As I'm sure many of you know, today is the Centenary of the launch of the ill-fated RMS Titanic. I am not particularly well-read on the Titanic itself, and I'm not posting to ignite a debate about the ship or it's legends. However as a mechanical engineer with an interest in all things nautical plus British engineering history such as it's builders Harland & Wolff of Belfast, I was disappointed yet intrigued by today's article on the BBC website. Disappointed as the headline describes it as a "disastrous ship", which I think is grossly unfair as I believe the sinking (which was of course a disaster) was largely caused by bad handling by the captain & owners & not due to poor ship design or build quality. I was intrigued by the website's interesting angle re the supposed sectarian aspect of the H&W workforce. (Before my marriage in 1991 my only exposure to this was the TV news of the "troubles" in Ulster etc. Yet when I married a Catholic girl in deepest darkest Banbury I was amazed by my parent's initial fear & suspicion of the way the service might go, as we were pro British C of E from Cinderford and our only knowledge of the RC religion was from tv etc... as it turned out the service was very similar to our "normal" weddings and a lovely occasion).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13593391

Anyway, today I'm wondering whether any Foresters from perhaps the iron industries were involved in building the ship or it's fittings in any way at all ?. A quick search of this forum showed that a few Foresters were lucky enough to be unable to book passage on Titanic, do we know if any actually were involved in the sinking or subsequent rescue efforts ?.

To all the 1503 who lost their lives, and those hardworking innocents at Harland & Woolf who's jobs & careers were blighted, my thoughts are with you all.
RIP.

My mother had an aunt, surname Atkins (from Monmouthshire) who was ladies maid to Lady Ismay, wife of the owner. They were scheduled to sail with the RMS Titanic, but cancelled at the last minute.

Roger

Hi Roger and thanks for posting, my goodness now that is a Forest link to the past !. There was me only thinking of someone making part of the ship's hardware or somesuch.

A quick Google has shown me the owner aka Chairman of the White Star Line was John Bruce Ismay who caused quite a stir by daring to step into a lifeboat so surviving the sinking.... This was his final White Star business trip to New York to discuss the terms of his leaving the Company, I wonder if anyone has created a theory about his trying to sink the ship for personal gain ?... I hope not.
I must admit quickly reading about him has confused me, I was under the impression (no, not based on Hollywood) that the ship's Captain had been under great pressure from the owners to maintain perhaps reckless high speed despite warnings of ice bergs ahead. However I wonder if this is true re JB, he actually reads like a decent man, but I'm afraid I do have a low regard for the press and their ability to ruin good people. He certainly shunned public positions such as chairman of various companies for the rest of his working life. He was entirely exonerated of any wrongdoing by Commissions both in New York and Britain, and was accompanied at both by Lady Ismay.
Was your mother's aunt still with Lady Ismay then ?

He was from Merseyside, educated at Harrow, heir at 34 years to the $40 million White Star fortune, but still did his five year Marine Apprenticeship !. Outside work his loves were shooting & fishing and he owned a Lodge in Galway during the 20s. Later in life he often rented a lodge at Gleneagles for the season; would these pastimes be a reason perhaps for a lady from Monmouth (Wye fishing ?) to have become involved with the Ismays ?. Following severe illnesses he passed away in 1937 age 74.
Thank heaven for your aunt & your family they cancelled their voyage, no doubt for perfectly good reasons, but it must be a little spooky for your family to have it's own potential plot of yet another Titanic Conspiracy Theory ? (or at least would be if JB Ismay had cancelled too !).
I wonder if your mother's aunt became a local celebrity at all, did the Monnow Paparazzi pick up the story ?.

Lady Florence Ismay was Miss Julia Florence Schieffelin of New York. They were married in 1888. She lived for a considerable time afterwards to Bruce, dying on Jan 1st 1964 her obituary appears below.

"Mrs. Florence Ismay, widow of J. Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line at the time of the Titanic disaster in 1912, died at her home today. Her age was 96.
Mrs. Ismay’s husband, who survived the disaster, helped get women and children away from the ship for nearly two hours, escaping in the last lifeboat. He was later criticized for the leaving the Titanic at all, but was exonerated at both the American and British inquiries.

