9 Br. Inq., No. 8988-9020; Marcus, 120-21; A Night to Remember, 37-38; Wade, 352.
10 Am. Inq., 357-63; Br. Inq., No. 1027, 13734, 15353, 15355, 17275-17280, 17299-17326; A Night to Remember, 14; Lynch, 84-85; Marcus, 128.
11 In 1912, helm orders were still given according to the tradition of the earliest days of sail; that is, by the direction the tiller bar was pushed in order to turn the ship, not the direction the rudder was turned. Murdoch’s order of “Hard a starboard !” meant that Hitchens turned the wheel to the right, which caused the big steam-powered rudder motor in the stern to turn to the right, making the rudder pivot left. Helm orders on British merchant ships weren’t rationalized until the mid- 1930s when it was finally decided to set the helm controls up so that the wheel and the rudder moved the same direction.
12 Amer. Inq., 359-61; Br. Inq., No. 17299-17326; A Night to Remember, 14-15; Marcus, 128-29; The Night Lives On, 77-79.
13 Amer. Inq., 533-34, 600-602, 671; A Night to Remember, 15-16.
14 Amer. Inq., 512-15; A Night to Remember, 14-15; Lynch, 91; Wade, 241 42.
15 Amer. Inq., 111, 332-33, 986-99; A Night to Remember, 16, 26; Wade, 241.
16 Amer. Inq., 884; A Night to Remember, 18-19.
17 Amer. Inq., 966, 1002, 10096; Wade, 242-43.
18 Amer. Inq., 42, 1142; A Night to Remember, 16; Pellegrino, 21-22.
19 Amer. Inq., 235-36; Br. Inq., No. 15358-15385; A Night to Remember, 19 and 32.
20 A Night to Remember, 33.
21 Report to the Mersey Commission (Br. Rpt.), 32-34; Marine Review, May 1912, 154-60; A Night to Remember, 35-36; Marcus, 132; The Night Lives On, 74. For many years it was believed that the iceberg had torn a 300-foot-long continuous gash in the Titanic’s side, apparently a belief formed by a spate of speculative illustrations in the popular press, which showed the liner being sliced open like a giant tin can. It was with some shock, then, that Dr. Robert Ballard reported in 1986, when he was able to closely examine the wreck, that there was no evidence of such a gash. Yet, that such a gash was highly unlikely had been established as far back as May 1912. Edward Wilding, a marine architect for Harland and Wolff, in a brilliant piece of theoretical engineering, concluded from the reports of the rate at which the breached compartments flooded that the total area in those compartments open to the sea was approximately 12 square feet. This would have meant that a continuous cut in the Titanic’s hull 300 feet long would have been only a half inch wide for it’s entire length—a difficult feat for a cutting torch, let alone an iceberg. It wasn’t until 1996 that ultrasonic probes conducted by Paul Mathias were able to conclusively establish that there was no gash: the damage done was indeed a seires of bent plates, split seams, and small holes—the total area open to the sea being just a little over 12 square feet.
22 Br. Inq., No. 664-668, 1860-1867, 3997-4002, 3715-3729, 3736; Engineering, 14 June 1912, 847-50; Marine Review, May 1912, 154-60.
23 Amer. Inq., 27-41; Br. Rpt. 32-34; Marine Review, May 1912, 154-160; Syren and Shipping, 24 April 1912; Marcus, 295; The Night Lives On, 85.
24 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 15 April-25 October 1912; Engineering, 14 June 1912, 847-50; Marine Review, May 1912, 154-60; Brinnin, 250-51, 267-69, 347-51; Marcus, 37; Wade, 75.
