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In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our weekly Architrivia.
For the uninitiated, James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster, Titanic, remains the soundtrack of a generation. From the inspirational young romance of Jack and Rose, to the climatic sinking of the ship, and the even more dramatic hit single by Celine Dion, there remains a significant segment of people who will, nearly 20 years after the movie was released, find themselves humming the main verses to My Heart Will Go On. That being said, it ought to be no surprise that the Titanic Grave Site, home to 121 victims of the 1912 sinking including one "J. Dawson," has continued to be a site of pilgrimage for history buffs and film fans alike for almost two decades.
Located within the Fairview Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the clearly marked Titanic Grave Site represents the world's largest collection of burial plots related to the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. While the Titanic Grave Site had long been a place of reverence among relatives and later, droves of Titanic enthusiasts and history buffs, the release of the film in 1997 catapulted public interest in the site to unprecedented levels. This boost to local tourism was made all the more intense by the almost instantaneous public discovery of the grave of one "J. Dawson," which is eerily close to Leonardo DiCaprio's hero and heartthrob character, Jack Dawson, who was last seen sinking below the icy depths of the Atlantic. Thus, in a fashion most often reserved for real-life celebrity grave sites, hordes upon hordes of young fans of the film (and of Leo) began a tradition of leaving flowers, pictures, and more than a few thousand love letters to "J. Dawson," one which has continued to this day.
While the real Joseph (sorry!) Dawson shared a handful of traits with the fictional Jack, his was a life of unrelenting hardship. His official capacity on the Titanic was that of a trimmer, one of the soot-covered unfortunates tasked with shovelling coal into the massive boilers. After going down with the ship — he and his lot were far too late to entertain even the slightest hope of getting onto a lifeboat — the body of Joseph Dawson was recovered with little more than the clothes on his back and his Union Card, the only tangible clue to his true identity. While not quite "King of the World," the real J. Dawson would surely feel special knowing just how famous he would one day become.
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