"Nearer My God to Thee"

Titanic Hits the Iceberg

Titanic's lookout, Frederick Fleet, spotted an iceberg directly ahead of his ship at 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912. Despite the crew's best efforts, a collision could not be avoided and fatal damage was inflicted on the liner. The iceberg opened Titanic's first five watertight compartments and was her death sentence.

Easter on the Titanic

On April 7, 1912, just days before her maiden voyage, the Titanic sat quietly at Berth 44 in Southampton. There was little activity aboard the giant ship, or on the quay for that matter; it was Easter Sunday. Most of the ship's crew was celebrating with their families at home and observing the day.

Unsung Heroes: Titanic's Engineers

The other night I watched a program on PBS called Saving the Titanic, which focused on the engineers' valiant efforts to keep the lights on and ship afloat for as long as possible. I was particularly interested because little tends to be mentioned of these unsung heroes. Many of them were entombed in Titanic's bowels as she went down.

The above photograph, taken aboard Olympic, shows 14 engineering officers (numbered) who transferred to Titanic and were subsequently lost. They, along with Chief Engineer Joseph Bell (pictured below at right), along with hundreds of firemen and trimmers stayed at their posts until the end.

Stokers kept up the necessary steam in order to provide the electrical plant with power; the lights subsequently stayed on until minutes before Titanic sank. These men did everything in their power to keep the ship afloat, despite the fatal damage to her hull. All the pumps aboard the White Star liner couldn't save her.

Needless to say, there were tremendous casualties in the Engineering Department. All of Titanic's engineers perished in the disaster, including most of her firemen and trimmers. In fact, of the 316 men listed on the roster, only 72 survived the sinking. Memorials to these men were erected in Southampton and Liverpool.

All of their names are listed below, with the survivors' in bold and italicized.

Abrams, Mr. William

Adams, Mr. R.

Allen, Mr. Henry

Allen, Mr. Ernest Frederick

Allsop, Mr. Alfred Samuel

Avery, Mr. James Frank

Bailey, Mr. George W.

Baines, Mr. Richard

Bannon, Mr. John

Barlow, Mr. Charles

Barnes, Mr. Charles

Barnes, Mr. Frederick

Barrett, Mr. Frederick

Barrett, Mr. Frederick William

Beattie, Mr. Joseph

Beauchamp, Mr. George William

Bell, Mr. Joseph

Bendell, Mr. F.

Bennett, Mr. George Alfred

Benville, Mr. E.

Bessant, Mr. William Edward

Bevis, Mr. Joseph Henry

Biddlecombe, Mr. Charles

Biggs, Mr. Edward Charles

Billow, Mr. J.

Binstead, Mr. Walter

Black, Mr. Alexander

Black, Mr. D.

Blackman, Mr. H.

Blake, Mr. Percival Albert

Blake, Mr. Seaton

Blake, Mr. Thomas

Blaney, Mr. James

Blann, Mr. Eustace Horatius

Bott, Mr. W.

Bradley, Mr. Patrick Joseph

Brewer, Mr. Henry "Harry"

Briant, Mr. Albert

Brooks, Mr. J.

Brown, Mr. John

Brown, Mr. Joseph James

Burroughs, Mr. Arthur

Burton, Mr. Edward John

Butt, Mr. William John

Calderwood, Mr. Hugh

Canner, Mr. J.

Carr, Mr. Richard Stephen

Carter, Mr. James

Casey, Mr. T.

Castleman, Mr. Edward

Cavell, Mr. George Henry

Cherrett, Mr. William Victor

Chisnall, Mr. George Alexander

Chorley, Mr. John

Clark, Mr. William

Coe, Mr. Harry

Coleman, Mr. John

Collins, Mr. Samuel

Combes, Mr. George

Cooper, Mr. Harry

Cooper, Mr. James

Copperthwaite, Mr. B.

Corcoran, Mr. Dennis

Cotton, Mr. A.

Couch, Mr. Joseph Henry

Couper, Mr. Robert

Coy, Mr. Francis Ernest George

Crabb, Mr. H.

Creese, Mr. Henry Philip

Crimmins, Mr. James

Cross, Mr. W.

Cunningham, Mr. B.

Curtis, Mr. Arthur

Davies, Mr. Thomas

Dawson, Mr. Jonathan[

Diaper, Mr. J.

Dickson, Mr. W.

