Titanic documents

pictture by Jerry Routolo

 

 

1 - 2	Objects on and around Titanic: Discussion, Tulloch expedition results (1987), with Walter Lord.
3	Artifacts, 1993: Vera Galespie on the Navatril family.
4 - 5 - 6 - 7	Artifacts, 1993 expedition, George Tulloch.
8 - 9 - 10 - 11	Russian expedition observations: Crew, Titanic survivor Eva Hart, 1991 IMAX/MIR expedition.
12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21	Titanic survivor Louise Pope, June 28, 1991: Opinions on raising artifacts, and perhaps even Titanic’s bow section.
22 - 23	Bill Broad on Titanic artifacts, 1993.
24	Robert Ballard on Titanic artifacts.
25 - 26 - 27	Bill MacQuitty, Oct. 25, 1993: Titanic steel, Captain Stanley Lord (of the Californian), Captain Smith.
27 - 28	Walter Lord and Tom Dettweiler on Captain Smith’s “missing time.”
29	Walter Lord, Stanley Resor, on leadership, Sept. 13, 1993.
30  - 45	Walter Lord, C. Pellegrino, discussion for book proposal, “Artifact,” Sept. 13, 1993:
30	People who very late in sinking, thought Titanic would remain afloat.
31	Near the end, Charles Joughin meeting Dr. O’Loughlin.
33 - 33a - 34	Dr. Simpson: “Spoken like a true Ulster woman.” Also, Virginia [not Ada] Clark.
35 - 36	Stephen Blackwell (looted items); Violet Jessop.
37	[Bottom] mail room; Mrs. Chambers (ice through stateroom porthole), Boxhall, Henry Harper, ship’s doctor [RE also, Voyage 34, Fall 2000, medical care, Simpson, O’Loughlin, Titanic].
38a - 38b	Walter Lord: Not many below deck stories survive; Charles Joughin is among these.
39	Walter Lord: The Goldsmiths [see also pp 450-461]
40 - 41	Walter Lord: The slow revelation of danger; Smith orders staterooms locked; looting; Ryerson’s maid almost gets locked in. More on Stephen Blackwell’s brushes found on body of looting crew member.
42a - 42b - 42c - 42d	Walter Lord: More on child (Alfred Rush) lost with Mr. Goldsmith [RE also 42A, 42B].
43	Alfred Rush and George Theobald details.
44 - 45 - 45b	Menus; Jurassic Park G. Poinar, Recital Page (N.Y.S. Supreme Court), required by Discovery Channel, C. Haas, G. Tulloch, prior to 1996 expedition Titanic VIII. (Arthur C. Clarke: “This should be the last word on some famous first words.”)
46	Walter Lord on Boxhall, ice damage in first seconds, April 10, 1991.
47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52	Walter Lord, C. Pellegrino: Timing of iceberg impact (Boxhall’s walk replicated in Lord’s apartment, April 10, 1991) - and Captain Smith, afterward; Titanic probably ½ mile from berg, impact site, after final Full-Stop.
53 - 54	Walter Lord, C. Pellegrino: downblast; Lightoller pinned against the grille; Col. Gracie’s harrowing ride down.
55	Walter Lord (1991): Bride and Phillips; the lady who fainted in the Marconi Shack; Dr. O’Loughlin’s (or Simpson’s, or both): orders to stay inside the ship at the very end, and to prepare by getting very drunk for the final plunge.
56	Walter Lord, C. Pellegrino: Losses among 3rd Class, including entire Rice Family (notation that Eugene Rice, FDNY, heard relatives had sailed on Titanic and were lost); differences in defining “age of a man” for boys in 1st and 3rd class, including R. Abbot’s boys. In 3rd class, some exits to the top deck were blocked, some were not.
57a - 57b - 58	George Rheims and “shots in the dark.”
59	W. Lord on Captain Smith sitting with the Thayers and Ismay (“Amongst the ice”); Rothschild and F. Dent Ray encounter.
60 - 61	W. Lord: Rothschild and Ray in denial; purser handing out belongings; post office, mail bags preserved, preservation of paper; further notes on evidence of looting by crewmen.
62 - 63	W. Lord, C. Pellegrino: Mail paper (locations of, RE also p 50); Boxhall (more on location when he heard the warning bells); G. Rowe.
64	W. Lord on preservation, Ballard, and the Grand Stairway.
65 - 66	W. Lord: Some notes on the Californian Incident.
