An Officer's Suicide?

Since the Titanic sank, many experts have debated and examined accounts of the claim that an officer committed suicide.  The debate intensified when the Titanic 1996 miniseries and Titanic 1997 showed 1st Officer Murdoch shooting 3rd class passengers that were attempting to rush Collapsible A in panic and then in a knee-jerk act of desperation, shot himself.  This portrayal was viewed as showing him to be cowardly and unmanly.  While it is every Titaniac's dream to find out exactly who committed suicide, nobody will ever know.  However, we can put forward the most likely candidate by using a process of elimination and either crediting or discrediting the witnesses.  It's also worth trying to answer the question almost everyone is really asking, was Cameron's portrayal of Murdoch accurate?

There were 4 officers in the area of the suicide.  They were Captain Smith, Chief Officer Wilde, 1st Officer Murdoch, and 6th Officer Moody.  All of them have been suggested (some more than others) as the ones that committed suicide.  First, we need to look at the lives of each of these men to determine which had the most motive.

Captain Edward John Smith had led a long and glorious career as a seaman, never having a ship sinking from under him before.  He started out at sea at the age of 13 and rose the rank of Captain.  He became so well liked by the wealthy and influential that he was nicknamed the "Millionaire's Captain" and eventually started getting the command of the White Star Line's biggest and best ships.  He had previously captained the Olympic, Titanic's older sister ship.  It is said that he planned to retire after the Titanic's maiden voyage.  During the Titanic's voyage, he under the pressure of J. Bruce Ismay sped up the Titanic.  It was quite normal, however, to try and get your ship out of an ice field as soon as possible at that time.  With him being such an experienced sailor, this being his last voyage, and the Titanic being unsinkable (he undoubtedly believed that the Titanic was unsinkable), there was a very slim chance that the Titanic would sink.  When she struck the iceberg, he was in his quarters and rushed out when he either heard or felt the collision.  After learning the news an hour later that the Titanic was doomed, he was in shock until the final plunge.  However, he was still with it enough to order the evacuation and to manage the attempts to contact a rescue ship.  It is unclear what happened to him.  Some say he went into the bridge.  Others say he dived into the sea from the bridge. There is one story that says that he rescued a baby and put it onto Collapsible B but refused to get on himself.  Still others say that he shot himself.

Chief Officer Henry Tingle Wilde like everyone started at sea as a young man and rose up in the ranks an officer in the White Star Line.  In 1910, Wilde's wife and twin infant sons died probably of Scarlet Fever.  From that time on he would mention how he would like to be reunited with his wife.  However, he did have 4 children and a sister that he cared for.  Wilde was formerly on the Olympic and was probably going to stay on when Captain Smith was transferred, but the White Star Line decided to take Chief Officer Wilde on to the Titanic.  This demoted Murdoch who was going to be Chief Officer to 1st Officer and Lightoller from 1st Officer to 2nd Officer.  It also bumped David Blair who was going to be the 2nd Officer off the ship.  Before he left on the Titanic, he wrote a letter to his sister in which he stated that, "I still don't like this ship... I have a queer feeling about it".  The voyage for Wilde was uneventful for the most part.  He was relieved from being the Officer of the Watch on April 14 by Lightoller.  What he did next is unknown.  He was near the bow at the time of the collision, however, probably checking around, making sure everything was all right when the iceberg struck.  He ran into two men that said that the ship was flooding and air was escaping from the bow.  Realizing that the ship might have been damaged, he went up to the Bridge.  On his way there, he ran into stokers and firemen that were rushing up from the lower decks.  He ordered them back down.  He made it to the Bridge and he, Captain Smith, and Thomas Andrews inspected the lower decks.  Andrews afterwards explained that the ship was doomed.  Captain Smith then went up and ordered all the boats to be uncovered.  Wilde assisted in doing so.  Lightoller, having done as ordered, went up to Wilde to ask if he should swing the boats out.  Wilde said not to.  Lightoller then saw Captain Smith and asked the same question.  Captain Smith gave him the go-ahead.  Afterwards, Lightoller asked Wilde if he should load the boats with women and children.  Wilde again said no, and Lightoller again went over and asked  Captain Smith the same question.  Captain Smith gave Lightoller the go-ahead.  It is possible that Wilde thought that he thought that a ship would be coming soon and it was best not to let them freeze for a long time since the ship would probably last a long while or possibly he just wanted to prevent a panic.  The reasons will never be known.  His exact whereabouts cannot be reconstructed throughout the sinking because he is rarely mentioned by name in survivors' accounts.  It is known that he assisted in the loading and lowering of the lifeboats, however.  At one point, he stopped Lightoller where the firearms were kept.  Lightoller led him to where he stored the firearms when he was the 1st Officer.  The guns (which were Webley Mark III's)were given out to the officers.  It is very possible that Wilde seeing all these people and realizing the full reality of the situation that there simply weren't enough boats for everyone had the foresight to know that there very likely would have been a panic. He helped with the launch of Collapsible C which had Ismay and Carter, men that afterwards were branded to be cowards even though (as I will Lord willing discuss in a later post) their actions are justifiable.  Carter mentioned that both he and Ismay were told be Wilde that they could get in if they helped row and the two men got in.  Since Ismay failed to mention this, the reliability of this story is in question.  Both Gracie and Lightoller said that they last saw him working to launch Collapsible A when the water came up and swept him away.

