RMS Titanic 1909-1912

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! I apologise for reposting this twice as I forgot to include it in my deleted post.
Anyway, here it is an older video that Tom Lynskey did back in 2017 for the holidays.

Christmas on an Ocean Liner If you enjoyed this video, please consider joining my Patreon to help create more videos like this! https://www.patreon.com/PartTimeExplorerTo give a one-tim...

On this day in history:
"On December 21st, 1993, the watch allegedly belonging to Thomas William Solomon Brown, who had died on the Titanic is returned to his daughter, Edith Haisman. The watch had been found amongst other items in a black leather gladstone bag on August 16th, 1987 by the French submersible Nautile. Any retrieved items could be returned to their owners, or relatives of the original owners and photographs of the artefacts were circulated. A friend obtained copies for Edith and the watch attracted her attention. Word reached the chairman of RMS Titanic, Inc, George Tulloch, and although he said he wanted the items kept together for the exhibition but agreed that the watch should be with Edith for the rest of her days. The watch, cleaned and preserved and with an insurance value of £100,000 was presented to Edith and her daughter Dorothy Kendle at a private lunch in Southampton. Encased in a wooden frame, a plaque partially read, "What better use for scientific technology than to reunite a father with his child." Later that day, a public presentation for the media was held.
Edith Haisman claimed that the last time she saw the watch was when her father was wearing it as her lifeboat was lowered to the sea. How it got into the Gladstone bag, ostensibly identified as possibly belonging to the purser, is a mystery. The hands of the watch are stopped at 11.05; if it stopped upon entering water, as happened to other timepieces, it is unknown what significance this time denotes. Today, many researchers have dismissed the whole episode as a publicity gimmick; even Edith Brown said to a few researchers that the watch wasn't her father's and that she was with him when he bought it. Indeed, it has been pointed out that it resembles a lady's timepiece because of its design and size. Don Lynch claims that Haisman was approached beforehand and was told, "This IS your father's watch" and then somebody called the press and "a big deal" was made of it."

The photos of the watch and of Thomas W. S. Brown's daughter Edith Haisman can still be viewed at: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php through Paul Lee's 'On this day in history' slideshow

On this day in history:
On the December 19th, 2017, Premier Exhibitions announced that it had cancelled a proposed auction of Titanic artefacts for the second time.
In 2019, the resting place of Titanic helmsman Robert Hichens, buried in an unmarked grave after he died on board a ship in 1940, received a headstone at Trinity Cemetery in Aberdeen.

The photo of the resting place of Titanic helmsman Robert Hichens can still be viewed on Paul Lee's slideshow on his Titanic website.
http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

On this day in history:
"On December 7th, 1929, Titanic survivor 1st class passenger Lt. Col. Arthur Godfrey Peuchen died aged 70. He was the only male passenger indisputably allowed to enter a lifeboat by 2nd Officer Lightoller, who adhered to the "Women and Children Only" rule. Peuchen volunteered himself as a yachtsman and was allowed to lower himself down a fall into boat 6 when it became clear that there were insufficient crewmen to help handle the craft. However, this came at a cost. Helen Candee tells how men would have to account for and justify their survival once rescued; she tells of a bogus German Baron who was asked "Well Baron, how did you happen to get in the boat with the women?" to which he produced a gun and replied that he would like to see anyone stop him (he actually meekly entered the first boat lowered and some say he fired off shots into the air when the ship sank). Similarly, Margaret Brown told how each man tried to explain how they came to be saved, "with an expression of apology as though it were a blight on their manhood," relating how she met two men who were so extremely embarrassed at simply surviving when so many women had been made widows that they kept out of sight except to come to the dining room as they asked themselves "what women's place in the lifeboat did they fill." The men told Brown that their lives being saved was something of a stigma and related, "in an apologetic manner ... how they inadvertently ... caught the last boat being lowered half empty." In actual fact, these two men escaped in the first two boats to depart, albeit they were indeed half full. Ruth Becker remembered widows approaching men on the Carpathia asking, "How it is that you were saved?" It is obvious that some men felt shame for having survived, and for this reason, Peuchen sought out Lightoller to prove his method of departure was provably honourable. The ex-second officer wrote, "Major Arthur Peuchen was ordered into the boat by me, owing to the fact that I required a seaman, which he proved himself to be, as well as a brave man." Back on land, Peuchen declared, "Married women were envious when they saw that I, a strong man had been saved, while their husbands, sons and brothers had gone down." Supposedly, Mrs Clara Hayes apologized to the yachtsman for harbouring unspoken enmity towards him.
Perhaps the above, plus the desire to accentuate one's heroism, explains why some male survivors decided to claim that they were rescued from the water rather than the truth?"