Dilley, Mr. John

Dillon, Mr. Thomas Patrick

Dodd, Mr. Edward Charles

Dodds, Mr. Henry Watson

Doel, Mr. Frederick

Dore, Mr. A.

Doyle, Mr. Laurence

Duffy, Mr. William Luke

Dyer, Mr. Henry Ryland

Dymond, Mr. Frank

Eagle, Mr. A.J.

Eastman, Mr. Charles

Elliott, Mr. Everett E.

Ervine, Mr. Albert G.

Evans, Mr. Williams

Farquharson, Mr. William E.

Fay, Mr. Thomas

Ferray, Mr. Anton

Ferris, Mr. William

Fitzpatrick, Mr. Charles W.N.

Flarty, Mr. Edward

Ford. Mr. H.

Ford, Mr. Thomas

Foster, Mr. A.

Fraser, Mr. James

Fraser, Mr. James

Fredricks, Mr. W.

Fryer, Mr. Albert E.

Geer, Mr. Alfred E.

Godley, Mr. George

Godwin, Mr. Frederick W.

Golder, Mr. Martin W.

Gordon, Mr. J.

Goree, Mr. Frank

Gosling, Mr. Bertram J.

Gosling, Mr. S.

Graham, Mr. Thomas G.

Gregory, Mr. David

Grodidge, Mr. Ernest E.

Gumery, Mr. George

Hagan, Mr. John

Hall, Mr. Joseph

Hallett, Mr. George

Hands, Mr. B.

Hannam, Mr. George

Harris, Mr. Edward

Harris, Mr. Frederick

Harrison, Mr. Norman

Harvey, Mr. Herbert G.

Haslin, Mr. James

Head, Mr. Arthur

Hebb, Mr. A.

Hendrickson, Mr. Charles G.

Hesketh, Mr. James (aka John) H.

Hill, Mr. J.

Hinton, Mr. William S.

Hosking, Mr. George Fox

Hunt, Mr. Albert

Hunt, Mr. T.

Hurst, Mr. Charles

Hurst, Mr. Walter

Ingram, Mr. Charles

Instance, T.

Jacobson, Mr. John

Jago, Mr. J.

James, Mr. Thomas

Jarvis, Mr. William

Joas, Mr. N.

Judd, Mr. Charles E.

Jukes, Mr. James

Jupe, Mr. Herbert

Kaspar, Mr. Franz V.

Kearle, Mr. Charles H.

Kearl, Mr. G.

Keegan, Mr. James

Kelly, Mr. James

Kelly, Mr. William

Kemish, Mr. George

Kemp, Mr. Thomas H.

Kenchenten, Mr. Frederick

Kerr, Mr. Thomas

Kinsella, Mr. Leonard

Kirkham, Mr. J.

Knowles, Mr. Thomas

Lahy, Mr. Thomas E.

Lee. Mr. H.

Light, Mr. Charles

Light, Mr. W.

Lindsay, Mr. William C.

Loyd, Mr. W.

Long, Mr. Frank

Long, Mr. W.

Mackie, Mr. William D.

Major, Mr. William

Marrett, Mr. G.

Marsh, Mr. Frederick C.

Maskell, Mr. L.A.

Mason, Mr. Frank A.R.

Mason, Mr. James

May Jr., Mr. Arthur

May Sr., Mr. Arthur W.

Mayo, Mr. William P.

Mayzes, Mr. Thomas

McAndrew, Mr. Thomas

McAndrews, Mr. William

McCastlen, Mr. William

McCubbin, Mr. L.

McGann, Mr. James

McGarvey, Mr. Edward

McGaw, Mr. Errol

McGregor, Mr. J.

McInerney, Mr. Thomas

McInytre, Mr. William

McQuillan, Mr. William

McRae, Mr. William A.

McReynolds, Mr. William

Middleton, Mr. Alfred P.

Milford, Mr. George

Millar, Mr. Robert

Millar, Mr. Thomas

Mintram, Mr. William

Mitchell, Mr. Lawrence

Moore, Mr. John J.

Moore, Mr. R.

Moores, Mr. Robert H.

Morgan, Mr. Arthur H.

Morgan, Mr. Thomas A.

Morrell, Mr. R.

Morris, Mr. A.

Morris, Mr. W.

Moyes, Mr. William Y.

Murdock, Mr. William

Nettleton, Mr. George

Newman, Mr. Charles T.

Noon, Mr. John

Norris, Mr. James

Noss, Mr. Bertram A.