1st Officer William McMaster Murdoch came from a seafaring family.  Both his father and grandfather were captains and William was well on his way to become one himself, following in their footsteps.  He first went to sea as an apprentice at the age of 15 and did very well.  Beginning in 1899, he served the White Star Line as an officer on their ships including the Medic, Arabic, Germanic, Oceanic, Majestic, and Olympic.  In 1903, while he was the 2nd Officer of the Arabic, a dark object loomed in the distance in front of them.  Officer Fox (a more senior officer) ordered "Hard-A-Port" and Murdoch ran in, telling him to keep on their course.  The two ships narrowly missed each other and it was said that if the Arabic which was brand new had done what Officer Fox ordered, the Arabic would have collided with the other ship.  In 1903, he met Ada Banks on the Runic enroute to Australia.  After a long distance relationship, they were married in  1907. On the Titanic, he was originally going to be the Chief Officer which was a promotion.  However, Wilde was brought on which brought Murdoch back down to being the 1st Officer.  On the night of April 14, he was the Officer of the Watch which meant that he was the most senior officer on the Bridge.  At 11:40 P.M., the bell in the crow's nest rang three times and the phone rang.  6th Officer Moody answered.  It was about this time that Murdoch saw the iceberg.  He ran in as Moody relayed the message that the iceberg was dead ahead.  Murdoch ordered Quartermaster Hichens to turn the ship Hard-a-Starboard, shut the watertight doors, and ordered the engines to be reversed.  These were the orders that Captain Smith had given before, when the S.S. New York narrowly missed the Titanic in Southampton and they worked, then.  Unfortunately, they didn't work.  In fact, reversing the engines made it worse and if Murdoch had gone straight, only one or two compartments would be damaged.  That likely wasn't on Murdoch's mind when he saw the iceberg and had to make split second decisions right then.  Captain Smith came onto the Bridge after the collision and Murdoch told him what had happened.  After it was confirmed that the ship was going down, Murdoch went into immediate action.  He helped to get the boats on the Starboard ready and then when the order was given to lower away, he worked as quickly as possible to fill and lower them.  He let men, women, and children in and didn't really enforce the "women and children first" rule strictly like Lightoller did.  He gave women and children top priority and if there was more room, men got to go.  He was more focused on filling and loading the lifeboats as quickly as possible.  Towards the end, the last lifeboat, Collapsible A, was still on the roof.  Murdoch and about 1-2 dozen men pushed the 2 ton boat off.  His last confirmed actions while he was alive was helping Wilde as the water came up to free Collapsible A from the davits.  About 2/3 of that survived owe their lives to the courage and dedication of Murdoch.

6th Officer James Paul Moody was the most junior officer on board.  He was the one that answered the phone when the iceberg was reported to the Bridge by Frederick Fleet in the crow's nest.  He helped Murdoch for most of the time during the sinking with loading the lifeboats.  The only peculiar thing Moody did that we know about was that he told 5th Officer Lowe, a more senior officer to get into a lifeboat.  It was customary for more senior officers to allow the more junior officers first dibs in the lifeboats.  He was last seen on the roof of the Officer's Quarters, helping Lightoller.  

Most of those that talk about a suicide from what they actually saw are credible and most of the accounts are from the Boat Deck, it is safe to say that an officer did indeed commit suicide despite what some have claimed.  There are two prominent accounts that attempt to discredit the suicide that are not very credible when you investigate further.  The first is from 1st class passenger Archibald Gracie.  He said in his book, "The Truth About the Titanic", "...Did either the Captain or the First officer shoot himself? Not withstanding all the current rumors and newspaper statements answering this question affirmatively, I have been unable to find any passenger or member of the crew cited as authority for the statement that either Captain Smith or First Officer Murdoch did anything of the sort. On the contrary, so far as relates to Captain Smith, there are several witnesses, including Harold S. Bride, the Junior Marconi operator, who saw him at the last on the bridge of his ship, and later, when sinking and struggling in the water. Neither can I discover any authentic testimony about First Officer Murdoch’s shooting himself. On the contrary, I find fully sufficient evidence that he did not. He was a brave and efficient officer and no sufficient motive for self-destruction can be advanced. He performed his full duty under difficult circumstances, and was entitled to praise and honor. During the last fifteen minutes before the ship sank, I was located at that quarter forward on the boat deck, starboard side, where Murdoch was in command and where the crew under him were engaged in the vain attempt of launching the Engelhard boat. The report of a pistol shot during this interval ringing in my ears within a few feet of me would certainly have attracted my attention, and later, when I moved astern, the distance was not so great as to prevent my hearing it." Gracie indicated previously that he didn't know Murdoch on sight, so that automatically diminishes his credibility on this subject.  Next, take into account that he was about 50-70 feet from the place where the shooting took place.  He was caught up in a mass of humanity which likely had yelling and screaming.  That plus the sounds of the water rushing up and groaning of the ship would have probably provided sufficient distractions that would block out the sounds of one or more gunshots. Futhermore, Gracie relied heavily on his conversations with Lightoller (who we'll talk about next) and Harold Bride who for the most part stayed on the Port side.  