67 - 86	Walter Lord, C. Pellegrino (with annotations): On “The Lay of the Ice,” with maps and attachments.
87 - 89	W. Lord, C. Pellegrino: Lights seen from Californian and Titanic.
89 - 90	W. Lord: Mrs. Mellinger gives Lightoller her fur coat after rescue; he gives her his whistle [daughter, Mellinger] never forgave Walter Lord for testing the whistle, blowing it, feeling that Lightoller should have been the last person to actually use it.
91 - 92	Further discussion of Californian incident.
92 - 96	W. Lord, C. Pellegrino: Determining probable final locations of mail written aboard Titanic during voyage. RE also COM. FILE, Letter by Eva hart and her mother.
96 - 98	Walter Lord: More analysis of seconds to impact; the signals received below deck by Barrett and simultaneous breach of hull.
99	W. Lord: Captain Stanley Lord (of the Californian) vs Walter Lord and Holt over A Night to Remember.
100 - 103	George Tulloch and Walter Lord, March 25, 1991: Disposition RE Titanic artifacts; W. Lord agrees with Tulloch’s principles.
103 - 104	G. Tulloch (3/25/91): Proposal for blowing away sediment to reveal iceberg damage. [Later, sediment penetrating sonar is applied.]
105 - 106	G. Tulloch, C. Pellegrino (3/25/91): Why Ballard probably was not looking at iceberg damage in parted seams; bottom impact; Tulloch on, “Why 22 knots that night?”
106 - 116	G. Tulloch (3/25/91): Was Ismay in charge of the ship’s speed? Coal Bunker 10 fire; Tulloch asks some good questions about the fire, Barrett’s testimony, and Captain Smith.
117 - 120	G. Tulloch (3/25/91): Some observations on heroism.
120	G. Tulloch, C. Pellegrino (3/25/91): A note on Hatshepsut sarcophagus fragment rumors (a persistent tale in Thebes).
212	G. Tulloch (3/25/91): Proposal to get bot into Coal Bunker 10, see if it’s empty as Barrett said, or were they still putting a fire out?
121 - 124	G. Tulloch (3/25/91): In defense of Captain Smith, taking the high road (Doumas vs Marinatos example), an inordinate belief in technology.
124	Bill MacQuitty, W. Lord (1991): On Alfred White and Archie Frost (also Jack Thayer, who knew Frost).
125 - 128	Edith Russell (BBC, April 14, 1970). See also p 530 (+) Comm File, E. Russell’s diary, W. Lord (under Passengers, “In Their Own Words, Titanic,” Charlespellegrino.com).
129	(A) Futrelle (B) Ken Marschall, 2009 analysis and conclusions, mapping report on open portholes, open gangway doors.
131 - 132	Marjorie Newell Robb (1991): Stairway floating; consistent with Joseph Scarrott (RE: Lord Mercey) account of a man floating on part of a large stairway (Scarrott, aboard the other lifeboat that went back).
133 - 134	Sir Arthur C. Clarke RE Ruth Blanchard (age 104).
135 - 137	Literary agent R. Galen on Artifact (before W. Lord became ill and said the book should be a solo project - time to pass the torch to a new generation, with request that the new generation also “pass the torch forward.” The book became Ghosts of the Titanic [Title was changed out of courtesy, because a good book by that title already existed]).
138 - 140	C. Pellegrino, S. King RE Titanic, archaeology.
144 - 145	Edith Russell (April 28, 1956): Explaining to Walter Lord, the toy pig (initially, she was angry at Walter).
146 - 155	Hugh Woolner (April 26, 1912): P151: W. Lord RE Woolner on Steward J. Hardy.
156 - 163	Spencer V. Silverthorne to W. Lord; noted that he saw berg go aft and out of sight as ship moved on.
164 - 169	Countess Rothes: Taking a young Spanish bride aboard Boat 8.
170 - 174	Helen Candee (May, 1912): “Sealed Orders.”
175	Mrs Thayer, letter to President Taft RE his friend, Archie Butt.
176 - 181	R.N. Williams: Vivid description of the break and rising of the stern; shots in the dark.
182 - 186	Alfred White, Archie Frost: Bill MacQuitty, Walter Lord; letter by Frank Johnston with Alfred White letter, from 1912. (RE: Crew, in, “In Their Own Words, Titanic,” Charlespellegrino.com).
187 - 188	R. N. Williams (May 1964) to Walter Lord (including note on the music heard).
