Sea travel is one of the safest forms of travel both for people and cargo, but recent events off the coast of Italy remind us only too well that the unexpected can happen. Ironically, the 'Costa Concordia' incident happened just three months short of the anniversary on 15 April of the centenary of the sinking of one of the most famous ships of all – RMS 'Titanic'.
To mark the centenary, a new 16-page fully illustrated commemorative booklet has been published as a tribute to the engineering staff, all of whom lost their lives on that fateful night working in the depths of the ship to supply power for lighting during the evacuation and to enable radio distress signals to be sent until just three minutes before 'Titanic' finally sank beneath the waves.
According to the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), the legacy of the sinking of 'Titanic' comes in many different forms. The booklet is just one aspect of that legacy, and it spells out the others along with illustrations of the engineers, and of the ship itself.
The booklet is published by the IMarEST Guild of Benevolence, the only charity in the world with a direct connection to the 'Titanic'. In 1912 the UK newspaper, the Daily Chronicle, initiated the Titanic Engineering Staff Memorial Benevolent Fund to assist the widows, orphans and dependants of the engineers who died so heroically at their posts below decks on that fateful night. In 1934 the Fund was renamed the Guild of Benevolence, when new rules and regulations extended the provision of relief from hardship to qualified marine engineers and their dependants worldwide. Several smaller charities were absorbed into the Guild. Since that time its work has grown significantly through the years in supporting marine engineers and their dependants who have fallen on hard times.
For further information, visit: www.imarest.org/guild
