Titanic Piano

In 1957 a man named Fred Valance sat down and read Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember. In it Lord had attempted to pin down the identity of Harold Bride’s ‘Autumn.’ Valance wrote several lengthy letters to Lord in response. In 1912 he had been bandleader on the Laconia and he recalled how popular Songe…… Continue reading Titanic’s final number: Concise summary

In search of two ladies Survivors in Titanic’s lifeboats would not have heard music from the ship well, not well enough to recognize complete phrases of any tune. Yet, news spread that survivors had heard Nearer, My God, To Thee. Colonel Archibald Gracie, who was adamant that the band had not played the hymn, said, “I know…… Continue reading Titanic: Who heard Nearer, My God, To Thee?

Survivors from the Water Part II The story of Titanic’s band playing Nearer, My God, To Thee had several vocal detractors amongst the survivors, none as adamant as Colonel Archibald Gracie. He wrote a book (published posthumously) about Titanic’s maiden voyage and sinking. In Chapter II, Struck by an Iceberg, he set out his thoughts…… Continue reading Gracie: The truth about Titanic’s last number

Survivors from the Water Part I The survivors who watched Titanic sink from their lifeboats were the ones who claimed that they had heard Nearer, My God, To Thee from across the water. There are many questions that surround Titanic’s final number. This one stands out: Did survivors who stayed on the ship to the…… Continue reading Barkworth: Titanic’s last waltz

Once the press got hold of the information that Titanic’s band had perished in the service of comforting passengers by playing Nearer, My God, To Thee, the story was given extensive coverage. The story was first reported by Carlos Hurd in the Evening World on the evening of April 18, 1912. Although passengers generally did not mention…… Continue reading Titanic Press: Nearer, My God, To Thee

The Carpathia arrived at the scene of Titanic’s sinking in the early morning hours of April 15 and boarded survivors from Titanic’s lifeboats, which slowly gathered to her side. The arrival of “S.S. Carpathia” after the disaster – April 15th 1912 The survivors were alive but coping with the trauma of the event they had…… Continue reading Carpathia accounts: Nearer, My God, To Thee

The last lifeboat had been lowered, the captain had released the Marconi operators of duty, and Jack Phillips, Titanic’s senior wireless operator, continued to send messages for the next ten to fifteen minutes. Junior operator, Harold Bride, watched him standing over the key, unable to leave his post. Water began to flood the Marconi room.…… Continue reading Harold Bride New York Times: ‘Autumn’

It has been suggested that it would be interesting to discuss Titanic’s passenger accounts and compare and contrast those who went down with the ship (and survived) with those who witnessed the event from lifeboats. Two reports in particular launched what would become the great mystery of Titanic’s final number. The first was Carlos Hurd’s…… Continue reading Carlos Hurd: Nearer, My God, To Thee

How reliable is eyewitness memory? Can it be assumed that everything an eyewitness remembers about an event is true to a letter simply because they were there? What about details that don’t match up between accounts when compared side-by-side? Because the current topic on Titanic Piano has been the music played on board Titanic, most…… Continue reading Titanic, 9/11 and the Science of Memory

Healing power of music The hymn Nearer, My God, To Thee is inexorably connected with the legend of the sinking of the Titanic. In 1912 the idea that friends or relatives had died a needless death within the comfort of uplifting music gave solace to many on land. So much time has passed now that…… Continue reading Titanic’s Nearer, My God, To Thee: Healing music