Lights
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TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
I promised to put this up, so here 'ts. Enjpy!
I have not wanted to write about Titanic and the events of that awful night. It is something upon which I do not wish to dwell, but having been asked a number of times, I shall undertake to commit this to paper.
In early 1912, I was serving in Oceanic, a lovely ship which had come into service just before the turn of the century. I must admit that, of all the White Star ships in which I served during my twenty years with the Line, it was she who had captured my heart—and kept it. Even now, nearly twenty-five years on, I remember what a beautiful Lady she was, with her exquisitely-decorated suites—some even had silk cretonne wall coverings!
I’d never suffered from a lack of self-confidence, but it was still a matter of some surprise when I received word that I was to be transferred to the brand-new, ultra-luxurious Titanic, due to sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage on April 10th of that year.
Sailing from Southampton to Belfast, we were to join her at the Harland and Wolff Shipyards in late March. So my wife, children, and I duly took the train to Liverpool and then, after farewells and promises to see one another in a week or so, I sailed on the overnight boat to Belfast.
Nothing could have ever prepared me for the sight of her: nearly nine-hundred feet long, like most White Star ships, her hull was painted black, her superstructure and upper part of the hull was done in a glistening white, the two separated by a thin yellow-gold band. Above her decks and deckhouses rose four buff funnels, each topped with a black band at the top to disguise the smoke stains which would accumulate even from the start. But these were the tallest, largest funnels I had ever beheld in all my years sailing for White Star. Fully sixty-five feet in height, they rose from her body, raked back a bit to increase the image of sleekness and speed. She was one smart, up-to-the minute liner and I was proud to have been appointed to her.
Another nice result of this posting had been that I had discovered that my best mate, William Murdoch, would be sailing on her as her Chief Officer. I had met him on Medic, the first White Star ship on which I’d sailed in the winter of 1900. I must say that much of the “polish” I’d acquired by 1912 was due to him. He’d taught me how to dress, how to behave appropriately on a crack liner, how to speak—I daresay I even owed my wife’s falling for me in the first place to his lessons.
The captain on this prestigious, most important maiden voyage would be Captain Edward J. Smith, under whom I had sailed on Majestic earlier in my career, a man who was a true master of the sea and a man any officer would have given his ears to serve under, myself included.
  
Last edited by Lights, Mar/27/2007, 10:50 pm
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Mar/27/2007, 9:51 pm
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Lights
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
Upon boarding the ship which was now tied up at Alexandra Wharf, we were all treated to a tour of the new liner—all of us, that is, except Captain Smith, who was still captaining Olympic at this point, were given a tour.
If Oceanic was a Lady, then I am not sure what word to use to describe Titanic. She was gorgeous...in the words of a song popular at the time, she was “a great, big, beautiful doll”. I marvelled at the size and decor of her great public rooms and those of the suites which we were allowed to see, much of the outfitting work not yet done.
Far and away, the most magnificent of the public rooms was the First Class Men’s Smoking Room. Harland and Wolff had pulled out all the stops when decorating this room! The dark mahogany panelling was complimented by inlays of genuine mother-of-pearls, the inlays beautiful and very intricate. The lights were on, so the soft sheen of the panelling made the inlays as if they shimmered. Around the funnel casings, stained-glass windows had been installed. They depicted famous White Star Line ships, along with sailing ships and nymphs in Grecian gowns. The windows had been backlit so that, even at night, it would look as if sunlight was streaming in. I must say that I was mightily impressed.
As I looked at the splendour around me, I formed the idea of breaking it in, that is to say, I would have the first smoke. I knew that Captain Smith would likely wish to have that honour, but the urge to break in the Smoke Room was too powerful to resist. Well, he would never know because I had no plans to tell anyone I’d been first.
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Mar/27/2007, 10:49 pm
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
That night when everything was calm and quiet, I sneaked down to the Smoke Room and walked quietly to one of the banquettes flanking the fireplace, sat down took out my pipe, filled it and lit it. Ah, now this was truly living! I sat there enjoying my smoke, sitting there like a pasha enjoying his final hookah of the evening, the moonlight making the windows shine a bit. I sat thinking about how far I had come since first going to sea, how the little lad from Chorley had gone from the Primrose Hill to a ship such as the one in whose Smoking Room I was now enjoying my pipe.
