Tag Archives: Arthur Rostron

Titanic News: Rare Memento of Titanic’s Launch Auctioned Off;Titanic Band Leader Not Allowed A Holiday, and Titanic Nazi Propaganda

Sorry folks not posting for a while. I have been quite busy on several projects. So lets get down to it.

RMS Titanic ready for launch(1911) Public Domain (U.S. Library of Congress, digital id#cph.3a27541)
RMS Titanic ready for launch(1911)
Public Domain (U.S. Library of Congress, digital id#cph.3a27541)

1. Harland & Wolff never christened the ships they built but they did offer selected VIP’s the opportunity to watch the launch. Which is how Charlotte Irwin, a secretary for Harland & Wolff, got one to see Titanic’s launch. It was recently auctioned off by Henry Aldridge and Son (who ought to trademark the title “official auctioneer for Titanic memorabilia” considering how much they have auctioned off over the years)for £15,000 ($21,860). That figure exceeded the estimate of between £6,000-£10,000. A sextant owned by RMS Carpathia captain Arthur Rostron also was also auctioned off fetching £66,000 ($96,200).
Sources
NI Secretary’s Souvenir Of Titanic Launch Day Sells For £15k At Auction(26 April 2016,Belfast Telegraph)
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ni-secretarys-souvenir-of-titanic-launch-day-sells-for-15k-at-auction-34655751.html
Sextant Used In Titanic Rescue Sells For £66,000 At Auction(24 April 2016,BBC News)
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36062539

2. A new book by Robert P Thompson delves into the Nazi propaganda Titanic movie. The movie was an attempt to take the story and show how a corrupt and decadent British government allowed the tragedy too happen. It was of course meant to show the superiority of the Nazi ideology over that of the British. The movie cost was extravagant and the resources it tied up caused problems as well. Add to it a director who insulted a war hero, arrested, and then was hung in his prison cell. The movie was a disaster and not shown in Germany during the war (although it was shown in occupied countries).

Thompson, Robert P. The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II. Boston,MA:De Capo Press,2016

Memorial to Wallace Hartley, Colne Photo:Tim Greene (Flickr)
Memorial to Wallace Hartley, Colne
Photo:Tim Greene (Flickr)

3. Wallace Hartley and all the musicians aboard Titanic were not employees of White Star Line. Although they were required to submit to Captain Smith’s authority,the worked for CW & FN, a music agency. According to a recently unearthed letter, Hartley complained that he and his fellow musicians were not given time off between voyages. After disembarking the Mauretania on 8 April 1912, the agency ordered that he and his fellow musicians would go to Titanic. Hartley notes in the letter to his parents that the agency had “rather vindictive spirit.” The letter is set to be auctioned off for £25,000.
Source:Titanic Band Leader Kept On Ship By ‘Vindictive’ Bosses(22 April 2016,Herald.ie)
(Note: Due to National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) policy to license hyperlinks outside of personal use, no hyperlink is provided.)

4. Recovery of Titanic victims was a grim affair by all accounts. Bodies were found were found weeks and even several months after the sinking. One such event was on 13 May 1912 when the RMS Oceanic found a collapsible boat containing three bodies. It was later identified as Collapsible Boat A, which was washed over the side as Titanic sank. 30 people climbed aboard though many passed away from the cold before being transferred to another lifeboat. Two of the bodies appeared to be fireman from the engine room. The third body was well dressed in a dinner jacket and identified as first class passenger Thomson Beattie. All three bodies were buried at sea and Beattie’s family was notified. At the family plot in Fergus, Ontario his name is engraved on a tombstone.
Source(s)
1. Gruesome Truth Behind The Tragic Victims Found On Titanic’s Last Lifeboat(19 April 2016,Daily Mirror)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/gruesome-truth-behind-tragic-victims-7788475
2. Thomson Beattie Encyclopedia Titanica
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/thomson-beattie.html

Whatever Happened To….RMS Carpathia?

RMS Carpathia (date unknown) Image: public domain
RMS Carpathia (date unknown)
Image: public domain

I got a note asking what happened to RMS Carpathia, the Titanic rescue ship, after 1912.