CHAPTER FIVE
1 Amer. Inq., 69; Br. Inq., No. 13734; Lightoller, 227.
2 Amer. Inq., 260.
3 Ibid., 436.
4 Ibid., 1103; New York Times, 19 April 1912; Beesley, 80-82; Gracie, 14-16.
5 Amer. Inq., 1024; Colliers, 4 May 1912, 10-14; Beesley, 50-53.
6 Amer. Inq., 1147; Semi-Monthly Magazine (Washington Post), 26 May 1912, 3-4; A Night to Remember, 25.
7 Marcus, 137.
8 A Night to Remember, 25.
9 Amer. Inq. 995-96.
10 Ibid., 332.
11 Ibid., 794 and 808; Beesley, 52; Gracie, 17.
12 A Night to Remember, 25; Wade, 248.
13 Lynch, 73; Wade, 247.
14 Amer. Inq., 228-29, 1032-36.
15 Br. Inq., No. 1917-1932.
16 Ibid., No. 708-827, 1940-1957.
17 Harper’s Weekly, 29 April 1912; Elizabeth Shutes quoted in Gracie, 251-52; Marshall, 67.
18 Amer. Inq., 333; Beesley, 78; Lynch, 96.
19 The bulk of the recounting of what transpired in the wireless shack comes from Bride’s interview in the New York Times, April 20, 1912; additional information comes from his testimony before the Senate Committee, 103-61, 1045-55, as well as from the author’s conversations with private investigator David Norris in April 1992.
20 A Night to Remember, 40-41; Wade, 244-45.
21 Amer. Inq., 1114; Br. Inq., No. 933-936.
22 Amer. Inq., 885.
23 Amer. Inq., 1105; Dr. Dodge quoted in Gracie, 292; A Night to Remember, 42.
24 A Night to Remember, 45.
25 Amer. Inq., 109 and 808.
26 Amer. Inq., 1148-49.
27 This incident would provide generations of gossip mongers with a source of endless speculation. It is usually maintained, and under the circumstances reasonably so, that an illicit liaison was taking place in C-78. Given the social and moral tone of the period, public revelation of the affair would have been disastrous for all involved, hence the reluctance of the couple inside to open the door. If such was the case, their secret stayed safe with them that night, most likely all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic.
28 Amer. Inq., 807-8; A Night to Remember, 43; Lynch, 98.
29 A Night to Remember, 44 and 45.
30 Br. Inq., No. 9963-9997.
31 The Shipbuilder, 125-26; Lynch, 101.
32 Amer. Inq., 331; Molly Brown quoted in Gracie, 127-28.
33 Amer. Inq., 1040-41; Semi-Monthly Magazine (Washington Post), 26 May 1912, 3-4; A Night to Remember, 44; Edith Russell quoted in Pellegrino, 211-212.
34 Colliers, 4 May 1912, 10-14.
35 Lynch, 94-95.
36 Amer. Inq., 1121.
37 Gracie, 7; A Night to Remember, 47-48.
38 Amer. Inq., 72-73.
39 Ibid., 72-88; Lightoller, 229-31.
40 Beesley, 83-84.
41 Amer. Inq., 227.
42 Ibid., 988-1000; Gracie, 228-33.
43 Amer. Inq., 577, 810, 988-1000; Gracie, 228-35.
44 Amer. Inq., 105-10.
45 Ibid., 235-37.
46 Wade, 280.
47 Amer. Inq., 111-12.
48 Br. Inq., No. 11337-11409; The Night Lives On, 90.
49 Amer. Inq., 332; Harper’s Weekly, April 29, 1912; A Night to Remember, 54.
50 Amer. Inq., 519.
CHAPTER SIX
1 Bullock, 69-72; Marcus, 139-40.
2 Amer. Inq., 796; Br. Inq., No. 2792-2801.
3 Br. Inq., No. 2008-2096; A Night to Remember, 57-58; Triumph and Tragedy, 149.
4 It’s worth keeping in mind that a red sidelight or running light is always shown from the port (left) side of a ship’s bridge and a green sidelight is shown from the starboard (right) side, then taking the time to compare the movements of the unknown ship seen from the Titanic with those of the drifting Californian relative to the unknown ship she spotted, as described in Chapter 10.This and all subsequent passages concerning the Titanic’s rockets and the unknown ship on the horizon are primarily derived from the transcripts of the American and British inquiries, where the two subjects are inextricably linked. The most significant sections are cited here.
