Tag Archives: Titanic survivor

Weekend Titanic News

Image: OceanGate

It looks like the strange knocking sounds heard by rescuers, which some believe was done by those on the Titan, was something else. They are not sure what caused the sounds, but they did happen.

Reyes, Ronny. “Eerie ‘knocking’ Sounds From Titan Sub That Gave Rescuers Hope Heard in New Audio.” New York Post, 28 Feb. 2024, nypost.com/2024/02/28/world-news/eerie-knocking-sounds-from-titan-sub-heard-in-new-audio.

The mysterious knocking sounds heard beneath the Atlantic Ocean that gave false hope that the Titan submersible and its occupants could be rescued has been revealed in a haunting new audio clip. After the underwater craft lost contact with its mothership on a journey to the Titanic wreck last summer, reports on the second day of the frantic search said that banging noises were reverberating in the depths at 30-minute intervals. An upcoming British documentary from Channel 5, “The Titan Sub Disaster: Minute by Minute,” played the audio for the public for the first time, which sounds like a person “knocking” against metal.

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Collapsible lifeboat D photographed by passenger on Carpathia on the morning of 15 April 1912.
Public Domain(Wikipedia)

The full story of Nellie Becker and later how she and the kids got off Titanic is quite fascinating indeed.

Jessica Gray, Bureau County History Center. “How a Mom, 3 Kids Escaped Doomed Titanic.” Shaw Local, 28 Feb. 2024, www.shawlocal.com/illinois-valley/2024/02/28/how-a-mom-3-kids-escaped-doomed-titanic.

Nellie recalled four sailors carried her into the dining saloon where she saw her two youngest children being tended to by the doctor. Both Ruth and her mother would state one of their most vivid memories was the sight of scores of women standing at the rail looking out to sea, searching in vain for their husbands, after the last survivors were brought onto the Carpathia.

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Titanic Wreck Bow
Image: Public Domain (NOAA-http://www.gc.noaa.gov/images/gcil/ATT00561.jpg)

RMS Titanic, Inc is planning another dive to Titanic this year. Not to bring anything up, but to scan the wreck and see what has happened to it.

Adigun, Olalekan. “Reviving the Titanic: A New Expedition Sets Sail to Uncover Its Underwater Mysteries.” BNN, 26 Feb. 2024, bnnbreaking.com/history/reviving-the-titanic-a-new-expedition-sets-sail-to-uncover-its-underwater-mysteries.

The forthcoming expedition by RMS Titanic, Inc., in collaboration with leading imaging companies and C-Innovation, represents a significant leap forward in underwater exploration. The deployment of cutting-edge imaging technology and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) will allow for high-resolution documentation of the Titanic wreck and its expansive debris field. This endeavor is not just about capturing images; it’s about conducting a detailed analysis to understand the current state of the wreck and identify artifacts for potential future recovery.

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This is one of those “while looking for one thing we found something else” kind of story. At least the shipwreck has been found.

Smith, Stephen. “Shipwreck Found Over a Century After Bodies of Crewmembers Washed Ashore: ‘120-year-old Mystery’ Solved.” CBS News, 26 Feb. 2024, www.cbsnews.com/news/shipwreck-ss-nemesis-1904-found-off-australia-120-year-old-mystery-solved.

In July 1904, the steamship SS Nemesis was transporting coal to Melbourne, Australia, when it ran into a powerful storm and vanished. All 32 people on board were considered lost, and in the weeks that followed, the bodies of crewmembers and debris from the iron-hulled ship washed ashore, but the location of the 240-foot vessel remained a mystery. Until now. The ship has finally been identified more than a century later. It was initially spotted when a company searching for sunken shipping containers came across the wreck by accident, the New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Heritage announced this weekend.

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You do have to wonder, when you see how staggeringly huge these new cruise ships are, at what point is it too big?

Allison, Jenny. “Side-by-side Photo of New and Old Cruise Ships Sparks Conversation About Future of Cruise Industry: ‘This Should Have Stopped When the Titanic Sank’” The Cool Down, 26 Feb. 2024, www.thecooldown.com/green-home/cruise-ships-photo-difference-dock-size.

 In the photo, both ships — identified by another post in the r/pics forum as Royal Caribbean’s 1997 Rhapsody of the Seas and the company’s considerably larger 2022-launched Wonder of the Seas (identifiable by the name on the stern) — are moored at the same dock, clearly highlighting the egregious difference in their sizes.“Just give it a few decades, at this rate they’ll end up having to install shuttles,” said one user wryly. Another put it bluntly: “This should have stopped when the Titanic sank.”

