The Sinking of the RMS Titanic and other ships.

[Adam Went]

Hi Kensei,

Just off the top of my head, are you thinking of the cemetery at Halifax, Nova Scotia? A huge amount of the victims are buried there and there was in fact a program a while back which was seeking to use modern DNA technology to exhume and then identify the remains of those who are buried in unmarked graves there. I know that they were successful in some cases, which is fantastic for the descendants of those who died in the tragedy.

Also, just in other news, I hear that new exploration of the Lusitania wreck (or what's left of it, it's a mess) is underway/about to get underway.

Cheers,
Adam.

[kensei]

Louisa:

Kensei:

Fairly sure Tommy was a fictional character, though in a bit of an ironic twist, they discovered after the movie was released that Jack Dawson was actually a real person and he was a lowly crew member on the Titanic. IIRC the producers claimed they had no knowledge of this, just another one of those odd coincidences which seem to surround major events like the sinking of the Titanic....

Cheers,
Adam.

I had heard that about Jack Dawson, and also that he is buried in a cemetery in Newfoundland I believe (?) that is kind of considered to be the Titanic cemetery where many bodies that were able to be recovered were buried, and that after the movie came out so many fans came to visit his grave that damage was done to it. Poor guy. Jack Dawson is, though, a fairly common name and it's not that surprising that Cameron would have made it up only to find there really was someone on the ship with that name.

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

Louisa:

Wow, you'd make a particularly scathing movie critic!

I do agree with you for the most part about James Cameron's film though, i'm not one for long, soppy romantic stories and there was a little too much of that. But apart from that it wasn't too bad.....it was certainly a hell of a lot better than the mini-series which was made featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones a year earlier, in 1996....blurgh!

Cameron certainly redeemed any small flaws his film may have had though with his docco film Ghosts Of The Abyss a few years later......if you haven't seen that, do yourself a favour. It's the Titanic like you've never seen before and almost certainly never will again.

Kensei:

Fairly sure Tommy was a fictional character, though in a bit of an ironic twist, they discovered after the movie was released that Jack Dawson was actually a real person and he was a lowly crew member on the Titanic. IIRC the producers claimed they had no knowledge of this, just another one of those odd coincidences which seem to surround major events like the sinking of the Titanic....

Cheers,
Adam.

[louisa]

Nobody shot anyone on the Titanic.

I remember reading that the relatives of Murdoch were very upset at his portrayal in the movie. I think he has a statue in his honour, in his hometown somewhere in Scotland.

[kensei]

Murdoch was actually a hero and didn't shoot himself or anyone else for that matter.

I remember reading somewhere that a witness told of seeing some officer or maybe just some crewmember shoot himself but that it was impossible to tell who it was. That, combined with the fact that Murdoch did not survive, was apparently good enough for Hollywood. Am assuming also that the person he shoots in the movie (Tommy) was a fictional character, wasn't he?

[louisa]

Hi Adam

I'll stand corrected on that point then.

I found the James Cameron movie to be full of discrepancies too. However when did Hollywood ever let the truth stand in the way of a good story?

I think Kate Winslet was mis-cast. She looked a bit too old for little Leo DiCaprio. The way she kept scooting along the decks of the Titanic was irritating, almost as though she was on castors.

There is also no way that a woman of those times would ever have worn a low cut dress, especially during the day. Even the street walkers (remember the Ripper victims?) used to wear high buttoned dresses. And as for that 'finger' sign she gave - well that would never have happened, would it?

The most irritating part was the old lady throwing the sapphire necklace into the ocean. She could have given it to a good cause, silly old biddy!

Also the producers should have chosen an old lady with brown eyes (like Kate Winslet's - not somebody with bright blue eyes.

I'm glad to have got all that off my chest!

[Adam Went]

Hi Louisa,

Definitely agree with you that A Night To Remember is the best Titanic film to date, and certainly the closest to historical accuracy.

However I think you might be a little confused.....I remember Kenneth More portraying Charles Lightoller as the Second Officer, rather than First, which is historically accurate. Double checked on the IMDB page and it confirms it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051994/

Kenneth More just got "more" screen time because he was the star of the film.

Also, I don't think Murdoch fired his pistol AT anybody, but there was certainly witnesses who described guns being fired to keep panicking passengers away from storming the remaining few lifeboats towards the end, and it was the officers who had these firearms distributed to them earlier on for that very purpose.

It was Lightoller who would eventually become one of the heroes of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940....

Cheers,
Adam.

[louisa]

I first became fascinated with the story of the Titanic after I watched the movie "A Night To Remember" with Kenneth More (as Lightoller).

I know it was made for pennies and some scenes could have been filmed in a bathtub, but for me it is still the best Titanic movie.

They got a few details wrong though - as have successive movies. They promoted Lightoller to first officer when in fact he was second officer at the time. Lightoller actually had a west country accent, he wasn't posh like Kenneih More.

Murdoch was actually a hero and didn't shoot himself or anyone else for that matter.

[Robert]

Hm, well, maybe I've got the wrong one.

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Robert and Adam.I don't believe James Dobbin jr was a nurse actually Robert.He was engaged on work on the development or building of aircraft according to my grandmother.

[Adam Went]

Have searched through several of my Titanic-related books overnight and found mentions, though only fleeting ones, of James Dobbins. It seems that the accident was at the time somewhat swept under the carpet, the celebrations of the launch still very much going ahead with Lord Pirrie and so forth.

Having said that, no doubt Thomas Andrews would have been very upset at the news - he cared deeply about the men who worked for him and was far ahead of his time in terms of worker rights.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Robert]

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

[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]

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]

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.