Fire and Ice

Air disaster captured in real life photo ...

The ill-fated ship Titanic and the equally ill-fated zeppelin Hindenberg had much in common beside the fact that their names will forever symbolize the great disasters of the 20th Century. For their time, they were both modern marvels of transportation.  Ironically, they both inspired a sense of safety with their superior technology. And, to undercut expenses, both carried mail.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking in the icy waters of the Atlantic and the 75th anniversary of  the Hindenberg's fiery destruction at a  Lakewood, NJ air station. The National Postal Museum is marking those anniversaries with a special exhibition entitled Fire and Ice.

... and sea disaster depicted on film

The exhibit looks at both tragedies and offers a glimpse of artifacts and documents saved from the ship, as well as eye-witness accounts from survivors and items manufactured as a result of the historic incidents.

Here is a quick comparison by some of the numbers at the supposedly unsinkable Titanic and the Hindenberg, which German leader Adolph Hitler heralded as yet another example of Nazi Aryan technological supremacy.

Category                                                   Titanic                                  Hindenberg

Size	882 ft.	804 ft.
Cost to make	$10 million	$2.6 million
Time of Trip Across the Atlantic	6 days	2½ days
Number of Trips Made	0	63
Time of Total Destruction	2½ hours	34 seconds
Cost of Most Expensive Ticket	$4,350	$450
Number of  Casualties	2,229	97
Number of Saved Passengers/Crew	712	62
Pieces of Mail Saved	0 (all 5 mail clerks on board perished)	360 (although some were somewhat charred)

However, the final outcomes of the 2 tragedies were quite different. The sinking of the Titanic prompted several changes to cruise line rules and today that industry flourishes. However, in 34 fiery seconds, the end of helium (or, in the case of the Hindenberg more volatile hydrogen) air ships was over forever. Interestingly, the hydrogen was being used because the United States refused to sell helium to the German-based Zeppelin company.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips

The title of the Fire and Ice exhibition comes from the 1st 2 lines of Robert Frost's poem entitled "Fire and Ice." Here is the complete poem and you have to agree, given the apocalyptic nature of the twin tragedies, it is fitting.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.