'On this day in history' and Lt. Col. Arthur Godfrey Peuchen photo slideshow can still be viewed on Paul Lee's Titanic website: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

*This one is a second bit of Paul Lee's slideshow as the first one was about the Olympic arrival in New York having experienced very rough weather in 1911 on the same day. The foward decks had been swept by waves, ventilators smashed and sea had poured down into the galley and washed out the cooks as they were preparing breakfast. Three of the ports in steerage had been broken. According to some of the officers some of the waves were as high as the crow's nest. The voyage, the first since the Hawke incident, had not started well as the ship had been delayed for 16 hours due to heavy fog at Southampton.

On this day in history:
On December 4th, 1912, Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, first class passenger on the Titanic, died aged 53, with his wife and daughter at his bedside. Gracie's health had been declining for several months, and he had been growing weaker in his last few months. Apparently haunted by memories of the "Titanic" when he passed on, his last words were reported to be, "We must get them into the boats. We must get them all into the boats" which he would frequently cry. Although many, including his wife, blamed his exposure to the frigid waters on his premature death, Gracie died of complications from diabetes although at a talk 11 days before his death, he had said that he had developed trouble with the ears and throat from the cold suffered during his escape and said that he expected he would have to undergo an operation. He was reported to have been buried in the clothes he wore the night the "Titanic" went down. At his funeral Mrs Astor, Mrs Appleton, Mrs Thayer and her son, and Mrs J.J. Brown were in attendance. Flowers and messages of condolence from family and friends and the Straus's children, and Mrs Clinch Smith. He had spent his time writing "The Truth About The Titanic" and has planned to take a long vacation when he had finished. He died before his work was completed and his book was published posthumously, without its final chapter.
In recent years there has been a retrospective assessment of his book which was finally published some five months later. Some researchers say that Gracie's work was designed to make him seem to be THE hero of the "Titanic" and pronouncing on subjects about which he was not qualified to comment upon (such as belittling the notion that the ship broke apart and the witnesses who insisted it to be so.) Comments by his wife, Constance, exaggerated the number of lifeboats Gracie assisted with. His most controversial comments refer to the band; at a talk at the University Club in Washington DC on November 23rd, 1912 he said that they had stopped before the liner crashed into the iceberg, having been playing ragtime just before. The instruments and musicians were scattered about the deck of the vessel, Gracie had said (Walter Lord said that Gracie had told his audience that he had seen the band putting their instruments down a full thirty minutes before the ship sank; a detail Gracie omitted from his book.) While it is true that Algernon Barkworth superficially supported Gracie's assertion that the band were not playing, Barkworth clarified the matter when he returned to England by saying that, "I returned to my cabin to try to get some things, but found the door locked. The band at that time was playing a waltz tune; but when I returned from the cabin their instruments were thrown down. This was some little while before I left the ship; whether the band commenced to play again I cannot say for they were on the opposite side of the ship to that I climbed over. They might have returned to their instruments." Gracie's comments not withstanding, the majority of people who heard the band say that they were playing to the very end.

'On this day in history' and Colonel Gracie's photo slideshow can still be viewed on Paul Lee's Titanic website: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

Note: you may have been noticing throughout some of my posts. The photos appear low quality. That's due to avoid reposting the scanned one with high quality that belongs to either a private collector, a public domain or the original is under a © trademark.

