Titanic survivor opens exhibition

Millvina Dean lost her father in the tragedy

A revamped exhibition on the sinking of the Titanic has been opened by one of the few remaining survivors of the disaster.

Millvina Dean, 90, was a nine-week-old baby when the ship, then the world's largest ocean liner, collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage.

The exhibition, Titanic Voices, at the Maritime Museum in Southampton, is the start of several events there to mark the anniversary of the tragedy.

The ship, hailed as unsinkable, went down on 15 April 1912 with the loss of 1,500 lives.

Lifeboat rescue

It now rests 2.5 miles below the surface off the coast of St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Miss Dean's father, Bertram, who was 27, died. But she and her mother, Georgetta, and her older brother, Bertram Jnr, were put in a lifeboat and survived.

The ship now rests 2.5 miles below the sea

Miss Dean said she saw the 1958 film A Night to Remember with other survivors, but it upset her and she has not seen any other movie about the disaster.

The night changed Miss Dean's life.

"I would have been living in the States in Kansas.

"It was all arranged that my father would take a tobacconist shop and we'd be living in America.

"I would have been American now instead of English."

Survivors' testimonies

New exhibits at the exhibition include images from the interior of Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic.

Visitors can also see and hear the testimony of survivors and people who remember the tragedy.

Southampton was the home port of the Titanic and 500 people from the area died when she sank.

On the anniversary on 15 April, Miss Dean will unveil a heritage plaque at the former headquarters of the White Star Line in the city.