Noss, Mr. Henry

Nutbean, Mr. William

O'Connor, Mr. John

Olive, Mr. Charles

Oliver, Mr. H.

Othen, Mr. Charles

Paice, Mr. Richard C.

Painter, Mr. Charles

Painter, Mr. Frank

Pallas, Mr. T.

Parsons, Mr. Frank A.

Pearce, Mr. John

Pelham, Mr. George

Perry, Mr. Edgar L.

Perry, Mr. Henry

Phillips, Mr. G.

Pitfield, Mr. William J.

Podesta, Mr. John

Pond, Mr. George

Prangnell, Mr. George

Preston, Mr. Thomas C.

Priest, Mr. Arthur J.

Proudfoot, Mr. R.

Pugh, Mr. Percy

Pusey, Mr. Robert W.

Ranger, Mr. Thomas G.

Reed, Mr. Robert

Reeves, Mr. Robert

Rice, Mr. Charles

Richards, Mr. Joseph J.

Rickman, Mr. G.

Roberts, Mr. George

Rous, Mr. Arthur J.

Rudd, Mr. Henry

Rutter, Mr. Sidney

Sangster, Mr. Charles

Saunders, Mr. Thomas

Saunders, Mr. W.

Saunders, Mr. W.

Scott, Mr. Archibald

Scott, Mr. Frederick

Self, Mr. Alfred H.

Self, Mr. Edward

Senior, Mr. Henry

Shea, Mr. Thomas

Sheath, Mr. Frederick

Shepherd, Mr. Johnathan

Shiers, Mr. Alfred

Shillaber, Mr. Charles

Skeats, Mr. W.

Sloan, Mr. Peter

Small, Mr. William

Smith, Mr. Ernest G.

Smith, Mr. James M.

Smither, Mr. Harry J.

Snellgrove, Mr. G

Snooks, Mr. W

Snow, Mr. Eustace P.

Sparkman, Mr. Henry

Stafford, Mr. M.

Stanbrook, Mr. Augustus

Steel, Mr. Robert E.

Stocker, Mr. Henry

Street, Mr. Henry A.

Stubbs, Mr. James H.

Sullivan Mr. S.

Taylor, Mr. James

Taylor, Mr. John

Taylor, Mr. T.

Taylor, Mr. William H.

Thomas, Mr. James

Thompson, Mr. John W.

Threlfall, Mr. Thomas

Thresher, Mr. George

Tizard, Mr. Arthur

Tozer, Mr. James

Triggs, Mr. Robert

Turley, Mr. Richard

van der brugge, Mr. Wessel A.

Veal, Mr. Arthur

Vear, Mr. Henry

Vear, Mr. W.

Ward, Mr. Arthur

Ward, Mr. Joseph

Wardner, Mr. Frederick Albert

Wateridge, Mr. Edward L.

Watson, Mr. W.

Webb, Mr. S

Webber, Mr. Francis A.

White, Mr. Alfred

White, Mr. Frank L.

White, Mr. William G.

Williams, Mr. Samuel S.

Wilson, Mr. Bertie

Wilton, Mr. William

Witcher, Mr. Alfred

Witt, Mr. F.

Witt, Mr. Henry D.

Woodford, Mr. Frederick

Woods, Mr. H.

Wyeth, Mr. James

Young, Mr. Francis J

Lest we forget.

Titanic Month

To honor the Titanic centennial, the Captain's Table will be dedicating the whole month of April to the infamous disaster.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Snapshot: Captain Smith on the Olympic

Here's an interesting shot of Captain E.J. Smith looking out of Olympic's starboard docking wing. He would of course go on to command the ship's younger - and more infamous - sister Titanic.

E.J. Smith was regarded as one of the world's most experienced and confident seafarers, so it seemed a natural choice to place him in command of the new Olympic-class liners.

"If only some such friendly star had glistened into the eyes of the lookout on the Titanic..."

When Titanic struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, the Carpathia - under the command of Captain Arthur Henry Rostron - famously came to the rescue of her 706 survivors.

It took a great feat of seamanship to arrive at Titanic's position. Firstly, Carpathia was three and a half hours away. Chief Engineer Johnston diverted all steam to the engines and squeezed every ounce of power from the boilers. The ship was rated at 14 knots, but according to Rostron she made 17 that night.

