ORWIGSBURG - The Titanic was the reason more than 20 people attended a presentation Thursday at the Orwigsburg Area Free Public Library.
Author John Janson, 70, of Allentown, spoke of his book "Titanic: A Second Chance," a work of historical fiction, while the audience looked at postcards and reproductions of photos from the vessel. He also spoke about the ship itself, even demonstrating what happened to the compartments of the flooding ship by pouring colored liquid into a white ice cube tray.
His grandchildren are featured in the story he started in 2009 and finished last year.
"I don't care what age you are, you can imagine anything you want," he said.
He was invited to Orwigsburg for National Library Week, the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which is Sunday, and to show that the library is continuing to make an attempt to have more families learn about what the library has to offer, said Claudia Gross, acting library director.
More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic hit an iceberg April 14, 1912, and went to its watery grave in the North Atlantic Ocean about 2 1/2 hours later in the morning hours of April 15. About 700 people were rescued.
"Of all the lifeboats, there was only one completely filled," Janson said.
We still talk about the Titanic, he said, for many reasons, including that the $7.5 million ship was thought to be unsinkable and it was on its maiden voyage.
Showing a picture of ice in the water where the Titanic went down, Janson said it was hard to fathom why the ship proceeded.
"Why in the world they did what they did is hard to figure," he said of sailing through the area.
The ship had received numerous warnings about ice in the area that day.
At almost 900 feet, the Titanic was built well overall, except for minor flaws that would help spell the demise of the ship.
The steel the ship was constructed of was brittle when cold and when it hit the iceberg "and hit that cold water it popped all those rivets along that seam until the water was coming in this way (over the top), around the plates. They have maybe a few little holes in that and these plates were loose. And water just poured in. And it poured in five sections ... ," he said.
A lack of moon light and binoculars didn't help the voyage, he said.
"Moonlight gives you reflection," he said, adding they would have seen the iceberg.
A lack of wind also hampered their ability to see the iceberg because they would have seen the waves hitting it.
"When they saw it (the iceberg) it was 300 yards away. The emergency stop of that ship took 800 yards. There was no way they could stop it."
Of the casualties, he said for "every woman that died 12 men died."
"It really is an incredible loss," he said.
Ethan Green, 8, of Orwigsburg, a second-grade student at Blue Mountain Elementary East, sat next to his mother, Angel Green, 40, and played with his wooden replica of the Titanic.
He enjoyed the presentation but his favorite part was when Janson poured liquid into the ice cube tray.
Afterwards, he took home the book that Janson was selling.
His mother said they loved reading together and would read the book.
"Even though it happened 100 years ago, it's still relevant in the world," Gross said.