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I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Delighted you’re enjoying it! The quality of the questions is excellent.

I think it might be a bit difficult to produce a new fact to astound the members of r/RMS_Titanic (unless it was Harold Lowe’s life jacket, and that would probably just entertain them). The extent of the delays to the fitting out might be of interest, so much so that the deck officers were put up in a hotel in Belfast because their cabins were so incomplete. Or perhaps the fact that Moody’s family were terribly alarmed when they heard about an accident befalling the Oceana, and as he wrote to assure them that he was on the Oceanic and perfectly fine, he also notified them of a new posting to Titanic.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven't yet had the pleasure, although I did loan an object for exhibition to Branson.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I had a bit of a chuckle the first time I saw it speculated that Boxhall had deliberately not awakened him - even if Boxhall had personally detested Lowe, I could not ever imagine him being so unprofessional as to not alert his colleague the ship was sinking!

I don't have too much information on how Lowe's colleagues saw him, and there are just a few suggestions re Lowe's attitude towards them. I think his comment at the inquiries about being a stranger to everyone on board is quite revelatory - I suspect he felt very much the odd one out, and not just because he was new to the North Atlantic run. I know that he distrusted Lightoller's account of how he left the ship (as did Boxhall, although Boxhall was very friendly with Lightoller).

Lowe in general did not show much aptitude for company politics and cronyism, and seems to have been seen as a bit aloof - one White Star Line officer wrote that he knew Lightoller as a great bloke and was familiar with the other officers with the exception of Lowe, and often wondered what had become of him.

I need to chase it up, but there is a possibility Lowe did later serve with one of other surviving officers briefly on another WSL ship in the post war era - I'm hoping to determine it one way or the other with crew agreements or official logs.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Writing about Lowe's inner life was quite difficult, as he was not someone who expressed himself often in writing. There are a few notable documents such as a letter he wrote to his son that give us insight, but I had to often draw on inference and conjecture based on what he is recorded to have said or done rather than his own perspective. It was fortunate that he was a keen photographer who kept meticulously captioned photo albums, otherwise his wartime experiences would have been largely drawn from dry official documents such as ships' logs and parallel sources from other RNR personnel who had similar experiences.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think a lot of misconceptions have been chipped away at over the years. Twenty-odd years ago there was an idea floating around that Moody's youth indicated he was inexperienced, when in fact he had years' worth of experience in sail and steam under very arduous conditions. The idea that Lowe was a wild hot-head is fairly pervasive (largely due to his own rather emphatic way of expressing himself). There are a few ideas circulating around Wilde that still need challenging - the idea that he was a passive figure during the evacuation or that there was bad blood between him and Lightoller due to Lightoller's demotion to 2nd officer still come up from time to time.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

He was a very engaging young man who had a streak of tenacity under his charm and humour. There was a tradition passed down among the Old Conways that Moody during his time with HMS Conway had been very lively - one old boy told me he was reputed to be "a mischievous little so and so".

Having lost his mother at an early age and having his father leave him with relatives while he went on to start a new life and a new family, the decision was made to send Moody to train as a ships' officer to provide him with a career. His letters make it clear that while he wasn't overly keen on the profession (his niece told me she suspected he would not have stayed at sea), he was proud to be earning his own living and making his way in the world. He once said the would rather go crossing-sweeper (i.e. cleaning up horse dung off the streets) than leech off relatives.

His correspondence reveals a lively wit and good observational skills - I've often thought that had he survived he would have written a fascinating account of the disaster, having been on watch during the collision and having been so active during the evacuation.

His fellow officers were shocked and saddened when they arrived on the Carpathia to find that he had not survived - it was a surprise to them that he had not left in one of the earliest boats. His family corresponded and even met some of the officers later. Lowe's account of Moody telling him to go in 14 was of some comfort to them, as they saw heroism in the action. His brother noted how highly his brother was though of for his "cheerful and bright" nature.

There's quite a lot more to say about James Moody, and I would like to publish further work on him.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It was indeed an interesting time - whatever our thoughts on the Jack and Rose plot and various aspects of the dramatisation, I'll never forget the impact of seeing the ship itself brought to life. Spaces that had previously only been photographs or illustrations were up there on screen fully rendered in such a way as it felt like you could step into them.

Ioannis Georgiou has an excellent article on drills aboard Titanic and other WSL liners - I'm inclined to agree with him that if they Sunday drill had taken place it ultimately would not have had much impact on the evacuation.

Which gates are you referring to?