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And apparently some wild tales about Titanic are out there on social media having to be swatted down again.

 “Titanic Sinking Conspiracy Theory on Social Media Debunked by Experts.” Irish Star, 21 Feb. 2024, www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/titanic-sinking-conspiracy-theory-bandied-32179322.

A conspiracy theory on X that suggested that the Titanic sinking was an inside job has been debunked by experts. “Rumors are circulating that they sunk the Titanic to kill the powerful men on board who opposed a central bank,” the post from Matt Wallace read. A similar rumor was circulated on social media site Telegram in 2022. But according to Snopes, the fact-checking website, these claims are baseless. While the Telegram post was from 2022, the conspiracy theory had been doing the rounds for years before that date.

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Titanic News: Bouncy Castle Causes More Friction, Message in a Bottle, Titanic Reunion, and Mastery Solved at Wreck

When the Titanic bouncy castle first appeared, it was not warmly received by many in the Titanic community. It trivialized a terrible tragedy into a children’s slide. Not as tacky of some other things out there, but still tacky.

Once again it is back in the news in the Irish Sun. Looks like people are still upset with it.

People Left Divided Over Titanic Bouncy Castle As Kids Slide Down Sinking Ship In Bizarre Footage (Irish Sun, 10/21/22)

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A kid sends a message in a bottle from the US and it ends up in Ireland. It had a phone number and a $1 bill in it. It took some doing but the sender was found, An interesting story to read.

US Teen Travels To Donegal After His Message In A Bottle Discovered On Remote Beach (Irish Central, 21 Oct 2022)

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A survivor of the Titanic goes to an invited showing of a new movie of the same name and meets someone who was aboard Carpathia. Now that is quite remarkable.

When A Leeds Titanic Survivor Met One Of His Rescuers (Yorkshire Evening Post, 23 Oct 2022)

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A mystery solved! There was something the scans around the Titanic wreck were picking up. They were not sure what it was till recently. Turns out to be an underwater volcanic formation.

Mysterious ‘Large Object’ Detected Near Titanic Wreck Finally Identified (Yahoo News, 25 Oct 2022)


Titanic Thursday: Survivor Account, Titanic II Ferry, Tacky Titanic

Well this is interesting. Apparently these guys from Saturday Night Live bought a decommissioned ferry and decided to rename it Titanic II. What could go wrong?

“Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost revealed this weekend that the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry he purchased with fellow Staten Islander Pete Davidson will be named “Titanic 2.” “This is why idiots should not be allowed to do things,” Jost said on Late Night with Seth Meyers Friday night.

Unfortunately they have run into problems getting their ferry insured. Seems insurers are not keen on its name.

Source:

SNL’ Star Colin Jost Names New Staten Island Ferry After The Titanic
New York Post, 3 Oct 2022

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Titanic advertising from New York Times, 10 April 1912.
Public Domain (Wikimedia)

Titanic Survivor Who ‘Dropped In’ Freezing Water Recalls Moment He Cheated Death
Times Now, 7 October 2022

Prentice recalled the moment the ship struck the iceberg and said that there was “no impact as such” but it just felt like “jamming your brakes on a car.” He continued, “We had a porthole open and I looked out and the sky was clear, stars were shining, the sea was dead calm and I couldn’t understand it. So I came out of the cabin and I thought I’d go forward.” Prentice went to the “well deck on the starboard side” where he could see ice, but there was “no sign of damage above waterline.” However, he soon realised that the ship had “slipped over the iceberg.”

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Tacky Titanic:

 

Titanic Bouncy Slide
Photo:public domain

Video Showing Bouncy House Shaped Like Sinking Titanic Goes Viral
NDTV, 8 October 2022

Internet users were recently left shocked after a video showing a bouncy house in the shape of the ill-fated Titanic ship surfaced on social media. The clip was shared on Instagram by user Tara Cox. It showed the tragic ship replica tilted to look like it was sinking, and the bouncy house also had inflatable icebergs attached to it for the full effect. “Omg is it just me or is this morbidly wrong. (But it does look hella fun!)” Ms Cox captioned the post.

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Titanic News: Saving Titanic Memorial; Norwegian Cruise Ship Hits Iceberg

Titanic Memorial Lighthouse,South Street Seaport Museum, New York (2008)
Image: Andy C (Wikipedia)

If you are ever in New York City, specifically in the lower financial district at Fulton and Pearl Streets, you are going to see something different than the ordinary sidewalk with cars passing by and people going to and fro. For there stands a 60 foot lighthouse which is a Titanic Memorial erected by public subscription in 1913 and with the support of Molly Brown.

