The Documents
1. Transcipt of Register for transmission to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen
March25th, 1912
"The owners of British ships were required by law to register their vessels with the custom officers in a port that was designed as a port of registry. They were then issued with a Certificate of Registry, bearing the vessel's unique Official Number, and a copy of the certificate was sent to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen.
On this certificate all subsequent changes in ownership of the national '64 shares' (which represented 100% ownership of the vessel) were to be recorded. Applications for registration had to supply full details of the dimensions, tonnage and engine power of the vessel and the names of the owners.
These details do not precisely match those given in the records of Harland and Wolff, showing the danger of taking even the official record at face value. Dimensions and tonnage figures were sometimes re-interpreted by owners in order to minimize harbour dues and the way in which the Board of Trade required its measurements differed from those used by the builders."
"The Titanic was registered in Liverpool, a port of registry, where the head office of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Limited was based. The original Certificate of Registry went down with the vessel. This is the Registrar-General's copy."
2. Report of Survey of an Emigrant Ship - From Surveys 27 M 23780
April 1912
"Most people think of the Titanic as a luxury liner, but officially it was an 'Emigrant Ship'. The government department responsible for merchant shipping, the Board of Trade, defined as an emigrant ship any ship that carried more than 50 steerage passengers ie. people travelling without cabins, sailing from a British port to ports outside Europe. All such ships had to obtain a certificate for clearance before they could sail, testifying to the vessel's seaworthiness and that it was adequately provided with life-saving equipment.
This certificate would only be issued after the ship had been inspected by a Board of Trade surveyor who completed this form - Surveys 27. Titanic was certified to carry up to 3,547 passengers and crew, although her lifeboat capacity was only for 1,178, which was considerably more than she was legally required to provide."
3. Certificates of Clearance of an Emigrant Ship - Form Surveys 32
April 1912
"A certificate of clearance had to be completed by the Emigration Officer at each port from which an emigrant ship picked up passengers, testifying to the seaworthiness of the vessel and that it met all the legal requirements for transporting passengers.
4. Telegrams sent to the SS Birma by the SS Titanic as she sank.
14-15th April 1912
"Throughout the day of April 14th, Titanic had received wireless messages warning of icebergs on her course. The Russian East Asiatic liner, the Birma, was steaming about 100 miles to the south-west of the Titanic when her radio operator intercepted a distress call from 'MYG', the call-sign of the Titanic. The time was 11:45 pm. He asked for further information and was told that the ship had struck an iceberg and was sinking fast. He estimated that it would be 6:30 am before the Birma could arrive at the scene. At 1:45 am came a final desperate message from the Titanic using the old distress call - CQD (CQ-all stations attend; D-distress) as well as the new international code-SOS. Copies of these radio-telegrams were obtained for the board of Trade inquiry by diplomatic contacts at St. Petersburg, then capital of the Russian empire."
"The Titanic had been equipped with a 'state of the art' 5-kilowatt wireless telegraphy system, installed by the marconi company, which also provided operators, and guaranteed to broadcast over a radius of 350 miles. Signor Marconi himself was called upon to give evidence to the British enquiry and its final report recommended that all liners should carry the system and sufficient operators to maintain a constant service. An Act of Parliament to make this compulsory on British ships was not passed until 1919, and then only for vessels with more than 200 people on board."
5. Correspondence form the White Star Line to the Board of Trade concerning the loss of the Titanic.
15-16th April, 1912
"Initial reports of any disaster, even in today's world of high speed communications, are often confused and unreliable. The first press statements that there was "no danger of loss of life" were soon proved to be wildly optimistic."
6. The response of the union leader-letter from the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers' Union.
16th April 1912
"Ben Tilted was one of the leading trade unionists of his day, organizer of the famous London Docks Strike of 1889 and a man who neglected no opportunity to strike at the capitalist system. Like the editor of the New York Even Journal, he had no doubt as to who was to blame-the ship's owners, seeking short-term profit at the expense of human life. Rich and poor alike were drowned although the way in which the accommodation on the Titanic was arranged (floorplan) meant that the first class passengers, whose state rooms were on A Deck, were nearer to the boats. Not all the emigrants in Third class had a good command of English and many may not have realised what was happening until was too late. Was Ben Tillet blinded to the facts by the rhetoric of class warfare in his damning critique? The British Commission of Enquiry's final report stated that no discrimination had been shown against the third class passengers. Board of Trade officials noted on the file cover of this letter that is was not to receive a reply."
7. The politician's response - notice of a Parliamentary Question to the President of the board of Trade.
25th April 1912
"Josiah Wedgwood, the Liberal MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, tabled a question to be put to the responsible minister in the House of commons as to why the majority of children traveling third class were drowned when most of those in first and second class accommodations were saved. the statistics are that all those children traveling first and second were saved and 65.38% of those in third were drowned."
8. Alfred Omont's account of his escape from the Titanic - statement of evidence to the British Commission of Enquiry.
May - July 1912
"Omont, a French cotton agent based at Le Havre and seasoned transatlantic traveler , had joined the Titanic at Cherbourg. He describes the last night from the viewpoint of a first-class passenger, dinner followed by a quiet game of bridge in the "Cafe Parisien" and then the moment of impact with the iceberg. Clearly no one knew what to do next and no one even attempted to organise an orderly evacuation of the ship. Were crew and passengers alike mesmerized by the myth of 'unsinkability'? Joseph Conrad was in no doubt that "all the people on board existed under a sense of false security...that some of them actually were reluctant to enter the boats, when told to do so, shows the strength of that falsehood". Omont put on his life-jacket, then took it off, then put it on again. when he did finally decide to jump aboard a life boat, it was against the advice of other passengers. Eventually, with the other survivors, he was rescued by the SS Carpathia and taken to New York."
9. Photograph of a survivor from the Titanic.
9th of May 1912
"This photograph was taken from the SS Carpathia, which came to the aid of the stricken Titanic. the registration form is the standard issue fine arts copyright registry form kept at Stationers' Hall. This picture was not registered until 9th May 1912, presumably not long after the photographer returned to england. Note the cork life-jacket. Many of those who jumped into the water from the Titanic, wearing jackets such as these, had their necks broken by the force of the impact."
Where I Found These
These documents and the information describing them has been pulled out of Titanic:The Official Story, a box full of replicas of these documents and information concerning them. If you are interested in the Titanic, this item is very interesting and can be found at any bookstore.
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