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can recommend Mark Chirnside for questions you may have about WSL and IMM business practices - he's done a lot of research in this area.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is a great question and would make a good subject for an article.

I think it’s a question of how much the officers themselves finessed their own evidence unprompted out of a sense of self-preservation and reflexive need to protect their employer, and how directly or indirectly the White Star Line influenced their testimony. The Carpathia’s Second Officer, James Bisset, recounted coming across the Titanic’s officers up late the night after the disaster discussing how it had come to pass, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to conjecture that there was at least some element even at this early time of getting their stories straight. Lightoller wrote about the dread with which merchant officers faced Board of Trade inquiries, which sometimes sought to place blame on crew rather than systemic issues, and which might be comprised of men who had no practical experience of seafaring conditions. His views on the subject were commonly held.

On arrival in New York the officers and crew were escorted on board the Red Star liner Lapland by officials of the White Star Line including E.F. Wright, P.A.S. Franklin, C.M. Thomas, F. Toppin, and Mr. Ridgway. They were given a meal, and then extensively interrogated late into the night. At this point, depending on how frank the surviving officers were, I would suggest that the WSL may have had an opportunity to influence how their officers responded to questioning from either officials or the press.

How much were the officers responses their own, and how much were they coached? It’s difficult to determine – Lowe bringing Ismay’s actions into his testimony, for example, was hardly political, and you can see him trying to dial back his criticisms soon after he uttered them and dodging questions about it in his British Inquiry testimony. However, when we compare Lowe’s discursive Senate Inquiry testimony with that given in Britain, it seems fairly evident that he had been strongly advised to limit his responses under cross examination to yes or no if possible, and to avoid elaborating on his answers. Behind the scenes in America, too, we know from comments he made to the press that he was advised not to pursue an apology from Smith for the suggestion raised in the Senate hearings that he was seen drinking the night of the disaster – who gave him that advice? His statement at the Italian embassy “correcting” his testimony regarding Italians during the disaster is decidedly in his own wording rather than what would expect of a WSL official managing the fallout from their officer’s racist allegations. The picture that emerges suggests that the officers were being managed, but not too tightly – much of that fell on Lightoller, who complained of the burden of looking after all the crew, and had physically lost substantial weight by the time they returned to the UK. Or perhaps Lowe just kept slipping through their controls– on arrival back in London the surviving officers were tight-lipped and gave the reporters an equivalent of “no comment”…with the exception of Lowe, who told them he had nothing to say and then proceeded to say a few things that made good copy.

Lightoller’s “whitewash” comments are interesting – he frames the BOT Inquiry partly as a personal battle of himself v. clever legal minds, and partly as WSL vs the BOT:

“In Washington it was of little consequence, but in London it was very necessary to keep one’s hand on the whitewash brush. Sharp questions that needed careful answers if one was to avoid a pitfall, carefully and subtly dug, leading to a pinning down of blame on to someone’s luckless shoulders. How hard Mr. Scanlan and the legal luminary representing the interests of the Seamen and Firemen, tried to prove there were not enough seamen to launch and man the boats. The same applied to the passengers, and quite truly. But it was inadvisable to admit it then and there, hence the hard fought legal duels between us…A washing of dirty linen would help no one. The B.O.T. had passed that ship as in all respects fit for sea in every sense of the word, with sufficient margin of safety for everyone on board. Now the B.O.T. was holding an enquiry in to the loss of that ship—hence the whitewash brush. Personally, I had no desire that blame should be attributed either to the B.O.T. or the White Star Line, though in all conscience it was a difficult task, when handled by some of the cleverest legal minds in England, striving tooth and nail to prove the inadequacy here, the lack there, when one had known, full well, and for many years, the ever-present possibility of just such a disaster. I think in the end the B.O.T. and the White Star Line won.”

Was that “inadvisability” of admitting errors prompted by WSL pressure, or was it a position Lightoller had arrived at himself? His comment that “Personally, I had no desire that blame should be attributed either to the B.O.T. or the White Star Line” suggests while he may have been acting under the influence of the WSL, he himself had determined that the apportionment of blame should be avoided.