The lighthouse originally stood on the roof of the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey where it looked out on the East River. Between 1913 to 1967, it had a time ball that would signal twelve noon to ships in the harbor. And it was exceedingly accurate since it was connected by telegraphic signal to the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.

When the Seamen’s Church Institute moved to 15 State Street in 1968, the memorial was donated to the South Street Seaport Museum. It was erected in its current location in May 1976 with funds provided by Exxon Corporation. Since then it has stood there In silent testimony to the tragedy of 1912.  And during that time it slowly but surely started looking a bit dingy since nothing was done to keep it spiffy. The South Street Seaport Museum has struggled financially so it could not afford a major refit of the lighthouse.

Stepping up to meet the challenge is a group that decided to help raise funds to renovate the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse.  Meanwhile it looks like the South Street Seaport Museum may be getting a huge donation from the Howard Hughe’s development project going up Titanic. It is a marvelous idea this group wants to do and one hopes they will raise the money need to make the memorial stand brightly again.

Neglected Titanic Memorial: ‘Like their graves have not been tended’ Indian Express, 3 July 2022

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A Norwegian cruise ship in Alaska (Norwegian Sun)  encountered a growler (an iceberg that is mostly underwater) which was filmed by some passengers. It is quite a dramatic moment. The ship was damaged but not severely enough to evacuate.

Video shows Norwegian Cruise ship hit iceberg: ‘Titanic 2.0’
Fox Business, 1 July 2022

A video went viral this week after it showed footage of a Norwegian Cruise Line ship that hit an iceberg in Alaska over the weekend. The cruise company cut short the remainder of its scheduled trip due to damage from the collision. In the viral video, a passenger can be heard exclaiming, “Titanic 2.0,” after the ship hit an iceberg that floated to the surface following the impact. Other passengers in the video could be heard gasping at the collision and size of the iceberg floating next to the ship.

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The Week has a interesting story about Ruth Blanchard. She was born in India and was on Titanic as they migrated to America.

Titanic At 25: The Survivor From India Who Never Returned
The Week, 3 Jul 2022

Lynch says Ruth had an important Indian connection—she was born and raised in India. “The last Titanic survivor to have a really good memory of the ship was someone from India. Ruth was an American, but she grew up in India. She could tell the story of the fateful day from start to finish. She gave us a wonderful account of the sinking,” says Don over phone from Los Angeles.

Titanic Baker Buried in New Jersey

RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912
Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons

An interesting piece from Only In Your State about Charles Joughin, Joughin was a baker on Titanic and in fact had retired for the night when the ship hit the iceberg. He helped people into lifeboats and likely was on the last persons to leave the ship when the aft sank. He is famously remembered for drinking alcohol (a real no-no under Captain Smith) and tossing deck chairs into the water to use as flotation devices. He also made bread for the lifeboats as well. He survived the sinking and made it ultimately to the turned over collapsible lifeboat that Lightoller and others were on. It already had 20-25 people already on it and had to stay in the water until another lifeboat showed up and he was able to board that. He would recuperate in New York, testified at the British Inquiry, and continue with his life. He would be aboard another ship, the SS Congress, that would also sink as well. The ship caught fire and the quick thinking captain beached the vessel (no one died). Joughin would settle in New Jersey and remain there for the remainder of his life. He passed away on 9 December 1956 and is buried next to his wife Nellie in the Cedar Lawn Cemetery.

He was depicted in A Night to Remember and James Cameron’s Titanic.

Source:

The Last Survivor To Leave The Sinking Titanic Is Buried In A Rural New Jersey Graveyard (OnlyInYourState.com, 24 Dec 2021)

Additional Information:

Encyclopedia Titanica (2019): Charles John Joughin (ref: #1945, last updated: 17th October 2019, accessed 27th December 2021 08:15:41 AM)

 


Titanic News-Baptist Preacher Heroism, Rare Titanic Plaque Up For Auction, Chinese Passengers Documentary

[Updated 11/12/21-The date on this article was incorrect and has been updated. ]

Reverend John Harper
Source: Wikipedia (via Encyclopedia-titanica.org)
Public Domain

Titanic’s Unsung Hero Put Daughter On Lifeboat But Gave His Spot To Another Child (The Mirror, 10 Nov 2021)

The final letter sent by an unsung hero of the Titanic disaster who sacrificed his own life for others has been unearthed almost 110 years later. John Harper placed his six-year-old daughter Nina and niece into lifeboat 11 but gave up the chance to go with her so another woman or child could be saved. He did so knowing the decision would likely make his daughter an orphan as her mother had previously died. As the liner began to sink Mr. Harper, a Baptist minister, ran along the flooded decks, preaching the gospel to anyone who would listen. He also gave away his own lifejacket to another men, telling him ‘you need this more than I do’, before going down with the ship.

