighthouse never knowing it’s the world’s first memorial to the victims” declared.
The lighthouse was unveiled exactly one year after the tragedy on top of the Seamen’s Church Institute in memory of the 1,496 passengers and crew, immigrants from 28 nations whose bodies were never recovered. It was once America’s tallest lighthouse, the official USCG beacon for the Port of New York, its green light shining all the way to Sandy Hook welcoming millions of immigrants to America.
New York kept time by its unique time ball dropping daily at noon until July of 1968, when the building was slated for demolition. The lighthouse was donated to the South Street Seaport Museum and in May 1976 the lighthouse was erected on a concrete plinth at the Memorial Park in Pearl Street, where it stands today, unnoticed by the hundreds of people that pass by daily.
“We call on Major Adams to support recording Titanic Lighthouse as a new National Landmark, returning it to its riverside location as history and function demand. Rising again as a new Beacon of Hope to record the history of Titanic, the immigrant story, and her place in New York’s history”, concluded Adrian Saker, addressing directly the Commissioner of Immigrants Affairs, Manuel Castro, who attended the ceremony.
The act concluded with a wreath laying in memory of the victims, laid by the descendants, Friends of the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, Titanic. The Exhibition, the British Consulate in New York, Princess Elettra Marconi, and the Science Park Marconi in Santa Marinella.
Learn more about the exhibition in New York: www.titanicexhibition.com
