The RMS Titanic

Over the years, I have debated posting a blog entry on the anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking, which took place on April 15, 1912.  Last year, I came very close.  However, I always stopped myself, knowing that maybe a person or two would care, that most would skip over it, saying, “Oh, look, Ashlee’s rambling about the Titanic again.”

But this year, I felt that I had to.  On April 10, the 104^th anniversary of the day the Titanic set sail from Southampton, I began posted one status on Facebook per day, talking about what took place on the ship that day, as well as profiling some of the passengers and crew on the ship.  The reason I did this was because, throughout my entire “infatuation” with the Titanic, I have been mocked.  Countless jokes have been made about the sinking.  After 104 years, people have forgotten that the sinking of the Titanic was a real event, that real people just like us died in agony.  I wanted to bring their suffering to light.

With each status, I left the fates of the people I wrote about ambiguous.  Now I would like to reveal what happened.

Bess, Loraine, and Trevor Allison

Hudson and Bess Allison were visiting Europe and decided to join many of their friends by sailing back to their home in Westmount, Québec aboard the Titanic for her maiden voyage.  With Hudson and Bess were their two-year-old daughter, Loraine, their eleven-month-old son, Trevor, as well as a number of their household staff.  The only person in the Allison family to survive was Trevor.  Hudson, Bess, and two-year-old Loraine were all killed, making Loraine the only child in first or second class to lose her life.

There are many rumors as to why Loraine, who could have so easily been placed into a lifeboat, died.  I’ve read that the reason is that their nurse, Alice Cleaver, who was carrying Trevor, had gotten separated from the family and boarded a lifeboat with the baby.  Hudson and Bess refused to leave the ship without their son and therefore perished, not knowing he was already safe.  Only Hudson’s body was found, which was then buried in the family’s native Chesterfield, Ontario.  Trevor, though he survived the sinking, would die at the age of eighteen due to accidental poisoning.  He was buried next to his father.

Hudson and Bess Allison

Not much is known about the Andersson family in third class.  They were emigrating from Sweden to live with relatives in Winnipeg.  Traveling with Anders and Alfrida Andersson were their five children: Sigrid, 11; Ingeborg, 9; Ebba, 6; Sigvard, 4; and Ellis, 2.  Not one person in the Andersson family survived the sinking of the Titanic.  Some say that the gates below decks were locked, preventing third class passengers from boarding lifeboats in order to give preference to first class.  If that were the case, then it is likely that the Andersson family never had a chance, locked below decks as the water rose around them before they drowned with nowhere to escape.

Benjamin, Eva, and Esther Hart

The Hart family traveled in second class.  More is known about the Hart family because Esther and her seven-year-old daughter, Eva, survived the sinking.  Eva’s father, Benjamin, did not.  Eva was also the last survivor of the sinking to be able to remember any details, as the other remaining survivors had been too young at the time.  Eva has said that the last thing her father said to her was to “be a good girl and hold Mummy’s hand.”  She never saw her father again.  His body was never recovered.

The victims of the sinking were not only passengers.  There were seven main officers, in addition to Captain E.J. Smith.  Chief Officer Henry Wilde, First Officer William Murdoch, Second Officer Charles Lightoller, Third Officer Herbert Pitman, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, and Sixth Officer James Moody. Originally, Murdoch was to have been the Chief Officer while Lightoller was to have been First. When Captain E.J. Smith brought in Henry Wilde for the maiden voyage, both men were bumped down and, conveniently, Second Officer David Blair was removed entirely.

Of the officers, four survived: Second Officer Charles Lightoller, Third Officer Herbert Pitman, Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, and Fifth Officer Harold Lowe.  Chief Officer Henry Wilde, First Officer William Murdoch, and Sixth Officer James Moody all perished, as did Captain Smith.

Henry Tingle Wilde

William McMaster Murdoch

During the inquiries, some said that they saw an officer shoot himself.  This is most often assumed to be William Murdoch, though there is no proof of this.  Other accounts say he was swept overboard when a great wave washed across the deck.  He was thirty-nine.  Henry Wilde died trying to save others.  Wilde was last seen trying to free one of the collapsible lifeboats as the ship sank from under him.  Other accounts say that he swam to an overturned boat before dying of hypothermia.  He was thirty-nine.  The youngest officer was James Moody, who was a mere twenty-four years old when he died.  There are different accounts as to his fate.  He was offered the opportunity to man one of the lifeboats, which would have been his privilege as the most junior officer, but he refused in order to stay aboard the ship and continue lowering boats.  None of the officers’ bodies were recovered.

James Paul Moody

The reason I posted about these people was to highlight an oft forgotten fact: they were real people who suffered and died.  After 104 years, people seem to have forgotten that the Titanic carried people just like us: mothers, fathers, children, siblings.  People from all walks of life died when they should have been saved.  They were real people with stories, and dreams, and families.  They were drowned, they froze to death, they clung to the rail as the ship sank beneath their feet.  They floated in the freezing water, crying out for help from the twenty lifeboats drifting around them.  Only one boat came back, rescuing four survivors from the water out of 1,500 people who perished.  Put yourselves in their place.  Picture receiving a letter from your sister and her family saying that they are coming to stay with you.  Then you wake up to learn that the ship that they were traveling on sank and that she, her husband, and three children were all killed.

Just because it has been over 100 years does not mean that these people, nor their legacies, should be forgotten.  They should be remembered, not through auctions of plates, and glasses, and shoes sold to the rich who like collecting artifacts from the disaster.  They deserve to be remembered and they deserve respect.  Because they existed and 104 years later, their memory deserves to live on.  Over 1,500 people lost their lives that night and they do not deserve to be used as jokes all over the Internet.

I don’t care about the Titanic from the movie.  Yes, that was what sparked my interest, but that is not why my interest held.  However, one of the best portrayals of these very real people and their suffering is from James Cameron’s movie during the sinking.  There are no boundaries between the different classes, no privilege once the lifeboats are gone and the ship breaks in two.  To really understand the horror of that night, I encourage you to watch these two videos.

When you watch them, think about this: most of the lifeboats are gone.  Almost every single person running to save their lives will soon lose them.  Four people were rescued from the water, out of nearly every person you see running to the stern or jumping from it.

Thank you for reading.