Tag Archives: Lady Duff Gordon

Friday Titanic News (14 March 2025)

“MSN,” Scientists Finally Found the Ship That Warned the Titanic About the Massive Iceberg Ahead, last modified March 7, 2025,

The only picture of the Marconi radio room onboard the Titanic. Harold Bride is seated at his station. Photo was taken by Father Francis Browne, SJ, while aboard Titanic.
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the day, the ship’s wireless radio operators kept buzzing with iceberg warnings. One of these ships was the SS Mesaba. But the warning never reached the control center. Six years after the Titanic tragedy, the British merchant steamship SS Mesaba was blasted by a German submarine’s torpedo during World War I, killing 20 people on board. Mesaba, like Titanic, was built in Belfast. On September 1, 1918, while it was making a convoy voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia, as per Coflein, a German boat hurtled a torpedo at it. While scientists were aware that the wreck of Mesaba existed, they were unsure of where exactly it sank.

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“Woman Who Survived the Titanic Had to Answer for Her Actions During the Tragedy,” MSN, last modified March 4, 2025,

The slideshow concerns Lady Duff Gordon. Worth a look if nothing else for the pictures.

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Annabel Stock, “Sussex Author’s New Book on the Titanic’s Captain and a Murdered Spy,” The Argus, March 2, 2025,

Titanic Captain Edward J Smith, 1911
Author unknown. Published after sinking in 1912
Public Domain/Wikipedia Commons

Titanic Legacy: The Captain, The Daughter and The Spy, by Telscombe Cliffs author Dan Parkes, tells the untold story of Edward John Smith, the captain lost during the Titanic disaster, and his only daughter Helen Melville who married a wealthy stockbroker, Sidney Russell Cooke. Spying on Russians in England during the early 1920s, Sidney was working for MI5. After his cover was blown, he was discovered mysteriously shot through the stomach in his apartment in London in July 1930. “When I started to delve into it, I discovered that firstly Sidney was in a relationship with the famous Cambridge professor of economics John Maynard Keynes. And then even more surprising that he had been involved in a failed MI5 mission to track Russians in England. “His death in July 1930 was assumed – especially as he was a stockbroker during a market crash – to be suicide, or as the inquest ruled, accidental. But my investigation reveals there were other factors to consider.”

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SS United States
Date Unknown but likely 1950’s.
Photo is from John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Kimberly Miller, “The Huge, Historic, SS United States Cruised by Palm Beach County. Where Is It Headed?,” The Palm Beach Post, February 27, 2025,

But the ship, which is distinctive for its 65-foot funnels that vented smoke and exhaust away from passengers on deck, was retired from active service in 1969 and languished at a South Philadelphia pier for nearly 30 years. A dispute between pier owners and the SS United States Conservancy meant it had to vacate its longtime resting place. Okaloosa County bought the SS United States for $10 million in October, with plans to sink the ship to create an artificial reef off Destin-Fort Walton Beach and open an land-based museum. The ship left earlier this month for its estimated two-week journey to Mobile, Alabama.

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Sonia Rincón, “Liberty Science Center Recreates the Last First-class Supper Served on the Titanic,” ABC7 New York, February 27, 2025,

Titanic Lunch Menu 14 April 1912
Photo: AP

A string trio welcomed guests at a dinner meant to sound, look, and taste just like it did for first-class passengers on the most famous ship never to make it to New York. “I thought it’d be wonderful to stage ‘The Last Supper,’ so to speak, on the Titanic. The first-class passengers had this incredible multi-course meal that probably lasted four or five hours to maybe just a few minutes before they hit the iceberg,” said Paul Hoffman President & CEO of the Liberty Science Center. The updated version of the menu mimics the dishes and flavors of the original first-class meal. Recreating it entirely would have required some guesswork.”A lot of it, over 100 years later needs some interpretation. They’re just dishes that we don’t make anymore, that we don’t eat anymore, and some of which we’d never really heard of,” said Chef Gail Simmons.

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“Watch the Only Surviving Footage of the Titanic Before Its Doomed Voyage,” MSN, last modified February 24, 2025, accessed March 12, 2025,

Titanic at the docks of Southampton, 10 April 1912
Unknown Author
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

According to IrishCentral, this video includes the only surviving genuine footage of the RMS Titanic before it embarked on its first and final voyage. The opening clip was filmed in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where the massive ship was constructed. After the footage was shot, Titanic left for Southampton, England, where it remained before setting sail for New York City on April 10, 1912. Famously, the ship never made it to its destination: It struck an iceberg and sank just four days into its maiden voyage.

