Titanic on Trial
Page 26
Mary Smith (née Hughes), 18, First Class Passenger
Lucien and Mary Smith had been married for just eight weeks and were returning from their honeymoon when they boarded the Titanic in Southampton. He was 24, she was just 18. Eight months after the disaster, Smith gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Lucien P. Smith II after his deceased father. Less than a year later, she married Robert Daniel, another Titanic survivor, who was rescued in the same boat as Smith and Mrs Astor.
Henry Stengel, 54, First Class Passenger
The son of a ‘pioneering’ leather manufacturer, Stengel set up the firm Stengel & Rothschild with Abraham Rothschild in Newark. He and his wife Annie boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. After arriving in New York, she told reporters: ‘The nearest thing I’ve ever known to heaven on earth was meeting my husband again on the deck of the Carpathia.’ Two years after surviving the Titanic, Stengel died of pneumonia – the same illness that would kill his wife 42 years later.
George Symons, 24, Lookout
Born in Weymouth in 1888, Symons had served on ships since the age of 15. His previous post was on board the Olympic.
William Ward, 36, Saloon Steward
Ward had had 20 years’ experience at sea when he joined the Titanic in Southampton. He was one of more than 300 stewards on the ship.
Joseph Wheat, 29, Assistant Second Steward
Born in Rock Ferry, in Merseyside, Wheat joined the Titanic in Belfast for the delivery trip to Southampton. In common with many of the ship’s crew, he had previously served on the Olympic.
Edward Wheelton, 28/29, Saloon Steward
Born in Liverpool in either 1883 or 1884 (there are conflicting sources), Wheelton was another transfer from the Olympic. He claimed to have worked for six years as First Class Steward with the White Star Line.
Ella White (née Holmes), 55, First Class Passenger
A resident of New York, White boarded the ship with her maid and her manservant at Cherbourg. She later explained her living arrangements to the US Inquiry as follows: ‘My home really is Briarcliffe Lodge, Briarcliffe Manor, NY. That is my summer house. When I am in New York, I am always here at the Waldorf-Astoria.’ By 1942, however, it seems she had forsaken the Waldorf-Astoria in favour of the Plaza, which is where she died.
James Widgery, 37, Bath Steward
Born in Bristol, Widgery boarded the Titanic at Southampton. His previous post had been on board the St Paul.
Henry Wilde, 39, Chief Officer
Born in 1872, Wilde was an apprentice and then Third Mate on sailing ships until he served on his first steamship in 1895. He joined the White Star Line in 1897, and served on several ships before becoming First Officer on the Olympic in 1911. He replaced Murdoch as Chief Officer of the Titanic in a reshuffle of the ranks. He married and had six children, but in December 1910 his wife and their newly born twins died – possibly of scarlet fever. The other four children survived. Wilde had misgivings about the Titanic and, before leaving Queenstown, wrote a letter to his sister saying: ‘I still don’t like this ship… I have a queer feeling about it.’ His body was never recovered.
Hugh Woolner, First Class Passenger
Son of the British sculptor Thomas Woolner, Hugh Woolner graduated from Cambridge University in 1888. He joined the London Stock Exchange in 1892, and three years later set up his own brokerage firm, Woolner & Co. Just before his 32nd birthday, he married Mary Simpson, an American woman, and the couple had a daughter soon after. Mary died of a suspected brain aneurysm in 1906. After a series of mishaps, including several court cases, Woolner’s company went bankrupt in 1907, and he tried to build a new life for himself in America. In March 1912, his mother died and he had to rush home for her funeral, booking his return journey on the Titanic. After surviving the sinking, he was married a few months later to another Mary, the daughter of fellow stockbroker Luke Ionides, with whom he would go on to have six children. Woolner died of respiratory failure in 1925 at a relative’s home in Budapest, aged 58.
Footnotes
(a) The casualty figures for both these incidents are disputed by some, but seem to be the most accurate based on current information.
(b) This is the date the Titanic was supposed to leave for sea trials. Due to adverse weather, the trials were postponed to the following day.
(c) A ‘chit’ was simply a written report for the ship’s log – literally a chit of paper.
(d) This was the message from La Caronia, received several hours earlier.
(ef) In modern parlance, this equates to 266°.
(g) Bride is mistaken. The message was actually being transmitted to the Antillian.
(hi) This message was sent at 5.35pm NY time, i.e. 7.25pm ship’s time.
(j) The ‘corner’ is the point at which the ship stopped heading south-west to avoid the ice, and turned west towards New York.
(k) Cape Race was the Marconi wireless station in Newfoundland which was used to relay messages from ship to shore.
(l) The order ‘hard a-starboard’ was a hangover from the days when ships were steered by a tiller, which had to be pushed to starboard to turn the ship to port (and vice versa).
(m) If correct, this suggests the ship had averaged over 21.3 knots in the previous 12 hours, on corrected time.
(n) To ‘draw the fires’ and ‘pull the furnaces’ means to smother the fires and reduce heat in the boilers.
(o) To ‘tell someone off’ meant to assign someone to a post or job.
(p) Peuchen is probably referring to Edward Crosby.
(q) Miss Laura Mabel Francatelli.
(r) Buckley is mistaken, as Mrs Astor was in boat No 4, while he was in boat No 13.
(s) Rhoda Abbott was the only woman on Collapsible A.
(t) Rostron is miscounting. The missing boat is probably Collapsible A, picked up a month later by the Oceanic with three bodies on board.
(u) Merritt was in fact the city correspondent of the Sunday American, which was owned by William Randolph Hearst.
(v) The actual number of survivors landed at New York was 711.
(w) Lord Mersey, Wreck Commissioner, appointed by the British Government to investigate the Titanic disaster.
(x) The Committee on Commerce headed by Senator Smith, which was directed by the US Government to investigate the tragedy.
(y) *The boat Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon were on board.
(z) The hull was damaged for 300 feet and across five compartments.
(aa) Queenstown in Co Cork, Ireland, is now known as Cobh.
(ab) Senior and junior officers operated an overlapping system of watches which ensured that one senior and two junior officers were on watch at all times.
This edition published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Copyright © Nic Compton 2012
Front cover photo, top © Bridgeman Art Library and The Illustrated London News Picture Library
Front cover photo, bottom, and back cover photo © Getty Images
ISBN 978-1-4081-4028-4
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