189 - 191	Walter Lord, July 1957 to Mr. Vallance, RE music heard.
192 - 195	Anna Sjoblom, notes RE letter to Walter Lord, and discussions. Sjoblom mentions closed stairway (against 3rd class). See also p 56, W. Lord: Losses among 3rd Class. Sjoblom notes (RE: W. Lord, p192), escape via crew emergency stairway (p193, 195). Joseph Scarrott, in British Inquiry, described the stairway in detail; Lightoller believed the Boat Deck was not for 3rd Class.
196 - 201	J. Witter (2nd Class smoke room steward) to W. Lord. Cleaning the smoke room at moment of impact. P 198 [RE: pp125-128, Edith Russell; probably the hysterical woman he helped into Boat # 11]. P198: Lights slowly fade after break-up of the stern.
202 - 205	Spencer V. Silverthorne, interview with Walter Lord, July 14, 1955: includes observed height of iceberg.
206 - 207	Mrs. Paul Schabert: Letter, aboard Carpathia, April 18, 1912. Boat #11 [Edith Russell; see also p 386]. Why Schabert did not get into lifeboat without her brother, and a man telling her she made a great mistake not getting into that boat. The man was Ismay. Sees outlines of great icebergs all around. Orchestra first playing in drawing room. Alternating sentences about widows, and babies saved while both parents drowned - alternating with sentences about jewelry lost. Phillips is said to have tapped out to Carpathia, “No hope for me.”
208 - 209 - 210  - 211 -  212	Karl H. Behr, (Boat 5, with Pittman): Passengers rebelled against going back; Ismay on deck; during early starboard list, notes passengers went instinctively uphill, to port, and toward the side of the ship dominated by Lightoller’s deadly rules; Behr under impression that they would return to Titanic (after it was stabilized) and that lifeboats were for 1st class only.
213 - 219	Mrs. John Stewart White, letter to her cousin, April 22, 1912: She is the 1st class woman described by Henry Harper (and others) wearing a Kimono. The impact [p1005 at Amer. Inq.; stateroom forward starboard, E Deck] - like running over a bed of pebbles. Had been treated in room by ship’s surgeon after tripping on a rug and spraining ankle. On deck, men were angry about unnecessary launch of lifeboats [RE: E. Russell corroborates this, in her BBC Interview]. Boat 8 (?). Jokes as first boats depart; wonders later, why so many very young children in last lifeboats are without mothers?
220-221	Regarding Dr. Simpson: Letter by Charles Lightoller to the mother of Dr. Simpson, May 1, 1912.
222	A passenger who last saw Dr. Simpson: Letter, Lizette Simpson (sister) to their mother, October 8, 1912.
223 - 230	Celiney Yasbeck (3rd class, newly married; husband, Antoni, lost): Letter to Walter Lord, June 15, 1955: describes being thrown out of bed at impact, and early flooding of rooms in bow section.
231 - 238	George Rheims, letter to his wife, April 19, 1012: Near place where Grand Stairway broke; saw and heard gunshots; lost Joe Loring - tangled in ropes. The “horrible explosions” came long after disentangled from ropes and chairs. As ship breaks up, after much earlier “first explosion” (probably the break-away and rising of the grand stairway), Rheims reaches Boat A (see also p 421).
239 - 241	Ernest Hill (the Lapland): From a letter to W. Lord from Arnold A. Robert, Feb. 7, 1956 - regarding a friend of Titanic Marconi Operator Phillips.
242 - 252	Mrs Louis M. Ogden (1st class passenger): Letter to W. Lord, Nov. 25, 1955, about being on the Carpathia, afterward.
254 - 259	Steward F. Dent Ray, letter to Walter Lord, 1955 (see also p798, Amer. Inquiry).
260 - 265	Helen R. Ostby (1st class passenger), letter to W. Lord, 1956: Notes on men jumping into the lifeboat; Pittman’s judgment.
266 - 267	Ida Strauss, letter mailed from Titanic (Wednesday), posted from Cherbourg, France: Describes the near collision between the Titanic and the New York.
268	Maude Slocomb, masseuse, Titanic’s Turkish Baths (annotated interview, typed, by Walter Lord, July 1955): Premonitions; finding the Turkish Baths in messy condition, requiring a long clean-up and final detailing by Slocomb; mail clerk Iago Smith (“I smell ice”); awakened by impact in a bunk near the Turkish Baths; Steward Wheat pushes “Sloky” into Boat 11, follows; Slocomb tires of Edith Russell’s constantly playing musical toy pig to the children in #11, one of whom Slocomb took into the boat; aboard Carpathia, a mother rushes up and finds the baby Slocomb had been holding all night. Heard music, identifies “Nearer my God to Thee.”
