Dive to Titanic
By John Joslyn, owner of the Titanic Museum Attraction

	John Joslyn

IN 1987, I embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. Two years earlier, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute had discovered Titanic and now I co-led a 6 million dollar expedition to the site of the sinking.

Our team’s mission was to explore the wreckage, retrieve artifacts and film the broken remains. Standing on the slippery deck of our salvage ship, it was thrilling to hover more than 2.5 miles above the legendary Titanic.

Our team spent 44 days at sea and the expedition dove to the site 32 times in an amazing 20 million dollar submersible. We returned with hundreds of hours of haunting ghost-like images. They formed the framework of “Return to Titanic…Live!” a two-hour television special that I co-produced with my partner Doug Lewelyn. This special became the second highest rated live TV documentary ever.

After 25 years Titanic remains my magnificent obsession. I’ve dedicated my career to her and the 2,208 passengers and crew aboard its tragic maiden voyage. It started with TV shows and became these permanent Titanic Museum Attractions in Branson, MO and Pigeon Forge, TN.

These giant museum attractions exhibit one of the largest permanent collections of Titanic artifacts and memorabilia. Inside, guests enter a unique world where they can climb an exact replica of the most famous staircase—Titanic’s hand-crafted Grand Staircase.

I want to share as closely as possible with guests what Titanic’s actual passengers and crew experienced aboard ship. Visitors can touch finely carved wooden inlays, grasp the wheel on the captain’s bridge, tap out messages on the ship’s wireless, feel an iceberg’s chill, stroll decks and galleries and listen to stories told by real survivors. I think of it as “Living Theatre” with guests as part of the experience. Plus it offers a realistic, interactive educational experience for students of all ages.

John Joslyn

Photos Copyright: Cedar Bay Entertainment, LLC

Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge is a celebration of the ship, passengers and crew!
It is said that the best way to respect and honor those who gave their lives is to simply tell their stories.

As the whole world remembers the world’s most famous luxury liner, Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tn. will continue to open the door to the past in it’s one-of-a-kind way – letting “passengers” experience what it was like to walk the hallways, parlors, cabins and Grand Staircase of the Titanic while surrounded by more than 400 artifacts directly from the ship and its passengers.  As visitors touch a real iceberg, walk the Grand Staircase and third class hallways, reach their hands into 28-degree water, and try to stand on the sloping decks, they learn what it was like on the RMS Titanic by experiencing it first-hand.
 
Each guest entering the ship will receive a boarding pass of an actual Titanic passenger or crew. Feel their spirit presence in the galleries where over 400 personal and private artifacts are on display. Many are on display for the first time in the world. This collection is valued at over four and a half million dollars. This is a self-guided tour.

Discover your passenger or crew’s fate in the Titanic Memorial Room where 2,208 names line this historic wall.
The heart of the ship is the Grand Staircase, constructed from the original Harland & Wolff plans with its oak carvings and cherub statue. Here, a magnificent glass dome reflects light off oak wall paneling and elaborate railings and iron scrollwork. Wide, sweeping steps and landings provide a spectacular area where the original guests of the RMS Titanic made their appearances. You’ll be surprised to learn what the floor was made of – something considered most expensive for 1912.