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ITV, “Welsh Coal Retrieved From Titanic Wreck Displayed at Exhibition,” ITVX, last modified February 21, 2025,

Welsh coal retrieved from the wreck of the Titanic will be among a collection of artefacts on display at UK’s largest travelling Titanic Exhibition. (Video)

Promotional illustration in color by White Star Line to show how luxurious the facilities were for First Class Passengers. This was used in a postcard to depict the Al la Carte Restaurant on Titanic
Circa 1911
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
r, launched by White Star Line, for advertise the luxiurous facilities for First Class passengers on board the new largest steamer in the World: The RMS Titanic. This postcard depict the First Class Á La Carte Restaurant on board the ship.

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Ashley DiMella, “Crushed Titanic Chandelier That Hung in First-class Smoking Lounge Heads to Museum,” Fox News, last modified February 19, 2025

One special item is on display at “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is capturing the attention of guests. A chandelier that hung in a smoking lounge for first-class passengers will be on display after sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic for decades, NJ.com reported. It will be included in an exhibit that has nearly 250 artifacts by RMS Titanic, Inc.

Suggested Titanic Reading

Behe, G. (2012). On board RMS Titanic: Memories of the Maiden Voyage. The History Press.

Brewster, H. (2013). Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World. National Geographic Books.

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Recent Titanic News: Titanic Survivor Accused of Cowardice Cleared;Death of Titanic Expert

Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon (1862-1931), survivor of the Titanic disaster (1912)
Public Domain

Relative of Titanic survivor accused of cowardice clears his name (5 May 2018,Hereford Times)
Documents and letters written by Sir Cosmo and his wife, a famous fashion designer of her day, came to light in a cardboard box lying for over 100 years in a solicitor’s offices. “I received a phone call out of the blue saying they had found a box with my family name on it and would I like to have it,” said Sir Andrew. “Of course, I said yes.” The find reveals not just the events of that night, which show beyond doubt that the Duff Gordons acted quite properly, but also includes a long list of Lady Duff Gordon’s possessions.

World-renowned Titanic expert Gowan passes away (6 May 2018, Corsicana Daily Sun)
“Phil was arguably the top Titanic passengers and crew expert in the world.” Trower said Gowan’s research of the people was groundbreaking in that he was the first to come up with concrete numbers, that are now called the Gowan Numbers. His research revealed that 1,496 people died on the Titanic, and 712 survived. His research was duplicated by others who came up with the exact same numbers, so his are considered the Gold Standard now, Trower said. “We could sit down to dinner as we did in 2013, and Phil could regale us with stories about the passengers, those who lived and died — his knowledge was limitless,” he said. “We could talk on the phone, in person, via email … but he hated text messaging. Refused to do it. He’d never have the same story twice — he had that deep of a knowledge of the stories.”

Lady Duff-Gordon Letter Up For Auction

Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff Gordon(circa 1916 or earlier by Arnold Genthe) Photo:Public Domain (Arnold Genthe Collection,US Library of Congress digital id agc.7a15137)
Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff-Gordon(circa 1916 or earlier by Arnold Genthe)
Photo:Public Domain (Arnold Genthe Collection,US Library of Congress digital id agc.7a15137)

RR Auction of Amherst, NH has put up for auction a letter written by Titanic survivor Lady Duff-Gordon. The letter is dated 27 May 1912 and sent to a friend. In the letter she writes “According to the way we’ve been treated by England on our return we didn’t seem to have done the right thing in being saved at all!!!! Isn’t it disgraceful.” The letter was written during the time of the British inquiry in which both she and her husband Sir Cosmo were questioned about being on a lifeboat (lifeboat #1)with so few people aboard it. The minimum bid is $300 and you can view the letter and details by clicking here.

Source: Titanic Survivor’s Angry Letter To Be Auctioned In Boston(12 Jan 2015,CBS Boston)


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Monday Titanic Tidbits

Lady Duff Gordon (1919)
Photo:Wikipedia

*A kimono style robe worn by Lady Duff Gordon on the night Titanic sank has been acquired at auction by National Museums Northern Ireland. The robe is now on display at Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

Source: Titanic Survivor’s Luxury Robe Joins Exhibition(12 Aug 2013,News Letter)

*The annual Crosslake Cardboard Races at Moonlite Bay Family Restaurant in Crosslake, Minnesota took place Saturday. Harv’s Baby won the Titanic Award after their dramatic sinking. All caught on video and now for the world to see via YouTube.

Source: Crosslake Cardboard Boat Races(11 Aug 2013,Brainerd Dispatch)