On this day in history
On December 2nd, 1912, at the Dumfries Sheriff's Court, the late Titanic violinist John Law "Jock" Hume was confirmed as the father of Johnann Law Hume Costin who had been born on October 18th. Hume's father Andrew was bitterly opposed to this declaration and had called Johnann's mother Mary a w***e, and stating that he had proof that his son was not the child's father. With Jock officially certified as the father, Mary could now approach the Titanic relief fund for assistance; she had written to them on June 28th but had been told, almost certainly in an attempt to be cautious, that she should re-apply when the parental details had been ascertained as the administrators of the relief fund did not want to cast a slur on the family of Jock. Despite this, Andrew Hume persisted in his statements that he had proof and a year later on December 2nd he filed a motion to have the paternity status reversed, but this was dismissed on 12th February as he had presented no evidence; he had also tried to scupper Mary's claims with the relief fund by saying that he had conclusive proof that her daughter was not Jock's but again, no proof was given.
This is not the first time that Mary Costin had faced legal hassles with Andrew Humes; following Johnann's paternity being established, the Titanic relief fund awarded her 2s and 6p per week plus an immediate payment for £67. However, this was sent to Andrew by mistake, which he acknowleged in writing and cashed the cheque for himself. Four letters were sent to Andrew asking him to forward the money to Mary and on each occasion he denied receiving it. Mary issued a writ and during the court case, Andrew stated that he thought the money had been sent for him, and that he had also received over £200 from various funds and charities. Although the verdict initially went against Mary (the sheriff decided that since the £67 was discretionary she was not entitled to sue someone who had received it in error) an appeal on December 3rd reversed this. No doubt keen on exploiting his son, Andrew Hume tried to make fraudulent claims for two valuable violins he said his son had taken with him on the Titanic. The claims amounted to £325 plus an additional £300 for Jock's life. These claims were rejected.

'On this day in history' slideshow can still be viewed on Paul Lee's Titanic website: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

On November 27th, 1926, reports in the press emerge that the White Star Line had been sold by IMM to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSP). Efforts had been made to keep the sale secret, but it is confirmed that weekend. According to reports, RMSP paid slightly less than that offered by Furness, Withy and Co. a year ago, with RMSP paying £7,000,000. Some reports says that £2,000,000 would be paid in the near future, with the balance payable in installments over a number of years. The head of the RMSP is Owen Philipps, Lord Kylsant, a name to be later reviled in shipping circles.

A photograph of Owen Philipps, Lord Kylsant and the 'on this day in history' slideshow can still be viewed on Paul Lee's Titanic website: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

Also make sure to check this site that details the company: shipsnostalgia.com/threads/royal-mail-steam-packet-company-kylsant-empire-part-1.302769/ -3068529

On this day in history: "On November 23rd, 1899, Thomas Henry Ismay, who shined the light of the White Star Line, died.
In January he had complained of chest pains and his condition deteriorated from thereon. After fluctuating bouts of ill health punctuated by periods of remission, he was eventually confined to bed and an operation did nothing to alleviate his symptoms. On September 14th, Ismay suffered a heart attack and his health gradually worsened. After his passing, his son Joseph Bruce Ismay would take his place as a managing director and chairman of the company."

Photo of Thomas Henry Ismay and the info from Paul Lee's slideshow is still available here: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

Another 2-in-1 post:
"On November 21st, 1916, while in the Kea Channel, the HMHS Britannic hit a mine which ripped a hole in the ship's starboard side between holds 2 and 3. The ship could supposedly stay afloat with that amount of underwater damage, but the watertight door between boiler rooms 5 and 6 was unable to close, and together with open portholes to aerate the casualty wards, water ingress soon reached a point where the ship was doomed. The ship took on a severe list to starboard, and the Captain ordered a distress signal to be emitted and for the crew to prepare to abandon ship. Captain Bartlett tried to beach the ship, but in the meantime, unauthorised evacuations had taken place; the lowered boats and most of their occupants were sucked into the propellers and were sliced to pieces. As soon as word reached the bridge, the engines were stopped. The increasing list rendered the port boats and davits increasingly difficult to use but ultimately 35 out of 58 boats were launched and when in the water, were used to rescue those floundering. The Britannic sank in 55 minutes but 1036 people were saved with 30 people falling victim.

