Move over, Natasha the beluga whale and Trixie the whale shark, the Georgia Aquarium is about to get an exhibit of Titanic proportions.

The world's largest fish tank will unveil later this month a Titanic exhibition that displays artifacts from the ill-fated 1912 voyage to an audience already thinking everything water.

HYOSUB SHIN / hshin@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

This fine china was aboard the Titanic and will be on display at the Georgia Aquarium.

IF YOU GO The exhibit opens Aug. 22 and runs for nine months. Ticket prices are $31.50 for adults, $26.50 for seniors and $23.50 for children. Annual pass members pay $6 for entry into the Titanic exhibit. Tickets are expected to go on sale Thursday. RELATED LINKS: • More photos • More Georgia Aquarium news, photos and information LIVING Latest Headlines: Secluded Georgia refuge takes in misfit gorillas  Decatur First Baptist keeps woman in the pulpit  Zoo Atlanta's gorillas include numerous old-timers  Atlanta conference examines institution of marriage  World's oldest polar bear dies at Canadian zoo  • More Living Stories • Living photo galleries • Georgia Aquarium news and photos • Zoo Atlanta news and photos

It's the first time that everything from recovered dishes and shoes to steering instruments and a porthole from one of the world's biggest maritime disasters has been displayed at an aquarium.

"When the aquarium was built here we thought, 'What a great opportunity' " to pair the two, said Tom Zaller, vice president of exhibitions for Premier Exhibitions. The Atlanta-based company operates the Titanic exhibition that has traveled the world, including dates in Georgia's capital city in 2006.

Aquarium officials hope the exhibition -- which will include more than 190 objects, 40 of which have never been displayed publicly -- will help stem falling attendance, said Carey Rountree, the aquarium's senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Visitation at the aquarium has dropped 37 percent since the attraction opened in late 2005.

And while attendance was expected to slide from the huge opening numbers the initial year -- most attractions experience a falloff after their first couple of years when the newness wears off -- officials recognize it must stay fresh.

"This will give people an excuse to come back," Rountree said. Aquarium officials said they are not paying Premier Exhibitions for the Titanic exhibition, but both will share in revenue from exhibit.

Interim aquarium Chief Executive Officer Mike Leven said many people have suggested exhibitions for the aquarium, but the attraction has been careful to look only at those that match its mission and won't sully its brand.

"We have to be very careful in what we bring in," he said.

But if the Titanic exhibit is a hit, there will likely be more. While aquarium officials expect to get a boost in 2010 when its dolphin exhibit opens, they want to keep visitors stay interested until then.

The Titanic exhibit, which opens Aug. 22, runs for nine months.

On Tuesday, Premier Exhibitions officials were busy packing crates of Titanic items to be shipped to the aquarium while aquarium workers were building out a room of about 7,000 square feet for the display. A big flag that will run the length of the attraction's bow will be installed Wednesday.

The cost to see the exhibit will be anywhere from $6 to $8 above regular admission to the aquarium. The exhibit will be located near the 4-D Theater in the nearby preshow and classroom area, said aquarium spokesman Dave Santucci.

As in the touring show, visitors will get a name of a passenger, which will help them understand what it was like to be onboard the ship. There will be representations of first- and third-class accommodations, displays of items big and small and guides in period dress.

A wall visitors can touch will give them a sense of how cold the water was the night of the accident. The iceberg that hit the ship will be one of the focal points of the exhibit, Rountree said. Information about the boat also will be available throughout the aquarium as a teaser.

One of the never-before-seen items will be tiny vials of perfume essences. English perfumer Adolf Saalfeld, one of the Titanic survivors, was bringing the essences over for a business he was launching.

The vials were found in a leather satchel that was protected by micro-organisms on cowhide, Zaller said. Also included will be scalder pots used to keep milk warm for tea, gimbal lamps weighted down to accommodate the swaying of the boat and cash that today would be worth many times over their face value.

"Some of these things have just come out of conservation," he said.

What visitors won't see is a 30,000-pound piece of the ship's hull. Premier officials thought it would be a great addition, but couldn't figure out a way to get it inside the aquarium. The metal, rivets and all, stands about 20 feet high.

"I think it's almost as big as the whale sharks," Zaller said.

TITANIC FACTS

The Titanic, considered the premier ship of its time, sailed on April 10, 1912, from Southampton with 2,200 passengers and crew, according to Encyclopedia Titanic. Four days later, the ship collided with an iceberg and sank. About 1,500 people died and 700 survived. Here are some fast facts about the ship and Titanic story as compiled by Premier Exhibitions, the Atlanta-based company that operates Titanic displays around the world.

It cost $7.5 million to build Titanic and carried a $5 million insurance policy. It would cost about $400 million to build the Titanic today.

A first-class ticket for a parlor suite at Titanic cost $4,500, which would be approximately $80,000 in today's currency.

A third-class ticket at Titanic cost $35, approximately $620 in today's currency. Up to 10 people resided in third-class rooms. The rooms were divided by male and female often times splitting families.

First-class passengers had the luxury of paying for their leisure while on board: A ticket to the swimming pool cost 25 cents, while a ticket for the squash court (as well as the services of a professional player) cost 50 cents.

There were only two bathtubs for the more than 700 third-class passengers aboard the ship.

Even if all 20 lifeboats had been filled to capacity, there would only have been room in them for 1,178 people.

Initially, most of the passengers did not believe the Titanic was really sinking, hence the low number of 19 aboard the first lifeboat, even though it could carry 65.

The Titanic was one of the first ships in distress to send out an "SOS" signal; the radio officer used "SOS" after using the traditional code of "CQD" followed by the ship's call letters.

At the time of Titanic's destruction, the temperature of the water was only 28°F (-2°C). Most of those struggling in the water in their life jackets would have succumbed to hypothermia, while others may have had heart attacks.

Initial headlines of the Titanic disaster claimed all passengers survived and the ship was being towed to land.

The White Star Line was not blamed for the Titanic's sinking because the Board of Trade feared that this would result in lawsuits that would hurt the line's profits, damage the reputation of British shipping, and cause thousands of customers to switch to German or French liners.

No skeletons remain at the wreck site. Any bodies carried to the seabed with the wreck were eaten by fish and crustaceans.