Titanic on Twitter
/99 Year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic
Experience the RMS Titanic wireless messages in real time
On Friday, April 15, 2011, it will be 99 years since the tragic sinking of RMS Titanic. To commemorate this significant anniversary, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will use Twitter to broadcast the vessel's original wireless transmissions.
Ten years prior to Titanic's sinking, the first wireless transmission to cross the Atlantic from North America was sent from the Marconi station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Much like the short messages we send today via text, instant messaging or Twitter, wireless transmissions bridged distances between people and made it possible to share information across the world.
As the largest and grandest ocean liner of her time, Titanic was equipped with the most modern wireless technology available. When disaster struck, that technology proved invaluable as it was crucial in saving many passengers and, also, provided the world over with the stunning news of the loss.
This year, starting at 11:55 pm ADT on April 14, follow the hash tag #ns_mma on Twitter for a real time account of the famous disaster. Rather than re-telling the story of the ill-fated ship, this event provides the unique opportunity to experience the magnitude of Titanic through the same wireless messages operators received in 1912.
It should be noted that the transmission times are based on “ships time”, the local time aboard Titanic which changed every day as the ship moved west across time zones. When she sank, Titanic was about 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic Standard Time.