Monika Adams' artwork at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI) might just give you a sinking feeling.

That's because she, and her husband Mark, have painted a huge mural depicting one of the worst naval disasters in history – the sinking of the "unsinkable" White Star Line cruise liner Titanic.

The mural is for the BUEI's latest exhibit which is on the Titanic.

On the Titanic's maiden voyage on April 14, 1912 the cruise liner, struck an iceberg and sank in icy water off Newfoundland, Canada.

The ship was bound for New York. Out of the 2,228 people on board of the Titanic, 1,232 died and 868 survived.

"It is hard not be effected by this tragedy," said Mrs. Adams, who painted the mural with her husband, Mark.

"It was not supposed to sink. They didn't even attach enough lifeboats for it. They thought it would be fine."

Titanic was designed to carry 32 lifeboats but this number was reduced to 20 because it was felt that the deck would be too cluttered.

And the lifeboats that were there, were not properly utilised, some of them leaving the boat not filled to capacity.

The BUEI Titanic exhibit, on until November helps to bring home the tragedy with artefacts from the real Titanic, a ship model, a geological survey, scientific research, a video, photography and also items used to make the 1997 Titanic movie starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Visitors can also use a computer to find out if they have any family connection to Titanic passengers.

The mural that greets visitors to the exhibit is Mrs. Adams' second mural at the BUEI.

She also volunteered to do the mural in 2007 for the BUEI 'Savage Ancient Seas' exhibit.

"We were really excited to do a new project," said Mrs. Adams. "I thought 'wow, the Titanic is going to be quite a project to paint up there'."

One of the challenges she faced was lack of space.

"We painted it in a very small room," she said. "I had to do small sections of a panel at a time."

The mural is made up of five large panels.

"It was quite a task," she said. "There was a small lift to take us up. And only one person could go up on it to hang the mural.

"I had to carry the whole weight of the painting and unfold it. This mural was a little bit more trying because so many parts of the ship had to line up, but it was exciting."

BUEI director Wendy Tucker did the research for the design.

"We looked at different structures of the ship, and tried to be as close to the ship design as possible," she said.

To design the image, different pictures of the Titanic were combined, and then projected onto the wall.

"This was to plan it out," said Ms Tucker.

Mrs. Adams said perspective was one of the biggest issues about getting the mural right.

Mrs. Adams is originally from Poland. She met her husband Mark, while in Bermuda working as a Masterworks-Artist-in-Residence in 2005.She now works at Appleby as a research executive.

She admitted there is one inaccuracy in the mural that slipped through. In reality, the fourth smoke stack on the Titanic never would have blown smoke, as it was a dummy erected to visually balance out the ship. It is an error frequently made in paintings of the ship.

Ms Tucker said the exhibit is a unique collection of artefacts.

"This exhibit will not be seen anywhere else in the world as these collections have been compiled by BUEI from various sources to give the visitor a wide overview on how the greatest marine tragedy captured the public," she said.

She said that although the Titantic never visited Bermuda, it is still relevant to the island, which has a long history of shipwrecks.

"There are always connections," said Ms Tucker. "Shipwrecks were such an important part of Bermuda's heritage. So that is why we decided to do the Titanic and show the connections.

"Caraquet, wrecked to the North of Bermuda on June 25th, 1923," said Ms Tucker. "The Caraquet was an English passenger steamer, bound from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Bermuda and then to the West Indies."

The Caraquet was built in the same shipyard, Hardland and Wolfe, as the Titanic. It had the same deck windows and bench ends.

Among those who died on the Titanic were Lord John Jacob Astor and wife Vincent.

Their son, Vincent, built and owned 'Astor Hall' on Ferry Reach.

The exhibit will be on until the end of November.