The Sinking of the RMS Titanic and other ships.

[Mayerling]

Natalie - fascinating to hear that kind of personal connection. Sometimes it occurs by sheer accident. My grandma Anne told me a story when I was a kid that she visited a girlfriend from school who had become ill, and was unhappy. As a result of her illness she and her family were missing a big church outing that June day. While Anne tried to cheer her friend up they heard yelling and cries in the street - he excursion boat that the friend was supposed to be on was burning up in the middle of the East River. It was (of course) the General Slocum, which burned while carrying a large number of people from the community of "Little Germany" in Manhattan for an excursion and picnic. Somewhere between 900 and 1031 men, women, and children were lost, off North Brother Island where the ship finally sank, in what has been called "the Titanic of Queens". I have often wondered in later years what that girlfriend of my grandmother must have felt like thinking about her illness leading to her survival (and her family's).

Jeff

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Jeff and Alan,
I nearly signed up to go to the Belfast Conference this year that Colin Cobb was trying to organise[but didn't get enough callers].Colin is an expert on the Titanic and takes people on tours in Belfast.He knew all about Jimmy Dobbin and was going to show me the street they lived in etc.Another time maybe.
Cheers,
Norma

[Graham]

Nats,

I visited the old Harland & Wolff dock a few years ago, and it's still very impressive. Also went to Belfast Loch were they gave The Titanic her sea-trials (if you can call them that - they didn't last very long).

I have a (very) vague memory of reading about James Dobbin. How was he killed? And is there a memorial plaque to him at the shipyard?

Reminds me of the legend that there was a skeleton between the double plates of the Great Eastern...actually there wasn't, but the legend lives on, as that ship was also ill-omened according to superstition.

Graham

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Graham,
AllI was told by my grandmother was that he had been crushed by one of the massive timbers that supported the Titanic falling on him ,as the ship moved forward ,during the launch.I have no photos of him but I do have a wedding photo of his son,also James Dobbin,marrying my grandmother.I can scan it and post it here.His death certificate has been posted by someone on line under death certificates/titanic.
Cheers,
Norma

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

For anyone interested, and especially for you, Nats, i've done a search and found a few links re James Dobbin....

Here's a discussion thread about him on the Encyclopedia Titanica message board:

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/discus/messages/5811/8238.html?1014414253

A website where the author believes James Dobbin was trying to communicate with him from the spirit world (yeah, I know):

http://www.trueghosttales.com/stories/kris-paranormal-experiences3.php

His death certificate:

http://www.titanic-titanic.com/death_certificate_dobbins_james.shtml

Apparently he was from Merret Street, Belfast, and was aged 43 at the time.

Hope that's of interest. Will keep an eye out for anything further I happen to come across in the future...

Cheers,
Adam.

[Mayerling]

My great grand father,James Dobbin, was killed in the launch of the Titanic---the fist launch in the Harland and Wolff shipyard.He was a shipwright.100 years ago yesterday I believe!
Poor man.Its sad.It was why they said it was launched with blood.
Norma

Hi Natalie,

The following is oddly true - but I thought you might find it interesting. Our 14 th President, Franklin Pierce, besides being a total failure in that office, is the only President so far whose cabinet remained the same for all four years of his term. His Secretary of the Interior was James Dobbin (who may very well be distantly related to your great grandfather. Shortly after the end of the Pierce administration in 1857, James Dobbin returned to his home in North Carolina and took sick and died. He had a brother who was in California, and headed back east to help comfort his famiy. This brother travelled on the steamship Central America, which sank with heavy loss of life in a hurricaine off Cape Hatteras. Mr. Dobbin (the brother of the late Secretary of the Interior) drowned. The Captain of the Central Ameica was William Herndon, a former officer of the U. S. Navy, who had distinguished himself in explorations at the mouth of the Amazon. Herndon had a daughter named Ellen, who (in the 1850s) married an up-and-coming New York attorney and member of the Republican Party named Chester Alan Arthur. Ellen Arthur died in 1880, before her husband was elected Vice President or succeeded his assassinated President James Garfield

Jeff

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Jeff and Graham,
Thanks for the Dobbin link---intriguing!You never know.....very very distant if so!
I can't scan as I haven'y brought the software for the scanner! But hey---Have managed to do it with my phone camera.....Nanna and Granpa Dobbin on their wedding day circa 1917 [James Dobbin son of James Dobbin sr killed during launch of Titanic]
Best
Norma

[Errata]

He looks kinda like Harry Connick Jr.

[Robert]

Nats, was James snr's wife called Rachel?

[Natalie Severn]

I can't remember Robert.I know she had red hair! I never met my maternal grand father as he died when he was only 45 of asthma.

[Robert]

Nats, I haven't found them in 1911 but there was a Dobbin family in 1901 living 36 Beechfield St, Belfast. James 33 shipwright, Rachel 29, James 7. All born Belfast.

[Natalie Severn]

Nats, I haven't found them in 1911 but there was a Dobbin family in 1901 living 36 Beechfield St, Belfast. James 33 shipwright, Rachel 29, James 7. All born Belfast.

Yes,I believe that is them,Robert!Well Done.

[Robert]

Finally found them in 1911. They'd been mistranscribed as "Dollin." The address was 13 Memel St, Belfast. James 41, shipwright. Rachel 39. James 17, apprentice illegible. Married 19 years. Only the one child from the marriage. All born Belfast. Spoke Irish only according to their entry but this has been circled with pencil and a note says "crossed out."

[Natalie Severn]

Finally found them in 1911. They'd been mistranscribed as "Dollin." The address was 13 Memel St, Belfast. James 41, shipwright. Rachel 39. James 17, apprentice illegible. Married 19 years. Only the one child from the marriage. All born Belfast. Spoke Irish only according to their entry but this has been circled with pencil and a note says "crossed out."

The address rings a bell Robert.Thats right,only child.He apparently learnt to fly planes my grandfather---may have had something to do with the accident but the family were not short of money.

[Robert]

Nats, the transcribers make it "apprentice nurse." Here's the entry :