Titanic: New York commemorates 100 years after the tragedy

City Council speaker Christine Quinn joined other officials from the city, Ireland and Great Britain Thursday at the South Street Seaport to remember the sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago this weekend.

Quinn represented the city but in another way her family. The speaker’s grandmother, who lived in a Glen Cove nursing home until her death at 101 in 1993, was one of 700 survivors on the doomed ocean liner.

“The story of the Titanic is a human story that has the good, the bad and the great things that people demonstrate in the face of disaster,” Quinn said.

Until her death, Quinn’s grandmother was haunted by her harrowing tale of survival after the Titanic went down April 15, 1912.

Quinn laid a wreath at the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, which was erected a year after the Titanic sinking to remember the 1,500 passengers who died, and the 700 survivors. The Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg.

The speaker was joined by the consuls general from Ireland and Great Britain for the 45-minute late-morning ceremony, which include the unveiling of an exhibit at the South Street Seaport Museum, “Titanic at 100 Myth and Memory”.

The exhibition includes a ring belonging to a crew member; a felt hat from a survivor and telegraphs sent from the Titanic. Also being exhibited are the costumes worn by the actors in the miniseries “Titanic One Voyage. A World of Untold Stories” to be broadcast on ABC Saturday and Sunday.

(with Newsday)

Many wealthy and notable people died aboard the Titanic. Among them were John Jacob Astor IV, a German-American millionaire who made his fortune in real estate; Benjamin Guggenheim, heir to the family’s mining business; Isidor Straus, the U.S. Congressman and co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York; and Thomas Andrews, the engineer who oversaw construction of the Titanic.

John Jacob Astor IV, who at the time was one of the richest men in America, built the St. Regis Hotel.

The Titanic departed Belfast on April 2, 1912, at 8 a.m. on its transatlantic journey to New York City. Twelve days later, on April 14, 1912, the luxury liner hit an iceberg. More than 1,500 people drowned.

If the Titanic had made it to New York, it would have docked at Pier 59. Instead, the Caparthia — the vessel that received Titanic’s distress calls — docked there. Today, Pier 59 is a driving range at the Chelsea Piers sports complex.

The Titanic Memorial in New York City is a 60-foot-tall lighthouse at 15 State St. that was built to commemorate the victims of the tragedy. Straus Park, a small area in Morningside Park, is a memorial to Ida and Isidor Straus.