Pocket Watch Recovered fromTitanic Victim Goes on Public Display











Pocket watch survived the wreck of the Titanic.



A pocket watch formerly owned by Titanic passenger, John Chapman, has been put on public display for the first time. Chapman, 37, took passage on the doomed luxury liner with his young bride, Lizzie Chapman, 29. They had been heading to America to be near Mrs. Chapman's brother and planned to run a farm and start a family together.
When the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink, Mrs. Chapman actually entered one of the ship's few lifeboats. Upon learning that her husband would not be allowed to accompany her, she turned to her friend Emily Richards and said: "Goodbye, Mrs. Richards. If John can't go, I won't go either."
The couple drowned when the mighty ship sank into the icy water minutes later.
Mr. Chapman's pocket watch stopped at precisely 1:45 AM on April 15, 1912--the moment he entered the frigid water. The watch was later recovered along with Mr. Chapman's body.
Now the watch is being shown for the first time at a new Titanic exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Long-Hidden Message FinallyRevealed in Lincoln's Pocket Watch

Abraham Lincoln's Inscribed Pocket Watch

For generations it has been rumored that there was a secret message engraved by a watchmaker in 1861 inside the case of a gold pocket watch that belonged to Abraham Lincoln.

On Tuesday, March 10, at the request of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, NAWCC member George Thomas opened the back of the timepiece to formally investigate the claim that there was a hidden message on the underside of the watch movement.
The following inscription was found:
"Jonathan Dillon April 13- 1861 Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date. J Dillon," and the brass underside of the watch movement reads: "April 13- 1861 Washington thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon."

The back of the watch movement also bears two other inscriptions: "LE Grofs Sept 1864 Wash DC," presumedly engraved by another watchmaker, and what appears to be "Jeff Davis." Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy and may have been engraved there as an expression of a later repairman's pro-Confederacy sentiments.
Sadly, the pocket watch is no longer functional. "It's frozen," Mr. Thomas said. "It hasn't been touched in a hundred years."
After the internal workings were photographed for posterity, the watch was carefully reassembled. It will be placed back on exhibit at the Smithsonian, now accompanied by a closeup photograph and a written transcript of the engraving.