RMS Carpathia was a Cunard line transoceanic passenger liner and primarily made runs between New York, Gibraltar, Genoa, Naples, Trieste, and Fiume. During World War I she retained doing commercial runs but did carry both Canadian and American troops to Europe.

On 17 Jul 1918, she was sunk by a German U-Boat in the Celtic Sea. Three torpedoes were fired and one hit the port side and the other the engine room killing two firemen and three trimmers. A third torpedo hit as they were lowering lifeboats. All 57 passengers and 218 surviving crew members got off in lifeboats. The German submarine did surface and threatened the lifeboats. Fortunately the HMS Snowdrop arrived on scene and drove it away and rescued the survivors.

The wreck was thought located in 1999 by team headed up by Graham Jessop on an expedition sponsored by National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA). However that proved to be the liner Isis that sank in 1936. Noted author Clive Cussler announced in 2000 that his organization (NUMA-the fictional agency in many of his books that Dirk Pitt works for) had found the wreck at a depth of 500 feet and upright on the seabed. The wreck is now owned by Premier Exhibitions, the same group that also owns RMS Titanic, Inc which obtained salvage rights to Titanic. The company has recovered artifacts from the wreck for display in the Rescue Gallery in its Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition.

Source(s):
1. RMS Carpathia (Wikipedia)
2. Press Release:Artifacts From Titanic’s Rescue Ship, Carpathia, to Make World Debut at the Science Museum of Minnesota(9 April 2009, 4-traders.com)
3. Cunard Line: Carpathia (Encyclopedia Titanica)

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Silver Cup Given To Titanic Rescuer To Be Auctioned Off

Mrs. J.J. "Molly" Brown presenting trophy cup award to Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron, for his service in the rescue of the Titanic. Photo:Public Domain (US Library of Congress, digital id# cph 3c21013)
Mrs. J.J. “Molly” Brown presenting trophy cup award to Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron, for his service in the rescue of the Titanic.
Photo:Public Domain (US Library of Congress, digital id# cph 3c21013)

In recognition of saving Titanic lives, Captain Arthur Rostron of Carpathia was presented with a silver loving cup by Molly Brown in 1912. His descendants,three great-grandaughters, have decided to sell the cup reports Liverpool Echo. A reenactment ceremony is being scheduled for next month at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in which the great-grandaughter of Molly Brown will take part in. After that it will be auctioned and its estimated value is £120,000 ($197,940). The decision to sell was the cost to insure and issues over who would inherit.

Source: £120k Price Tag For Historic Titanic Relic Presented By The Unsinkable Molly Brown(25 Jan 2014,Liverpool Echo)

Links:
Captain Arthur Henry Rostron (Encylopedia Titanica)
Mrs Margaret Brown (Molly Brown) (Encylopedia Titanica)

Addendum:
The Titanic Reunion of Molly Brown and Arthur Rostron’s descendants will take place on 14 and 15 February. According to the Titanic Pigeon Forge website:

For the first time in the world, on Valentines Weekend, Margaret “Molly” Tobin Brown’s Great Granddaughter, Helen Benziger, along with Captain Rostron’s Great Granddaughters from England, will come together with the ACTUAL Loving Cup at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tn. These 3 Titanic Descendants will be at the ship to meet and greet guests on Friday, February 14th and Saturday, February 15th. You won’t want to miss this historical event.

For ticket info, either go to their website or call 1-800-381-7670.

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My Favorite Titanic Movie

Titanic
(Photo courtesy George Behe)

Many Titanic enthusiasts were first drawn to Titanic by the 1958 movie A Night To Remember. The movie was based on Walter Lord’s historical book of the same name. Another movie, Titanic (1953), starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck, was also around as well. The 1953 movie was fiction but placed the characters on the doomed ship. Of the two though, A Night To Remember is a more faithful retelling of the tragic story of what happened in 1912.

