Titanic - 100 years on
Scottish heroes among those remembered
The sinking of the Titanic on 15 April 1912 was a disaster that
shocked the world.
News of the tragedy hit Scotland hard - twenty crew members and
a number of passengers were Scottish.
Just over 700 of the 2,250 passengers and crew on board the ship
survived. The giant liner hit an iceberg and sank in freezing
Atlantic water off the coast of Canada.
A minister from Glasgow was one of the 1,514 men, women and
children who drowned. The Reverend John Harper, aged 39, gave up
his lifejacket to a fellow passenger as the Titanic slipped below
the water.
Survivors told how Harper quoted the bible, saying: "Believe in
the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."
He even tried to convert those in the freezing water before
dying himself.
The Titanic's first officer was also Scottish. William Murdoch
was remembered on Saturday in a special service by school children
and their families in his home town of Dalbeattie.
A multi-million pound musical extravaganza was held on Saturday
in Belfast to mark 100 years since the ship sank.
The city that built the doomed liner has also opened a new
visitor centre, Titanic Belfast. More than 40,000 people have been
through its doors since it opened on 31 March.
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Titanic - 100 years on
How the disaster was reported in Scotland
The Glasgow Herald, the newspaper that became The Herald,
reported the catastrophe at length. Its coverage reflected
both the enormity of the disaster and the confusion that reigned
for several days in the aftermath. Here are some excerpts:
April 16 1912 (6am special edition)
Telegraphs received this morning from Reuter confirm the
messages to the effect that an appalling disaster has occurred. The
White Star officials admit that it is very probable that only 675
out of the 2250 passengers and crew on board the Titanic were
saved. The 675 are understood to include all the first class
passengers, and reports indicate that the majority of those saved
were women and children.
So far as can be judged from the scrappy messages which are
available the Allan liner Virginian seems to have been the first
vessel to arrive on the scene of the disaster. The passengers who
were saved evidently went on board the Virginian in the first
instance and shortly after were transferred to the Cunard liner
Carpathia.
April 17 2012
There is unfortunately no doubt whatever that the White
Star liner Titanic, the largest ship in the world, sank after
collision with an iceberg while on her maiden voyage from
Southampton to New York. She carried 1455 passengers and 903 of a
crew, a total of 2388, and there is every reason to fear that the
death toll reaches the awful number of 1490.
The terrible calamity has created consternation not only in this
country and in the United States but also on the Continent, and on
all hands great sympathy is expressed for the bereaved. In view of
the first statements that no lives had been lost and that the
passengers had been transferred to other steamers, a feeling of
easiness prevailed, but unhappily this was dispelled as the day
advanced.
In the early morning a message from St John's Newfoundland gave
rise to the hope that the Allen liner Virginian had some of the
survivors on board, and another straw eagerly clutched at was a
statement made by the operator at Sable Island on Monday night,
who, when asked as to the possibility of delivering messages to the
Titanic passengers replied that it would be difficult to do so as
the passengers were believed to be dispersed among several
vessel.
Yesterday's reassuring advices left the country unprepared to
face a maritime disaster such as this, the proportions of which
have only been made possible by that supreme triumph of
construction and engineering.
April 18 2012
Many conflicting and speculative stories of the disaster
have emanated from New York during the past few days, and the most
detailed of all was circulated yesterday. There were many obvious
discrepancies in the narrative and it was not surprising when later
in the day it was denied and described as an invention.
The fact remains that nothing of an authentic character will be
known until the arrival of the Carpathia with the survivors at New
York.
There has never been a catastrophe of this kind in which the
hope of the safety of all concerned was at first so highly raised
and then so rudely shattered. First assurances were to the effect
that no lives had been sacrificed and the reasonableness of the
hope was sustained by the remembrances of the loss of the Republic,
and other disasters narrowly averted by means of wireless
telegraphy.
Whether the early reports were due to the confusion of the
wireless service, or were deliberately calculated for the purpose
of gradually leading up to the magnitude of the tragedy it is
impossible to say, and may never be known.
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