The other often cited account, that of 2nd Officer Lightoller, is the other most relied on detractor.  He was on the roof of the Officer's Quarters and helped to free Collapsible A after he got Collapsible B off.  According to him, the water rose up and swallowed 1st Officer Murdoch and Chief Officer Wilde.  He said something similar to Murdoch's widow, Ada.  Some have pointed out that Lightoller was a "company man".  It is known for certain that Lightoller lied about firing a gun in the air and possibly other things in the Inquiry.  He later admitted privately that someone he knew committed suicide.  He was good friends with both Murdoch and Wilde, having served with them before on previous vessels.  He was very loyal to his company and friends and a suicide in that society might have been viewed as cowardice which would give Lightoller enough motivation to adamantly deny a suicide in front of everyone at the Inquiries and comfort Murdoch's grieving widow.  However, his being adamant about Murdoch not committing suicide may suggest that he saw nothing and was too busy with everything to notice.  The sounds would have carried over the roof and he may have heard a gunshot, but not seen who did it.  His letter to Ada Murdoch indicates that he saw Murdoch trying to free Collapsible A from the davits, but didn't watch him for all that time.  I think that it is possible that he heard a gunshot but didn't see who it was which would lead him to believe that a friend (either Wilde or Murdoch since he indicated that he saw both working together) committed suicide but didn't know who did it. But, the thing that makes both Lightoller and Gracie unreliable is the fact of the ship's list to Port which at that time was about 8-10 degrees. Water had filled the Port side which would have caused both men's hearing to be over-stimulated and make the whole thing confusing. That and the fact they were focusing on other things like survival. There's only a small chance they would've heard something absolutely identifiable gunshot in all that confusion. Considering the facts, now let's eliminate the least likely candidates until we come up with one left.

There were several passengers that insisted the it was Captain Smith that committed suicide.  However, the people on the Boat Deck that claimed to see Captain Smith in his final moments said that Captain Smith was near the Bridge and some even said that he dived into the sea.   I will Lord willing talk about his death in a later post.  Needless to say, the reports that it was Captain Smith mostly came from those that were observing from some distance away.  It is safe to assume that it was not Captain Smith who was very recognizable with his white beard.  1st class passengers and crew would instantly recognize Captain Smith because he was such a popular figure and there would be more accounts from those that were actually on the Boat Deck that he shot himself if he did.  Instead, those that claimed it was Captain Smith must be assuming but due to the poor lighting and chaos all around which would have been a distraction, they must have assumed that it was Captain Smith.

6th Officer Moody almost certainly did not have a firearm in his possession unless he brought a personal one like 5th Officer Lowe did.  There is absolutely no motive that I can find for Moody to commit suicide with him doing his duty to fullest and not having anything that we know of that he did wrong.  Furthermore, Moody, according to Lightoller, was working on the Officer's Quarters which was not where the suicidal officer reportedly was.

Chief Officer Wilde is one of the more likely because of his wife and twins' deaths.  It is possible the Titanic disaster pushed him over the edge.  However, why would he willingly leave 4 children without someone to care for them?  Such a question continues to plague my mind when I think of him.  He was a dutiful and conscientious man who was level headed and clearly thought things through.  He showed that to be the case when he denied Lightoller permission at first to load and launch the boats probably because it might start a panic and had Lightoller get the guns which likely meant that he was anticipating people to rush the lifeboats.  Such contrary evidence largely eliminates Wilde from the equation.

This leaves 1st Officer William McMaster Murdoch as the officer that committed suicide.  Most survivors that mention the suicide and identify the shooter say that it was Murdoch.  Even those that say it was a Chief Officer may have meant that he was wearing a Chief Officer's uniform considering the fact he was demoted just before the voyage.  He had the motive.  He had a wife which I believe he did love.  However, there was the pressure of the moment.  I believe he did blame himself.  He was faced with the launch of Collapsible A which was 2 tons and he just pushed it off the Officer's Quarters.  2nd Officer Lightoller had fired shots minutes before with a rush of 3rd class passengers that had just gotten to the Boat Deck and were trying to rush Collapsible D.  He ordered everyone to the starboard to even out the ship which was listing about 9-10 degrees.  It didn't do much good, but some people apparently did go over to the Starboard side such as Archibald Gracie and Clinch Smith.  He by all accounts was working near the edge of the Boat Deck on te falls which would allow some of those in the boats to see him kill himself.  Now water was close to the Boat Deck and Collapsible A was the last lifeboat on the Starboard side.  It is understandable that the 3rd class passengers would have rushed the boat.  I would be surprised if the 3rd class passenger did not rush Collapsible A with most of the boats being gone, the spot where they were standing about to go under, and them just getting up from the lower decks.  Murdoch did have a gun.  He was handed one when Smith, Wilde, Lightoller, and Murdoch met for the guns to be dealt out.  I don't doubt that he shot his gun when passengers tried to rush Collapsible A.    Some said he shot at people who were trying to rush Collapsible A.  Then, with water coming up, Collapsible A in the care of Wilde, him likely blaming himself for the deaths of the people around him, and facing possible ruin, I do believe he pulled the trigger on himself.  Does that make him a coward or anything less than a hero?  No.  Do I think he was human with failings and misunderstandings?  Yes.  Murdoch's work towards getting as many people as possible off the ship was honorable.  He was a true man and gentleman with a sense of duty and responsibility.  As the grandson and son of captains, he knew full well the duty of a captain which I believe was likely instilled into him as a child.  If he blamed himself, it was misplaced.  He was not responsible for the death of the other 1,495 people that died that night.  However, this is us looking back at history.  Murdoch didn't have that advantage.  He acted on what he believed happened at that time.  He did his duty as set before him and with him being human, the stress and pressure likely got to be more than he thought he could bear and then he shot himself.  Murdoch was a hero for all he tried to do and did.  He is an inspiration to me for his dedication, heroism, and selflessness.

