Titanic History

Iceberg Warnings as Early as January (Popular Mechanics, 1912)

The attached two paragraphs appeared in Popular Mechanics some six weeks prior to the maiden voyage of Titanic:

As many as 4,500 different bergs have been actually counted in a run of 2,000 miles; estimated heights of from 800 to 1,700 feet are not uncommon, and bergs with lengths of from 6 to 82 miles are numerous.


The notice indicated that if the Indian Ocean is suffering such a large number then certainly it can be surmised that the North Atlantic will be plagued doubly. It stands to reason that if the editors of this magazine were aware of the heavy presence of South-bound icebergs, then the naval community must also have been in the know.

Iceberg Warnings as Early as January (Popular Mechanics, 1912) Read More »

SECOND TEST MISC.

How I was Saved (Coronet Magazine, 1951)

No doubt, the most glam passenger to survive the Titanic disaster was the fashion designer Lady Duff-Gordon (1863 – 1935: a.k.a. Lucile). Attached is the great couturier’s account describing the pandemonium she witnessed on deck, the screams heard as Titanic began her plunge and the sun coming up the next morning:

I shall never forget the beauty of that April dawn, stealing over the cold Atlantic, lighting up the icebergs till they looked like giant opals. As we saw other boats rowing alongside, we imagined that most passengers on the Titanic had been saved, like us; not one of us even guessed the appalling truth…

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Titanic Verses (The Bookman, 1912)

The Titanic catastrophe was not seen by many to be a poetic topic, however there were a few wordsmiths who did address the subject. The link above will lead you to two of these poems; one by Charles Hanson Towne (1877 – 1949), a poet, essayist and playwright who, at the time of the sinking, was serving as an editor at Designer magazine. The second poem was penned by M.C. Lehr, of whom there is no surviving information.

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‘I Was On Board Titanic” (Pageant Magazine, 1953)

The 1953 Titanic reunion took place in New York City. Numbered among the nine survivors was Edith Russell, who had been nineteen at the time of the ship’s sinking. Also in attendance that day was the writer Seymour Ettman, who collaborated with Russell in crafting the attached five page article about her experiences the night Titanic slipped below the surface of the North Atlantic:

If the Titanic sinks, will they transfer the luggage?

Miss, if I were you, I’d go back to your room and kiss your lovely things goodbye.

‘I Was On Board Titanic” (Pageant Magazine, 1953) Read More »

SECOND TEST MISC.

How John Jacob Astor Died (New York Times, 1912)

Two eyewitness accounts relaying the last moments in the life of millionaire investor John Jacob Astor IV (born and his gallantry in refusing a place in the lifeboats. According to Mrs. Churchill Candee (born Helen Churchill Hungerford, 1859 – 1949)and Second Class passenger Hilda Slater (1882 – 1965) he lived up to the expected standards of the day:

I saw Colonel John Jacob Astor hand his young wife into a boat tenderly and then ask an officer whether or not he might also go. When permission was refused he stepped back and coolly took out his cigarette case.
‘Good bye, dearie’ he called gaily, as he lighted his cigarette and leaned over the rail, ‘I’ll join you later.’

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Isador Straus (New York Times, 1912)

The attached obituary of Isador Straus (born 1845) as it appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES the day after the news of his death was made known. At the time he had secured passage on board Titanic, Straus was co-owner of the Macy’s department store with his brother Nathan. A trusted advisor to U.S. President Grover Cleveland, he was elected to represent the New Yorkers of the fifty-third district and served in that post between 1894 and 1895. He died in the company of his wife Ida; unlike Straus, her body was never recovered.

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SECOND TEST MISC.

Weighing-In on Bruce Ismay (Current Literature Magazine, 1912)

A couple of admirals weigh in as to the innocence or guilt of Bruce Ismay (1862 – 1937), Managing Director of the White Star Line. While the PITTSBURGH DISPATCH seemed to think that a debate was simply not necessary:

…But it cannot be ignored that the man who in the management of the line had sent the great steamer to sea with lifeboats for about one-third of the ship’s company, bore a responsibility that might well have been atoned by joining the gallant men who went down with the ship.

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The Titanic Disaster (The Nation, 1912)

Not long after the Titanic catastrophe was made known to the world there were many rumors and half truths that had to be sorted out and recognized as such in order to fully understand the full scope of the catastrophe; the editors of The Nation printed this article which contributed to that effort:

…two terrible, damning facts stand out: the first, that the ship was speeding through an ice-field of the presence of which its officers were fully aware; the second, is that every life could readily have been saved had there been boats and rafts enough to keep people afloat in a clear, starry night on an exceptionally smooth Atlantic sea. Both these facts are indisputable.

As for the lifeboats, these expensive affairs that could cost the large sum of $425.00 apiece – there were but twenty of them in addition to a few rafts…

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