Secondly, Carpathia had to sail through the same ice-infested waters that claimed Titanic. As Captain Rostron raced his ship to the stricken liner, "every nerve strained watching for the ice." Everyone kept a sharp eye. The first iceberg was spotted at around 2:35 am by Second Officer James Bisset (who - like Captain Rostron - was a future Commodore of the Cunard Line). Rostron recounts that it "lay two points on the port bow and...was betrayed by [a] star beam." This star, fortunately, reflected off the berg's surface and guided Carpathia safely past.

"If only some such friendly star had glistened into the eyes of the lookout on the Titanic," writes Rostron. "Ah, well, it was not to be."

References: Arthur Rostron, Titanic Hero: The Autobiography of Captain Rostron of the Carpathia (Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, 2011), 36-40.

"...the last of the Line."

Continuing on my recent string of Nomadic posts, this documentary clip shows the ship as she was in Paris while serving as a restaurant.

Snapshot: Nomadic Returns Home

Nomadic - the last remaining White Star Line ship afloat - returned home to Belfast, Northern Ireland in July 2006 after serving as a restaurant in Paris for a number of years. Launched in 1911 and ported in Cherbourg, France, she was a tender for the great Olympic and ill-fated Titanic.

After the merger with Cunard in 1934, however, Nomadic went on to service the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth until their respective retirements.

Snapshot: Titanic's Ghostly Bow

This photo was taken in 1988 and shows the bow of the ill-fated Titanic emerging from the murky deep - like a ghost ship coming out of the fog. Despite being underwater since 1912, it retains the grace and elegance that made Titanic a truly beautiful ship to behold.

Nevertheless, I feel that it sets the perfect mood on this Halloween Eve. The rusticles hang off the ship like iron tears that have never fallen. Crying for the life Titanic never had perhaps? Crying for all those lost in the sinking?

Probably not...but it's still an awesome (and creepy) photo to show for Halloween.

Snapshot: Pulling a Body from the Water

This photo shows a boat from the Mackay-Bennett retrieving the body of a Titanic passenger following the disaster. This gruesome task went on for many days until - loaded with nearly 200 victims - the ship sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Many of these bodies were eventually buried in local cemeteries.

Snapshot: Embalming Aboard the Mackay-Bennett

This image shows the body of a Titanic passenger being embalmed on the deck of the Mackay-Bennett, which pulled nearly 300 bodies from the water in the weeks following the disaster (though at least 100 of them were buried at sea - decomposition had rendered identification useless).

Snapshot: A Peculiar Iceberg

This photo was snapped by a steward aboard the SS Prinz Adalbert on the morning of April 15, 1912. What caught his attention was the streak of red paint running along the base of the iceberg, which indicated that it had hit a ship within the past few hours.

The steward could not have known what had happened to the mighty RMS Titanic, which sank just a few miles to the north of Prinz Adalbert's position.

In all likelihood, therefore, this could very well have been the iceberg that sank the "unsinkable" Titanic.

Snapshot: Titanic's Shoes

Following Titanic's discovery in 1985, one particularly morbid thought had people wondering: were there any dead bodies at the wreck site?

Dr. Robert Ballard and his team descended into the murky depths to get an up close look at the doomed giant and - among other things - try to answer that question.

The team found no bodies at the Titanic. What they did find, however, were several pairs of shoes scattered across the ocean floor. Their owners' bodies had been devoured by sea creatures years ago - only their footwear remained.

Snapshot: The Titanic Wreck

This ghostly image shows the forward section of the Titanic as it is today. Several survivors had claimed that the ship broke apart on the surface before sinking, but these were unconfirmed accounts until Dr. Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel discovered the wreck site on September 1, 1985.

While the forward section of the Titanic was in remarkable shape, the stern looked as if it had exploded upon hitting the ocean floor.

Today, the ship sits decaying on the bottom - a monument to all those who died on that tragic April night in 1912.

Futility

Back in April I wrote on a truly bizarre coincidence: the incredible similarities between the fictional SS Titan and the very real RMS Titanic. The former was created by an author named Morgen Robertson for his novel entitled Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. People really began to take notice of this work after the latter sank to the depths on April 15, 1912.

Instead of writing an entirely new entry on these two ships (and risk repeating myself...I feel I do enough of that already), I've put up the link to the older post right here:

The Sinking of the SS Titan

Certainly a very strange coincidence indeed, no?

