#titaniccrew

Henry Tingle Wilde was a man whose life was marked by great joy and great tragedy. His father died 3 months before he was born, and his mother when he was 9. He was one of four children. Although the family does not appear to have had a tradition for it, Henry went to sea in his teens, serving aboard the same ship the Greystoke Castle for his 4-year apprenticeship. He continued in sail until 1895 when he transitioned to steam ships with the S.S. Brunswick. In 1897 he joined the White Star Line on the 16th July, setting history in motion. He started as Fourth Officer aboard the S.S. Cevic, then moved to the Cufic where he had a qualification to 'administer first aid to the injured'.

Over the years he moved up through the ranks, on ships such as the Tauric, (Second Officer) during which service he married Mary Catherine Jones, his beloved "Pollie' in 1898 when they were both aged 26.

He then moved to the Delphic on the New Zealand route, back to the Cufic and in May 1900 he sat the examination for his Extra Master's certificate. He eventually passed on the 9th July. His next ship was the S.S. Persic, one of the five Jubilee-class sisters on the Australian run. (Officers he would later serve with on the Titanic also worked on the sisters, including Murdoch on the Medic and Runic, Lightoller on the Medic and Suevic) However, Wilde did not enjoy the Australian run, being that it took him from home for sch lengthy periods of time.

In 1903, Wilde's wish to be closer to home was granted when he was assigned to the Cedric, one of the 'Big Four, which meant shorter trips and less time between visits home. However, this meant a 'demotion' of sorts back to Second Officer.

In 1904, he began training with the Royal Naval Reserves, in 1905 reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

He then worked on the S.S. Arabic as First Officer (Murdoch would later serve on this ship). Service on the Celtic followed, before Wilde moved back the Australian run on the Medic. During his time on this ship, two major things happened - while away, a son was born and he was also promoted to Chief.

Wilde then returned to the Cedric as her Chief Officer in 1908, but in May was back aboard Medic. By March 1909 he was back to the North Atlantic run on the Cymric, then the Laurentic and back to the Cymric. After this he served aboard the Cedric again, before moving to the S.S Canopic where his First Officer was none other than David Blair. This ship served the Mediterranean routes. During this time a daughter was born.

Altogether, Henry and Pollie had 6 children: the last two being twin boys born in November 1910. However the birth was extremely difficult, and the babies seem to have had some kind of deformity or congenital defect which resulted in them passing away, first Archie and then Richard shortly afterward in early December. Wilde had the sad task of reporting their deaths to the registry office. As if that weren't tragedy enough, Pollie never recovered from the birth, declining severely and she died on Christmas Eve 1910. Henry would never recover from her loss, his subsequent letters to family bearing witness to his deep grief and pain.

In January 1911, Wilde must return to work for the sake of his children. He commenced again training for the R.N.R., where he wrote to his sister-in-law: "I am feeling very miserable here in this afternoon… I feel my loss more every day. I don't know how ever I will get over this great blow. I am trying to keep up but I have to give way at times." (Sincerely Harry, Michael Beatty)

The loss of his wife plays on his mind greatly, with his surviving letters stating: "I don't know what I will do when I do come home. I don't seem to have much to look forward to now. Nobody knows the knock I have had. I don't know how I am going to get over my loss. I used to look forward so much to getting home and having a few days with Pollie… I can't understand why I should have this terrible trouble put onto my life. I don't seem to have anything to live for if it was not for the children. I would not care what happened to me." After finally visiting Plymouth he wrote: "It quite upset me seeing all the familiar places and thinking of the emptiness of my life now. I quite broke down…"(Sincerely Harry, Michael Beatty)

Despite his grief, Henry pushed on and by February he was serving aboard the Megantic, until April when Wilde was put as Master on the S.S. Zeeland to replace the sunk Republic on the service. He wrote again to Pollie's sister: "If Pollie had been spared to me how pleased she would have been to see me in this ship. I had looked forward so much to get command for her sake, so that she could have had an easier time with someone to look after the children."(Sincerely Harry, Michael Beatty)

He then returned to the Teutonic and the Cedric until July 1911...