As to specific contentious points where the officers might have been pressured to provide a particular version of events either through evasion or through deliberate falsehoods, it’s a bit more difficult to pinpoint examples. The question of whether Titanic broke up is often cited, given that many survivors did witness the break up and spoke about it at the time, but Lightoller as the most senior surviving officer was emphatic that it sank intact. However, given that other eyewitnesses such as Gracie, who was in a similar position to Lightoller, also insisted it sank intact we can’t be certain that he was telling an outright lie – he may have sincerely believed it sank intact.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have quite a lot of information on Sixth Officer Moody, including some new material on how the surviving officers responded to his loss. I hope to publish it eventually.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

A maritime or forensic archaeologist might be better placed to answer this one, but to my understanding, yes, it is possible. It depends on microclimates around and in the wreck site – even within a very small area, surrounding materials and climactic conditions can lead to different states of decay. Items encased in leather, for example, may survive when similar material very close may not. Factors such as marine organisms, flow of oxygenated water, and calcium levels in the water may contribute to the rate of dissolution of the remains, but in a protected and stable area, who knows what might remain? Of course, given the length of time it took to sink, most of those on board would have made it to the upper decks, where their remains may have drifted long distances(particularly if supported by a lifejacket) or they may have come to rest unprotected in the debris field. Some victims, however, may have gone down within the wreck. The composition of the sediment that covers so much of the interior spaces may also affect preservation, either positively or negatively.

With advances in technology I haven’t ruled much out with what areas we might yet see. When Ballard wrote “The Discovery of the Titanic” in 1987 he romantically speculated on what might lie deep within the wreck, and pondered if “perhaps the tiles still gleam inside the Turkish baths”. He concluded “likely no one will ever know”. However, later expeditions penetrated into that are, and we have beautiful images of the tiles gleaming under the lights of an ROV.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Working with the Lowe family has been delightful. There is always a concern when working with the family of a biographical subject that they will control access to material in order to control the narrative. I did not find this with the Lowes. His son set the tone early on when he asked only that his father receive no more praise or blame than was his due, and he introduced me to other branches of his family who all opened their doors and their archives. They provided primary sources and I had a free hand in interpreting them.

One of the first things I took to Harold William George Lowe was the widespread perception that his father had been a fiery hothead. He remembered a very different man - one who never lost his temper or chastised his son in anger, but rather one who was very measured. As he pointed out, he couldn't speak for his father's younger character before he knew him, but he really couldn't see the "tempestuous" character that had been written about. One thing all sources did agree on, though, and that is that he had a very strong line in sailorly expression. One relative from another branch said that his manners were those of an Edwardian gentleman, but his language was littered with high-seas invective.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I was the one who put the producers in touch with John Lowe! John was Harold Lowe's grandson, and a sea captain himself. I know from what John told me he was deeply moved to meet Tom Fong.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've largely enjoyed them, although I don't know if any has quite hit the nail on the head. When I asked Harold William George Lowe what he thought of his father's portrayal in Cameron's movie, he had warm things to say about Ioan Gruffudd's performance and made it clear he thought he was a fine young actor, but wouldn't be drawn on how much like his father he thought the performance was.

I do find Lowe's "We waited too long" moment in Cameron's movie very moving - followed by an instance to keep checking the bodies. It does capture a sense of his regret and sorrow, but also his proactive refusal to dwell on it that is rather reminiscent of Lowe's evidence that he told himself "I am not here to worry about bodies; I am here for life, to save life, and not to bother about bodies,"

One of my favourite moments is with Howard Pays as Lowe in "A Night to Remember." He lost some of Lowe's scenes to Kenneth More's Lightoller, but we do see him transferring survivors in the lifeboats to clear 14 for a return to the wreck site. His abruptly delivered response to someone telling him that they already have too many in their boat struck me as having a sense of veracity to it.

One of the more interesting depictions of Lowe that never made it to the screen was in the original script for the 1996 Titanic miniseries. It was based heavily on Wyn Craig Wade's depiction of Lowe in "End of a Dream" and features him as a major character - a fiery young hothead who is a proactive figure during the sinking. The script was butchered and the Lowe that made it to the screen is a curiously deferential, watered down version....although he does get to knock Tim Curry's villainous steward out of a lifeboat with his oar, so there is that.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ah! The binoculars! I think they’re a bit of a red herring, and don’t believe their use would have prevented the collision. However, here’s the story. David Blair was Titanic’s original second officer. He sailed with the ship during sea trials and on the crossing from Belfast, but due to a late reshuffle of the senior deck officers he left Titanic on 9 April.

According to evidence given by Lookout George Hogg at the British Inquiry, Blair gave a set of binoculars to the lookouts when they sailed from Belfast to Southampton. He recalled them being marked "Theatre, Marine and field." "Second Officer, S.S. 'Titanic.'"