Doctor Who & the Titanic

Since 1963, Doctor Who has thrilled audiences all over the world. The show centers on a time traveller - an alien Time Lord - known only as the Doctor. He voyages throughout time in the TARDIS (perpetually in the form of a 1960s British police box due to a faulty circuit) and fights evil with little more than charm, wit and a sonic screwdriver. When mortally wounded, the Doctor can regenerate himself as a younger man - a Time Lord's little way of cheating death. This has happened eleven times since 1963.

Several stories have involved the RMS Titanic in one capacity or another.

The ship is first mentioned in the series in story number 97, The Invasion of Time. The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and a fellow Time Lord, Borusa, came across an article in the Daily Mirror which mentioned the liner's sinking. The Doctor immediately promises that he had nothing to do with Titanic's sinking.

The ship was not mentioned again until the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) encountered in the novel, The Left-Handed Hummingbird. He and his companions were aboard when Titanic struck the iceberg and - as mentioned in a subsequent comic strip - one of them actually caused the ship to go down.

The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) tried to dissuade people from boarding the liner in the episode Rose. He later commented in The End of the World that he had been aboard a ship "they said was unsinkable." The Doctor then notes how he "ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold."

The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) encountered a starship replica of the Titanic in Voyage of the Damned after it collided with the TARDIS. This incident was also seen in the mini-epsiode Time Crash, which unites the Tenth Doctor with the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) and threatens to end the universe.

Will the Doctor meet up with the Titanic again?

Only time will tell.

Launch of the Titanic: 100 Years Ago

The ill-fated RMS Titanic was launched by Harland & Wolff on May 31, 1911. She was the new pride of the White Star Line and considered to be the safest, largest ship afloat. The Titanic would rival Cunard's Mauretania and Lusitania in both luxury and elegance. It was White Star's crowning achievement, along with her sisters Olympic and Gigantic (to be renamed Britannic later).


But no one knew what was to come. The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sink to the depths in pieces; a mere 11 months after her launch.

Happy Birthday Titanic, it's a shame that you never had a chance to live your life the way it was intended. But tragedy and disaster have given you immortality.

The Olympic "Mutiny"

The RMS Olympic was ordered to be outfitted with additional lifeboats after her sister Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. The White Star Line's chairman, J. Bruce Ismay, gave specific instructions that the ship was not to sail again until accommodations were made for all persons aboard.

The Olympic first received 16 lifeboats...then 40. Ten of them came from the HMS Soudan and looked to be in rather poor shape and downright unseaworthy - especially the 10 taken off the warship. The appearance of these lifeboats (which were scruffy to say the best) alarmed several members of the Olympic's crew. A total of 276 firemen, trimmers and greasers subsequently refused to sail aboard the ship and were arrested for mutiny.

The Olypmic "mutineers" stood trial at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court. All were found guilty after a three day hearing but were not punished for their actions. The court found found that the men did have a justifiable cause for refusing to sail aboard the ship: they simply did not feel safe. So they were set free afterwards. They rejoined the ship's company after several of the lifeboats had successfully been tested.

The Olympic was ready to resume her sailings, and arrived in New York on May 22, 1912.


References: Robin Gardiner, The History of the White Star Line (Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, 2001), 152.

Archibald Gracie, Isidor Straus and the American Civil War

This past April 12 marked the 150th Anniversary of the start of the terrible American Civil War. It was in 1861 when Fort Sumter was bombarded by Confederate forces in South Carolina, and President Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865: 146 years ago today. And if that were not enough, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg 99 years ago tonight.

Definitely a month of tragedy. But they are connected too in some small way. How?

Colonel Archibald Gracie survived the sinking of the Titanic and published an account of the disaster later on. He notes how he became quite close with Mr. Isidor Straus during the crossing. He "related much of special interest concerning incidents in his remarkable career, beginning with his early manhood in Georgia when, with the Confederate Government Commissioners, as an agent for purchase of supplies, he ran the blockade of Europe." Colonel Gracie - being an amateur historian - then mentions how he loaned his most recent book, called The Battle of Chickamauga, to Mr. Straus. He was extremely interested with this work and told the colonel so quite excitedly, expressing "an intense interest" in it.

Gracie writes this under the section of his account that took place on the morning of April 14, 1912. By 2:20 on the cold morning of April 15, he would be clinging to life on the upturned Collapsible Lifeboat "B." Mr. and Mrs. Straus would go down together - refusing to be separated after 41 years of marriage.

References: Archibald Gracie, The Truth About the "Titanic," in The Story of the Titanic as Told By Its Survivors, ed. Jack Winocour (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1960), 121.