If you would like to examine the facts for yourself and draw your own conclusions, I recommend the link below which provides all the accounts mentioning and not mentioning an officers' suicide.  What I believe happened is the conclusion of myself and many researchers based on the accounts on this website:

http://wormstedt.com/Titanic/shots/shots.htm

In conclusion, was Cameron's portrayal of Murdoch accurate?  My answer is yes and no.  His portrayal was unfortunately misinterpreted and Cameron could have done better in his portrayal of Murdoch.  Cameron intended to show Murdoch as a hero that blamed himself, the same conclusion that I have drawn.  The bribe was misinterpreted as showing Murdoch as a person that cared about money.  He didn't.  It was supposed to show him being too busy to respond.  Furthermore, Cameron's apology to Murdoch's family and hometown has been viewed by some to mean that they willingly showed him to be a selfish coward.  Considering the facts above, I don't believe that.  I believe that it was just something to ease the tension and outrage the film's portrayal caused.  So many people like to rely on emotions and not on facts in interpreting history.  They want their hero to die launching Collapsible A and not shooting himself.  I'm not saying Murdoch's action was right.  I'm simply attempting to look at the facts without emotions tugging me one direction or the other.  What we want people to do and what they actually did is often times very different.  Cameron has made it obvious that he has great respect for Murdoch.  Every time he visits the wreck, he pays homage to Murdoch at Lifeboat Davit No. 1 where Murdoch died.  If he did it once, I'd say it was probably something to sooth the tension and anger over his portrayal of Murdoch.  But no.  He insisted of paying homage to Murdoch every time he visited the wreck.  May his courage, duty, and dedication never be forgotten.

I think Charlotte Colyer's words about Murdoch best describe him when she said, “He (Murdoch) was a masterful man, astoundingly brave and cool.  I had met him the day before, when he was inspecting the second-cabin quarters, and thought him a bull-dog of a man who would not be afraid of anything.  This proved true; he kept order to the last, and died at his post.  They say he shot himself.  I do not know.”

The Men in Titanic's Belly

The men that were in the very bottom of the ship didn't have the most glamorous jobs and in fact were some of the lowest payed crewmembers on board.  However, their jobs were important because they kept the ship going. The men working below consisted or coal trimmers (they brought coal to the stokers), stokers (they put coal into the boilers), firemen, engineers, etc.  They rarely saw daylight during the voyages and when ships began sinking, they were the ones that were most affected.  On the Titanic, understandably, few of these of these men survived.

On April 15, 1912, the Bridge called the Engine Room about 2 seconds to before the iceberg struck to give them orders.  The orders came too late and they struck the iceberg.  The engines stopped two minutes after that.  The engines were turned back on again and went slow astern for some unknown reason and then stopped for the last time.  When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the crew down below were not aware of what was going on up top, so but there were ways of communicating the danger to them.

There was a sign on the Bridge which said that in case of emergency, they were to ring the bell for ten seconds which would give the men down there a chance to get out.  After ten seconds, then they would lower the watertight doors.  I believe they did follow this based on the survivor's testimonies. Lead Fireman Fred Barrett who was in Boiler Room 6 (the first boiler room from the bow) said, "I was standing talking to the second engineer. The bell rang, the red light showed."  The bell and light were activated by 1st Officer Murdoch who was on the Bridge and giving orders, trying to avoid the iceberg and preparing for a possible impact.  After this, Barrett said, "We sang out shut the doors (indicating the ash doors to the furnaces) and there was a crash just as we sung out."  This was done because the water was freezing cold.  You could put your hand on the hull while it was very hot in the boiler room and the wall would be cold.  When icy water comes in and you have boilers which are extremely hot with pressure in the boilers, the boilers are likely to explode.  As they were doing this, water came in.  When he was asked about the extent of the damage, Barrett said, "Past the bulkhead between sections 5 and 6, and it was a hole 2 feet into the coal bunkers. She was torn through No. 6 and also through 2 feet abaft the bulkhead in the bunker at the forward head of No.5 section."  

The actual impact of the iceberg was felt by most of those down below, but how much they felt it depended on where they were.  Trimmer Thomas Dillon who was in the Engine Room said that the collision was felt slightly by him while Fireman George Beauchamp who was in a boiler room near where the iceberg struck said that it sounded like the roar of thunder.  Trimmer George Cavell who was in Boiler Room No. 4 said, "I felt a shock...and with that all the coal round me fell around me. I had a job to get out myself."  The iceberg opened the seams between the plates in many places for 5 bulkheads.  We know this because when Barrett was asked about where the water came from, he replied, "About 2 feet above the floor plates, starboard side."  Two feet  above the floor was a seam where the rivets held the plates of the hull together.  A later expedition which showed us exactly where the iceberg damage was showed several different gashes in the hull.

The bulkheads were thick steel walls that contained water if a collision happened.  In that event, the doors would be shut and the bulkheads would keep the water from getting to other places in the ship.  As soon as the water started flooding, the men in the bow rushed to get out of there before the watertight doors shut.  The watertight doors could be shut manually either from down below (which could only be done with the permission of the officer on watch) or by flipping a switch on the bridge.  The doors also had floats which would shut the doors automatically if water entered the area.  The switch was flipped on the bridge and the doors began to shut almost as soon as the water started cascading into the boiler room.

Fred Barrett got through the watertight door and up to the catwalks which overlooked the boiler rooms where he saw Boiler Room 6 and the adjacent room, Boiler Room 5.  In the Engine Room, when the ship struck the iceberg some engineers sensing the possible danger rushed to their stations at the water pumps.  Just then, the electricity went out and he was sent to find a lamp.  We know that the power also went out in Boiler Room No. 4 because George Cavell in the British Inquiry said,

      Cavell:  "After I came into the stokehold the lights in the stokehold went out."

      The Commisioner:  :In No. 4?

