Man builds replica of Titanic cabin in his garden shed

John Siggins from north Derbyshire, has built a copy of a cabin and dining room from the doomed vessel using wood and mementos from its sister ship the Olympic. Man builds replica of Titanic cabin in his garden shed

Man builds replica of Titanic cabin in his garden shed
John Siggins from north Derbyshire, has built a copy of a cabin and dining room from the doomed vessel using wood and mementos from its sister ship the Olympic. And the history-filled hut comes complete with a chair used by Titanic’s captain Edward Smith (when he commanded the Olympic) which had been gathering dust in his back bedroom. While most men are happy just pottering at the back of their house, Mr Siggins, 60, wanted to do something to mark the centenary of Titanic’s fateful voyage.

A dinning table as it was on the Titanic, John Siggins collected all the items from the Olympic Ship

The father-of-two has spent hundreds on oak paneling stripped from the Olympic. Its maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York was successfully completed just under a year before the Titanic sank. He bought the wood in Cumbria from a businessman who planned to use it to deck out a function room for weddings. More was traced to a pub that was being demolished in the Peak District.

‘I got a lot of wood at the right price, so I knew I had to do something with it. Then when my mate said I could have the shed, I knew straight away what I wanted to do.’It has taken me two years to build, which is the same time it took to build the Titanic.
‘I finished it off just in time for the centenary, it just came together. I have to be honest – I really didn’t think I’d do it but it’s as if something has been pushing me on.
‘I’ve looked at it myself and I can’t believe that I’ve built it, but I have.

Since the early 1990s, John Siggins has collected ornate light fittings, crockery, silverware, linen and even the chair the Titanic’s commander Captain Smith sat at during his previous command.