269 - 278	Karl H. Behr, memoir account, to Walter Lord, 1955: The too large ship in which crew did not know where the squash court was located. Seeing men unfamiliar with their own ship did not bode well to Behr. Felt collision aft, on C Deck, but believed ship was okay because the engines started running forward again. Reports ice gathered in portholes, starboard. “Helen” referred to in E Deck starboard room is Mr. Beckwith’s step-daughter (NOTE: It is Beckwith’s satchel that Tulloch expedition recovered in 1987, evidently filled with monogrammed items from several staterooms near forward Geand Stairway). Notes on Ismay, after he saw Captain Smith heading below decks, alone. Behr states he did not want to obey Ismay’s urging to find a space in the boats. Forward on the curved Boat deck, slants up toward bow: list not as noticeable, forward. Observes the lethal confusion of sending people initially to the glassed-in Promenade Deck and then lowering lifeboats to Promenade… a man offers Behr a gun, in the lifeboat (fearing that they will become castaways). Behr in the court case, with regard to Ismay’s, “I was only a passenger” defense. Behr said otherwise: Ismay was authority, not a passenger.
279	Harry G. Barr, letter about his father and Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, September 28, 1955.
280 - 284	Mrs J.J. Astor, by W.H. Dobbyn, letter, May 15, 1912: “Haunting” the White Star office for word of people at sea [RE also: K.H. Behr, p277, parag. 3]; impact; engines start again; saw ice on the port hole window. In the lifeboat, people refused to row back and rescue those left behind on ocean surface after Titanic disappeared. Mr. Astor, at the lifeboats, had put his hat on a boy and intimidated Lightoller into letting the boy enter a lifeboat, and live.
285 - 306	Mrs. Paul Schabert [RE: Typed transcript, pp 206 - 207].
307 - 316	Stewardess Mary Sloan, letter written aboard the Lapland [RE also, Ernest Hill, p239-241], April 27, 1912: Impact; Dr. Simpson (“spoken like a true Ulster girl”); Dr. O’Loughlin. On stepping away from a lifeboat, and later seeing the panic begin (p314). Picking up survivors from an overturned collapsible boat.
317 - 324	Quartermaster George Rowe, letter to Walter Lord: Iceberg as it passed stern, firing the distress rockets, Ismay departing in Boat C.
325 - 330	Mrs. Ryerson, letter, April 18, 1913: Ismay and Iceberg warnings; abandoning a call for help from the Deutschland.
331 - 334	Stephen Weart Blackwell (nephew of) 1st class passenger: evidence of stateroom looting by someone in a crew jersey, as Titanic sank. Grandmother’s premonition.
335 - 354	Marconi Operator Harold Bride’s original, handwritten report to the Marconi Company (see analysis under CREW, “In Their Own Words, Titanic” section).
355 - 412	Helen Candee: Detailed memoir for her family: “Down to the Sea in Ships.” (As in Ghosts of the Titanic and film, Ghosts of the Abyss.)
413 - 420	Harold Godfrey Lowe, Affidavit, British Consulate, New York, May, 1912: Inspected Titanic’s lifeboats in Belfast, and afterward aboard Carpathia. Practice lowering of sample lifeboats in Southampton was only boat drill he saw take place on Titanic. Saw ice notice on chart; calculated that Titanic would not be in position of ice during his watch. 6 - 8PM, 74 revolutions, full speed ahead; turned in at 8PM and did not notice a drop in temperature up to that time; slept through 11:40PM impact. P 417: Interesting conversation with Moody. Ends up in command of #14 and several other boats routed together; went to scene of sinking with sail up and a small crew after transferring most passengers off into other lifeboats. During initial lowering, says fired a revolver in air as passed each deck, after men tried to dive into #14. See also Joseph Scarrott (Brit. Inq.): The other boat that went back, picking up survivors.
421 - 424	RE Joe Loring, George Rheims - letter to Walter Lord, April 1987 (paper dating from just before Titanic voyage, p423), daughter of Loring asks if this was a premonition.
425 - 427	Charles Joughin, letter to Walter Lord, Nov 2, 1955.
