The Bible From the Titanic Goes on Display in Tennessee

16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, 17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capemaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

John 6:16-21

On Thursday, May 1–the National Day of Prayer–the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, dedicated a new display:  a Bible which had survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

The Bible had originally belonged to Rev. Robert J. Bateman of Bristol, U.K.  Reverend Bateman had lived in the United States for a short time–founding the People’s Tabernacle Church in Knoxville, then relocating to Florida.  He was traveling with his sister, Ada Ball, to the United States when the ship struck an iceberg and faltered on the night of April 15, 1912.   Reverend Bateman helped his sister  to board a lifeboat, then handed her his Bible for safekeeping.  He died when the ship sank into the Atlantic.

The historic Bible will be on display through August 2014.  Other galleries in the Titanic Museum include over 400 personal and private artifacts, a collection of jewelry from the ship, and a gallery devoted to the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown.