Once part of a cache of Egyptian treasures destined for display in an American museum, a solitary, battered and forgotten ushabti figure, which survived the sinking of the Titanic, has emerged from years of obscurity to take its place in the public eye. Paul Boughton reports.
Of all the disasters and tragedies that have dogged human existence, the sinking of the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage between Southampton and New York still maintains a powerful grip on the imagination. On 14th April 1912 at 11.40 pm, the world’s most luxurious ocean liner hit an ice- berg off the Newfoundland Banks. Within two-and-a- half hours, the Titanic sank. Of the two thousand, two hundred passengers and crew on board, only seven hundred and five souls were saved.
This story has been re-told over and over again in newspapers, books, magazines, television programmes, films – and even computer games. Surely there is nothing new to tell? But there is one story that has, I believe, been neglected.
It is the tale of a 2,700-year-old ushabti figure carried away from the stricken liner by the woman known to history as the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown (1867-1932), otherwise the Denver millionairess Mrs. Margaret Tobin. The ‘unsinkable’ title was supposedly given to her after a press interview when she was safely on dry land in America. She put her survival down to “Typical Brown luck.” And she added, “We’re unsinkable.” For her, the ushabti was a lucky talisman.
This surviving ushabti was just part of a cargo of Egyptian antiquities being shipped to the United States by Molly following a visit to Egypt.
When she boarded the 46,328 ton Titanicon the evening of 10th April, 1912 in Cherbourg, France, Molly brought with her one crate of Egyptian souvenirs and three crates of ancient Egyptian figurines, the latter ultimately destined for the Denver Museum in the USA.
Ushabtis (also known as shabtis or shawabtis) are figures placed in burials from the Middle Kingdom, between about 4,000 and 3,500 years ago, until the Ptolemaic Period, around 2,300 years ago. They evolved from the belief that the afterlife would be similar to the living world. In death, people believed, they would be surrounded by friends and family and would therefore need food and drink; the gods might even call on them to work. The ancient Egyptians hoped that a ushabti would magically do the work for them. They were servants for the afterlife.
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| Above: The ‘Titanic ushabti’. |
This story has been re-told over and over again in newspapers, books, magazines, television programmes, films – and even computer games. Surely there is nothing new to tell? But there is one story that has, I believe, been neglected.
It is the tale of a 2,700-year-old ushabti figure carried away from the stricken liner by the woman known to history as the ‘Unsinkable’ Molly Brown (1867-1932), otherwise the Denver millionairess Mrs. Margaret Tobin. The ‘unsinkable’ title was supposedly given to her after a press interview when she was safely on dry land in America. She put her survival down to “Typical Brown luck.” And she added, “We’re unsinkable.” For her, the ushabti was a lucky talisman.
This surviving ushabti was just part of a cargo of Egyptian antiquities being shipped to the United States by Molly following a visit to Egypt.
When she boarded the 46,328 ton Titanicon the evening of 10th April, 1912 in Cherbourg, France, Molly brought with her one crate of Egyptian souvenirs and three crates of ancient Egyptian figurines, the latter ultimately destined for the Denver Museum in the USA.
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| Above: The RMS Titanic departs Southampton on 10April 1912. Later that day, at Cherbourg, Molly Brown would board the doomed liner with her Egyptian ‘treasures’. |
Ushabtis (also known as shabtis or shawabtis) are figures placed in burials from the Middle Kingdom, between about 4,000 and 3,500 years ago, until the Ptolemaic Period, around 2,300 years ago. They evolved from the belief that the afterlife would be similar to the living world. In death, people believed, they would be surrounded by friends and family and would therefore need food and drink; the gods might even call on them to work. The ancient Egyptians hoped that a ushabti would magically do the work for them. They were servants for the afterlife.
