Do the outstretched arms of the figure at the Titanic Memorial in Washington Channel Park bring back memories of Kate Winslet's "I'm flying" scene in the 1997 film? Regardless of the answer, the memorial's presence in D.C. predates the movie by about 66 years. In 1931, almost twenty years after the "unsinkable ship" hit a glacier and famously sunk into the Atlantic, this red granite statue had its dedication ceremony. The thirteen-foot-tall statue designed by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and sculpted by John Horrigan was a tribute to the men that gave up their lives so that the women and children on the ship would have a chance of survival in the lifeboats. For this reason, the statue is also referred to as the Women's Titanic Memorial. Sometimes art really does imitate life.
· Titanic Memorial (Washington, D.C.) [Wikipedia]
· Women's Titanic Memorial [Great Lakes Titanic Society]
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