Cavell:  "Yes."

The Commisioner:  "Did that happen at once or was there a little time before that happened?"
Cavell:  "It happened as soon as I got into the stokehold."

The Commisioner:  "Out went the lights?

  Cavell:  "Yes."  

Barrett was likely able to see only by the fires in the boilers, but he got the lamps and some firemen, and an engineer that were still there noticed that the water wasn't up to the fires in the boilers which were still going.  The engineer ordered Barrett to get some firemen and get the fires drawn (put them out).  He got about 15 and they worked to get the fires out in order to prevent boiler explosions.  This action likely prevented the panic and deaths of many people.  Cavell also went up to the next floor to get lamps.  It was lit up there and he got the lamps.  When he returned, Boiler Room No. 4's lights were on again.  

In the Engine Room, Chief Engineer Joseph Bell gave the order to open the watertight doors.  The watertight doors, as I said earlier, could be opened from below and Thomas Dillon and several others entered the next compartment which Boiler Room No. 1 (the boiler room closest to the Engine Room).  That one did not have any lit boilers, so they went to the next boiler room, Boiler Room No. 2 which did have lit boilers and the men there given the orders to "keep the steam up".  George Beauchamp was one of those men called by Barrett to help draw the fires in Boiler Room No. 5.  When they had gotten most of the fires out, someone shouted, "that will do".  In Boiler Room No. 4, Cavell and his fellow crewmembers got some of the 30 furnaces drawn when water started seeping in.  Cavell decided that it was time to leave and went up the escape ladder.  He went as far as the hallway on the next level and saw nobody.  Assuming that everything was all right, he went back down and found nobody there.  He went back up again and headed for the Boat Deck.  

While Barrett and Beauchamp were trying to draw the fires in the boilers, the mail clerks were fighting a huge battle.  The water had entered the mail room and the clerks which were in charge of the mail tried desperately to save as much of the mail as possible.  In doing so, they dragged these bags each weighing about 100 lbs up to the next levels, staying at least one step ahead of the water.  In the end, their noble efforts were in vain and none of them unfortunately survived.

Meanwhile, high on the top decks, extra steam from the boilers shot up from the funnels, creating a deafening roar.  This made it hard for those working with the lifeboats to hear or even think.  As they began to load and lower the lifeboat however, the steam stopped.

Eventually, the men in Boiler Room No. 2 were ordered to draw the fires when it became clear that the ship was sinking.  After they were finished with Boiler Room No. 2, they went on to the next one, Boiler Room No. 3 and drew the fires there and continued on, drawing the fires until they reached Boiler Room No. 4 which was filling with water.  They did not enter Boiler Room No. 5 because there was water flooding that compartment as well.  While they were working their way forward, the men working in Boiler Room No. 5 after having spent about a quarter of an hour putting out the fires and when they were released, they made their way to the Boat Deck which was the top deck.  Both Fred Barrett and George Beauchamp made it to Boat No. 13.  They almost didn't survive even after that however, because they drifted under Boat No. 15 which was being lowered right on them.  Barrett and another man got out their pocket knives and cut the ropes.  Boat No. 13 got away and got out from under it just in time, thankfully.

In Boiler Room No. 4, Cavell and his fellow crewmembers got some of the 30 furnaces drawn when water started seeping in.  Cavell decided that it was time to leave and went up the escape ladder.  He went as far as the hallway on the next level and saw nobody.  Assuming that everything was all right, he went back down and found nobody there.  He went back up again and headed for the Boat Deck.  When he arrived, he and 5 firemen were ordered into Boat No. 15 to assist with rowing.  This was the same boat that almost crushed Boat No. 13 which had Fred Barrett and George Beauchamp.

After Thomas Dillon and the 7 other men working with him had stopped at Boiler Room No. 4 and drawn the fires, they went back the way they came through the watertight doors which they left open and went through the Engine Room towards the top deck.  Thomas Dillon made it up to the Well Deck and then went up to the Boat Deck where they saw the last lifeboat being lowered.  Realizing that it was too late to enter a lifeboat, they went back to the Well Deck and then to the Poop Deck where many of the men that worked down below including Thomas Dillon and a trimmer named James Dawson chose to ride out the ship's final moments.

Down below, there were still men in Titanic's belly.  Engineers who had been released to save themselves stayed down below and kept the power going which stayed on until 2 minutes before the ship went completely under.  We know that they stayed below because we have several accounts of the lights dimming and then coming on which means the engineers were doing what they could to keep the power on as long as possible.  There were also possible others fighting the attempting to control the rising water with pumps.  The survivors reported the ship leaning from one side to the other which may indicate engineers choosing to stay below and work the pumps, getting the ship to flood evenly on both sides to keep the ship from capsizing (it is a miracle she didn't capsize because the almost every other large ship from the Britannic to the Costa Concordia that has sunk did tip over).

While Thomas Dillon and his fellow crewmemebers were waiting for the ship to sink, they took off their boots which were heavy and would make it hard for them to swim.  The stern rose up and then the ship broke up causing the stern to fall back down.  The stern then keeled over to Port which caused most of the engineers to fall.  Thomas Dillon pushed himself away from the deck and allowed himself to fall into the water.  As soon as he was at the surface, he swam away until he became unconscious.  He was later picked up by Boat No. 4.

I hope the bravery of these men inspire you.  These guys had a hard job and weren't even paid well.  And yet they stayed below in the belly of a sinking leviathan, fighting to keep the ship alive and more importantly acting self-sacrificially sometimes with their only thoughts being the safety of the rest of the passengers and crew on the top decks.