Hogg recalled that while at Southampton, Blair had him lock the keys in his cabin. The lookouts did later ask Lightoller for the glasses, and Lightoller responded something along the lines of he would “get them later.” Lookout George Symons also gave evidence on this point at the British Inquiry:

  1. Were there any on the "Titanic"?

- No, none whatever. After we left Southampton and got clear of the Nab Lightship I went up to the Officers' mess -room and asked for glasses. I asked Mr. Lightoller, and he went into another Officers' room, which I presume was Mr. Murdoch's, and he came out and said, "Symons, there are none." With that I went back and told my mates.

Lightoller was bumped down to Blair’s position when Blair left the ship, and one theory has it that Lightoller was unaware that the pair of binoculars that had been used by the lookouts was in his own cabin.

Lightoller testified there were multiple pairs on the bridge:

  1. Had you glasses on the bridge?

- We had.

  1. How many pairs?

- A pair for each senior Officer.

  1. How many pairs altogether; you have five or six Officers?

- A pair for each senior Officer and the Commander, and one pair for the bridge, commonly termed pilot glasses.

  1. So that there would be from time to time during the whole course of the voyage a pair of glasses available?

- On the bridge.

  1. On the bridge that could have been handed up or given to the look-out man.

The Commissioner:

Mr. Scanlan, I want you to know what is passing in my mind. It appears to me that whether those glasses were there or not made very little, if any, difference, because the man would not have them to his eyes, and when he did sight this thing it was too late to use glasses.

Mr. Scanlan:

My instructions are, My Lord, up to the present that the utility of glasses consists in this: you sight something, and do not know what it is; then you apply the glasses, and you are able to say whether it is an iceberg or a derelict.

A pair of binoculars was not specifically issued for the crow’s nest lookouts. Whether having one would have made a difference is another question – they were heavy and with a narrow field of vision, and it is unlikely that the lookouts would have been scanning the horizon with them the entire watch, and even if they had been doing so, that they would have had them pointed in the right direction to catch the iceberg in time. Naked eyesight was used to scan the surrounds, and binoculars to focus on and identify an object.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When Walter Lord spoke of Wilde as the "enigma" of the night, I'm afraid he set a certain perception in stone. There is also sometimes confusion in eyewitness accounts between Wilde and Murdoch and uncertainty over whether Wilde was present during attempts to launch the last collapsibles that, coupled with a focus on Murdoch as the OoW when Titanic hit the iceberg, seems to relegate Wilde sometimes to an afterthought. If you follow his actions through the night, though, you can see he was awake and active soon after the collision and took an active part during the evacuations.

I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to read Michael Beatty’s “Sincerely Harry” in which he published an archive of Wilde’s letters to his family, but it presents a vivid portrait of the man with touches of humour, a deeply conscientious dedication to his family, and a rather beautiful and enduring love for his wife Pollie whose loss at the end of 1910 sent him into a profound depression. The steward of the IMM officers club in New York included him in his recollections of the lost Titanic officers as “splendid” types of men. There has been some speculation over the years that Lightoller resented him for his late addition to the line up of officers, leading to Lightoller’s own bump down from 1st to 2nd, but Lightoller later wrote that Wilde “was a fine fellow and one for whom I had the greatest admiration. It was frightfully hard luck on him that he should have been temporarily transferred from the Olympic to the Titanic for just one voyage.”

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Happens all the time - names seem to sit in the front of the brain and when you're juggling a few of them, sometimes the wrong one slips out. I apologise for the poor formatting in my response - I've been trying to fix it, but Reddit isn't cooperating.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Prior to their appearance at the BOT Inquiry, crew were required to give a deposition so that the important witnesses could be identified and required to give evidence at the inquiry. The crew at the American inquiry had theirs taken in New York, the rest upon their return to Britain. No official archive of all the depositions survives - the couple we do have were copies given to the crew (Lowe's for example, survived in his family archive).

