Titanic artifacts go on display
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Previously unseen artifacts recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic by a team of explorers are to go on display in Britain.
The objects were recovered during the most recent expedition to the site in 2000, and are going on show at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
They include a button bearing the White Star Line logo, which belonged to 3rd Officer Henry Pitman.
It was discovered with a collection of other buttons and a smoking pipe in a leather bag in the debris field around the Titanic.
Other items on show include a porthole from a third class cabin, an English five pound note, a pair of silk socks, a London Omnibus ticket, perfume bottle labels, and a leather wallet.
The artifacts were unveiled on Friday by Mark Lach, who took part in the dive in 2000. The exhibition -- Titanic: The Artifact Expedition -- opens to the public on June 25 and runs until January 16, 2005.
Lach, designer of the exhibition, told the UK Press Association: "The exhibition and these artifacts bring dignity, honor and respect to this story and those who lost their lives and to those whose lives were changed forever.
"The artifacts are pieces of the Titanic and pieces of people's lives."
|  Crystal ware, etched with the logo of White Star Line. |
He added: "Traveling two-and-a-half miles to the ocean floor and seeing Titanic face-to-face was the adventure of my life.
"While looking at the ship I felt a powerful connection to everyone involved in her construction, sailing, and loss."
A huge section of the ship's hull dominates, and surviving bottles of Champagne and crystal ware, etched with the logo of White Star Line, indicate the opulent lifestyle on board.
Entering the exhibition, visitors will be given a boarding pass with the name of one of the 2,228 passengers.
At the end of the exhibition, in the Memorial Gallery, they will find out if the passenger on the boarding card was one of the 705 that survived.
The Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg just before midnight during its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912.