The Rockets: Amer. Inq., 237-239, 289-307, 294, 328, 401, 519, 832, 1145; Br. Inq., 1195-1207, 1199, 2582-2583, 4997-5006, 10103, 12496, 14150 14155, 141G8-14127, 150GG, 15494-15400, 17G84, 17972.
The Unknown Ship: Amer. Inq., 114, 235-236, 295, 307, 328, 346, 358, 359, 448-449, 520, 520-524, 544, 564, 565, 570, 611-612, 648, 827-828, 909, 990; Br. Inq., 2419-2420, 10264-10274, 10268, 14149, 15385-15409, 17669-17674, 17854-17869, 18001-18017, 18002, 18069.
Also: Beesley, 79-80; Gracie, 21-24; Wade 338-61; Leslie Reade, The Ship That Stood Still, 143-49.
6 Amer. Inq., 1100, 1109, 1149-50, 1162; A Night to Remember, 62 and 63; Semi-Monthly Magazine (Washington Post), 26 May 1912, 3-4; Lightoller, 238; Marcus, 149-50.
7 Lynch, 112.
8 New York Times, 19 April 1912; Marshall, 61.
9 Lynch, 112 and 117.
10 Gracie, 19, 32, 124; A Night to Remember, 74.
11 Lightoller, 233-34.
12 Amer. Inq., 595, 602, 755; Bullock, 71; A Night to Remember, 67; Wade, 291 and 293.
13 Amer. Inq., 79, 334-35; Colliers, 4 May 1912, 10-14; Molly Brown quoted by Gracie, 128.
14 Lightoller, 233-34; A Night to Remember, 66.
15 Harper’s Weekly, 20 April 1912; Elizabeth Shutes quoted by Gracie, 254.
16 Amer. Inq., 1166; Lynch 94 and 115.
17 Br. Inq., No. 9885-9907, 11289-11322; New York Sun, 22 April 1912.
18 Amer. Inq., 1210-45; New York Sun, 22 April 1912; A Night to Remember 112-14; Marcus, 160-61; The Night Lives On, 113-25; Wade, 380-83.
19 Richard Harding Davis, Our English Cousins, 149-50.
20 Journal of Cammerce: Report of the Titanic Inquiry (1912), 267; Lightoller, 243; A Night to Remember, 75; Marcus, 161.
21 Gracie, 25.
22 Lightoller, 240.
23 Amer. Inq., 240.
24 Ibid., 273-75, 526, 798, 810-12, 971-72, 1041; Br. Inq., No. 5141-5153, 11501-11730, 12647-12668.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1 In years to come armchair navigators would frequently suggest that Captain Smith should have had the Titanic steam over to this other ship. While certainly a plausible idea, given the benefit of hindsight, it had certain drawbacks at the time that certainly would have caused the captain to reject the idea even if it had been brought up. Most significantly, Captain Smith knew his ship had been badly damaged, but just how extensively was uncertain—at one point Andrews had used the phrase “torn to bits below.” There was the distinct possibility that if the ship’s structure was affected, trying to make headway in a sinking condition might actually make the damage worse and drive the bow right under, sinking the ship in a matter of minutes. Three years later, the Lusitania would sink less than twenty minutes after she was struck by a German torpedo, and her speed of eighteen knots contributed heavily to the rapidity of her sinking: her forward momentum literally drove her bow down under the water.
2 Later a great deal of fuss was raised by Germany over Phillips’s treatment of the Frankfort wireless operator, including a formal protest by the German ambassador to Great Britain. The Germans said that Phillips didn’t treat the Frankfort’s operator with the same courtesy that he did the operator of, say, the Olympic. They maintained, with a great show of wounded Teutonic dignity, that this was because the Frankfort’s wireless was operated by German Telefunken and not British Marconi, or simpler still, because the Frankfort was a German ship and the Olympic was British. Obviously, the German’s weren’t about to admit that the Frankfort’s operator might have been, based on the nature of his queries, rather dense. The Germans were extremely touchy about any slight, real or imagined, in those last few years before the Great War.
