A Conversation for Remembering RMS Titanic - Commemorating the Centenary of her Sinking

Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 1

Bluebottle

I want to answer the question "How is the Titanic remembered 100 years on?"
I'm interested in knowing about myths and legends, films & television dramatisations, museums, monuments and memorials as well as services and events.
Areas I'd like to know more about are Belfast, Cherbourg, Cobh and the New York lighthouse, and anything I've missed out.
If you wish to take part, please contribute here:

<BB<


Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 2

Barneys Bucksaws

Halifax sent out ships to recover bodies of the victims. There's an extensive article here: http://titanic.gov.ns.ca/default.asp that defines Halifax's role.

George Wright's house sits on the corner of Inglis Street and Young Avenue in Halifax. There are pictures and his biography here:
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/george-wright.html

I pass this house often on my way down town, and it has to be the most beautiful house in Halifax!


Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 3

Bluebottle

Thanks - that's exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to hear!
Would you like to write a section on Halifax's involvement to be included in this article? Either a short sentence or a few paragraphs - whatever you feel should be mentioned.

<BB<


Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

This is great, BB. smiley - biggrin

Feel free to use anything from the 9 April issue of smiley - thepost that is useful. (My stuff, I mean.) There are pictures if you need any.

The statistics on nationalities of passengers is interesting. I just have one question, and forgive me if it's odd. Maybe it's just being American: you distinguish between 'Irish' and 'British' passengers. It's 1912. Weren't the Irish passengers also British at this time?

If you're distinguishing between Irish and British passengers, where do the NI passengers come in? Were they differentiated in the lists? (Like I said, this may be a silly question.)

One thing you cleared up for me was the difference between 'steerage' and 'third class'. I didn't know that. smiley - smiley


Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 5

Bluebottle

I was going to ask you about the pictures – I'm assuming that all that are in smiley - thepost are okay to use? I wanted to add some of your myths (naturally I'll credit you in the article).

You've raised a good question on the statistics on nationalities of passengers. Yes, Irish passengers are at this time British. The figures were from a book I don't have with me right now, but I guess it distinguishes between Irish and British passengers based on the people who came aboard when the ship was berthed at Southampton, and those who came onboard at Queenstown (now Cobh). (I tend to assume that books with an author's name on the cover are more accurate than websites, as if there are any jarring inaccuracies people know who to accuse, so authors have to double-check what they publish, but there seem to be so many discrepancies with the books I have it is hard to know exactly what is true. Perhaps I should add a footnote to the effect that all numbers are believed to be true, but completely accurate records were not kept and that exact numbers of survivors and victims etc are disputed by historians?).

Where do the NI passengers come in? I imagine they would be classed as Irish if they arrived at Queenstown. Sadly the book doesn't detail the nationalities of the crew (and other employees). I know how many were from Southampton, that 9 were from Belfast in the Guarantee Group led by Thomas Andrews, that the Café Parisian had French staff and Gettys Restaurant had Italian waiters, but that is all at present. I'm still researching...

<BB<


Remembering RMS Titanic

Post 6

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - ok All pictures in smiley - thepost are free to use. smiley - smiley Help yourself, that means we get extra mileage from them.

I agree with you about the print sources. One hopes that some editor did due diligence on the figures. I think a footnote about the recordsd is a good idea. Some readers won't realise just how knotty the research problems can be.

What you said makes sense to me, about who came aboard at Queenstown, etc. It might be a question of what kind of passport each person had? Were there different kinds of British passports, depending on what part of the Empire you were from, maybe?

What I like about this topic is the wealth of research it opens up into material culture and ways of life in the past. smiley - biggrin


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