Surviving Bible from Titanic dedicated to museum on Day of Prayer

Only one Bible survived the sinking of the Titanic as Rev. Robert J. Bateman gave his sister-in-law the holy book before perishing on the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

“Bateman on the night the ship sank handed the Bible over to his sister-in-law, Ada Ball, who he placed on a life boat and then she returned it to her sister, his wife Emily,” Bob Thone, an actor who plays the preacher at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, told WBIR-TV.

The Bible used on the religous service aboard the doomed voyage was later given to Dr. Harry Upperman from the Baxter Seminary, according to Thone. Now a special dedication on teh National Day of Prayer would put the Bible on display at the Titanic Museum.

“[Bateman] helped his sister in law get off board to a life boat that night and he handed her the Bible so it got saved,” said John Joslyn who owns the Titanic Museum. “Here we are 102 years later and we’re able to display this Bible, it’s a privilege for us.”

Bateman had been in the U.K. exploring mission opportunities in 1912, he decided to head back to the U.S. on the Titanic, according to WBIR-TV.

Metro Pulse details Bateman’s history of evangelism as well as his fateful journey on the Titanic.