The Sinking of the RMS Titanic and other ships.

[Mayerling]

A Belated tribute I cut from he NY TImes Obit page.

Celeste had asked for an obituary notice I saw regarding King Richard III and his men at Bosworth Field on August 22, on the thread for the Little Princes.
I noticed in my envelope of clippings that on Sunday, June 15, 2008, in the New York TImes on page A 25 there was this notice under "Memoriam".

"In loving memory of some 1,200 dead, mostly women and children, on June 15, 2004 for the 104th anniversary disaster of the burning an d sinking of the steamer General Slocum in New York's East River. THe SLocum disaster had the greatest loss of lives in New York City's history until September 11, 2001.
Maritime Industry Museum, Fort Schuyler, NY. 718 - 409 - 7218."

Most estimates actually put the dead at about 1,021 or so...maybe 1,030. In any case it was dreadful.

Jeff

[mac-the-kipper]

'Titanic Survivor' by Violet Jessop.


A must for any Titanic buff. Not only did she survive the Titanic sinking but was on board the 'Olympic' when it collided with the 'Hawke' AND survived the sinking of 'Brittanic' when she served as a nurse during the 1st WW

an amazing read..

[Shangas]

Never read it, but Jessop is something of a miracle. To be on all three ships in times of danger and survive each time.

Although with the sinking of the Brittanic, it could be argued that she wasn't in any huge amount of danger. The majority of passengers and crew managed to escape thanks to the design-improvements, the lifeboats and the fact that the ship was so close to shore. In fact if I remember correctly, only 30 people died, and that was in the initial impact.

What is more impressive in my mind, is that she escaped the Titanic. Even if she was a woman, it was still hard.

[Mayerling]

Hi Shangas,

Actually on the Britannic two of the lifeboats with 30 crew members in them had the misfortune of being dragged into the wake of the still turning screws of the liner. They were cut to pieces. In a television film made about ten years ago about the ship, they showed how this happened.

But the rest did get off safely. The remarkable thing about Britannic as opposed to her famous sister ship was that she sank faster than Titanic did
(the latter taking a little over two and a half hours to sink (11:45 P.M. to 2:20 A.M.), which I have always considered a kind of tribute to her design and designer, Thomas Andrews. By the way, Britannic had no load of recuperating soldiers in her when she was fatally damaged by that mine or torpedo. I believe she had recently unloaded them. It has been said that had she had the one or two thousand "Tommies" on board, all with serious battle wounds, the death toll might have eclipsed the Titanic's.

The record number of deaths in any torpedoed or sunk vessel in World War I/the Great War is not the Lusitania's 1,198 or so, but the French transport Provence (sunk in 1917). Of 3,600 on board only 300 survived.

The worst hospital ship disaster of World War I was not Britannic (unless you consider the fine ship itself), but the "Glenart Castle", sunk on February 26, 1918 in the Bristol Channel. The doctors and nurses had gotten into lifeboats, when the blood-thirsty U-Boat Commander (his name was something with a "P" like "Patzell") rammed and sank most of them. 166 doctors, nurses, orderlies, were all drowned or killed. After the war there was a trial of the captured officers of the crew (who were unrepentant), and two got prison terms which were slaps on the wrist. The Captain also survived the war, but was not found and tried.

Best wishes,

Jeff

[Shangas]

That last one you told me of reminds me of an episode of The Shadow. In it, this guy attacks ocean-liners in his private submarine and when the people are all lowered in lifeboats, he surfaces in his submarine, gets out on deck and shoots them all. He got the tides turned on him in the end when the government planted a phoney ship out at sea, loaded with soldiers and artillery.