New York Times"

This wesbite lists information' - on Passengers, Crew List, Survivors, and Victims etc

Started going through this list - to see if anyone was from the FOD - quite a job - would take some time..... - but there is under Titantic Deck Crew, M MATHIAS, (Montague Vincent )- born Chepstow age 27, Deck Steward, 2 Western Esplande - who signed on at Southampton ( wages £4 a month)

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/

FOD records - christening at Chepstow - 21 June 1882

Montague Vincent MATHIAS - father: Montague Bradby (High Street, Clerk in Post Office) and Frances Rosina

No doubt there are conspiracies but I don't think this was one of them. The perceived wisdom is that the Captain was under pressure to make the fastest trans Atlantic crossing yet despite every likelihood of icebergs at that time of year. Then, the Titanic tried to sheer off the iceberg after sighting, rather than hit it head on. In the latter case, marine engineers think that it would have survived. The Titanic had 'nearly' watertight compartments. Head on might have only flooded the first compartment coupled with 'crush' effect, whereas sheering off opened up a very long gash in the side flooding 3 or 4 compartments. Doomed.

My mother was born 12th April that year.

Oddly enough, I used to belong to a militaria society, in the 1970's, which met at the regimental HQ of the London Scottish Regiment in Victoria. The inquest into the loss of the Titanic was held in the basement, a very smart sports facility. Unchanged from 1911/12. There were and quite possibly still are photographs of the Inquest on the walls now.

Roger

Don't worry Roger,
I was part-jesting re the Theories, but I can imagine today's press thinking that way. Yes agree entirely re the ship's ability to withstand the collision, it was not a bad design at all. Also some say the order to steer away from the berg was confused so the ship turned too late. Either way with a gash that length she was doomed. A few months back I enjoyed what was intended as a kids programme on one of the freeview channels which discussed the design and the heroics of the ship's engineers keeping her afloat, using those compartments, while others could live. It concluded in them helping with the renovation of a truly beautiful Engineer's Memorial in Southampton, see photo.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/23237

I was almost surprised such a Memorial existed, before I was reminded that in those days engineers were afforded a deserved status in life that I've always felt they lack in modern times, even in the 1980s I recall chatting to a young local Doctor at our Romanian holiday hotel who was genuinely impressed I'd just qualified as an engineer, to him even pre Communism that was seen as on a par with himself. Now we're just thought of as car bodgers... particularly by the all-too-many doctors I've met over the last 10 years. Ah well.

This is an excellent article about the Memorial, nigh on 100,000 spectators attended it's unveiling in Spring of 1914, what a sad year for humanity. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/heritage/hampshireheritage/8353018.Memorial_for_brave_Titani...

I would love to think that your London basement is still there, a quiet memorial in itself.
Sadly I suspect with the army cuts etc it's now a Bistro and the artifacts went into the builder's skip.

In fact I've just goggled this Regimental Newsletter from 1990, so post your visit. It mentions their "recent" move to a new HQ in London, as the regiment had merged with I think three others to become "The London Regiment". The last paragraph is an obituary to an old soldier, who survived all of WW1 despite being wounded to pass away aged 95!, it mentions;

"I well remember him visiting ‘59’(the old London Reg HQ) in 1980 and telling me that they used the model of the Titanic (there for the enquiry held at our Headquarters in 1913) for evening target practice."
Hopefully that was just against bread rolls not live ammunition ?!

http://www.gcompany.org.uk/images/1990s/Gazettes/gaz1990-1s.pdf

As an engineer proud of the Forest's industrial heritage I had posted particularly hoping to find records of Foresters involved in the building or the fittings of the ship, as well as those aboard her. I'm sorry that my post was considered unsuitable, but I am still pleased I posted. I'll continue to read thro' the lists of crew & passengers and I hope to be able to relaunch this thread another time by posting the details of more Foresters involved.