England Commemorates the Titanic Anniversary in Southampton

Image: newsfeed.time.com

To mark the 100^th anniversary of the day the Titanic sank, the English port city of Southampton paid tribute with a series of events on Tuesday. More than 650 descendants of those onboard the Titanic gathered for a ceremony and a moment of silence to remember those who had passed away.

When the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England in April 1912, no one would have ever imagined there’d be a gathering and memorial to remember the ill-fated day one hundred years later. Approximately one third of the more than 1,500 individuals who died on the Titanic were from Southampton and on Tuesday approximately 650 of their descendants gathered to remember their loved ones.

A ceremony was held at the same berth on the city’s docks where the Titanic had set sail from and attendants threw flowers and wreaths into the water before a moment of silence was held in remembrance. At noon, a recording of the Titanic’s whistle sounded on the docks and to end the ceremony the hymn Nearer My God to Thee was played.

Vanessa Beecham was at the event to pay tribute to her great uncle Edward Biggs, who was a firefighter aboard the Titanic when he was 21 years old.

“It was a worry during the anniversary that the families would be forgotten in all the razzmatazz… but this was lovely,” she said.

A new museum called SeaCity was also opened on Tuesday with exhibitions about Southampton’s connection to the sea and, of course, a focus on the Titanic story.

Source: SkyNews

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