A ghost's fingerprint.
Last week I worked in the studio in DC, restoring stuff. Two of the things I worked on were from the Titanic!
One of them is part of the "telegraph" system, it might even be called the "messenger," I think. Anyway, it's the drum that is next to the Captain's steering wheel. He cranks it up to "full ahead," or back to "full reverse oh god there’s a freakin’ iceberg!" which sends the signal to the engine room, and then the steam room follows the orders. You know the thing I mean. Anyway, I spent about half a day cleaning one of them from the Titanic! (Every ship had more than one. We have two in our studio right now.) I know this is going to sound super corny, and it felt corny to think it, but while cleaning, I kept thinking that I was touching history. It was so weird. The thing itself is made of bronze, and so I had to scrape and poke away any weak areas—which were really corroded—with dental tools, so that after we coat the thing with wax to protect it, it won't keep corroding from the inside. I kept looking at it, thinking about the people who designed and made it in the first place, thinking about the Captain who used it... once... and then about all the years it spent at the bottom of the ocean, slowly crumbling away. Then some robot grabbed it and brought it up out of the ocean, and here it was, in my hands! So weird. And that damn movie was so overblown!
The second thing I worked on was a stock pot from the galley—the kitchen. It wasn't very special, just a pot for cooking soup or something. It's not even that big. Anyway, it's a metal pot, with enamel over it, then it was painted blue. Some areas still have the paint on, some have exposed enamel, some show bare metal, and some areas are rotted through, leaving rusty, crumbly holes.
I was supposed to take some close-up pictures before rinsing it off with treated water. I started taking the pictures, and I got closer, and closer. I lowered the camera, and leaned in, and you’ll never believe what I saw. There was a fingerprint corroded into the pot! Right there, on the border between where there was and wasn’t paint, a fingerprint was etched into the pot! I don’t know if the grease from some food protected the paint, or the oil from a cook’s hand corroded away the paint, but I could clearly see three fingerprint patterns burned through the paint on the side of the pot.
It has to be the fingerprint from a cook, doesn’t it? Not only from the Titanic, but from, like, an hour before it sank? Maybe the meal was all done, but the dishes hadn’t been washed yet? Or they were in the middle of cooking? I don’t know, but it’s giving me shivers again just thinking about it. “Touching history” was one thing, but seeing this fingerprint was totally wild. I wonder what happened to that person.
***
Crap! It's a few weeks later now, and I just found out the fingerprint isn't from the ship! Read THIS entry for the sad truth.
One of them is part of the "telegraph" system, it might even be called the "messenger," I think. Anyway, it's the drum that is next to the Captain's steering wheel. He cranks it up to "full ahead," or back to "full reverse oh god there’s a freakin’ iceberg!" which sends the signal to the engine room, and then the steam room follows the orders. You know the thing I mean. Anyway, I spent about half a day cleaning one of them from the Titanic! (Every ship had more than one. We have two in our studio right now.) I know this is going to sound super corny, and it felt corny to think it, but while cleaning, I kept thinking that I was touching history. It was so weird. The thing itself is made of bronze, and so I had to scrape and poke away any weak areas—which were really corroded—with dental tools, so that after we coat the thing with wax to protect it, it won't keep corroding from the inside. I kept looking at it, thinking about the people who designed and made it in the first place, thinking about the Captain who used it... once... and then about all the years it spent at the bottom of the ocean, slowly crumbling away. Then some robot grabbed it and brought it up out of the ocean, and here it was, in my hands! So weird. And that damn movie was so overblown!
The second thing I worked on was a stock pot from the galley—the kitchen. It wasn't very special, just a pot for cooking soup or something. It's not even that big. Anyway, it's a metal pot, with enamel over it, then it was painted blue. Some areas still have the paint on, some have exposed enamel, some show bare metal, and some areas are rotted through, leaving rusty, crumbly holes.
I was supposed to take some close-up pictures before rinsing it off with treated water. I started taking the pictures, and I got closer, and closer. I lowered the camera, and leaned in, and you’ll never believe what I saw. There was a fingerprint corroded into the pot! Right there, on the border between where there was and wasn’t paint, a fingerprint was etched into the pot! I don’t know if the grease from some food protected the paint, or the oil from a cook’s hand corroded away the paint, but I could clearly see three fingerprint patterns burned through the paint on the side of the pot.
It has to be the fingerprint from a cook, doesn’t it? Not only from the Titanic, but from, like, an hour before it sank? Maybe the meal was all done, but the dishes hadn’t been washed yet? Or they were in the middle of cooking? I don’t know, but it’s giving me shivers again just thinking about it. “Touching history” was one thing, but seeing this fingerprint was totally wild. I wonder what happened to that person.
***
Crap! It's a few weeks later now, and I just found out the fingerprint isn't from the ship! Read THIS entry for the sad truth.
posted by Dennis at 4:16 PM
2 Comments:
oh that is very cool. post the pic if you can.
sometimes when i am standing on a street corner i think of all the other people who have stood there and then i strip away time from that spot until i am standing in primordial ooze.
This is such a wonderful find, and you truly have touched HISTORY!! It makes me tingle to think you are now part of the Titanic!!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home