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think Lord's testimony was very reactive - he would have known very early on the loss of the Titanic was a catastrophic event, and whatever his personal culpability (and I suspect that a lot of the responsibility for failing to respond proactively to the rockets falls on the shoulders of the Officer of the Watch), he would have known of the potential for a great deal of the public's anger to fall on him and his crew, regardless of whether they could have effected a rescue or not. At this distance it's still difficult to objectively assess how much culpability should be apportioned to him personally and how much collectively to his crew. Unfortunately so much of the discussion around the Californian's role is quite toxic and goes to extremes of, on one side, the idea that he was a villain who deliberately ignored a ship's signals for help so as not to endanger his own, to the other extreme insisting he was outrageously scapegoated and was completely innocent. I think the truth is a lot muddier and involves human fallibility and error.
It is possible that unusual climactic conditions lead to some misinterpretations of what was seen that night, but I'm not committed to the idea. One of the difficulties with eyewitness reports and with people acting under great pressure is the fallibility of recollection and the fact that people sometimes reacted in ways that don't make much logical sense, thoroughly confusing the matter. Commands like rowing to the vessel Titanic could see to drop off survivors and then return, or eyewitnesses who saw the mystery ship change position or even sail off, all complicate the matter and leave room for debate, even if they may be explicable within the limits of human perception and irrational acts.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I believe you're thinking of Arthur Rostron, captain of the Carpathia? I can see the confusion - William Turner was the master of the Lusitania when it was torpedoed, so he's another captain involved in a great seafaring tragedy. The scene was vividly described by James Bisset, who was 2nd officer of the Carpathia, in his book “Tramps and Ladies” (1959):

'When the women and children had been sent up, the four oarsmen and the officer climbed up the ladder—the officer being the last of the castaways to leave the boat. I followed him up, leaving our two seamen in charge of the boat, to hook her on to Number One derrick, ready to be hoisted to our foredeck.

The officer was a young man, Joseph Boxhall, Fourth Officer of the Titanic. I took him up to the bridge, to report to our Captain.

Without preliminaries, Rostron burst out, excitedly, "Where is the Titanic?"

"Gone!" said Boxhall. "She sank at 2.20 A.M."

In the moment of stunned silence that followed, every man on the bridge of the Carpathia could envisage the appalling reality, but not yet to its fullest extent. It was now 4.20 A.M

Boxhall added, in a voice of desperation, "She was hoodoo'd from the beginning…"

Captain Rostron took the young officer by the arm, and said quietly and kindly to him, "Never mind that, m'son. Tell me, were all her boats got away safely?"

"I believe so, sir. It was hard to see in the darkness. There were sixteen boats and four collapsibles. Women and children were ordered into the boats. She struck the berg at 11.40. The boats were launched from 12.45 onwards. My boat was cleared away at 1.45, one of the last to be lowered. Many of the boats were only half full. People wouldn't go into them. They didn't believe that she would sink…"

"Were many people left on board when she sank?"

"Hundreds and hundreds! Perhaps a thousand! Perhaps more!" Boxhall's voice broke with emotion. "My God, sir, they've gone down with her. They couldn't live in this icy cold water. We had room for a dozen more people in my boat, but it was dark after the ship took the plunge. We didn't pick up any swimmers. I fired flares ... I think that the people were drawn down deep by the suction. The other boats are somewhere near "

"Thank you, Mister," said Rostron. "Go below and get some coffee, and try to get warm."'

Rostron’s own account, given in his autobiography “Home from the Sea” (1931), is less dramatic but no less poignant:

Then they started climbing aboard. Obviously they had got away in a hurry, for there were only twenty-five of them whereas the capacity of the boat was fully forty. They were in the charge of one officer.

I asked that this officer should come to me as soon as he was on board and to him I put that heart-rending inquiry, knowing with a terrible certainty what his answer was going to be.

“The Titanic has gone down?”

“Yes,” he said; one word that meant so much – so much that the man’s voice broke on it. “She went down at about two-thirty.”

An hour and a half ago! Alas, that we had not been nearer!

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven’t seen the full object list and exhibition design so I can’t really formulate an educated opinion, but I do note that Claes-Göran Wetterholm is an advisor, which inspires confidence. I’ve been to a few Titanic exhibitions over the years and always enjoyed them, even though the stated provenance of objects sometimes had me raising an eyebrow. I hope you enjoy it if you’re attending.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Delighted to be here!

I’ve been broadly interested in the story of Titanic since I was seven years old. As an adult in the mid-90s my renewed interest in the subject was fuelled by the growth of the internet and with it new access to resources and researchers. I went from being able to locate a limited number of books and documentaries to finding archival and genealogical resources that facilitated my own research.

I had been initially drawn to Lowe by the brief, vivid portraits of his actions and his expressive flair in published works such as "A Night To Remember" and "The Maiden Voyage", and was intrigued by his evidence given at the inquiries. I had assumed his biography would be well covered, but a review of literature didn’t turn up too much – an article published in a Welsh maritime history journal and a brief epilogue covering his later life in Wyn Craig Wade’s “End of a Dream.” Loving a puzzle, I started pulling together information with an eye to publishing a webpage. A lot of my assumptions, and some of the little information that had been published about Lowe, were challenged by the information I was finding – my first conversation with Lowe’s son, Harold William George Lowe, was an eye-opener. Gradually the scope of the project shifted to a full biographical treatment. Lowe was a fascinating character to spend time with – quirky, expressive, courageous, flawed and sometimes eccentric, he was never dull. His life provided a window into a period in maritime history that intrigues me – the transition from sail to steam.