Britannic's short career by Simon Mills is linked to Amazon store via: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/ExploringBritannic.php

Also on this date in 1955, the first edition of "A Night To Remember" by Walter Lord was published and met with instant success, with a film adaptation being released three years later. Although the book is widely revered by Titanic buffs as the one that hooked them, research in recent years has shown that Lord occasionally embellished the facts and was taken in by bogus survivors whose names appeared in print. One of those who claimed umbrage was Leslie Harrison, the secretary of Captain Lord's mariner's union. Although Captain Lord (no relation to Walter) was unaware of the book until after the filmed adaptation was released, Harrison managed to obtain concessions from Walter Lord to modifying or removing sections that were detrimental to the Captain. Walter Lord did this out of a sense of fairness (although he refused to delete the sections relating to the Californian, pointing to the conclusions of the two 1912 inquiries as a necessity for their inclusion), Harrison pounced on the editing as a "wholesale admission" of fault in his depiction of Captain Lord."

Walter Lord's book can be obtained here which is linked to Amazon store: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/ANTRbook.php

Images from the slideshow and description are from:
http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

While today is the 26th anniversary of this poorly rushed, researched and blunt 2 part miniseries, there's something that no one caught an eye on. That's actually the first (?) Titanic CGI model to be used in this miniseries. Minus the Carpathia model, which was repurposed for Californian scenes instead of modelling Californian from scratch.

Fun fact, this exact CGI model had been used in a sinking simulation just a year prior. The simulation would later appear in Cameron's film which he'd use in Final Word with James Cameron in 2012 and Titanic: 20 Years Later with James Cameron in 2017. As for the model it'd be reused in a sinking simulation by Casey Schatz the Final Word and then would make a brief cameo in 20 Years Later. It would make a surprising appearance in The Last Mysteries of Titanic in 2005 that has a remake of the 1995 sinking simulation.

The model features a very small bridge which is in line with the wheelhouse (as evident by the first screenshot from the 1996 miniseries and the 2005 documentary), well proportioned funnels. It originally had a really intense sheer which was reduced.

On this day in history: On November 10th, 1943, the N**i movie "Titanic" was released in Paris. Commissioned by N**i propaganda minister Dr.Joseph Goebbels, the film was intended to portray the British and Americans as decadent, cowardly capitalists while the Germans - through the use of the fictitious 1st Officer Peterson - were depicted as heroic. The movie played in Europe but not in Germany where it was thought that it would lower morale. Most of the film was shot on board the SS "Cap Arcona," a ship later sunk by the RAF at the end of World War 2 with the loss of over 4000 lives. The original director, Herbert Selpin, was arrested and was later found hanging in his cell after he refused to retract accusations of interference with the production of the film.

Also on this date in 1885 William Thomas Stead, who would later lose his life on the Titanic, was sentenced to three months in prison for his part in a child trafficking scandal. As a journalist, he wanted to expose the practise of unscrupulous parents who were willing to sell their own children into prostitution. With the help of associates, 13 year old Eliza Armstrong was bought from her mother for £5. Stead then published the story of Eliza (renamed "Lily") in one of his newspapers but her mother recognised the details and went to the police who brought charges of indecent assault and abduction against Stead and his associates. Mrs Armstrong claimed that she was told that her daughter was to become the servant to an elderly gentleman, though Stead's colleagues insisted that she knew the reason for the purchase but mistakenly thought that Mrs Armstrong could speak for both parents during the "transaction" (it later turned out Mr. Armstrong was not Eliza's real father after all). Even though Stead and his colleagues were incarcerated, the resultant bad publicity forced the UK Government to amend the law and this resulted in the age of consent being raised to 16 and also expedited a clamp-down on prostitution."

This one is another two-in-one post from Paul Lee's timeline slideshow including the photograph of William Thomas Stead and the promotional poster of the N**i film "Titanic" 1943.