429	Captain Anderson on Charles Joughin.
430 - 432	Edwina Mackenzie Traut, BBC, 1975, and letter to William MacQuitty, 1958: records an instance of mutation of memory - swears she heard animals (chickens and cows) in steerage.
433 - 437	Miss Francatelli (of the Duff Gordon party), letter, April 28, 1912: Description of E Deck forward impact (in Saloon passengers’ [servants’] quarters); see Wilding on screwing down of doors outside her stateroom; Mrs Duff Gordon not wanting to leave husband; story of pandemonium and gunshots near last forward lifeboats.
438 - 442	Marguerite Schwarzenbach (maiden name Frolicher in 1912), letter to Walter Lord, 1955: Introduces herself as “the seasick Swiss Titanic survivor” - now a grandmother with 12 grandchildren living from Connecticut to California and Zurich; observations RE impact, Pittman at Boat 5, on Murdoch’s side of the ship, where men were allowed to enter the lifeboats with their wives and children, breaking the bottleneck and filling as many seats as possible.
443 - 445	Mary Hewett, letter, aboard Laconia, May 30, 1912: Icebergs around Boat #13; complaints about “unemployed class” survivors in lifeboat.
446 - 449	Katherine Manning (maiden name Gilgnash in 1912, 3rd class passenger), interview with Walter Lord, July 20, 1955 (annotated 1998 with W. Lord, B. MacQuitty): “Don’t you hate when that happens?” Same age as Celeney Yasbeck (p223); immigrating to America with other 15 and 16-year-old “colleens.” Berth Q161, aft, with four other girls. Sunday, early: bagpiper (probably Eugene Daly); a rat in the room: “Must be a safe ship. The rats don’t want to leave.” Awakened after 11:40PM impact by the bagpipe playing passenger, telling her something was wrong with the ship. Long struggle to the Boat Deck through deserted 2nd class section after navigating egress around locked gate zone. 3rd class women told they could not get into a forward boat, one of the last on davits. “Kate” lied about having a sister already in the boat, and escaped (Eugene Daly was probably by now either swimming away or close to being in the water). She became a darling of the Carpathia’s crew, especially the master at arms. Strange moment of denial: convinced herselfself , in the lifeboat, that shipwrecks were common (this was her first crossing) and was actually able to sleep, believing this was simply one of the hazards of ocean travel and that one normally switched from lifeboats to another ship in mid-ocean and everyone usually survived. Kate reports that aunt and uncle in New York did not meet her, because she was listed among the dead.
450 - 461	Frank Goldsmith (with notes by W. Lord; see also p 39), March, January, 1956, and letters, 1912-1914. P461, Oct., 1970: Goldsmith to Jeffrey Rapp - 3rd Class, five in family (only Frank and mother survived). Frank on Sam Collins; on lowering of the collapsible boat that caught on starboard gunwale and rivets several times due to late list to port; would always assume later that ship had been damaged on port side due to heavy list in that direction (hence, Nov. 1955 letter to publisher, Holt, pointing out belief that iceberg must have struck port side). Letter aboard Lapland: Amt Stanley to Mrs. Goldsmith, words about their dining steward (lost). Rosa (Rhoda) Abbott to Mrs. Goldsmith: so many children lost including her own, mentions the Sage family; notes on the Sage family, and Emily Badman; Goldsmith copy of 3rd class menu. Letter to J. Rapp (more confusion about starboard and port).
462 - 482	Charles Victor Groves (of the Californian), letters to Walter Lord, July 17, 1955; April 23, 1957; Nov. 15, 1958: Groves estimates mystery ship, seen from Californian, moved about ½ mile southward, veering to port after seeming, over a 30 second period (in a manner consistent with passage around the far side of an iceberg), to douse and then to re-open its lights. Stopped, started up again, stopped after about ½ mile, just as the Titanic did, at this same time. Californian incident continues, in detail, from Groves’ perspective.
483	Objects from debris field, including “RLB” satchel with a golden telescoping pencil, engraved “RLB, 1908.”
484 - 502	Mrs. Henry B. Harris, interview by Walter Lord, May 31, 1964, and Memoir (p487): The Harrises loved to play cards. Mrs Harris fell down stairs during voyage and suffered compound fracture of arm. Continued with card games and managed to keep out a card sharp. Sunday April 14: Dinner near captain about 6:30PM; recalls conversation with Captain Smith. At point of impact, was playing favorite card game, in room, with husband (never played it since), noticed clothes swaying; the Futrelles; passengers kept back in 3rd class; children in lifeboat with parents kept back; the crying girls and then, “a silence as deep as death.” A pair of secret lovers known to the Harrises (like the “Rosenshines”); life after the Titanic.