The painting over the fireplace was, I must say, quite magnificent, a painting by Norman Wilkinson called “Plymouth Harbour”, meant to be the mate to one on her elder sister entitled “Approach to the New World”. I looked at it a while, finished my second pipe and returned to the Officers’ House, where I was, I admit, supposed to be.
Harland and Wolff had gone all out, putting a great deal of thought into the officers’ cabins, each room rather small but cosy. I loved the bunk which was just a bit wider than on other ships. It was solid mahogany as was the comfortable chair and a rather nice desk. I was very impressed—being First Officer on Titanic was definitely a step up!
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Mar/29/2007, 5:48 am
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
From March 25th until April 1st was spent in familiarising ourselves with the ship. Certainly the majority of my time was occupied in attempting to find my way around. In my years at sea, I had served in many different ships, but this ship seemed much harder to find my way around than the others. On a couple of occasions I ended up hopelessly lost in the bowels of the ship and had to endure the embarrassment of being found and brought back to the bridge by either Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff or one of the guarantee group. Both Andrews and the guarantee group would be aboard Titanic on her maiden voyage to fix anything that wouldn’t require a trip back to Belfast. Believe me, I was grateful for their presence in the yard!
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Mar/30/2007, 6:30 am
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
On the evening of March 30th, Captain Smith came aboard to be there for her sea trials, scheduled for the next day. Unfortunately, it was too windy and cloudy on the first, so, it was postponed until the next day.
April 2 dawned clear and sunny, so off to Belfast Lough we went to see what Titanic was made of, so to speak.
We did turning tests, stopping tests at various speeds, all of it to give Titanic’s captain and officers a good idea of how she would perform when underway.
About nine or ten hours later, we arrived back at Alexandra Quay for some final supplies and coal to be loaded and off for Southampton we were headed. Normally, we would have stopped in Liverpool to give the people there an idea of what the newest lady homeported there looked like. This had been done with Olympic, people being allowed aboard for a fee which was later donated to charity, but the delayed sea trials would not permit this to be done in the case of her younger sister.
I was not on watch at the time, but I was told that at one point during the trip to Southampton, Captain Bartlett had managed to get Titanic up to twenty-three knots or maybe even a bit more. I must say I was very impressed with this Lady. Twenty-three knots!
Coming into Southampton, some fool in a small sailboat came too close to Titanic and a very irritated Captain Smith told me to blow the whistle at them, which I did. What idiocy! Imagine bringing a small boat such as that so close to a ship the size of Titanic! I personally thought that the bloke responsible ought to be soundly thrashed for such stupidity and I said precisely that to my wife the following day at breakfast.
It was well into the wee hours of the morning when Titanic was finally warped into her berth, No. 44 at the White Star Dock. We were permitted to go home as we would not have to stand actual watches until the night before sailing. I must say, I was quite glad to get home to my wife and children in Netly Abbey.
There was opportunity to bring Sylvia and the boys aboard for a bit of a tour. After introducing all of them to Captain Smith, I pressed Murdoch into service, keeping an eye on the boys so that I could conduct Sylvia on a proper tour of my latest posting.
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Apr/8/2007, 5:16 am
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Lights
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
I must say that she was mightily impressed. I remember her look of near-awe as we strolled through the lounge, then peeked into the Smoking Room and started our way down. Well, I was impressed, too, though I was of course determined not to show it.
I was very proud to have been posted to such a magnificent vessel. I’d been a First Officer before, on both Majestic and Oceanic, but, well, this was—Titanic, a great step up from my previous postings.
The week between our arrival in Southampton, and our departure for New York were spent in a whirl of activity: trying to prepare Titanic as much as possible to receive passengers, loading cargo and provisions, acquiring a full crew for the voyage, etc. I must say that I went home at night and slept deeply.
The day before sailing, a crimp in our plans occurred: Captain Smith decided that he wanted the Chief Officer of Olympic, Henry Wilde, aboard to serve in that capacity rather than the original “chief”, William Murdoch. This was bound to cause a few problems and it did. I was certainly not happy as I was demoted from “first” to “second” and the original second officer, David Blair, was transferred off-ship altogether for the maiden voyage.
Also, I knew how Will was looking forward to serving as a chief officer for the first time and that he must be severely disappointed to be replaced at the last moment.