On this day in history: "On November 4th, 1975, third class passenger Thomas McCormack died aged 82. In newspaper interviews soon afterwards he alleges that he swam to a lifeboat but was struck on the head by the crew when he tried to climb aboard, and his fingers torn from the gunwale. He received similar treatment from a second boat but was pulled on board by two Irish ladies. James Patrick Farrell, the Member of Parliament for Longford had been asked to raise the matter by McCormack's parents and Farrell appeared before Lord Mersey during his Titanic Inquiry on May 8th, 1912. Mersey told Farrell, "do not turn me into a criminal judge to try charges of attempted manslaughter," and that he was "very unlikely to take [the] evidence on commission" as McCormack was then in America. With this, and a similar story from Bernard McCoy's sisters about their brother (who was saved), the stories were seemingly dismissed.
There are a disproportionate number of claims from men who claimed to have been in the water and had been pulled into a lifeboat; nearly all of these stories are untrue, with McCormack's and McCoy's stories being the most extreme. It is felt by some researchers that many men felt the need to embellish their stories to fend off accusations that they had legitimately entered a boat on the ship and had taken up a space that could have saved some of the hundreds of women and children who perished."

An extract from Paul Lee's timeline slideshow and the photograph of Thomas McCormack: http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

On this day in history: "On or about November 1st, 1995, the "USA Today Magazine" publishes Titanic artist Ken Marschall's opinion on the salvage of artefacts. Although he repeats some information that has since been proven to be incorrect (notably the lie, spread by critics of the salvage operation that the Nautile collided with the crow's nest causing it to collapse), he raises several important points, most notably that, while retrieving items from the Titanic herself elicited strong debate, very little interest was expended on other shipwrecks: the "Lusitania" had three of her propellers ripped off with high explosives and one was melted down into commemorative golf clubs, and the "Empress of Ireland" had one interior area of the wreck dubbed as "the boneyard" due to the plentiful human remains. In this latter case, this hasn't detered salvage, including taking some bones as trophies by divers. In the article, Mr.Marschall comes across as supporting salvage and compliments RMS Titanic, Inc as "doing about as responsible a job as could be hoped for," and that, contrary to some reports, not all of the living survivors were opposed to salvage, Eva Hart's shrill protestations in the opposition camp being the loudest voice thanks to societies who share her view. Mr.Marschall's view that there has been a dearth of released material is still valid to this day.
Mr.Marschall also voiced similar opinions about salvage in "Tony Robinson's Titanic Adventure" in 2005 and had even attended a salvage expedition a few years before this. In a stunning example of hypocrisy, the valuable Ken Marschall was not castigated by the Titanic Historical Society for his pro-salvage views, whereas lesser members had been expelled or received anonymous hate mail for assisting in artefact exhibitions."

This can still be viewed Dr. Paul Lee's on his "On today's date in history" timeline of events. Or a slideshow that feature them. http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php
Not just for Titanic but for any other vessel.

On October 30th, 1965, ex-Titanic 3rd class passenger Eugene Patrick Daly died aged 82. Daly was on board till the very end and sought sanctuary on the heavy overloaded and upturned boat "B". The remarkable thing is that Daly was a witness to an officer shooting two people on the boat deck in those last few minutes. Moments after, he heard another shot and saw the officer responsible for the shooting lying on the deck. Although he did not witness the event, he was told by others that he had shot himself. Daly wrote to family members and even testified to these events at the Limitation of Liability hearings of June 25th, 1915.
Daly's witness statements have disappeared from the National Archive. The only other credible witness is George Rheims; he wrote to his wife in 1912 that he too saw an officer kill a man. The officer then wished everyone goodbye, telling them that it was each man to himself, saluted and then turned the gun on himself. However, Rheims did not mention this during his own deposition at the Liability hearings in 1913, only saying that he heard two shots 40 minutes before the Titanic sank, which is too soon. There are some discrepancies between his 1912 letter and testimony and he conceded that he had memory problems soon after the disaster.