503 - 504	T.D. Haubner - Marconi Operator, letter to W. Lord, Feb., 14, 1956: opinions relevant to the Californian.
505 - 509	T.D. Haubner, letters to Walter Lord and Holt, Jan 17, 1956, Feb., 1956: correcting error about Titanic being first to use the S.O.S. signal; it was the Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, August 11, 1909.
511 - 514	Elland Moody, friend of Titanic musician Hartley, in latter from Roland Hind, Aug. 1, 1956: Hind’s interview with a cousin of Wallace Hartley, Mrs. C. Foulds, RE: “Nearer My God to Thee.”
515 - 527	Walter Hurst (oiler, Titanic), letter to Walter Lord, 1955: Father-in-law was with him in same crew quarters during “grinding crash.” Describes people kept below for a very long time; advised people who denied crisis into lifeboats, told them ship is sinking; tried then to calm a man who put his wife off in a boat, that if she (Titanic) could stay afloat till daybreak, they could trust that the Marconi apparatus would have, by then, brought rescue ships. Wilde or Murdoch fires shots. Hurst tried to get Boat A down from roof and launched; hears terrible crashing sound and jumps just ahead of dunking under of the Bridge (consistent with what Thayer heard, likely the breakaway of the Grand stairway).
528 - 532	Leo James Hyland, letter to W. Lord, June 7, 1955: Joined the Titanic from the New York (the ship that was almost struck by Titanic; description of air pressure rise in the bow after impact with iceberg.
533 - 542	Stewardess Violet Jessop, undated letter, about the time the film version of A Night to Remember was released: Notes that the mystery ship she believed to be near the Titanic, drifting in north with lights on, was a reason for calm on the decks, at least in her case.
543 - 560	George Kemish (fireman, Titanic), letter to Walter Lord, June 19, 1955: Impact, believed ship had run aground off banks of Newfoundland. Recounts actions taken, requiring him to go over boiler room ceilings that were sealed at the tops (roof hatches closed) because of flooding in forward boiler rooms. Crew were dragging belongings and even bedding up to top of forecastle (Kemish believed, then, that this was funny). In boiler room, saw engineer Shepherd slip and break his leg; helped him into pump room. Near the end, saw William Stead in smoking room, calmly reading after most boats were gone; convinced Stead would remain in chair reading no matter what happened; at stern, took a leap at a rope after throwing down chairs and other possible makings of a raft; swam to #11 or #9, Paddy McGough in charge; voices when stern disappeared - “like thousands of fans crying out at once at a Cup Final.” Recollections of the friendly stowaways in the #1 cargo hold region (probably the first to die aboard Titanic).
561	George Harris (Chefs Dept., Titanic), letter to Bill MacQuitty, Dec. 16, 1956: Saved by Murdoch, along with two children, also saved by Murdoch. Helped mother get torn carpets as blankets. Worked with Charles Joughin to save children, mothers from 3rd class.
562 - 572	Colin MacDonald, letter to Walter Lord, 1956. A reference for pp 57-58 in A Night to Remember. 1992, though MacDonald describes a scenario for what might have happened to Mr. Shepherd, Lord and Pellegrino judge the scenario not likely.
573 - 573	[NOTE: Pages mis-numbered here; 580 became 570]: Charles Lightoller, Tediograph, November 1, 1936, and notes from Walter Lord from his earlier contact with Lightoller: Is of impression of having heard that ship had been ordered into full astern by Murdoch. The ghastly transparency of the water glowing in his stairwell gauge for a rate of flooding that Lightoller refused to believe meant the ship was actually sinking. (See comparisons of various Lightolller accounts, “Deconstructing Falling Stars” and “The Dance of the Smokestacks” in, “In Their Own Words, Titanic” (Charlespellegrino.com). The ordering of the gangway door opened; the strange cutting of ropes, with Hemming. Lightoller says he saw all boats away on starboard, from roof of officers quarters, yet could not have missed seeing Murdoch at Boat A struggle (contradicts his letter to Murdoch’s wife). In the water, looks up into huge outline of stern eclipsing bright stars, “Absolutely perpendicular, she seemed.”
