User:Prioryman/notes

Masafumi Hosono, Japanese railway official who wrote one of earliest survivor accounts on a piece of Titanic stationery which he had in his pocket while aboard a lifeboat. Wrote that C's smoking room "was so filled with people that no space to sleep was available to me. As a last resort, I seated myself on a chair and spent the whole night in a half sleep. This was indeed a trying voyage."

Gracie buried in same clothes he wore during night of sinking.

Titanic Relief Fund report issued 19 March 1913 by Mansion House Committee. Sum subscribed by then was £413,121.2s.10d (about $2,065,600 at 1912 exchange rates). Invested in stocks, bonds and debentures for 3.2% annual return. Supported 654 cases - 316 widows, 592 children and 553 other dependents - 1461 in total. By 1952 fund had paid out £671,458 and still had £157,379 left. 64 dependents still alive by 1958/59, when fund converted into annuities and balance transferred to Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society.

Earl of Derby was chairman of Committee. Local committees handled individual cases around UK, most notably in London, Southampton, Exeter, Belfast & Liverpool. Committee later took on management of relief funds for Empress of Ireland & Lusitania.

Ship was under-insured - hull and machinery partly insured by Commercial Union & Lloyds of London. White Star confident in own financial strength & safety of vessels. However T was a total loss with no prospect of salvage. T cost £1.5m to build and so, reported Times,

"the best part of a million sterling is now being found by the British insurance markets, assisted by the Continent and the United States. The owners of the Titanic will know what to do with the money, for though, no doubt, some time will elapse before they will want to pay for her successor, it is generally assumed that they were uninsured to the extent of between £500,000 and £750,000."

Ismay estimated loss to WSL was around £200,000. Cost did not break IMM but was a major setback, and IMM was declared insolvent in April 1915 after an extended period of financial difficulties.

Titanic Memorial Lighthouse dedicated in New York on 15 April 1913. Atop Seaman's Church Institute on South Street; has time ball and beacon.

Titanic Musicians' Memorial dedicated in Broken Hill, NSW, 21 December 1913. Erected through fund-raising appeal by Amalgamated Miners Association Band. Dedication: "Erected by the Citizens of Broken Hill as a memorial to the heroic bandsmen of the steamship Titanic who, playing to the end, calmly faced certain death whilst women, children and their fellow-men were being rescued from the wreck of that ill-fated vessel off the coast of Newfoundland on the 15th April 1912."

Engineers' Memorial in East Park, Soton, dedicated 22 April 1914 in front of 100,000 people.

Captain Smith memorial unveiled by daughter Helen in Lichfield on 29 July 1914.

Stewards' Memorial dedicated on Soton Common 27 July 1915. Made of Portland Stone & designed as drinking fountain. Vandalised and moved to Holy Rood Church 1972. Restored 1982.<TSM 6>

Engine Room Heroes' Memorial completed in Liverpool May 1916 but not formally dedicated due to ongoing war.<TJTT 172> Engineers and allied professions had begun fund-raising at the end of April 1912, with the approval of the Lord Mayor, Lord Derby.<TAL 195> Those involved included "all the superintendent engineers of the great steamship lines in Liverpool, together with representatives of other branches of the engineering profession and of the University." The memorial committee (chaired by Ld Db) decided it would consist of "an elaborate group of statuary ... the riverside scheme at present in contemplation will ... surpass in architectural beauty the Statue of Liberty in NY." Sir William Goscombe John selected as sculptor. Design is a granite column with four 7 ft high figures on the pedestal to represent the 36 engineers and 200 stokehold crew who died in disaster. Local seamen were used as models for the four figures.<TAL 196> A location at the Pier Head was chosen, where it would overlook the landing stage and the Princes Parade, though this attracted some controversy in Liverpool.<TAL 197>

Disasters such as Empress of Ireland and wartime sinkings including Lusitania soon overtook T sinking, and the memorial was rededicated to "The Heroes of the Marine Engine Room" rather than just T. It can be seen as one of the first Great War memorials erected in the UK, and is one of the earliest British memorials of the working man.<TAL 199>

First annual memorial service carried out by US Coast Guard Cutter Modoc on 15 April 1923. Now an annual event performed by vessels & wreaths dropped by Int Ice Patrol aircraft.<TJTT 173>

Women's Titanic Memorial dedicated by Helen Herron Taft in Washington DC on 26 May 1931. Sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose brother was lost on Lusitania. Inscription reads: "To the brave men who perished in the wreck of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. They gave their lives that women and children might be saved." Memorial moved to make way for Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in 1972 and relocated to 4th & P Streets SW adjacent to Fort McNair.<TJTT 174-5>

Arrol Gantry demolished Spring 1971.<TJTT 183>

Return to Titanic Live - NYT critic John Corry, "What followed was a combination of the sacred and profane and sometimes the downright silly."<TJTT 195> Show was "presented as a kind of deep sea striptease" and Savalas "seemed haggard, missed several cues and at one point almost tripped over a chair". Allegations of fraud afterwards re claims that safe had been opened beforehand.<TL 5>

