Titanic's Pianos

[Robert Goodale]

Sy Zabrocki wrote:
>  
> Have you seen the movie Titanic?  
> In one scene, for maybe less than three seconds, is pictured a wrecked grand piano > underwater. All the keys appear to be unevenly lifted off the keyframe pins. 
>
> The Titanic is at 13,500 feet and it was stated water pressure at this depth is 
> something like 3,000 pounds per inch. So here is the question. What would happen to  > the soft wood of the keys at this depth? Imagine putting a piano key in a hydraulic > press at 3,000 pounds. 
>
> Over 1,500 people lost their lives in this tragedy. Yet I found myself sitting there > mourning the loss of these pianos. The ship was on it's maiden voyage. All these > pianos were new and probably the finest pianos available. The cabinets were probably > exquistely designed for the various salons and areas of the ship.
> 
> Zabrocki--RPT

An interesting point. I was wondering how long it would take for this
topic to emerge on this list. (Taking a deep breath before "diving in"
to this... here it goes...)

Forget about water presure, disintegrating hide glue, or anything else
that would have occured within a week, let alone crashing and tumbling
across a ball room as the ship turned vertical. The fact of the matter
is, no kind of wood could possibly have survived for 85 years in salt
water. No keys, let alone anything else besides the plate would have a
chance of existing at this point.

Putting all logic aside, however... It was a fantastic movie and I
really enjoyed it. If Hollywood expects us to believe that Bruce Willis
can go through repeated machine-gun fire without being hit once, I guess
we can beleive that a piano can survive somewhat intact for 85 years
under water for a brief few hours running time of a movie. :-)

If memory serves, I think I recall reading somewhere that at least two
of those pianos were Steinways with Duo-Art reproducers installed.
Probably art-case "O"s.


As long as we are on the subject of movies and pianos...

Did anyone besides myself notice that the "Harpsichord" in Amistad is a
piano? I'm pretty sure of it. There is a scene in the Queen of Spain's
private chambers where a girl is playing a harpsichord in the
background. The music heard is CLEARLY harpsichord music. The
instrument, however, appears to be a small piano, probably a little
Wulitzer, or something similar from the 1920's. It isn't even shaped
like a harpsichord. There seems to be an effort to somewhat conceal it
with the actors and a potted plant or something, but it would appear
that the prop people were unable to find a harpsichord in time for the
shooting of the scene. Oops! Oh well.

Rob Goodale, RPT