Book Review: The Band That Played On

I don't think I've read a more thoroughly researched book on a group of people like Titanic's orchestra than "The Band That Played On: The Extraordinary Story of the 8 Bandmembers That Went Down with the Titanic " by Steve Turner.  Mr. Turner had very good luck in researching for his book because all these little details that are only known by handful of people in the world such as town historians and the descendants of those who were with bandmembers.  Reading the book allows you to get to know each of the members of her infamous orchestra fairly well and offers possible glimpses on what motivated them to stay back and play music while the lifeboats were loaded and lowered right in front of them.  You are also transported back in time to the glory days of trans-Atlantic travel and the life of musician during the early 1900s as they travel on different ships and play with different orchestra.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars simply because it can get boring at times.  It's still well written and very informative if you wanted a book that would take you back in time to the life of a musician at that time.

The links below will show you where you may purchase the book if you're interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Band-that-Played-Extraordinary-Musicians/dp/1595552197

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/band-that-played-on-steve-turner/1100389732

Titanic: Blood and Steel Review

Titanic: Blood and Steel is a 12 part series released this year.  It follows Dr. Mark Muir, a metologist as he experiments with the metals being used to construct the Titanic.  In the process, he meets and falls in love with Sofia Silvestri, an Italian that moved to Belfast, Ireland, and witnesses the social problems going on at that time.  In terms of accuracy, it has its moments.  There are times where I would almost cringe like when Andrews mentioned that the Titanic could hold 4,000 people (she had the capacity for 3,000), early on the Olympic was seeming launched before the Titanic's keel was laid down (Olympic was begun first but was pretty much built alongside the Titanic for most of the Titanic's construction), Ismay came on as the an unbelievable snob (he was in reality proud of his ships but wasn't as greedy as he portrayed), and J.P. Morgan was shown as being in New York (J.P. was in Europe and originally booked passage on the Titanic).  They did try to be somewhat accurate and it isn't too bad.  It's clear they used some archival photographs of the construction as the basis for some scenes and sets and it pretty good in that regard.  The only area of the sets where I must complain is the brief shot of the interior at  the end.  It is clearly an old English home and bears no resemblance to the Titanic.

The story is rather interesting and is a lot to take in when you watch all the episodes without many breaks as I did.  The story deals with the consequences of sex outside of marriage (two of the characters have children with women who are not their wives) which I liked.  It's viewed as if it's harmless, but the lasting impact was big in the long run.  However, they don't seem repentant.  However, it does teach a lesson that needs to be learned nowadays and that is that a child needs a mother and a father.  The series is adamant on that point which I thought was good.  It also deals with the social issues such Protestants vs. Catholics, Women's Rights, Unionists vs. Nationalists, some class warfare, and the Home Rule bill.  A lot was going on during that time and Ireland was in a huge political struggle before WWI.

I thought that the officers of Harland and Wolff were portrayed well.  I don't know much about all of them, but based on what I know of what happened during the construction, I thought it went on well.  I do know a little of Lord Pirrie and more about Thomas Andrews and I thought they were portrayed excellently. Lord Pirrie was a man who was sympathetic with the voice of the public and Thomas Andrews was a man who was obsessed with shipbuilding and took every possible action to ensure that his ships were safe and his passengers were comfortable.  However, one thing I loved about this series is that everybody was human.  No one was perfect and with most of the people you had things you liked and disliked about them.  Even with those that were portrayed very negatively, you could at least see where they were coming from and not completely hate them.   

The Titanic herself was for the most part the stage for everything.  I thought the computer animation was great and the shots were awesome, but Titanic was just a thing you see in the background of this drama unfolding.

I loved how the class warfare was portrayed.  To be sure, there was some tension between rich and poor but it wasn't all an out war like some people would have you believe.  It was more of an unspoken uprising of the lower class against the upper class.  I also thought that the way in which they portrayed struggle between Unionist and Nationalists and Protestants and Catholics was good.  As a Protestant Christian, I'm ashamed of the way they treated the Catholics.  However, I must say that it only showed a few good Protestants (like Pirrie and Andrews) as opposed to the portrayal of nearly all the Catholics as good people. Most of the Protestants were shown as snobby and discriminatory against the Catholics.

I was disappointed that they didn't show the Guarantee Group aside from Thomas Andrews.  There was a young man who seemingly represented Alfred Cunningham but other than that, they didn't show them.  It would have been nice because all these people could have worked with Dr. Muir as he experimented with the steel or been in involved with the social issues.  They could have even had Roderick Chisolm help work out the tension between the Germans and Irish while they were using a German crane during the construction.  The fact there was little mention of the Guarantee Group was a disappointment to me.  

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.  The movie was great as far as visual affects and its portrayal of most of the characters, but I thought they could have done more with the actual story instead of going with a lot of made up things.

Titanic At 100: Mystery Solved

Titanic At 100: Mystery Solved was a very interesting documentary if you're interested in the technical side of the ship.  This is from the 2010 expedition in which a number of top researchers and oceanographers go the wreck site.  Unlike most of the previous expeditions, this wasn't one in which they visit the popular sites on the Bow and retell the stories.  This expedition instead had a mission to do something that needed to be done, but had never been done before.  The Titanic had broken up, but the researchers didn't know what exactly happened during the final moments.  So, they sent machines down there that mapped out a 15 mile area around the wreck.  Only some of the wreck had been found and they were treating this like an airplane crash site.  Basically they wanted to map out the entire wreck and determine where everything was so that they could determine how the pieces got there and ultimately what exactly happened during those final dark moments when the Titanic disappeared for many years.  The expedition did what they set out to do and produced images of the wreck.  Then, they sent a robot that could be controlled from the surface and got close images of what they couldn't identify.  Then, the researchers used that information and were able to find out what happened and in the mean time, some of them finally debunked that confounded theory that the rivets being weak sank the Titanic.  The conclusions were very interesting to see and watch as they brought to life the final moments that had been a mystery for nearly 100 years.

