Hundreds of artefacts retrieved from the sunken Titanic are on display at a new exhibition at the O2 in North Greenwich.

The story of the Titanic is well known: the largest ship ever made crashing into an iceberg just a few days away from the completion of its maiden voyage across the Atlantic and leaving only 706 survivors from the 2,223 people aboard.

But “Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition” gives visitors a glimpse into the personal stories of those who were on board that fateful journey. The exhibition lays out the circumstances by which many of the passengers came to find themselves aboard Titanic, such as the teacher from Dulwich College, Lawrence Beesley, who was on a £13, second class ticket, hoping to visit his brother in Toronto.

Or Leah Aks who was separated from her baby son after the collision, only to find another another survivor was claiming the baby as their own when she eventually tracked him down aboard the rescue ship, Carpathia. The baby was only reunited with Leah after she described his birthmark to the ship’s captain.

As you make your way around the exhibition, you will see hundreds of artefacts recovered from the wreck which lies over 2 miles deep, about 900 miles off the coast of New York. As well as the relics, there’s a nice interactive element: an ice wall which you are an encouraged to touch to get a sense of the sub-zero temperatures of the ocean that many passengers were cast into.

Each visitor to the exhibition receives a White Star Line Board Pass with real passenger details on it. As you leave the exhibition, you can look through a list of names to see if your boarding pass belonged to a survivor or not.

The exhibition is layed out chronologically, starting with its design and construction and ending with details of the recovery expeditions by the RMS Titanic company which is putting on the event.

For a chance to see the artefacts, some of which are extraordinarily well preserved, and to learn more about the Titanic, a trip to the exhibition is recommended.

The exhibition runs from November 5th 2010 until May 2011.

Boarding pass given to visitors – each one has a real passenger’s details on the reverse.

Hundreds of Au Gratin dishes were found, perfectly preserved.

Vehicle used in recovery expeditions.