---
"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Apr/10/2007, 8:09 pm
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
As for myself, this would be the first time that I would have served as a first officer on a maiden voyage. Now I would have to be content with serving as Titanic’s “second” on her first time crossing. I was not happy, but, well, I would simply have to live with it.
The night before sailing, all the officers had to spend the night aboard Titanic, serving their regular watches. For me, that meant the six-to-ten watch. Wilde was not due aboard til around six in the morning on the tenth, so we would not see him until then, nor would we see Captain Smith until the morning we sailed as he was permitted to spend the night ashore.
At last, Sailing Day arrived. It dawned chilly and partly overcast, with a bit of wind. Still, all in all, it was good weather for a departure. I spent much of the morning dealing with last minute crew lists and cargo manifests so that Titanic could sail on time.
Sylvia had told me that she would bring our two sons down to the White Star Dock to see me off and that she had got them special outfits for Sailing Day. I knew I would not be likely to be able to pick them out in the crowd, but it was nice anyhow to know that they would be there
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Apr/10/2007, 11:19 pm
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
I was able to get about the passenger accommodation a bit as the First Class was boarding and I must say I was happy that my dear wife was not aboard. Sylvia loved hats—the bigger and fancier the better. Had she been aboard to see the ladies of First Class boarding, I fear that she would have had inspiration for years!
First Officer Murdoch was given to being something of a wag, making us all laugh with his dry wit. A few days before, he said that if women’s hats became any wider or more elaborate, White Star would be obliged to widen the doorways on its ships.
Though very happily married, I was not adverse to the sight of a pretty woman in a Paris frock—I was more than willing to enjoy the view. And what a view it was! A woman passed me in a coat of yellow velvet trimmed with silver fox at the collar, cuffs, and hem and atop perfectly-coiffed hair sat a hat of silver fox, made something like the hats worn by the Cossacks in Russia, the last adorned with three long slender yellow plumes. This was Paris couture at its best!
Another woman wore a suit of spruce green wool, decorated with pink braid on the collar and cuffs, as well as pink braid done up into frogs to fasten the coat. Under the latter, she wore a blouse of pink silk and lace, the same colour as the trim on the coat of her suit. On her heat was a hat of spruce green wool, adorned with pink ostrich plumes. Yet another lady wore a hobble suit of violet silk along with a hat of deep purple, its brim turned up in front and secured with pale violet flowers. I must say I admired it a great deal and thought of how my Sylvia would look in such a fashionable ensemble.
It wasn’t as if my wife wasn’t fashionably attired. She always dressed right up-to-the minute and looked lovely in everything she wore. It was just that I wasn’t able to afford Paris frocks such as the ones worn by Titanic’s First Class lady passengers. Perhaps one day, when I was a captain, but certainly not now.
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Apr/14/2007, 10:30 am
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Re: TITANIC Through Lightoller's Eyes
Yes, this was one fine Lady to which I had been posted. Since all of Titanic’s officers had been very carefully chosen—one could say hand-picked—I was fairly flush with pride. How could I not be proud? My appointment to Titanic meant that I was well on the way to a captaincy.
Reluctantly, I turned my eyes away from the visions of loveliness and started walking up the forward Grand Staircase. All classes had nearly finished boarding now and before long, I would be needed on the foc’sle. There I would assist Wilde in making sure that the lines connecting Titanic to the tugs that would tow her from her dock and to the turning circle were all fast. From there she would proceed down Southampton Water and out into the Solent.
In very short order I found myself out on the foc’sle with Wilde. I wasn’t very happy about it but there would be one consolation—I would be able to see Netly Abbey as we passed. I wouldn’t be able to see my home, but I would know that it was there and in seventeen days, I would be seeing my dear wife and our sons once more. I loved being at sea, but I missed Sylvia and the boys, so my homecomings were always happy.
Promptly at noon, three long blasts from Titanic’s triple toned whistle signalled that departure was imminent. I looked over to port and saw that we were indeed underway.
Suddenly, as we passed the area where Oceanic and New York were rafted, I heard what sounded like gunfire. I looked to see that New York’s hawsers had snapped, people jumping back so as not to be struck by them. New York started to swing out towards Titanic.
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Apr/16/2007, 10:30 am
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