I found it to be a different and in some ways emotional documentary that held my interest to the end.  I  did find however that the narrator's voice was robot-like and very annoying.  I also felt that while the debunking of the weak rivet theory was interesting, it seemed like it was added to stir up controversy and drama.  That actually could've been a documentary on it's own.  Another thing I noticed even though they didn't say so was that they debunked Robert Lang's (who by the way was a member of the expedition) theory that the expansion joint (a part of the ship used for stabilizing the ship during rough weather) contributed to the break up.

I give this movie 4 stars out of 5.

For more information, here is a visual interpretation done by Parks Stephenson (one of the leading experts on the expedition) of the results:

http://marconigraph.com/titanic/breakup/mgy_breakup2.html

James Cameron's Final Word

James Cameron's Final Word is an interesting film in which a number of notable historians and experts get together and piece together what exactly happened in Titanic's final moments.  The results were fascinating, even though I disagree with one or two points.  One heated debate is the angle of the ship during the break up.  Well they found out that the Titanic couldn't have been more than 23 degrees in the air before breaking.  That puts a bullet near the heart of the theory that the Titanic was at a 45 degree angle which some survivors said it was at.  The survivors aren't unanimous and in fact are all over the place regarding the angle of the ship when she broke up which makes it quite confusing.  It also went through what happened after she disappeared beneath the waves and how certain pieces got into the places and positions that they are today at the bottom.  The only thing I disagreed with was that it came to almost a 90 degree angle at the very end.  I think more of the ship was out of the water because some of the survivors said it became almost perpendicular and then slid beneath the waves, settling back as she went.  Cameron also came out with an interesting and I think very likely theory as to what happened in the break up, explaining the pieces of double bottom found far from the wreck.  Cameron's opinion seemed at times to be the only one that mattered and unless people came up with undeniable evidence, their opinions as to what happened seemed to be bunk.  All in all however, it was excellent and enjoyable until the end when James Cameron ruined it for me by going off on his class warfare, Marxist, global warming  beliefs using the Titanic as an example.  If he'd kept that out, I would've given it 4 out of 5 stars.  I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Here's the final conclusion to the film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSGeskFzE0s

Locked Below?

It is a popular thing in movies about the Titanic to show the poor 3rd class passengers trapped behind locked gates while 1st and 2nd class passengers make their way to the lifeboats.  However, testimonies and observations of the blueprints as well as the wreck itself prove otherwise.  The only gates we know of that would hinder 3rd class passengers from getting up to the Boat Deck were waist high at the top of stairs.  One was towards the bow and one was towards the stern.  We know for a fact that the one towards the bow was locked and the stewards attempted to keep the Steerage passengers down because of Daniel Buckley's testimony but they eventually were able to get through.  Another thing that may have prevented Steerage from reaching the Boat Deck was error on the part of the crew.  Lightoller was afraid the boats would buckle and split and so he intended to lower the boats into the sea partially full and then fill them up when they were in the water from the gangway doors.  He in fact sent men down to open the gangway doors.  The passengers got wind of it and waited to board in the lower decks.  For several reasons this never happened and valuable time and seats were lost.  What mainly killed the Steerage passengers was the enormity of the ship.  They had 2.40 hours to to get to the Boat Deck from the lower decks of a 9 story sinking ship with an increasing tilt, panicking passengers, and rising water.  They had less than that actually because at first they were told to wait for orders.  Most didn't reach the Boat Deck until either the last lifeboats were about to be launched or it was too late.  The plight of 3rd class is not as well understood because their stories were not as valuable to the inquiries and press as the 1st and 2nd class passengers were.  Lightoller said what caused so many deaths in 3rd class was because they were forgotten.  I think that's absolutely true.  On the Boat Deck it was "Women and Children First" but below the decks it was survival of the fittest.  The officers mainly cared about loading and lowering the lifeboats and Captain Smith was focused on getting rescue ships to come.  The only parts of the crew that actually thought about getting the 3rd class passengers (some of whom couldn't even read the signs because of their being from different countries) were the 3rd class stewards.  Several bravely went down to the lower decks of the sinking Titanic, guiding them up to the Boat Deck and then going back down for more.

Act Like Men

There has finally been a Christian film made about the Titanic! It's called "Act Like Men" and it deals with how men ought to put women and children first and how it's relevant today. It in fact wonderfully shows how it's essential to Christianity. It interviews a number of qualified pastors and a respected Christian historian and it shows how the "women and children first" principle is biblical. The quality of the pictures and the way in which some of the photographs are made to look 3D are well done. I didn't find any historical inaccuracies throughout the film and they really did their research in making it. I highly recommend this to anyone aspiring to be a biblical man or for a woman wanting to know what to look for in a potential husband. The people that made the film are good quality men, wanting to impact the culture for God's glory. God speed them on their way.

