A Titanic Voice From The Past

At a memorial in St. Paul, Minnesota Saturday, a survivor of the Titanic is scheduled to pull the cord and sound the ill-fated ocean-liner's whistles. It's an echo from the past not heard in 87 years.

One of the world's last remaining Titanic passengers, 87-year-old Millvina Dean, was just nine weeks old when she was lowered in a sack into a lifeboat after the ship ran into an iceberg on April 14, 1912.

Historians and survivors believe the gigantic ship's bronze-piped whistle was the last thing heard by the more than 1,500 people who died the night the ship sank in the North Atlantic

The only scheduled public re-sounding of the whistle will be recorded and preserved as part of a traveling exhibition, which has already visited Memphis and Boston.

Erich Mische, vice president of Media Rare, says the whistle blowing will help bring alive the moment during the maiden voyage when the Titanic sank and also remember those who went down with her.

"We don't get to hear the voice of George Washington. We won't hear the voice of Julius Caesar. If we ever find Noah's Ark, it probably won't float," he says, "but here we have a chance to bring back a voice from the past."

The Titanic whistles will sound at 4:05 local time Saturday afternoon outside the St. Paul Union Depot, where an exhibit of Titanic artifacts is currently on display. The event is free and open to the public.