3 New York Times, 20 April 1912.
4 Br. Inq., No. 17090-17109; New York Times, 21 April 1912.
5 Amer. Inq. 19-21; Rostron, 63.
6 The Night Lives On, 159.
7 Amer. Inq., 19-21; Scribner’s Monthly, March 1913, 354-64; Captain Sir James Bisset, Ladies and Tramps, 27G-80; Captain Sir Arthur Rostron, Home From the Sea, 57-63; A Night to Remember, 138-41.
8 A Night to Remember, 59; Wade, 60.
9 Pellegrino, 212.
10 Amer. Inq., 605, 648, 674, 822, 1146; Wade, 292-93.
11 Lynch, 117.
12 Amer. Inq., 798-800; Beesley, 316-20; Dr. Dodge quoted in Gracie, 294- 95 ; Wade, 293-94.
13 Marcus, 158.
14 New York Times, 15 April 1912.
15 O‘Connor, 154-56; Wade, 54-57.
16 During his testimony before the U.S. Senate inquiry, Lowe described every man who tried to stow away in one of the lifeboats or force his way into one as an “Italian.” The imputation of cowardice was so inflammatory that the Italian ambassador to the United States, Signor Cusani, demanded—and received-a written apology from Lowe. Amer. Inq., 116-28, 605, 615-16, 1109-12; Semi-Monthly Magazine (Washington Post), 26 May 1912, 3—4.
17 Amer. Inq., 800-802; Beesley, 72-80; Wade, 298-99.
18 Amer. Inq., 645; Wade, 299.
19 Beesley, 83-84; Destination: Disaster, 31-32; The Night Lives On, 137-38.
20 Marshall, 96-97.
21 Gracie, 4-5, 27; A Night to Remember, 82; Marcus, 314; Marshall, 75-76; Wade, 89-90.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1 New York Times, 20 April 1912.
2 Amer. Inq., 887-88; A Night to Remember, 80.
3 Amer. Inq., 8, 519-20, 960; Br. Inq., No. 18611-18635; Br. Rpt., 38; Lynch, 132; Wade, 299-300.
4 Amer. Inq., 990-92; Gracie, 27, 42, 44.
5 Amer. Inq., 240, 548, 1100; Wade, 301.
6 Gracie, 32.
7 Amer. Inq., 81, 581-83, 1107; Gracie, 30-32; A Night to Remember, 84-85; Triumph and Tragedy, 156; Wade, 301-3.
8 Amer. Inq., 587.
9 Lightoller, 243.
10 Amer. Inq., 587, 831; Gracie, 37-39; A Night to Remember, 86; Wade, 307-8.
11 Amer. Inq., 80-81, 587, 588, 831-33, 887; Gracie, 37-39; Mrs. Walter Stephenson quoted in Gracie, 193-94; Lynch, 133; Wade, 307-9.
12 New York Times, 20 April 1912.
13 Amer. Inq., 794; A Night to Remember, 89.
14 Lightoller, 243-44.
15 Gracie, 44-46; Lightoller, 245--46.
16 Amer. Inq., 161; New York Times, 20 April 1912; Lynch 135-37; Marcus, 155-56; author’s conversations with private investigator David Norris in July 1995.
