A TITANIC superfan enjoyed a day he will never forget after boarding an exhibition about the world’s most famous cruise liner.
Jamie Gallehawk, seven, spends his days diving into the world of the ship which infamously sunk in 1912.
The youngster, who lives in Rowhedge with mum Ali, 34, and little sister Winnie, was diagnosed with autism and ADHD when he was just 18 months old, but has “always come out shining”.
Despite being “obsessed” with trains, Jamie stumbled across a video about Titanic while surfing YouTube last year and has never looked back since.
He now knows every fact, figure and theory there is to know about that fateful night in the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s why Ali, a lash technician, jumped at the opportunity to visit the Titanic exhibition when she learnt it had docked in London.
So for Jamie’s seventh birthday, the pair headed down to what would become an “incredibly emotional” experience, with the youngster dressed in his full captain’s uniform.
“We watch something Titanic every single day of our lives now, I even have the soundtrack on my phone and we listen to it on the way to school,” said Ali, whose children attend St Lawrence Primary School, in Rowhedge.
“There’s not a documentary or YouTube video on Titanic he hasn’t watched. He knows the film isn’t quite real, so he is more for videos of the deep sea divers who go and visit the wreck.”
Ali added Jamie’s ADHD means he can be spontaneous and he struggles with his concentration span, while finding open spaces and being around lots of people “overwhelming”.
However, she explained he felt right at home while ‘on board’ the Titanic.
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She said: “To head down and immerse himself in it all was absolutely incredible for him. He was the youngest there, everyone else looked like they’d just stepped off the boat themselves.
“He was just amazed at it, people were saluting him in his captain’s uniform and he absolutely loved it.
“Jamie always says if he was the captain he would’ve known to be more careful on the day it sunk. To be honest, if he was the captain, I would trust him.”
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