The rest, as we know, was history. Henry would lose his life in the tragic sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic, along with his Captain, First Officer Murdoch and Sixth Officer Moody, as well as over 1500 passengers and crew. His children were left to the care of his sister-in-law Annie:

"I appoint my sister in law Mrs Annie Jones Williams to act with my trustees as the Guardian of my children during their minority and to be consulted by my trustees as to the education and advancement in life of my children until the youngest child attains the age of twenty one years..." Referring to Annie Jones Williams, Henry asserts "...in whose discretion I repose complete confidence as to their domestic comfort and education..." (Liverpool Museum)

Rest in peace, Mr Wilde.

got a new book today, found it while researching Titanic laundry, and I’m pretty excited as it is exactly the type of information about the crew (like who reports to who and hierarchy, what each job entails,etc) that i’ve been wanting!

(Pictured: Titanic crew survivors in New York)

Day 7: Testimony on the seventh day was actually taken on the evening of the sixth day. For purposes of staying true to the original Inquiry which listed this testimony as the seventh day, so will I.

“Day 7”, if you will, was handled differently than the previous days of inquiry. Six senators: Smith, Burton, Perkins, Fletcher, Newlands and Bourne, each took testimony from 24 members of Titanic crew. Below I will list the each senator and the men they interviewed. Due to the fact there are so many testifying, I have opted to make additional posts that link back to this one. The link with each senator’s name will take you to each post with the notable quotes, lines of questioning, or summaries of testimony.

WITNESSES:

Senator Burton:

George T. Rowe, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Alfred Olliver, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Frank Osman, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Senator Newlands

Edward Wheelton, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

William H. Taylor, Fireman, RMS Titanic;

George Moore, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Thomas Jones, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Senator Perkins

George Symons, Lookout, RMS Titanic;

George A. Hogg, Lookout, RMS Titanic;

Walter J. Perkis, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic;

Symons, Hogg, Perkis – then questioned as a group.

Senator Fletcher

John Hardy, Chief Second Class Steward, RMS Titanic;

William Ward, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

James Widgery, Bath Steward, RMS Titanic;

Edward J. Buley, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Senator Bourne

George F. Crowe, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

C.E. Andrews, Assistant Steward, RMS Titanic;

John Collins, Assistant cook, First Class Galley, RMS Titanic;

Frederick Clench, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Ernest Archer, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Walter T. Brice, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Senator Smith

Albert Haines, Boatswain’s Mate, RMS Titanic;

Samuel S. Hemming, Lamp Trimmer, RMS Titanic;

Frank O. Evans, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic

Day 5: The committee picked right back up with Frederick Fleet returning to continue his testimony. After Fleet’s questioning was finished, Senator Smith made a lengthy speech about the intent of the investigation, “ to get all of the facts bearing upon this unfortunate catastrophe that we are able to obtain” ; he also touched on their plan to first get testimonies from the British citizens (and how that had gone over), he ends his speech with a firm declaration that no further attempts to sway the course of the investigation would be tolerated.

The witnesses for the day were as follows:

Frederick Fleet, Lookout, RMS Titanic;

Harold G. Lowe, Fifth Officer, RMS Titanic;

Charles Lightoller, Second Officer, RMS Titanic;

Robert Hichens, Quartermaster, RMS Titanic

Also included during this day of inquiry were two memorandums submitted by Herbert Pitman, Third Officer, RMS Titanic, as well as an additional final statement made by Hichens.

Passenger List (shown above)

Ship’s Run

Additional Statement

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questionning:

It is interesting that when asked to judge distances, specifically about how far ahead the iceberg was when he saw it, Fleet always replied that he “could not say”. Even when led by the senators to guess a distance, he was hesitant. According to Fleet, his only job was to ring the bridge and tell them what he saw, and in the case of the Titanic, he did exactly that, and gave no estimation as to distance. He later even admits “I am not a good judge of distance; I could not say”.

When asked at what point, had he had the glasses (binoculars) would he have used them, Fleet testified that they only use them to confirm when they saw something on the horizon. They did not utilize them the whole watch.

“But from the beginning until now there has been a voluntary, gratuitous, meddlesome attempt upon the part of certain persons to influence the course of the committee and to shape its procedure.” – Senator Smith in his statement.

“Worked out things; worked out the odds and ends, and then submitted them to the senior officer. We are there to do the navigating part so the senior officer can be and shall be in full charge of the bridge and have nothing to worry his head about. We have all that, the junior officers; there are four of us. The three seniors are in absolute charge of the boat. They have nothing to worry themselves about. They simply have to walk backward and forward and look after the ship, and we do all the figuring and all that sort of thing in our chart room.”- Lowe (a good description of officer duties)

This was Lowe’s first trip in the Atlantic, therefore he did not know much about the area or which track they were on.

