Titanic

Titanic pulled away from White Star Dock, Southampton at the start of her maiden voyage on 10th April 1912. Five days later in the early hours of 15th April she sank with great loss of life after striking an iceberg. The disastermade headlines across the world and had a devastating effect on the people of Southampton. Most of the crew lived in the town and over 500 households lost at least one family member.

"My father went away and spoke to one of the sailors and came back and said 'We've hit an iceberg. They're going to launch the lifeboats but you'll all be back on board for breakfast. I never saw him again." (Eva Hart, Titanic survivor)

Photograph and extract from Southampton City Council's Oral History Archive, which received a Gulbenkian Award in 1998. It was Highly Commended in the Best Community Project category.

"We need projects that will involve people in exploring what it means to remember, and what to do with memories to make them active and alive, as opposed to mere objects of collection." The Memory of History' Michael W. Frisch Radical History Review.