Marine History Collection - Titanic Wreckwood Cribbage Board

Using Wreckwood to Remember

Making “wreckwood” keepsakes from fragments of notable shipwrecks is an old tradition in coastal communities. William Parker was the carpenter of the cable ship Minia, the second vessel from Halifax chartered by the White Star Line to recover Titanic victims. Parker made the cribbage board for Rev. Henry Cunnigham, an Anglican minister sent aboard Minia to help recover bodies and conduct burials at sea. Made from white oak, it probably comes from a shattered piece of Titanic’s extensive paneling. The board was donated to the Public Archives of Nova Scotia by the Cunningham family, then transferred to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 2004.