A Night to Remember

Where survivors and relatives couldn’t be found, I have relied on published material. The official transcripts of the Senate’s investigation and the British Court of Inquiry of course provide several thousand pages of fascinating testimony. Jack Thayer’s privately published reminiscences are an engagingly frank account. Dr Washington Dodge’s privately printed speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco is equally interesting. Lawrence Beesley’s book, The Loss of the SS Titanic (Houghton Mifflin, 1912), contains a classic description worth anybody’s time. Archibald Gracie’s The Truth about the Titanic (Mitchell Kennerley, 1913) is invaluable for chasing up who went in what boat – Colonel Gracie was an indefatigable detective. Commander Lightoller’s Titanic and other Ships (Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1935) mirrors his fine mixture of humour and bravery. Shan Bullock’s A ‘Titanic’ Hero: Thomas Andrews, Shipbuilder (Norman-Remington, 1913) is a labour of love, piecing together the last hours of this wonderful man.

Good accounts by some survivors have also appeared from time to time in magazines and newspapers – the anniversary is apparently a godsend to the city desk. Typical – Jack Thayer’s story in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin on 14 April 1932 … fireman Louis Michelsen’s interview in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on 15 May 1955 … the engaging and lively account by Mrs René Harris in the 23 April 1932 issue of Liberty magazine.

The contemporary Press is less satisfactory. The New York Times of course did a brilliant job, but most of the New York papers were extremely unreliable. Better work was done by newspapers in towns where local citizens were involved – for instance, the Milwaukee papers on the Crosbys and Minahans … the San Francisco papers on the Dodges … the Cedar Rapids Gazette on the Douglases. Abroad, the London Times was thorough if dull. Most fascinating, perhaps, were the papers in Belfast, where the Titanic was built, and those in Southampton, where so many of the crew lived. These were seafaring towns, and the coverage had to be good.

The contemporary popular magazines – Harper’s, Sphere, Illustrated London News – are mostly a rehash of Press stories, but an occasional gem pops up, like Henry Sleeper Harper’s description in the 27 April 1912 Harper’s, or Mrs Charlotte Collyer’s fine account in the 26 May 1912 Semi-Monthly Magazine. The technical journals of the time offer better pickings – the 1911 special edition of the British magazine Shipbuilder, giving complete data on the Titanic’s construction; and similar material in the 26 May 1911 issue of Engineering and the 1 July 1911 issue of Scientific American.

The other actors in the drama – the people on the rescue ship Carpathia – have been as generous and cooperative as those on the Titanic. Mr Robert H. Vaughan has been invaluable in helping to piece together the details of that wild dash through the night. Sir James Bisset and Mr R. Purvis have been especially helpful in recalling the names of various Carpathia officers. Mrs Louis M. Ogden has supplied a treasury of anecdotes – all the more valuable because she was one of the first on deck. Mrs Diego Suarez (then Miss Evelyn Marshall) contributed a vivid picture of the scene as the Titanic’s boats edged alongside.

There is not much published material about the Carpathia, but Captain Sir Arthur H. Rostron’s book, Home from the Sea (Macmillan, 1931), contains an excellent account. His testimony at the United States and British hearings is also valuable, and the same goes for the testimony of wireless operator Harold Thomas Cottam.

In addition to the people on the Titanic and Carpathia, certain others contributed valuable help in preparing this book. Captain Charles Victor Groves has aided me greatly in piecing together the story of the Californian, on which he served as Third Officer. Charles Dienz, who at the time was maître of the Ritz Carlton on the Amerika, has given valuable information on how these ocean-going à la carte restaurants operated – data especially useful since only one of the Titanic’s restaurant staff was saved. The Marconi Company has supplied extremely interesting information on wireless installations of the time and Helen Hernandez of Twentieth Century Fox has been a gold mine of useful leads.