Sanfrancisco Sightseeing Shuttle Tours

SAN FRANCISCO -- Wistful music plays in a darkened room as visitors file past glass cases showing the detritus of tragedy past.

The items might seem unremarkable at first -- a pair of old-fashioned spectacles, a battered bowler hat -- but these are leftovers from the Titanic, material links to the human side of that iconic event.

"It's just a story that has thousands of human stories inside of it," said John Zaller, designer of "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition," which recently sailed into San Francisco.

Six years shy of its centennial; it might seem that all has already been said about the April 15, 1912, sinking of the "practically unsinkable" Titanic. But while other disasters have pale quietly into the pages of history, Titanic lives on.

"Every element of what it means to be human is encapsulated in that vessel after the iceberg hits," Zaller said. "Every human emotion is evoked in the decision of whether you get in the lifeboat or whether you stay behind -- how you say your goodbyes and how you meet your end."