575 - 577	Brian Manning, letter to Walter Lord, March 29, 1956: three years aboard Titanic’s sister ship Olympic, as navigator (with company 1919-1928). Notes that each year Captain Smith’s widow would visit Olympic and give the officers each a rose; knew Lightoller and Titanic Lookout Frederick Fleet. (Stone, in the Californian Incident.)
578 - 601	Madeline Mellinger (child, 2nd class, with partially deaf mother), letters to Walter Lord, beginning January 13, 1962: Was traveling with member of the Colgate family, mother as new servant (she was educated, from a wealthy family that had fallen on hard times). Boat 14, transferred to Boat 12 by Lowe. Rescued Lightoller, mother saved his life and he gave her the famous whistle, later willed to W. Lord. Lightoller was evidently dropped off with the tied-off boats, to take charge from Boat 12, while Lowe, in #14, towed the damaged Collapsable Boat A, under sail, to the Carpathia. (It is the Mellinger letters that trace the writing of Colonel Gracie’s book to Boucher’s Cottage, Long Beach, Long Island, N.Y.)
614 - 615	Mrs. J.W. Anderson. Recalls a “premonition,” (but notably, after the event).
616	Edwina Trautt (Edwina Corrigan Mackenzie; also Edwina Peterson Corrigan), 2nd class passenger, Titanic, letter, June 5, 1912, to Mrs. Milling, about her husband, Mr. Milling, who was lost. Mentions that she heard the ship make a stumbling noise; blames herself for not asking men who stayed aboard to write letters for her to give to their wives.
617	Edwina’s room-mate, Susan Webber, in a 1912 letter: Describes break-up of Titanic. Like Thayer, she seems to see a large shadowy object rising in Grand Stairway region amid tremendous noise - saw break-away object still floating (which she interpreted as the bow section): The stern rose high after the break; the bow, less high, but still there [consistent with floating segments of the stairway, or other floating large wreckage).
618 - 620	Edwina Trautt, interview by Geoffrey Martin for Bill MacQuitty, Walter Lord, Pinewood Studios, November 11, 1958: Made a particularly callous remark about 3rd class saved that in 2001, historian Don Lynch found difficult to believe (for he knew “Winnie” personally in later years as a very kind woman), until he read these accounts, and saw that she had probably become a better person through the years.
621	Fred G. Vallance, letter to Bill MacQuitty, June 17, 1957: Identifies - not the various hymns of “Autumn,” in reference to a tune Harold Bride had mentioned - but, rather more likely, “Songe D’ Autumne,” a 1912 popular waltz.
622 - 647	Original hand-written first draft, Pellegrino and Lord, Artifact as book proposal (which became Ghosts of the Titanic).
648 - 656	Frank Prentice (assistant Purser, Titanic), undated interview transcript: Rescued from water by Boat 4. “Speed was talked about in spite of widely known ice warnings; if we hadn’t hit that one iceberg, we’d have hit another.” Only saw iceberg after hit it and after ship resumed steaming for about ½ mile: had to be a different iceberg from the one Titanic hit. Passengers did not at first believe it necessary to get into lifeboats but Prentice heard from Andrews that ship would sink, urged passengers into boats. Went down into storerooms and assisted Joughin and kitchen staff in rescue. Prentice stayed with ship, dove from broken stern, was picked up by Boat 4, one of only two that came back seeking out survivors of the sinking. Was able to feel a heavy rumbling and breaking through the deck plates. Felt the ship break and saw most all the lights go out on Starboard stern. Felt stern section suddenly moving into nose down position, then come up again, then twist and settle almost vertical before descending. Dove with his friend Ricks, past the propellers. Ricks hit something hard, and died.
662 - 663	Milvina Dean, on her mother’s account: The women in Boat 13 wanted to throw a Chinese passenger overboard. Census of Japanese and Chinese passengers, including the one picked up by Lowe in Boat #14.
664 - 669	Titanic explorer George Tulloch, August 15, 1994 (and annotations with Tom Dettweiler, from Ballard’s team): Finding binoculars near the stern (two are ship’s brand); binoculars and other Bridge items found far from the bow section boiler-field, nearer the stern section, indicate to Tulloch early break-up of the Bridge, probably by a steep down-angle at the moment of break-away from the stern and an initial acceleration, before leveling out to bottom impact angle - which surged the Bridge apart possibly within 1,000 feet of the surface. Tom Dettweiler notes feasibility of Tulloch scenario, adding that it is consistent with what he and Cousteau saw of the Empress of Ireland Bridge (disintegrated before ship reached bottom). [NOTE: Edmund Fitzgerald, bottom impact estimated at 35mph, Thunder Bay lab.] Tulloch on differential preservation [p665-667]: chronometer, barometric pressure equipment, all found near stern and to south of stern. Menez Guen smokers (as one possible source of what would later be identified as rusticle Consortia), newly discovered and just explored by A Night to Remember Producer Bill MacQuitty’s daughter, a marine biologist.