17 For years it has been commonly believed that the last music played by the Titanic’s band was either the Episcopalian hymn “Autumn” or the popular waltz “Songe d’Automne.” The evidence for this has rested solely on the uncorroborated testimony of Harold Bride, who told a reporter for the New York Times that the last song he remembered the band playing was called “Autumn.” Bride, though, was the only person with that recollection, and he never specified if he meant the hymn or the waltz. Neither piece of music is listed in the White Star Line’s music book for 1912. Significant as well is that the hymn is not called “Autumn,” only the melody is (much like the melody of the hymn “0 God, Our Help in Ages Past” is known as “St. Anne‘s”), and usually only a professional musician will refer to a piece of music that way. A very strong case can be made for the hymn legend has always said was the last music played aboard the Titanic. There are a number of accounts of survivors who recalled hearing “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” and the American melody, called “Bethany,” was well known to most Americans, and was sometimes heard in British churches as well, so it is understandable for both British and American survivors to recall hearing the hymn. (It should be pointed out that if Bride did mean that hymn, parts of the two hymns sound remarkably similar, so that someone hearing only snatches of the melody, as was undoubtedly the case in Bride’s circumstances, might mistake one hymn for the other.) “Nearer, My God, to Thee” was known to be a favorite of Bandmaster Hartley’s, and was the hymn played at the graveside of all deceased members of the Musician’s Union. Perhaps most convincing of all is a report in the Daily Sketch on April 22, 1912, in which a colleague of Hartley’s recalled how some years earlier, while still aboard the Mauretania, that he asked Hartley what he would do if he found himself on the deck of a sinking ship. Hartley replied that he would assemble the ship’s orchestra and play “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” or “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Somehow, that seems definitive enough.
18 Gracie, 27, 51-56; Bullock, 73.
19 Author’s conversation with naval architect James Krogan.
20 Marshall, 51.
21 Br. Inq., No. 10544-10551;
Gracie, 312-13; Wade, 310-11.
22 Amer. Inq., 67-69, 87, 91; Christian ScienceJournal, October 1912; Lightoller, 247-50.
23 Amer. Inq., 91-92, 120; Gracie, 59-60; Lightoller, 249; author’s conversation with naval architect James Krogan in June 1995.
24 Gracie, 49, 67-68.
25 Jack Thayer quoted by Gracie, 221-22.
26 Amer. Inq., 628.
27 Ibid., 1156.
28 Coroner’s records, Public Archives of Nova Scotia; A Night to Remember, 100.
29 Gracie, 89-90; A Night to Remember, 101; Lynch 145; Marcus, 159; Wade, 90-91, 310.
30 The Night Lives On, 129-33.
31 Gracie, 27; Wade, 90.
32 A Night to Remember, 101-2.
33 Amer. Inq., 69, 280, 339, 530-31, 563, 609-10, 620, 818, 1108; Br. Inq., No. 3858-3869, 3883-3885, 5673-5681, 6251-6266, 11512-11525, 15078- 15081 ; Gracie, 51-56; Lightoller, 247-52; Wade, 311-21; author’s conversations with naval architects James Krogan, William Gartzke, Jr., and David K. Brown, Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, June 1995.
CHAPTER NINE
1 Gracie, 70-72; Lightoller, 250-51.
2 The exact nature of the break-up of the wreck will never be known for certain. This passage is based on conversations with American naval architects James Krogan, William Gartzke, Jr., and British Naval Constructor David K. Brown, RCNC, along with discussions with Allistair Lang, E-M.E., of East Kilbride, Scotland.
3 Gracie, 73-76; Outlook, 27 April 1912, 898-905; A Night to Remember, 89.
4 Survivors tales recounted by Gracie, 313-20; Wade, 326-27.
5 Amer. Inq., 87, 91, 110, 1G1, G28, 786, 1053; Br. Inq., No. 6261-6299, 14122-14138; Jack Thayer quoted by Gracie, 223-24; Wade, 191-93.
6 Amer. Inq., 227; Colliers, 4 May 1912, 3-4; Lightoller, 252; Wade, 326.
7 Amer. Inq., I 11, 242-44, 277-78, 526, 538, 570, 811-12, 827, 842, 10 10 12, 1100; Lynch, 144; Wade, 328-29.
8 Amer. Inq., 573, 971; Br. Inq., No. 5141-5153, 11501-11730, 12647 12668, 12875-12895; Gracie, 269-79; Coronet, June 1931, 94-97.
9 Amer. Inq., 116-30, 605-7, 615-19, 677-82, 1109; Semi-Monthly Magazine (Washington Post), 26 May 1912, 3-4; Mrs. Alexander Compton quoted in Gracie, 168-70; A Night to Remember 119-20; Wade, 331-33.
Unsinkable: The Full Story of the RMS Titanic Page 39
