"I'll see you in New York"

Auckland City Council - City Scene

The large white marquee at Aotea Square houses a 'voyage in to history,' an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia from the first and final voyage of the ill-fated Titanic. The tragedy cost the lives of 1523 passengers and crew when the ship hit an iceberg in mid-Atlantic and sank to the ocean floor on 14 April 1912.

The 'unsinkable' ship was on her maiden voyage to New York and among the passengers was Edith Haisman, then aged 15. The young girl was travelling with her parents and up until 1997, when she died at the age of 100, she was the oldest survivor. Her youngest son, David, pictured here with a model of the ship has recaptured in detail his mothers memory of the tragic maritime disaster and tells the story in a book - "I'll See You In New York," which is on sale at the exhibition.

"My mother was haunted for the rest of her life by the terrifying sounds of the sinking ship and the cries for help from the hundreds who drowned," says David Haisman. "Only 705 survived the disaster."

Over 600 rare artefacts, other survivors stories and letters, scale models of the wrecked ship as she is to this day on the ocean floor, together with film footage of the ship as she set out from Southampton are all included in the exhibition. The exhibition continues until October 24 and is open daily from 10am to 5pm.

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