The Ornamented Being

“Sunset and evening star,
  And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
  When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
    Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
    Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
    When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
    The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
    When I have crost the bar.”    

            - Alfred, Lord Tennyson

I have kept my yearly vigil in honour of the memory of those who perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the early hours of April 15, 1912.

Requiescat in pace, you are not forgotten.

There are so many stories of victims and survivors but this has always touched me. 

“Isa and Isidor shared a first class ticket, number 17483. Ida reportedly would not leave Isidor and refused to get in a lifeboat. The officer filling up the boat told Isidor that he could get into the boat with his wife, but he refused to before younger men but instead sent his wife’s maid, Ellen Bird, into the boat.

Ida refused to board the half-full boat, saying “I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die together”. Isidor and Ida were last seen on deck sitting in deck chairs holding hands when a huge wave washed them into the sea.”

“The two Marconi operators on board Titanic were Jack Phillips and Harold Bride. Their first distress message was sent out at 00.05 hours (ship’s time) on 15 April (about 25 minutes after the ship struck the iceberg), after which they were continuously occupied in emergency communications until loss of power to their equipment meant they could do no more. Both then abandoned ship, shortly before it foundered at 02.20 hours.

Phillips, the senior operator, was lost, but Bride was picked up by Carpathia, where he assisted the sole radio operator in dealing with a constant exchange of messages in the following hours. The Carpathia finally docked at New York on 18 April and Marconi visited his exhausted operators on board. He had recently arrived there himself on the Lusitania, having at a late stage changed his original plan to cross the Atlantic on Titanic.”

The photograph is of Jack Phillips, the radio operator who was drowned in the disaster.

The letter to the right of Jack is a telegram from George Phillips, father of Jack Phillips, seeking news of his son.

The bottom letter is a message conveying the Company’s appreciation of the bravery and devotion to duty of Harold Bride, the surviving radio operator from the Titanic

“Then the weather; it was calm, still, flat, no wind, and star lit. Now that sounds like a picture perfect evening, and it is, but not for spotting icebergs. here’s why; if the water is smooth, and flat, it won’t produce ‘breakers’ around the edges of the iceberg, and believe it or not the brighter it is at night the harder it is to see icebergs, and especially ‘blue bergs.’ Sailors would say later that they had not seen a night like this in 40 years.”

Art by © Ken Marschall

As the Titanic sped on through a known ice field at 22 1/2 knots, about 28 miles an hour, she had but a few more hours to retain the title ‘Queen of the seas’! The big golden sun began to set in the west, casting wondrous shades of light and depth to the glorious evening. I don’t think that any words can describe the last few hours of precious sunlight that the Titanic’s passenger, and the ship itself had to revel in. Slowly but surely a huge orange mass of light and energy sank lower and lower into the west, and was gone forever for some.

For the others the next time they would see it, they would be on the decks of another ship.

(No photographs exist of the events of April 14-15, 1912 but through the talent of Ken Marschall we can see what it might have been like at that moment. © Ken Marschall.)

14, April 1912

  I know tonight will be a beautiful night for dancing! There is no moon and the temperature is a freezing. As I write I spy the milky way splashed across the sky. The sea looks like glass.* I feel that tonight will be one I will forever remember. 

A dress such as this would have been worn to a dinner party held in the Grand Ballroom. 

* On that fateful night there was no moon and the temperatures were below freezing, however the water was just a little above freezing. The sea was described by many witnesses as like glass. The Milky Way was clearly visible in the Northeast.

Possibly the last photograph taken of Titanic as she departs Queenstown on April 11, 1912.

Today is the second night of the Maiden Voyage of the RMS Titanic. I imagine there would be many different event happening but the greatest would be held in the Grand Ballroom where the first class passengers would waltz the night away. 

But what time of dresses would be worn to an event such as this?

The Met has this to say: … the decorative scheme is as deliberate as that of a scenic kimono, in which no part of the pattern repeats itself. Radiating bars resemble fans unfolding, while the different textures of textiles and beads are layered with all the care evident in a fine piece of lacquerware. Both the motifs and the color palette of black and ivory relate to prized Japanese fan boxes decorated with that traditional decorative technique.

I try not to get too opinionated but I feel strongly about this subject. I may be a member of the unpopular opinion and you may disagree. I respect that. But I personally don’t believe the Titanic should be raised.

I understand that in my lifetime the Rusticles and the Halmonas Titanicae will finish their job. In 15 or 20 years it will be no more. I understand that. I think her final resting place should no longer be disturbed, for profit, for museums or for study.

First and foremost, this is the graveyard for over 1,500 souls. Those who never received a proper burial, the families who never had a place to mourn. There will be no flowers on a grave for these people. For the victims of this tragedy this wreckage is all that remains of their lives and it should be respected.

Scientist make amazing discoveries but sometimes certain things should be left alone.

I will be sad when one day I wake up and the news reports that the only remains of the great RMS Titanic is a rust stain spread across the dark ocean floor. But in a way my heart will be glad because then the victims can finally rest undisturbed and in peace.