“No. It is the White Star routine. The White Star Co. have regulations, just the same, in fact, as the Navy, and we all know exactly what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it. Everybody knows his business, and they do it. There is no hitch in anything.” – Lowe  (It has seemed to me that all crew members were under the same impression, when asked if something was done, they said yes, because they all always did their duties, so it was a natural thing to assume things had been done. Smith often had to follow up asking whether they saw it, heard of it, etc.)

Lowe was asked if he was a “temperate man” because a story had been passed on to Senator Smith by a reputable man that Lowe was drinking the night of the collision. Lowe indicated towards his glass of water in front of him and said it was the “strongest drink he ever takes”.

The first thing Lowe did when he heard what had happened, was go and get his revolver. When asked why Lowe replied: “Well sir, you never know when you will need it.”

“You say "select." There was no such thing as selecting. It was simply the first woman, whether first class, second class, third class, or sixty-seventh class. It was all the same; women and children were first.” – Lowe

They also questioned Lowe about the shots he fired. Lowe was worried that if anyone tried to jump in the boat he was being lowered in, the weight might collapse the boat. He fired between the lifeboat alongside the Titanic horizontally, three times as warning.

Quartermaster Hichens was sworn in and related all that had happened up until he was in the lifeboat with Fleet and Peuchen, both of whom had testified prior to Hichens, and shown him in an unfavorable light. Senator Smith then asks Hichens specifically about what happened in the boat and he denies a lot of what Fleet and Peuchen had spoken of when it came to his demeanor.

“I would like to make a little statement as regarding Mrs. Mayer's [Meyer] statement in the newspapers about my drinking the whisky sir, and about the blankets. I was very cold, sir, and I was standing up in the boat. I had no hat on. A lady had a flask of whisky or brandy, or something of that description, given her by some gentleman on the ship before she left, and she pulled it out and gave me about a tablespoonful and I drank it. Another lady, who was lying in the bottom of the boat, in a rather weak condition gave me a half wet and half dry blanket to try keep myself a little warm, as I was half frozen. I think it was very unkind of her, sir, to make any statement criticizing me. When we got to the ship I handled everyone as carefully as I could, and I was the last one to leave the boat, and I do not think I deserve anything like that to be put in the papers. That is what upset me and got on my nerves.” - Hichens

When the committee was finished with questioning Hichens, they allowed him to return to England, making him promise that he would return if desired. (He was not recalled). When Senator Smith was asked if Fleet and a couple other of the crew could return home also he stated he was not done with them yet.

April 23rd, 1912, morning, St. George’s Day 

 Across Southampton, mourners continue to express their grief at Titanic’s loss, today especially with a particular tribute to the memory of Captain EJ Smith, beloved member of the port city and resident of Woodhead, Winn Road. Hundreds have been left destitute by the disaster, for which a Titanic Relief Fund has been set up by the Lord Mayor of London on the 17th - and overseen since then in Southampton by Mayor Henry Bowyer, mentioned here (more on this fund later). From the Scottish Daily Record: “Many mourners in Southampton to-day were wearing red roses not only in honour of St. George’s Day, but as a tribute to the memory of Captain Smith of the Titanic who was a staunch believer of the Empire and always celebrated St. George’s Day. ‘That is why we are wearing roses to-day,’ said a lady friend of the Captain’s widow, ‘for had he been alive it is the very thing he would have wished.’ Mrs. Smith is still suffering greatly from the shock of her gallant husband’s death, and she receives no one but the wives of the other officers who went down in the Titanic. The wives and families of the drowned officers are in a worse position than the wives and families of the crew. They are, Mrs. Smith’s companion stated to-day, entitled to nothing from the White Star Line. Most of Mrs. Smith’s time is occupied by answering letters and telegrams of condolence, which continue to pour in at the rate of two or three hundred a day. Among the replies sent was one to King Alfonso, who was a great admirer of Captain Smith. When the Titanic went down a book of the captain’s containing the autographs of Royal passengers and eminent public men was lost. The Mayor, Mr. Bowyer, tells me that applications for relief continue to come to the Town Hall, but the numbers are decreasing daily. To-day he gave £2 to a woman to whom a baby was born yesterday. He has now distributed £300 in temporary relief.” Many thanks to Paul Lee for very kindly providing the primary source material and suggestion for this part of the story. Statue of EJ Smith by Kathleen Scott erected at Beacon Park, Lichfield, July 1914, photo by Anna Chaleva

