There is no more powerful way for anyone to express themselves then through the power of art. The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words, was absolutely right, and those words may go beyond a thousand when it involves something tragic, like the sinking of what was deemed an unsinkable ship, and over 1500 people died. After the Titanic sank, newspapers had artists depict what the disaster may have looked like, and those drawings not only were terrifying, but in some cases, eerily accurate. Here are the last five out of nine Titanic drawings that people saw back in 1912 when the greatest ship in the world struck and iceberg and sank into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.
5. A French Artist’s Vision of the Lost Ship
French artist, Henry Laros, created this incredibly frightening image of the great ship Titanic lying on the bottom of the ocean. Laros envisioned the mighty ship lying in one piece, and what made it even more frightening is all the ice looming overhead. While the drawing itself is a bit inaccurate, becuase the ship did not sink intact, the fact is that the ship sank much further down, and there was no pack ice overhead.
6. “The Grim Spectre”
When a disaster happens, people say that death was in the air on that tragic night, but this drawing takes things to the extreme, and actually shows the figure of death watching what is going on. This scary drawing called, “The Grim Spectre,” was created by Joseph Keppler, Junior, and it was published in May of 1912. This powerful drawing was a satire that talked about the lack of lifeboats the Titanic had, and even said on the bottom of the drawing, “Why all this hue and cry about lifeboats? Have you not your veranda and Parisian cafes, palm-garden, squash-court, gymnasium, swimming-pool, Turkish baths, and a la carte restaurant?” This drawing undoubtedly made people stop and think, and they are still thinking even to this day, over 100 years after the Titanic sank.
7. The Sinking Titanic with Lifeboats Pulling Away and People In the Water
As the mighty Titanic sank into the water, the people on board began to panic. The lifeboats began to become more filled, and people began jumping into the freezing water. This drawing was created based on the image an artist had in his mind about the tragedy, and it is pretty accurate. However, in reality, the lifeboats all had pulled away by the time the ship was at this angle in the water, and most of them had rowed quite far away because they were afraid of suction once the ship went down.
8. Artist Drawing Similar to Jack Thayer Drawing
When 17-year-old passenger Jack Thayer was on board the rescue ship, Carpathia, he sat down with a crew member and talked about what he saw as the Titanic sank. The crewman took Thayer’s words, and created a drawing that is very similar to the one above. Jack Thayer claimed he saw the Titanic break into two pieces, and while many of the survivors also said the same thing, it was not until 1985 that their story was believed. When Dr. Robert Ballard found Titanic in 1985, it was broken into two pieces, which did prove that Jack Thayer, and many other witnesses to the disaster, were telling the truth.
9. Nearer My God to Thee Postcard
This haunting drawing was created with the words of the very last song the Titanic’s band ever played, Nearer My God To Thee. What makes this drawing so haunting is the giant cross in the sky, poised over the sinking ship. This drawing was made to pay tribute to those that died that fateful night, and even now, over 100 years after the ship sank, it is still a stirring image that touches the heart.
There are some artists who were so talented back in 1912, that they were able to capture one of the greatest maritime disaster ever with 9 eerily realistic drawings that inspire fear even to this day. Some of these haunting works of art were quite accurate, and these were artists rendering that were published in newspapers and magazines. Even though these drawings depict a disaster in whih over 1500 people died, there is still something beautiful about them that moves anyone that happens to lay eyes on them.
