INTRODUCTION
You have just read the basic details of the events which lead up to the sinking of the Titanic. However, they only give part of the story and the filmmaker, as much as the historian, has to look at other areas to focus upon which will give clues as to what happened in the Atlantic on April 14, 1912. It is possible to reconstruct the physical details of these events as the interior/exterior of the Titanic and dress of the period are well documented. But, can you picture what went on during the voyage itself? Can you imagine the ship beginning to sink right up to the moment of rescue for the few survivors? There were no video cameras on board and any still cameras which may have been in passengers’ luggage did not survive. The only way in which we can find out about those events is from the testimony of those who survived. We discover the events through the oral history of the disaster.
THE EVENTS
The Titanic passenger liner was launched from Queen’s Island in Belfast on May 31st , 1911. At the time she was the biggest existing ship and the largest movable object ever built. Owned by the White Star Line, one of a number of shipping companies who transported people across the Atlantic, she was designed not only to be the flagship of their fleet but also, due to the ultimate luxury and comfort of her fittings was to sweep away all the competition and earn the company dominance in what was a busy and profitable sea route. Captained by Edward J Smith, the Titanic, through her size and construction was believed to beunsinkable. On April 10th ,1912, the Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic destined for New York. Aboard were over 2,200 passengers and crew (an absence of a definitive list of all passengers and crew varies this number). After stopping at Cherbourg in France and then at Queenstown in Ireland to pick up other passengers, she set sail for her destination. Life aboard the ship was luxurious for those travelling first class and many well-travelled passengers felt that the second class cabins and staterooms on the liner were of the quality of first class cabins on other ships. Even the third or steerage class was felt to be the best that had ever been designed.During the day of Sunday April 14 th , 1912, Captain Smith received a number of warnings of icebergs on his route, which were largely ignored. At 11:40pm the Titanic struck an iceberg on her starboard side. A gash nearly 300 feet long opened up along five of her watertight compartments and water began to rush in. It was not until 12:05am that Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be prepared for launching. The saddest shortfall was that there were only enough lifeboats to carry about a third of the number of people aboard the ship. At 12:15am the first wireless call for help was made and half an hour after this the first distress rocket was launched. At the same time the first of the lifeboats went into the water, over an hour after .
the Titanic had the iceberg. This first lifeboat was only half full, an oversight compounding the problem of so few boats in the first place. All lifeboats were under orders to take women and children only. At 2:05am the last lifeboat was lowered. At 2:20am the Titanic disappeared from view under the icy waters of the Atlantic. It was not until 4:10am that the first lifeboat was picked up by the ship Carpathia which had answered the distress call and had sailed as fast as she could to the rescue. Of the 2,206 people aboard the ship, only 703 were saved (the published figures vary). These, therefore are the basic facts on which the director James Cameron could make his .
ORAL HISTORY
One would expect there to be a number of different perspectives on what actually happened
surrounding the whole range of events leading up to the sinking of the Titanic.
We can look at two obvious examples – what happened to Captain Smith and the famous story of the who continued playing as the ship sank, all of whom lost their lives.
CAPTAIN EDWARD J SMITH AND HIS FATE
The lore of the sea has it that the captain should go down with is ship.
Survivors of the Titanic give different versions of what they think happened to the Captain. Certainly, one version of the Captain’s fate is that he was last seen on the bridge of the ship as it started its plunge beneath the waves. The second version has it that he did not go down with the ship but saved a small child, swam to one of the lifeboats, handed the child to the people on board the life boat and then swam off, never to be seen again. Another version says that the Captain shot himself. There is no similarity between any aspect of these versions.
Why do you think that these versions are so different?
Why do you think that in the film ‘Titanic’ the captain is shown going down with his ship?
What is the overall impression given of Captain Edward J Smith in the film?
There is a further question that also needs to be asked.
Why, at the time, was it so important to know what had happened to the captain and how he met his fate? We shall return to this later.4
CONCLUSION
Looking at the oral history one could start to draw conclusions about the passengers. These testimonies show how the events came to be related in the way that they did and the sort of society that existed at that time. There is the point of whether or not the captain went down with his ship, the piece of music played by the band as the Titanic was sinking and the fact that most testimonies came from first and second class passengers and crew.
FURTHER READING
Titanic - Destination Disaster - The Legends and the Reality’ by John P Eaton and Charles A Haas
(Patrick Stephens Ltd. an imprint of Haynes Publishing Group 1996) Shadow of the Titanic - A Survivor’s Story’ biography of Miss Eva Hart MBE, JP as told to Ronald C Denney (Greenwich University Press 1995) ‘A Lifetime on the Titanic’ biography of Edith Haisman by James Pellow with Dorothy Kendle (Island Books 1995) The Riddle of the Titanic’ by Robin Gardiner and Dan Van Der Vat (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1995) Titanic:An Illustrated History’ by Don Lynch and Ken Marshall (Hodder and Stoughton 1992) A Night to Remember’ by Walter Lord (Penguin 1978) The Titanic - The Extraordinary Story of the ‘Unsinkable’ Ship’ by Geoff Tibballs (Carlton 1997) ‘Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy’ by John P Eaton and Charles A Haas (Patrick Stephens Ltd. an imprint of Haynes Publishing Group 1990) Titanic: l4th-l5th April 1912 The Official Story’ by Aidan Lawes (Public Record Office 1997) For further information about the Titanic, including special assistance to students and teachers, contact