Witnesses:

John Hardy, Chief Second Class Steward, RMS Titanic;

William Ward, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

James Widgery, Bath Steward, RMS Titanic;

Edward J. Buley, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

“I came in the last collapsible boat that left the ship and, greatly to my surprise, when I got on the Carpathia I saw Officer Lightoller coming in the following afternoon. When he stepped from this collapsible boat, I was sure he had gone down in the ship and I was greatly surprised when I saw him on the Carpathia.” – Hardy

” There was nobody on board, because we could not get our collapsible boat lowered from one end of it. The forward part of the collapsible boat was lowered, but there was nobody there to lower the afterend, which you will find in Mr. Bright's evidence. Mr. Lightoller stepped from the collapsible boat aboard the ship again and did it himself.” –Hardy

“Of course I had great respect and great regard for Chief Officer Murdoch, and I was walking along the deck forward with him, and he said, ‘I believe she is gone, Hardy’; and that is the only time I thought she might sink; when he said that.” – Hardy (this is 30 minutes before his boat was lowered)

“That is impossible to think, that is impossible to suggest, that men drink while at sea; because in the first place, if it was possible for a man to want it he could not afford to buy it; and there is no hope for him to get it, because he would not be served, anyway.” – Hardy

Stewards take their orders through the pursers. (I didn’t know that)

“Everybody was moving around and in a most orderly manner. There did not seem to be any excitement. In fact, there was a lot of ladies and gentlemen there that were just treating it as a kind of a joke.” – Ward

“ One old lady made a great fuss about it and absolutely refused to get into the boat. She went back to the companionway and forced her way in and would not get into the boat.” – Ward

“The purser called out, ‘Are there any more women?’ Just then some one said, ‘Yes.’ This woman came along, rather an oldish lady, and she was frightened, and she gave me her hand. I took one hand, and gave it to the boatswain's mate, and he caught hold of the other hand, and she pulled her hand away, and went back to the door and would not get in. One of them went after her, but she had gone down the stairs.” – Widgery (referring to the same woman that Ward was talking about)

“There was No. 10 boat, and there was no one there, and the chief officer asked what I was ... and he said, ‘Jump in and see if you can find another seaman to give you a hand.’ I found Evans, and we both got in the boat, and Chief Officer Murdoch and Baker also was there. I think we were the last lifeboat to be lowered. We got away from the ship.” – Buley

Buley estimated there were 60-70 people in his boat (4 crew, the rest women and children). “Ours was the last boat up there, and they went around and called to see if there were any, and they threw them in the boat at the finish, because they didn't like the idea of coming in… threw them in. One young lady slipped, and they caught her by the foot on the deck below, and she came up then and jumped in” - Buley

“Yes, sir; there were a good few dead, sir. Of course you could not discern them exactly on account of the wreckage; but we turned over several of them to see if they were alive. It looked as though none of them were drowned. They looked as though they were frozen. The life belts they had on were that much (indicating) out of the water, and their heads were laid back, with their faces on the water, several of them. Their hands were coming up like that (indicating).” – Buley

“Settled down [the bow]; yes, sir. She went down as far as the afterfunnel, and then there was a little roar, as though the engines had rushed forward, and she snapped in two, and the bow part went down and the afterpart came up and staid up five minutes before it went down.” – Buley

“The people in the boat were very frightened that there would be some suction. If there had been any suction we should have been lost. We were close to her. We couldn't get away fast enough. There was nobody to pull away.” – Buley

I believe Buley’s testimony to be very interesting.