An extract and the photograph of Eugene Patrick Daly can still be viewed Dr. Paul Lee's on his On today's date in history timeline. http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

On October 28th, 1987, a two hour long TV special, entited "Return To The Titanic - Live" and hosted by Telly Savalas was broadcast from Paris. Although received in many countries, the UK elected not to broadcast it due in part to the desire to respect the sensitivies of the Titanic survivors living there. The focus of the show was on the opening of one of the safes retrieved from the sea floor, and at the finale of the show, viewers were presented with two new safes. Inside one safe was a Gladstone bag in which coins, banknotes and jewelry had been found; inside the other was the recovered safe. With a contingent of guards bearing shotguns to protect the artefacts from pilfering, the first safe door was opened showing the "satchel"; then the Titanic safe inside the second strongbox was opened and a pouch revealing coins was pulled out.
The broadcast raised the ire of the anti-salvage protesters even further but it also revealed new footage of the wreck. Surprisingly, the crow's nest, last seen dangling from the foremast in 1986 was gone. While it seems that the nest fell off due to simple fatigue of the few remaining support struts, Dr.Ballard and his supporters gleefully told lies about its loss to support their anti-salvage agenda: that it had been banged into by a sub, that it had fallen off when the bell was taken, or it had collapsed when the telephone was pulled out or the running light was recovered, none of which were true. The video footage then and later also exposed another falsehood from Ballard, namely that in 1986 he and his team "photographed the entire exterior of the bow" (which he later admitted was really simply to examine the iceberg damage). It was finally realised that vast areas had been missed out; the huge hole in the starboard side below the well deck, the area below the port well deck, the boilers in boiler room no.2, the area of the D deck doors on the starboard side and the vertical "buckles", etc. forcing artist Ken Marschall to guess when he painted the wreck. Additionally, the cover to the No.1 hatch, resting on the sediment ahead of the ship, the double bottom pieces, the two massive "towers" and the ship's wing propellers, lying on the mudline, were missed in 1985/6.

Dr. Paul Lee's screencapture of the 2-hour special from his On today's date in history timeline. http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

On this day in history:
On October 24th, 2015, the famous iceberg photograph as seen by M.Linoenewald, the chief steward of the SS Prinz Adalbert supposedly on April 15th, 1912 went under the hammer at Aldridge's Auction House; the photograph had long been accepted as the berg that caused the disaster. However, all is not as it seems. The Adalbert's logs show that she didn't reach the area of the wrecksite until 8am on April 16th, when she was already 7 miles north of the Titanic's site. The prevailing current in that area was 1 knot to the south, so therefore in the 32 hours since the disaster, the iceberg would have been at a latitude of 41 degrees, 12 minutes north - or 39 miles to the south of the Prinz Adalbert and therefore over the horizon and invisible. The "smear of red paint" could be just algae.

A timeline and the photograph by M. Linoenewald, the chief steward of the SS Prinz Adalbert can still be seen on Paul Lee's on-going timeline of events http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php.

One of the extracts from Paul Lee's site relating to the events pre and post-Titanic: "On October 19th, 2013, a violin allegedly used by bandleader Wallace Hartley on the Titanic becomes the most expensive item associated with the doomed ship ever to be sold at auction when it attains the price of £900,000. The violin's provenance is debatable despite it's fish plate having an inscription saying that it was an engagement present from Hartley's fiance, Maria Robinson. The meticulous inventory of items found on each recovered body does not mention a violin being found; however, forensic tests indicate that it was certainly in the waters of the North Atlantic as it exhibits the same chemical signature as items retrieved from other victims. At the time of writing, promised proof of the violin's authenticity has not appeared publicly, although such evidence was enough to convince violin sceptic Tim Trower of its veracity."

Info and the collage (or a phot) of the violin and Wallace Hartley can still be viewed on Dr. Paul Lee's (one of the Titanic researchers) site right now. There, he updates his today's date in history section by following the events that occured on the said date. Some relating to the White Star Line, some on other companies.

An extract from Paul Lee's timeline of events: "On October 17th, 1937, Joseph Bruce Ismay died at the age of 74. In his last years, Ismay withdrew from public life and most of his business activities as he suffered from declining health which resulted in one of his legs being amputated."

On this day in history can be accessed on Paul Lee's web site. A fair warning though, it's not constant as it will change on what day each event happened.
http://www.paullee.com/titanic/index.php

For detailed life about Joseph Bruce Ismay, I recommend checking out this book "Understanding J. Bruce Ismay" by Mr. Cliffor Ismay, the 4th cousin of Thomas Henry Ismay and the 5th cousin (once removed) of the aforementioned Bruce Ismay: https://wslguy.wixsite.com/ismayfamily/about-1