Titanic (28 page)

As an adult, Frank Goldsmith continued to keep in touch with and search for other survivors of the disaster. He gave radio and television interviews on
Titanic
anniversaries, and was active in the
Titanic
Historical Society. When Frank passed away in 1982, his ashes were scattered in the North Atlantic, near the spot where his father had perished seventy years before.

The United States Senate lost no time in calling for an investigation of the
Titanic
disaster. After all, some of the wealthiest men of business and most prominent members of society had perished.

In the days from the first inkling of the tragedy until the
Carpathia
’s arrival in New York City, newspapers, families, and politicians had many questions. But above all there was disbelief: How could the world’s largest and safest vessel have sunk so quickly, with so much loss of life?

On Wednesday, April 17, 1912, Senator William Alden Smith proposed that an investigation be held under the Senate Commerce Committee. His Senate resolution called for a panel to be formed to “investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White Star liner
Titanic
, with its attendant loss of life so shocking to the civilized world.”

Senator Smith boarded the
Carpathia
as it was docking on Thursday evening, April 18. He spoke to J. Bruce Ismay personally, to ensure that he and employees of the White Star Line would cooperate with the hearings that, incredibly, were begun the very next morning, on Friday, April 19, at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City. The first witness called was J. Bruce Ismay himself.

The United States inquiry was followed by one in Great Britain, which lasted until July. In the end, the British investigation, sometimes called the Mersey Commission since it was led by Lord Mersey (Charles Bigham), did not find either Captain E. J. Smith or J. Bruce Ismay guilty of negligence.

But in its final report, the commission made a number of recommendations for the future, including twenty-four-hour-a-day wireless operators on duty, frequent lifeboat drills, and, most important, that there should be enough lifeboats and seats in them for every person on board.

(Preceding image)
The U.S. Senate Investigating Committee questions individuals about the
Titanic
disaster at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Colonel Archibald Gracie was an amateur historian. So it’s not surprising that he began talking with other survivors right away, even while they were still on board the
Carpathia,
to document the events of the disaster.

He noted in his book, originally published in 1913 as
The Truth About the Titanic
, that he felt an obligation to write about what happened.

“As the sole survivor of all the men passengers of the
Titanic
stationed during the loading of six or more lifeboats with women and children on the port side of the ship, forward on the glass-sheltered Deck A, and later on the Boat Deck above, it is my duty to bear testimony to the heroism on the part of all concerned. First, to my men companions who calmly stood by until the lifeboats had departed loaded with women and the available complement of crew . . .

“Second, to Second Officer Lightoller and his ship’s crew, who did their duty as if similar occurrences were matters of daily routine; and thirdly, to the women who showed no signs of fear or panic whatsoever under conditions more appalling than were ever recorded before in the history of disasters at sea.”

Sadly, the Colonel did not live to see his book come out. He suffered from diabetes, and the exposure he endured during the night the
Titanic
sank and the time he spent in the freezing seas led to a decline in his health. He died on December 4, 1912. Many
Titanic
survivors attended his funeral.

In reporting Colonel Gracie’s death the following day, the
New York Times
noted that, “The events of the night of the wreck were constantly on his mind. The manuscript of his work on the subject had finally been completed and sent to the printers when his last illness came. In his last hours the memories of the disaster did not leave him. Rather they crowded thicker, and he was heard to say:

“‘We must get them into the boats. We must get them all into the boats.’”

The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances of the above mentioned shipping casualty, finds, for the reasons appearing in the annex hereto, that the loss of the said ship was due to collision with an iceberg, brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was being navigated.

Dated this 30th day of July, 1912.

MERSEY.

Wreck Commissioner.

(Preceding image)
Surviving crew members of the
Titanic
wait to be called in for questioning by the board of inquiry.

The
Titanic
disaster shocked people all over the globe. Jack Thayer put it this way: “To my mind the world of today awoke April 15, 1912.” From that day on, the
Titanic
has continued to be part of popular culture, through fiction and nonfiction books, films, songs, undersea explorations, museum exhibitions, and the Internet.

The events of the
Titanic
disaster can be seen as a symbol of what happens through overconfidence in technology, complacence, and a mindset of profits over people’s safety. The tragedy also reveals much about the society and class structure of the time. While the formal findings did not conclude that third class passengers were the victims of intentional discrimination, the statistics of the disaster, where more people in third class died than in any other, tell a more sobering story. In some cases, entire families — mothers, fathers, and children — in third class, perished.

Most of all, the
Titanic
and the questions it raises reminds us that history isn’t about learning names, events, and dates. Knowing that the
Titanic
sank at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, doesn’t begin to convey what happened that night and why, more than a century later, we’re still drawn to this event.

We can never really know what it was like to be there when 1,496 men, women, and children perished in the icy black waters of the Atlantic.

But through the voices of survivors, we can begin to imagine how desperately Marconi operator Jack Phillips worked in those final hours, feel Charlotte Collyer’s pain as she said good-bye to her beloved husband, and picture the despair on Thomas Andrews’s face the moment he saw water pouring in and realized that this incredible ship — and so many on board her — was doomed.