Witnesses:

Albert Haines, Boatswain’s Mate, RMS Titanic;

Samuel S. Hemming, Lamp Trimmer, RMS Titanic;

Frank O. Evans, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

” No, sir. I called the sailors aft, and I passed the remark to them: "There is people in the water." I said, ‘Do you think it advisable?’ I said, ‘We can't do nothing with this crowd we have in the boat,’ because we had no room to row, let alone do anything else, sir; and it was no good of our going back. by the time we got back there, we could not have done anything. We could not move in the boat, let alone row. I thought it unsafe to go back there, sir, having so many in the boat… I was in charge of the boat, sir, and if I had thought it possible I would have gone back. I took charge of the boat” – Haines

“We went back in our bunks a few minutes. Then the joiner [possibly J. Hutchinson] came in and he said: ‘If I were you, I would turn out, you fellows. She is making water, one-two-three, and the racket court is getting filled up.’ Just as he went, the boatswain came, and he says, ‘Turn out, you fellows… you haven't half an hour to live…That is from Mr. Andrews…Keep it to yourselves, and let no one know.’” – Hemming

“I went to the bridge and looked over and saw the water climbing upon the bridge. I went and looked over the starboard side, and everything was black. I went over to the port side and saw a boat off the port quarter, and I went along the port side and got up the after boat davits and slid down the fall and swam to the boat and got it.” –Hemming

“After the ship had gone we pulled back and picked up seven… Stewards, firemen, seamen, and one or two men, passengers; I could not say exactly which they were” – Hemming (boat 4)

” We picked up [from the water] four persons alive… One died on the way back, sir. There were plenty of dead bodies about us… you couldn't hardly count them, sir. I was afraid to look over the sides because it might break my nerves down.” – Evans (having gotten into No. 14)

Smith was being unkind about Evans not wanting to look at the dead bodies too long.

Witnesses:

George F. Crowe, Saloon Steward, RMS Titanic;

C.E. Andrews, Assistant Steward, RMS Titanic;

John Collins, Assistant cook, First Class Galley, RMS Titanic;

Frederick Clench, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Ernest Archer, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Walter T. Brice, Able Seaman, RMS Titanic;

Notable Quotes/Lines of Questioning or Summary of Testimony:

“That was his [Lowe’s] boat; yes, sir. After getting the women and children in, we lowered down within 4 or 5 feet of the water and found the block and tackle had gotten twisted in some way, causing us to have to cut the ropes to allow the boat to get into the water.” - Crowe

“Returning back to the wreckage, we heard various cries, and endeavored to get among them, and we were successful in doing so and in picking one body up that was floating around in the water; when we got him into the boat - after great difficulty, he being such a heavy man - he expired shortly afterwards. [William Hoyt] Going farther into the wreckage we came across a steward or one of the crew [Harold Phillimore], and we got him into the boat, and he was very cold and his hands were kind of stiff, but we got him in and he recovered by the time we got back to the Carpathia. . .  also a Japanese or Chinese young fellow [Fang Lang] that we picked up on top of some of the wreckage - it might have been a sideboard or table - that was floating around. We stopped until daybreak, and we saw in the distance a raft or Berthon boat submerged, in the distance, with a crowd of men on it. We went over ... found probably 20, or there might have been 25, men and 1 woman; also 3 or 4 dead bodies, which we left. Returning again under canvas sail - we stepped our mast at night - we took in tow a collapsible boat containing fully 60 people - women, children, and men.” –Crowe

“There were various men passengers, probably Italians or some foreign nationality other than English or American, who attempted to rush the boats. The officers threatened to shoot any man who put his foot into the boat. He fired the revolver, but either downward or upward, not shooting at any of the passengers at all and not injuring anybody. He fired perfectly clear, upward or downward.” – Crowe

“ So me and another steward and the two children and the woman came around on that side, the starboard side… we saw the collapsible boat taken off of the saloon deck, and then the sailors and the firemen that were forward seen the ship's bow in the water… they shouted out for all they were worth we were to go aft, and word came there was a boat getting launched, so we were told to go aft, and we were just turning around and making for the stern end when the wave washed us off the deck - washed us clear of it - and the child was washed out of my arms; and the wreckage and the people that was around me, they kept me down for at least two or three minutes under the water.” –Collins

Collins clarified to Senator Bourne that there was no sea (it was calm) at the time the wave swept him off. He explained that the wave had been caused by the suction that took place when the bow went down in the water, washing the deck clear of “hundreds on the starboard side”.

“We were all telling him not to get on. He said, ‘That is all right, boys, keep cool,’ he said; ‘God bless you,’ and he bid us good-by and he swam along for about two minutes and we seen him, but did not see him moving off; we saw his head, but we did not see him moving his hands… There were others that tried to get on, but we would not let them on. A big foreigner came up… to the stern and he hung on to me all the time. [this man was saved]” – Collins

“It was spoken by one of the lady passengers to go back and see if there was anyone in the water we could pick up, but I never heard any more of it after that.” – Archer