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Titanic: Rare Plaque Salvaged From Lifeboat Unearthed After A Century Could Sell For £50k (Belfast Live, 9 Nov 2021)

An extremely rare plaque salvaged from a Titanic lifeboat has been unearthed almost 110 years on and could sell for £50,000. The cast bronze signage came from one of the 18 lifeboats deployed on the night of the disaster in 1912 in which more than 1,500 people died. They were recovered by the rescue ship RMS Carpathia and 13 of them were taken to New York with the other five set adrift. The surviving wooden lifeboat were later broken up and stripped for scrap metal. Most of these parts vanished into obscurity, with only a few items turning up at museums and in private collections. The plaques are therefore one of the “rarest types of Titanic memorabilia”.

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New Film Tells the Stories Of Six Chinese Titanic Survivors, One Of Whom Lived In Chicago  (WBEZ Chicago, 8 Nov 2021)

When survivors of the Titanic arrived in New York on a rescue ship, six Chinese survivors were sent away. A new documentary called The Six digs into these stories. Reset talks with the lead researcher of the documentary and a family member of the survivor who learned the winding story of his father’s journey to Chicago.


Titanic News-Survivor Account at Pigeon Forge, Titanic luxury and Money Made from Titanic

 

Memorial to Titanic Engine Room Heroes
Liverpool, England
Public Domain (Wikipedia)

Titanic Survivor’s Story Told At Pigeon Forge Museum
Hoosier Times, 22 May 2021

The first time I met Marshall Drew, he pulled out a well-worn book. “This,” he said with a chuckle, “is an announcement of my death.” Of course, the published account of his demise was wrong. In fact, Marshall lived almost three quarters of a century longer. But many of the passengers he was traveling with on that long-ago trip were not so fortunate. Marshall was one of the survivors of the sinking of the Titanic. I had interviewed him years ago in Massachusetts. Now I was seeing his name listed on the passenger memorial for the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

 Titanic Luxury: Museums Worcestershire’s Snapshot Of Life Onboard Before The Tragic End
Worcester News, 22 May 2021

The exhibition charts the history and legacy of the White Star Line and the Titanic through an astonishing array of rare items original to the ship, props from the 1997 James Cameron film, and real stories of people from Worcestershire who were aboard the ship on what should have been her triumphant maiden voyage to New York. 

Titanic Treasures That Sold For a Fortune (Slideshow)
Lovemoney.com, 21 May 2021

But over the years, treasures telling the story of those passengers, both those who survived and those who sadly lost their lives, have been recovered. Click or scroll through to discover some of the most spectacular, and valuable, pieces from the tragic ship.

 


Titanic News-International Ice Patrol, Butt Bridge, Chinese Passengers on Titanic

 

Straus Memorial Park, New York City, 1915. This memorial and park was dedicated on 15 April 1915.
Photo:Public Domain (U.S. Library of Congress, Bain Collection,call number LC-B2- 3446-4)

Hamilton Doctor Goes Down With Titanic
Hamilton Spectator, 17 April 2021

In the days following the North Atlantic Ocean sinking of the so-called “unsinkable” Titanic, word was received in Hamilton that a young local doctor was among its more than 1,500 victims. Dr. Alfred Pain, 24, was a second-class passenger returning after a year at King’s College Hospital in London. He originally tried to sign on as ship’s doctor on a freighter in exchange for a free trip home. When that didn’t work out, he bought a ticket on a tramp steamer. But then he switched his ticket for passage on the maiden voyage of the luxury ship Titanic.

History In The Hills: Titanic Local Connections
Weirton Daily Times, 17 April 2021

What followed was a daring escape from the depths of the ship using access ladders and passages used by crew members as some of the regular passages for third-class passengers were tightly locked, sealing the fate of those trapped below. Elin was admitted to a lifeboat, dressed only in her nightgown and life vest and by the grace of God survived the sinking. To me the most heart-wrenching part of her story is the fact that Pekka never did return to their cabin, and after the ship went down, from her lifeboat she called out to him in the darkness letting him know she was near.

Out There…Somewhere: Titanic Trivia, No If’s And’s Or Butt
Wjbf.com, 16 April 2021

“That’s a weird name for a bridge, you know, definitely is,” said Terry Dent of Snellville, Georgia. The Butt Bridge got a makeover a couple of years ago and with its lions holding shields and eagles landing on pillars, it’s impressive to see, but admittedly Butt Bridge is funny name. “Of course everyone remembers ‘save our Butt’. I think it’s something unique about Augusta keeps us funky,” said David Peltier. The funky bridge is named for Augustan Archibald Butt, aide to presidents who died on the Titanic.