670 - 678	Matt Tulloch, June 14, 1995, at IP-3 Lab, France: The Pearl Shuttle letters and the Howard Irwin diary - a new mystery.
687 - 692	Bill MacQuitty, Pre-1996 expedition Titanic VIII conference: Bodies and wreckage found by the Mina. MacQuitty on his friend Edith Russell. Support for the rescue and preservation of biologically endangered artifacts. Notes on the effect survival had on making people MacQuitty knew, including Edith Russell, into take-charge types who had a greater than usual appreciation for the small things in life. As a boy, saw Titanic built and leaving; certainly this confirmed his belief that “Too late,” are the saddest words in any language. “They [the survivors] cherished their friends more than most of us do.” Edith Russell on the set of A Night to Remember. Stanley Lord vs Walter Lord; Ismay family trying to stop the film, and the book. Bill MacQuitty also interviewed ship-workers, during filming, who built Titanic. Learned that Catholics faced prejudice, then (and “cursed every rivet”). He has a letter [p692] that forced him to take a second look at the “NO POPE” myth, and to find it plausible.
693 - 722	Violet Jessop (stewardess, Olympic, Titanic; nurse, Britannic): 1934 memoir to Walter Lord (annotated with W. Lord, approx. [and some comments by J. Maxtone Graham]1996). Some introductory notes on death in the early 20th century in the absence of antibiotics or extensive clean drinking water; Panama Canal Infectious Zone. P695 - 697, Mrs. H. Sleeper Harper identified. Ned the engineer (a love interest) did not understand the life of the demoralized stewards. The dish electric washing machine, with stewards’ tips (recovered by Tulloch). P698, Thomas Andrews; see also water fountains for coal gang, discovered 2001. P699: Body of crewman with looted items (Blackwell) RE Walter Lord and a Violet Jessop perspective on the event. Rubberized deck tiles. P699-701: Transfer from Olympic to Titanic, Jessop’s comparisons. Thomas Andrews, following inputs for improvements of Titanic over Olympic, from stewardesses and coal gangs; the improvements for those who resided below the forecastle. After impact, Andrews was among few who saw to the safety of firemen and forward third class passengers. August Weikman (Amer. Inq.), RE Andrews, Joughin, and 3rd class passenger rescue efforts. P701-702: Jessop recalls a voyage wrong from the start, with the insufferable Mrs. Harper, remembered (with dread) from the Olympic. P702: After impact, learning the true seriousness of it about midnight; the kindly doomed steward who helped Jessop. P703: Jock Hume, of the band; Purser McElroy, about 12:10 - 12:20AM. P703-704, Drs. O’Loughlin and Simpson; gold and bread dropped and tripped over on the Boat Deck. P704-705: Charles Joughin and assistant running up with babies from 3rd class; Harold Lowe, and some of his racist ways, of the period. P705-706: Lifeboat launch times. P707-708: Murdoch at nearly 75% of the launchings. Seaman Frank Evans on Murdoch; Murdoch and Joughin “chucking” babies across to save their mothers; Joughin refuses to take command of a lifeboat and save himself even though Murdoch orders him to go; Jessop sees Joughin, Andrews, and a chief deck steward throwing heavy wooden doors and other potential floating raft materials overboard. P709-710: Mrs Frutrelle (Boat 16); Bertha Mulvihille, on what she believed to be the last sighting of the Rice family; Jessop watches the bow going slowly under, by rows of portholes. P711-712: Futrelle RE glow of Titanic, glow of bioluminescent organisms [others saw Aurora Borealis as well], and how it seemed to her that the Titanic broke in two; Ernest Archer (also in #16, Amer. Inq.); Jessop: “Like a hurt animal with a broken back.” Aboard Carpathia, a woman runs up and snatches the baby Jessop had been holding all night; crew and lifeboats later recycled to other ships, including the Britannic. P713-722: Violet Jessop and the sinking of the Britannic.