[brummie]

Just to add a bit of controversy to the Titanic Story I remember seeing a little while ago a documentary on the conspiracy theory that the ship which sank was not actually the Titanic at all! As I recall the story goes that the White Star Line had invested so much money into two massive new ships, the Titanic and her identical sister ship the Olympia, that they were in financial trouble. The Olympia was completed first and went from Belfast to , I think Porstmouth, for sea trials where she was damaged in a collision with a navy ship. On return to Belfast for repair it was found she was so badly damaged that she would no longer get a certificate to sail, and since the insurers refused to pay up the company was in danger of folding, so they switched identities with the Titanic with the intention of scuttling her in the Atlantic and collecting the insurance. It was alledgedly arranged for the Carpathia to rendezvous with her in North Atlantic and remove the passengers and thatis was she was sailing at high speed to keep that rencezvous. Anyway I think thats how the story went unlikely I know but I thought it might be of interest to you.

[Shangas]

That's a popular myth, and some it is true, but unfortunately, it was the Titanic that sank.

The Olympic crashed into the HMS Hawke, by the way.

[SaraCarter33]

Sorry for posting as this thread has not been responded to in such a long time , But i am so happy to have found this topic as this is a another one of my interests.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi all

The Titanic exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum includes images and discussion of artifacts from the lost ship.

Also links to displays on the Lusitania and Empress of Ireland disasters of 1916 and 1914, respectively.

More Titanic information at Yo! Liverpool.

Chris

[Adam Went]

Hey all,

Good to see some fellow maritime researchers here as well. Thought this story might be of interest to you - good to see the Andrea Doria still getting some attention as well:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/nj_divers_discover_andrea_dori.html

Cheers,
Adam.

[Adam Went]

As a side point of interest, Gloria Stuart, who played Old Rose in James Cameron's Titanic, celebrated her 100th birthday a few days ago. Cameron hosted a function for her....

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2010/07/titanic-star-gloria-stuart-turns-100-/1

Great stuff!

Cheers,
Adam.

[Bob Hinton]

Absent from the roll

I'm absolutely amazed there has been no mention of the Lancastria which was arguably the greatest loss of life at sea of all time.

My father was trying to get on board her when she was bombed, the Luftwaffe then machine gunned the survivors in the water.

[harry]

About 40 years ago I was a customs officer on duty at a ship in port Adelaide,South Australia.Sometime in the afternoon a frail old fellow in a wheelchair,was left near the gangway of a ship.I got into conversation with him,and asked of his interest in ships.He replied that he had been a quartermaster on the Titanic,and was one of the survivors.I can't remember all that was said,but he did know a great deal about ships,so I believed him.He gave his name as mr Butler.Over the following years he was mentioned several times in the local paper in relation to the ship,and on his death there was a final tribute.

After I retired,I remembered this incident,and made enquires at the State library.I was surprised when I was informed that there was no evidence that he had ever been on the ship,and was nether mentioned as a crew member or a survivor.They knew of the claim but discounted it,and I had been so sure he had been telling the truth.

Now if he had said he had been to Romford.....

[harry]

Autumn Bermuda 1947.I was on 14 day's army leave on St George island,the main barracks being at Hamilton.In the harbour were two American submarines paying a curtesy visit.They were due to leave the day following a decision by a mate and I,to have a night out on the drink.At the bar we visited,we got into company with an American crewman from one of the subs.Well the night wore on and the drink went down,we became quite friendly and the worse for wear,and on leaving this crewman invited us for a tour of his sub.Whether it was laxity of the guards,or maybe the comings and goings of various invited guests,we got as far as the conning tower,before it must have become apparant that we were not quite the type of visitors that were welcome.I am not exactly clear on what happened next,or what happened to the crew member,but my mate and I were rather roughly handled,taken a short distance away,and in words I wont repeat(I do not swear)
told to leave.Not a little pleased at the way things had turned out,and waiting until we were a safe distance away I shouted,"I hope your f...ing boat sinks"(well I do swear but only at Americans who spoil my night out).
You will have to take my word for the above,it is true,,but what follows can be checked.The next day the two subs left,and clear of the harbour,submerged to carry out manoeuvers,and collided under water.
Luckily there was little damage,and I think no serious injuries.They were able to make it to America.

Would any of you American posters ,If you have time,please check the date of this happening.I would appreciate it as I am interested for a particulr reason.I'm sure it would have been widely reported.

[Graham]

James Cameron's Titanic

The worst movie of all time.

Graham