Coast Guard Ice Patrol Commemorates The Titanic
The Day, 15 April 2021

An annual wreath drop serves as a way to remember and honor those who died on the Titanic. The Ice Patrol was formed after the passenger liner hit an iceberg and sank in the early morning of April 15, 1912. The wreaths from the ceremony will be dropped near where the ship sank during an iceberg reconnaissance flight in the next few weeks, Cmdr. Marcus Hirschberg said.

Six Chinese Passengers Survived The Sinking Of The Titanic – More Than 100 Years Later Their Stories Reach China
Post Magazine, 15 April 2021

Eight Chinese men were on board and six survived, landing in New York three days later aboard the Carpathia, the first ship to arrive at the scene of the disaster. Under the United States’ Chinese Exclusion Act, the men were transferred 24 hours later to a British steamship and sent to Cuba. What happened after that has been unclear – until now.

The Tragic Story of the Four Greeks Who Perished on the Titanic
Greek Reporter, 15 April 2021

Panagiotis Lymberopoulos, Vassilios Katavelos, Apostolos Chronopoulos and Demetrios Chronopoulos all came from the same village, Agios Sostis in the Messinia region of the Peloponnese. The last two men were brothers. Like many of the passengers, the four friends were young – the oldest one was only 33 years old – and they wanted to go to America in search of a better life. Tragically, their dreams, like those of so many others who perished on that starry night, never came true.They all died in the most famous shipwreck in maritime history, and the bodies of the two brothers never been found.

3 Madison County Connections To The Titanic
Herald Bulletin, 10 April 2021

Many local history buffs and Titanic fans know that Anderson’s Maplewood Cemetery is the final resting place of Charles Hallace Romaine. He was a first-class passenger aboard the Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Romaine survived the disastrous sinking when he was allowed to take a seat in Lifeboat No. 9 after the women and children had been given a place.
 

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Survives Titanic But Is On Another Ship Disaster plus Titanic VR Coming Soon

RMS Empress of Ireland 1908
Photo:Public Domain (Library and Archives Canada / PA-116389)

1. First Titanic, then Empress: an Irish Man’s Lucky Escapes
There are those that survive not one but two major disasters in their lifetime. Such is the case with William Clark of Greenore, County Louth, Ireland. He was reportedly in the Boer War. In 1912 he signed on as a fireman on Titanic and listed Southampton as his home. He was one of the few fireman to survive Titanic and was in lifeboat 15.

How he escaped he does not know. He was caught in the swirl of waters as the vessel plunged down – dragged down into the ocean depths with the crippled leviathan as she sank to her last resting place. Even then his abnormal luck did not desert him. He never thought to come up again, but the force of the boiler explosion lifted him and rushed him up to the surface. He struck out vigorously; was pulled aboard one of the boats, and came home to tell the tale.

Then in 1914 he was a fireman on Empress of Ireland when tragedy would strike there as well. On 29 May 1914, the ship collided with the Norwegian coal freighter Storstad in the Saint Louis River at Pointe-au-Père, Quebec. Unlike Titanic which took over two hours to sink, Empress of Ireland would sink quickly resulting in over 1,000 deaths. Clark escaped but his description shows how harrowing it was:

His lifeboat station was No. 5, and somehow or other he got there, but he cannot remember how she was launched. His mind is a blank concerning some of those awful moments spent on the canting decks of the doomed liner. They had to crawl on hands and knees on the sloping hull in order to get the boat clear, and then their best chance of escape was to plunge into the water in the hope of being able to scramble aboard. Clark was drawn under several times before he got into the boat, and afterwards, he said, they were able to pull about sixty men into her.

Clark would remark later that if there was any luck in the sea, he had it all. He surely did to survive two major ship disasters and live to tell the tale.
Sources:
1. First Titanic, then Empress: an Irish Man’s Lucky Escapes (Irish Times,27 Nov 18)
2. WILLIAM CLARK : FLIRTING WITH DEATH(Encyclopedia Titanica)

2.Irish firm’s virtual reality Titanic trip to launch on PlayStation (Irish Times, 15 Nov 2018)
Irish firm VR Education’s virtual reality trip on the Titanic is set for launch on Sony’s PlayStation later this month. Titanic VR puts players aboard the doomed vessel the night it hit an iceberg and sank in April 1912. It will be available from November 22nd. The Titanic experience has already been launched on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. But the company said it expects the PlayStation VR version to drive sales, replicating the experience of its Apollo 11 VR showcase.