Cinema rarely presents history the way it happened. Writers, directors, producers like to embellish or change things that look good on screen. Cornelius Ryan’s The Longest Day recounts the events prior to and on 6 June 1944. The movie version does alter a few things, namely the landing on Omaha Beach. Anyone who has read the accounts, watched documentaries, or seen Saving Private Ryan realizes how bloody awful it was. From the moment the landing craft got near, they came under withering German fire. Many were killed in the landing craft, some drowned in the water due the heavy weight of their gear, many junior officers were dead moments upon arrival leaving it up to the sergeants and corporals to lead their decimated units. So it is no surprise that even a near faithful treatment of Titanic would take some dramatic license.

A Night To Remember opens up with a christening, something Harland & Wolff never did. They did have a ceremony where guests where invited to see the new ship slide into the water. The early scene with Lightoller and his wife on the train likely did not happen either. Lightoller is chastised by an older couple when reading aloud a soap advertisement (an actual one for Vinola) and making fun of it. They assumed he was critical of the ship but are forgiving when he is revealed as an officer aboard the ship and making fun of the advertising. We see different types of people from the very rich to the poor setting out on their journey to Titanic. We get a sense right away of the very stark differences in class that existed in that time. The poorest go with what they had and could carry while the rich came with servants and lots of baggage. Most of the characters used in the movie are based on real people and there are some composites as well.

We also see the stark differences between two other ships and captains-Captain Stanley Lord of Californian and Captain Arthur Rostron of Carpathia. Both of these ships play a critical role in the Titanic story. When Rostron is informed of the emergency message from Titanic, he quickly springs into action. Lord, since the radio operator is off-duty has no idea what is happening to Titanic and does not investigate when rockets are sighted. We also see the various characters react to the sinking and the acts of sacrifice that take place. Titanic captain Edward J. Smith appears decisive unlike what was learned later at the hearings. In fact, he had to be asked what to do by many of the officers instead of barking out orders as the movie depicts. Most likely the fact that many were going to die was something that weighed heavily on his mind.

Keen observers will notice some actors that became well known later. Honor Blackman, who was the first female accomplice on The Avengers and Pussy Galore on Goldfinger is in the movie as Mrs. Lucas. Those who remember Man From Uncle or like the character of Donald “Ducky” Mallard on NCIS will notice David McCallum as assistant wireless officer Harold Bride. Bernard Fox, whose Colonel Crittendon made live miserable for Colonel Hogan on Hogan’s Heroes, plays lookout Frederick Fleet (he was also in Cameron’s Titanic playing Colonel Archibald Gracie). Sean Connery plays a Titanic deck hand. Kenneth More, a well known British actor in the 1950’s, plays the role of Charles Lightoller. There are many others who will look familiar if you watched movies or television from this period.

The movie was done in black and white, but there may be copies out there in color. The Criterion Collection of this movie is the one to purchase or rent. Also this version has been digitally restored and some of the older copies are not that good. There are extras well worth considering if you plan to purchase. First the audio commentary by Titanic authors Don Lynch and Ken Marschall fills in a lot of detail as you watch the movie, often correcting what the movie does not depict correctly or adding lots of interesting details. A 60 minute documentary about the making of the movie and, perhaps even better, an archival interview with Titanic survivor Eva Hart.

I would encourage, if you can, to read the book by Walter Lord. The book is extremely well written and Lord had a knack for telling a good historical story. He wrote a sequel after Titanic was discovered in 1985 called The Night Lives On that deals with what was learned afterwards. He actually wrote a lot of history books. His one on Pearl Harbor attack (Day of Infamy) is still considered on the best in that area. His The Miracle of Dunkirk really nails what it was like to be trapped with Germans advancing on you with the only hope rescue from the sea. It also includes, for those who did not know, how Charles Lightoller (the same one from Titanic) became a hero rescuing soldiers and bringing them home to Britain. His book on the Battle of Midway (Incredible Victory)details how the battle came about. Some of his books may be available digitally.

So as you decide what to watch for the anniversary of Titanic’s sinking, consider the 1958 A Night To Remember. I think you will like it it. It will not have all the lush colors of Cameron’s Titanic, but it tells a story that will be worth the watch.