Last Signals

There is a new independent movie out called the "Last Signals" which deals with the two Marconi Operators, Harold Bride and Jack Phillips and is becoming popular among the Titanic community. This film is the result of years of research and study. It is based off the accounts of Harold Bride, the only survivor of the two. It's in black and white, but don't be turned off by that if you don't like those types of movies. It's actually is a plus because it enabled them to use actual photographs of the Titanic and Carpathia and then bring them to life and gives the historical feel like A Night To Remember. The story begins in Belfast just before the ship goes on her sea trials and goes all the way through to Harold Bride's arrival to New York on the Carpathia. The set is impressively recreated and painstakingly accurate. While there are a few inaccuracies throughout the film in the set and a tiny bit in actions, they are fewer than even A Night To Remember and some are hardly noticeable. The story also goes based on research done by the director Tom Lynskey and shows that Harold Bride's starting to suffer from P.T.S.D. which wasn't known of at the time but research shows clearly that Bride clearly suffered from it throughout his life after the disaster. It is shown in greater detail in a longer version. Another good touch was the explosion of the engines which the wreck showed evidence of when the room was explored by James Cameron on his final dive. Some of the dialogue is taken from Harold Bride's account and I admire the close research put into it especially when Bride's accounts contradict themselves which makes it harder to discern truth from fiction. The film does have a little bit of mild language throughout it, but these are words that from Bride's accounts used in the real event. If you're a perfectionist regarding films, you may be bothered by a lack of continuity (such as hair length and style) or the superimposing of the characters using green screen which is easily distinguished but otherwise these things aren't very noticeable and remember that this is a low budget film. Hollywood didn't make this thankfully. If it'd been Hollywood, Harold Bride would've probably been falling in love with one of the maids or something where you have romance in the midst of a historical tragedy, a popular theme with movies about historical disasters. Instead, this film relied strictly based on accounts, research and evidence of what really happened. One thing which I find cool is that they had an original plate from the R.M.S. Carpathia in some of the Carpathia scenes that was probably eaten off by real Titanic survivors. The china and buttons are exact replicas and they built replicas of the engines in the Silent Room based off information received from museums and experts. The soundtrack was hauntingly beautiful and well done. The acting was very good and the English accents were believable, particularly that of Jake Swing who plays Harold Bride. I loved how Captain Smith was portrayed, particularly since the most recent films show him as overly incompetent. He was indeed in shock, but he still was taking charge and doing what he could to reach other ships which is shown in the film. The depictions of the officers was good as well and the fight with the stoker was well reconstructed from Bride's account. I loved how the scenes on Collapsible B during the final moments of the Titanic worked around the break up. Harold Bride didn't see the break up and so what Lynskey did was had Bride staring at a body floating by when the ship's lights went out. The break up happened right after that. You hear the ship tear apart, but it's not shown because this is from Bride's perspective who didn't see it. The next scene shows the stern making her final plunge into the sea which you can make out because of the stars and the light on the mast. I give this move 10 stars out of 10 because of historical accuracy, attention to detail, good acting, and quite frankly I liked seeing the Titanic portrayed by herself for the first time on film. It was in my opinion very well done and I'd recommend it along with A Night To Remember as the most historically accurate depictions of the Titanic made so far. Here's the shorter version on YouTube: Last Signals

What I Did For The 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic

My parents encourage my passion for the Titanic. Well, last Saturday my Mother and I went to the exhibit in Atlantic Station. The experience was moving. When you walk in you're given a boarding pass with the information of a real passenger. Rev. John Harper was my character and Edwina Troutt was my Mom's. I knew from the start my person died and my Mom's survived. We went dressed in period costume with myself dressed as an officer. We almost felt like celebrities with people stopping us, wanting to take our picture. At the beginning, they took our pictures in front of green screen. We were super-imposed onto a colored picture of the Grand Staircase. The beginning of the artifacts had her beginnings which included different behind the scenes things like filters and one porthole which was slightly bent. I could imagine the porthole popping off the ship when she split. The next room had things from 1st class. When we first walked in, they had Songe D' Autumne being played over the speakers which was what I believe to be one of the last pieces played by the band. Among the artifacts were tiles. There was one that came from the 1st class Smoking Room. I could just imagine the ship's chief designer Thomas Andrews stepping on it walking towards the place of his death. They also had tile from the kitchen or what's left of it. The kitchen fell through when the ship broke apart to the bottom. There were things from an Australian passenger and some pieces of chandeliers. One of them was like the ones in the photographs of the Grand Staircase meaning it came from the aft Grand Staircase. There was a sconce from the A La Carte Restaurant. It was interesting because 100 years ago that day the Wideners had a party in honor of Captain Smith. There was a water tank by it which had dents which were either caused by the break up or the pressure down there. The next room had a replica of a boiler with mirrors on either side showing the boilers go on like they did. The room reminded me of the engineers that stayed and died keeping the power going. The next room after that had a number of things. There was a bag with personal grooming items from 1st Officer Murdoch who either killed himself or made an effort to cut away Collapsible A. There was an iceberg which was the temperature of the water when the ship sank. There was a huge model of the wreck which though unfinished was huge and great to look at. They also had one of the double doors from D Deck which 1st class passengers would walk through into the Reception Room when boarding the ship. Then they had pictures of the wreck from their recent expedition along with 3D footage of the wreck. The next area had personal items like clothing, letters, and a photograph. at the end of the exhibit they had info on people from Georgia who were on the Titanic. after we left, we went through Atlanta and passed by Baptist Tabernacle where 2 weeks after the disaster the minister, Rev. MacArthur, prayed for the survivors and the choir sang for the survivors. That night, I watched a Night To Remember which as of yet is one of the most accurate portrayal of the disaster remembering what people were doing exactly 100 years ago that moment. It was a moving experience and afterwards I felt as though I'd just experienced the Titanic's demise myself.