Cameron trip to Titanic reported to have caused substantial damage in summer 1995 - Mir submarine itself was damaged and fragments of propeller shroud left scattered around superstructure. Cap Smith's quarters heavily damaged with collapsing of external bulkhead, exposing the interior.<TJTT 205>

Animals: ship's cat Jenny, with kittens born week before voyage. Lived in galley. Four roosters and hens brought aboard by Ella Holmes White of NY. Imported from France to improve her poultry stock, and probably kept in or near F Deck dog kennels. Another woman reported to have 30 cockerels.<ADB 2/2000 p. 18> Other kennel dogs included 1 King Charles Spaniel and one elderly Airedale, owned by William Carter; chow dog called Chow-Chow owned by Harry Anderson; champion French bulldog, Gamin de Pycombe, owned by Robert W. Daniel, who paid very high price of $750 for it in England; Airedale Kitty owned by JJ Astor. Clarence Moore of Wash DC had intended to bring aboard 100 English foxhounds but they were shipped on another vessel. Four dogs kept (surreptitiously?) in owners' cabins: Pomeranian owned by Margaret Hays, which she brought aboard lifeboat 7 and lived until 1919; dog brought aboad lifeboat 6 by Elizabeth Rothschild, who refused to board unless dog came (left husband); Pekingese Sun Yat Sen aboard lifeboat 3 by owner Henry Sleeper Harper & wife Myra; and Helen Bishop's dog Frou-Frou, left behind in owners' cabin.<TJTT 234> Held on to hem of dress by teeth until seam tore. Wrote after disaster: "The loss of my little dog hurt me very much. I will never forget how he dragged on my clothes. He so wanted to accompany me."<ADB 2/2000 p. 18>

Elisabeth Ramel Nye had yellow canary (fare 25 cents).<ADB 2/2000 p. 18>

Ship's carpenter John Hutchison (died) responsible for welfare of animals. Dogs exercised daily on poop deck by steward or bellboy.<ADB 2/2000 p. 18>

Ship also had unknown number of rats aboard! One seen in Third Class dining room on evening of sinking, to shock of passengers - men chased it but failed to catch it.<ADB 2/2000 p. 18>

Bulldog left behind, owner claimed $750 for loss. Anderson claimed $50 for his dog. Chickens were valued at $207.87. Carter's dogs claimed for $300. Dogs were let out of kennels as ship was sinking. 1st class woman said to have refused to be parted from her dog. Days later passenger on SS Bremen saw body of a women holding a "straggly dog" in her arms amid an area of sea strewn with bodies.<ADB 2/2000 p. 18>

Musicians' Memorial in Soton unveiled 19 April 1913 in city library but totally destroyed in WW2 bombing. Described by Soton Times as

"a fine piece of work in Sicilian marble upon an enamelled slate base with handsomely moulded pilasters and cornice. In the centre is a beautifully sculptured panel representing the Titanic, partly submerged, with a figure representing grief in the foreground. On a small raised panel underneath are the musical symbols of the first four bars of the tune to the hymn 'Nearer, My God, to Thee', the tablet is a handsome and dignified piece of work." <TSM 12>

US HoR proposed on 23 April 1912 to recognise Rostron & crew of Carp for service in saving T survivors & provided for an appropriation of $5K to strike medals of honour for the crew.<TAL 176> Rostron presented with silver loving cup on 29 May 1912. 300 officers & crew of Carpathia received gold, silver & bronze medals made by Dieges & Clust of NY. Rostron given signed letter of thanks by Pres Taft shortly afterwards & awarded Cong Medal of Honor a few months later. Awarded American Cross of Honor same day by Am Cross Hon Society. Liverpool Shipwreck & Humane Society awarded gold medal and certificate on 2 June 1912 & other crew members awarded items inc. gold watches, tea service, punch bowl, cheques & cash awards.<TAL 177>

T sinking happened at dawn of modern media age and "brought to public awareness through a dynamic web of information movement whose strands included the telegraph, telephone, wireless, and popular press."<TL 6>

Sinking of Britannic with 1100 people aboard claimed only 30 lives.<TL 21>

T was designed as "deluxe version" of Olympic. Major changes were increase in passenger capacity with excess deck space converted into cabins; improved fittings, including better carpets, furniture and glass paneling; promenade suites for ultra-rich; Café Parisien and enclosed A deck promenade.<TL 22-3>

WSL did claim T was unsinkable although denied it after disaster; flyer discovered in the mid-1990s ends with the claim that "as far as it is possible to do so, these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable". Ismay said at Brit BoI that he thought T had been "practically unsinkable ... a lfeboat unto herself."<TL 23>

"The emergence of the Titanic disaster as one of the dominent moments in western cultural history can be seen to have taken place in three phases bounded by the following years: 1912–54; 1955–84; and 1985 to the present."<TL 103>

Conrad, Shaw, Doyle and Hardy all weighed in.<TL 103> ANTR "still stands as the definitive cinematic telling of the story and the prototype and finest example of the disaster-film genre."<TL 104>

Hardy's poem is "a remarkably rich work, eerie and powerful" that reflects a late Victorian view informed by Darwin's metaphor of a "struggle for existence" - of nature as an "awesome and potentially malevolent force".<TL 111>