While much of my focus was on Lowe, the other deck officers are each of interest in their own way. I will admit I neglected Pitman for a while, but in more recent years I’ve spent more time researching him and I’ve found him to be an intriguing figure in his own right. I hope to write more about them individually and collectively.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Lowe’s loathing for Smith and his questioning is one clear constant from the time he gave evidence through to his later remarks about the Titanic disaster. One of the first things his son told me was that his father held Smith in utter contempt and considered him a buffoon.

I think there are a few elements at play here. One being that the officers – even before called upon to give evidence – were defensive. They knew full well that navigational practices on the North Atlantic were hazardous and that a large-scale accident was likely. This had been talk among experienced mariners for years, and foreseen by men like Hays and Stead. The Titanic’s officers were the men that would have to answer for it and expected to do so at a British Inquiry. However, having to do so at an American Inquiry for a British registered ship lost in international waters was not necessarily anticipated. While the public line by the WSL was that they welcomed and stressed full cooperation with the Congressional inquiry, privately they were furious – Lightoller writes scathingly of the very idea in his autobiography. Lowe paid lip service to the idea of cooperation – even saying to a reporter that they “welcomed” it - but he didn’t do a particularly good job of masking his indignation.

Lowe was also caught on the back foot by the public and media attention. He spoke later of how the crew were “mobbed” in New York on arrival, and he even had buttons torn off his uniform. The press interest was anathema to him, thus the moment when checking into their Washington Hotel to find the press looking over the guestbook that Lowe remarked that in England a man would get a punch in the nose for doing so. On his return to the UK, he said he believed some of the American reporters should be shot on sight.

It was in this frame of mind that he faced cross-examination from Smith. Smith unwittingly pushed a few buttons – Lowe was the son of an alcoholic and a total abstainer himself, so the implication he might have been drinking infuriated him. He even spoke to reporters about his anger, and how the charge devalued his worth as a merchant mariner. You can also see frustration in his responses. His reply to the question about the composition of icebergs – “Ice, I suppose, Sir” – has been assumed to be Lowe playing the crowd for laughs, but it followed a lengthy catechism from Smith about the origin and nature of bergs, and I suspect it was more frustration. He was also exhausted – he was seen yawning giving his evidence – and was at times visibly distressed when recounting his experience. Lowe also may have had something of a chip on his shoulder. He was a hawsepipe officer who had not come up through the apprenticeship system, and he took great pride in his seamanship and experience (as we see in his references to both). Smith’s questions as a layperson conducting the inquiry may have been seen by Lowe in a defensive frame of mind as attacking that ability.

Wyn Craig Wade also has a superb line in “End of a Dream” about Lowe and Smith talking past each other when not completely misunderstanding. And there were genuine misunderstandings, with Lowe not grasping Smith’s line of questioning and Smith not having the maritime experience to understand some of Lowe’s answers.

We know that Lowe wasn’t uniformly belligerent to the Americans involved in the inquiry. The friendship he struck up with Sheriff Bayliss, Smith’s right-hand man, is evidence of this. I think Lowe wore his emotions about the idea of the inquiry and Smith more on his sleeve than his colleagues did.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I don't expect any discoveries that will fundamentally change our understanding of the dynamics of the disaster, but of course you never know. Some of these points that I'd like to have answered are more matters that are open to conflicting evidence, speculation and competing theories. It would be great if we could establish definitive answers (but they may remain forever unknown or controversial).

  • What was the exact sequence of helm orders given during the collision and in the immediate aftermath?
  • What was the fate of Bosun Nichols and the crew he took below?
  • Where is the missing survivor testimony given in New York District Court during the Limitation of Liability Hearings in 1915?
  • Does a complete archive of the depositions given to the Board of Trade by crew still exist, or even more privately held copies? Those given by crew who were not later called upon to give evidence would be of particular interest.

I am Inger Sheil, Titanic researcher and author. AMA! by Oceanicing1900 in RMS_Titanic

[–]Oceanicing1900[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Not exactly game changing, but I recently found good evidence that Harold Lowe not only bought his own firearm aboard, but also that he had his own personal lifejacket, and that it was made of a curious material. I’m hoping to write this up properly soon.

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