Shoes of Unknown Child on Titanic Added to Permanent Exhibit

A heart-wrenching tale was revisited today, June 29, as the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax unveiled its newest acquisition, the shoes of the unknown child onboard the Titanic.

The pair of small, brown, leather shoes, worn by the child at the time of his death, were donated by Earle and Sandra Northover, of Ontario.

After three years of careful research, museum staff concluded that the shoes belonged to an infant victim of the tragic wreck.

Following the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, ships from Halifax were faced with the task of recovering the bodies of victims. For the crew of the cable ship Mackay-Bennett, the discovery of the infant brought home the magnitude of the tragedy.

Without identification or family to claim him, the little boy was buried in Fairview Lawn Cemetery. Over the past 93 years, the gravestone of the unknown child has become one of Halifax's most famous memorials.

"There are few more powerful childhood reminders than baby shoes," explains Dan Conlin, the museum's curator of marine history. "You cannot help but be reminded of the small person who once stood in them. It makes these shoes a powerful reminder of one small soul taken by this disaster off our shores."

The artifact, called the Shoes of the Titanic Unknown Child, will be on temporary display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic until the fall, when they will be included in the museum's permanent Titanic exhibit.

"We plan to install them in our Titanic exhibit near the gloves of railway tycoon Charles Hays," said Mr. Conlin. "The shoes of a third-class infant will sit beside the gloves of a millionaire, both victims of the Titanic, a reminder of the cross section of humanity which perished in this shipwreck."

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is located at 1675 Lower Water St. in Halifax.