Toast is an oral poem with internal dialogue, performed in a dramatic and percussive fashion; can be seen as a forerunner of rap. Many versions exist of Titanic Toast. Shine receives marriage proposals from the wealthy women, in particular the captain's pregnant and unmarried daughter, but rejects them. In some versions another black man named Jim joins Shine in the water but is lost when he succumbs to the white people's allures and swims back to his death on the sinking ship.<TL 112> Swims to NY and outdistances whale or shark along the way. Sometimes goes off course and makes landfall in LA instead but gets back to NY in the end, where he gets drunk and enjoys company of women. Moral of Toast is that neither white man's money nor women are worth the risk of acquiring them, therefore should not be aspired to or coveted. Unmarried pregnant captain's daughter is a sign that "even white nobility can transgress", and white skin is not synonymous with purity. Also theme of overconfidence in technology.<TL 113>

David O. Selznick tried to persuade Hitchcock to make a Titanic film for him in 1938, based on the novel of the same name by Wilson Mizner and Carl Harbaugh. Story is about a gangster who renounces his life of crime when he falls in love with a woman aboard Titanic. Selznick envisaged buying redunant liner Leviathan to use as a set. Hitchcock disliked the idea and mocked it; he suggested that a good way to shoot it would be to "begin with a close-up of a rivet while the credits rolled, then to pan slowly back until after two hours the whole ship would fill the screen and The End would appear." When asked about the project by a reporter he said, "Oh yes, I've had experience with icebergs. Don't forget I directed Madeleine Carrol." The project was abandoned and Hitchcock instead made Rebecca for Selznick, winning an Oscar for Best Picture.<TL 123-4>

SOS Titanic (1979) and Raise the Titanic (1980)

Dona Paz sinking exceeded death toll

Class conflict is major element of T story - microcosm of Edwardian society & social stratification. Unequal survival rates partly reflected class distinctions but disaster overturned social conventions with many high-class individuals perishing.<TL 155>

Even possible to attempt a Freudian explanation: male culture undone by female nature, a variation on the devouring female or vagina dentata theme. Iceberg sliced Titanic open (castration complex) and "women and children first" reinforced primacy of female priority, overthrowing the masculinity of the shipbuilders and killing most of the men.<TL 155> False assumption of mastery over nature reflects Jungian theme of a dangerous split between unchecked reason & technology in the human world and the latent power of the natural world. Reverse of the story of Noah, who put his faith in God and build a ship to save his people; in the case of T, those aboard put their faith in Man, technology and progress, and perished as a result.<TL 157>


 * TL - Titanic Legacy: Disaster as Myth and Event, Paul Heyer, Praeger 1995
 * TAL - The Titanic and Liverpool, Alan Scarth, Liv Uni Press, 2009
 * TSM - The Titanic: Southampton's Memorials, Brian Ticehurst, Kingfisher Railway Prods, 19??
 * TJTT - Titanic: A Journey Through Time - E&H 1999
 * ADB - Atlantic Daily Bulletin Nov 2 2000 - "The Animals on board the Titanic" - Ioannis Georgiou

Damage to Olympic was far more severe than to Titanic: two compartments completely flooded, one partly; starboard propellor bent and blades chipped; 11 hull plates damaged above waterline; frames bent and twisted; rivets missing; eight-foot wide triangular hole extending from waterline to D deck; gash 40 feet wide below waterline.<Chirnside RMS Olympic p 87>

Smith spoke about collision: "The Olympic is unsinkable, and the Titanic will be the same when she is put in commission. Why, either of those vessels could be cut in halves and each half would remain afloat almost indefinitely. The non-sinkable vessel has been reached in these two wonderful craft." <Chirnside RMS Olympic pp 87-8>

Described as "a magnificent salon, pronounced by many persons as the finest room ever built into a ship. It is more suggestive of a state apartment in a palace than a room on shipboard". Detailing of room was taken from Louis XV designs at Versailles, given an English flavour. Lounge paneled in finest English oak with carved boiseries of scrolled floral-and-shell ornamentation. Support columns approx 11ft 4in high with oak casings. Ceiling painted white with gilt scroll and musical instrument orgamentation. Fireplace of grey marble with a carved mantel, 4ft 6in wide with curb of pierced scroll-and-shell pattern 5ft 6in wide.<TSM vol 2 p. 241>

Joinery carried out by H&W joiners and artisans, crafting carried out in shipyard sheds or brought in from outside contractors. Interiors designed by Aldam, Heaton & Co., which had worked on other WSL liners and the Ismay family's homes. Designs for interior spaces done by Arthur Henry Durand (1875-1958) who studied architecture in Brussels 1891-93 and participated in design of Eiffel Tower in Paris. Set up own practice in London in 1903. Worked on other WSL vessels and the P&O's Mongolia.<TSM vol 2 p. 67> Practice was to produce composite sketches showing concept of surface and carvings along with sectional profile of general shape and proportion of elements relative to one another and surface to which applied. Not intended to be exact plan but to give woodcarver general concept of design.<TSM vol 2 p. 76>