The Titanic at 2:05 a.m.: Walter Lord, letter to Captain T. Barnett, Oct. 8, 1990, L/P file, p. 78. Regarding the last of eight rockets, at 1:20 a.m.: Arthur Bright, American Inquiry, Apr. 26, 1912, p. 832.
Joe Loring and George Rheims at 2:05 a.m.: Rheims, letter to his wife, Apr. 19, 1912, and Walter Lord, personal communication with the Loring and Rheims descendants, L/P file, pp. 57–58, 232–234, 421–424. On similar, final choices facing Jack Thayer: Thayer, Sinking of the SS Titanic (Indian Orchard, MA: Titanic Historical Society, 1940), 14, 19–20.
Referencing the fading deck lights and the decreasing chances of swimming to a lifeboat in the dark: Hugh Woolner, letter to a friend, Apr. 26, 1912, p. 4, L/P file, p. 149; J. Thayer, personal communication to Walter Lord, L/P file, p. 58.
On the Titanic’s briefly changing list—port to starboard and back again to port—about 1:20 a.m.: Charles Lightoller, British Inquiry, May 21, 1912, p. 316.
Hugh Woolner’s last sighting of William Murdoch: Woolner, letter to a friend, Apr. 1912, p. 4, L/P file, p. 149.
Colonel Archibald Gracie recalled working with Murdoch almost till the end: Jack Winocour, ed., The Story of the Titanic as Told by Its Survivors (New York: Dover, 1960), 137–138, 211, 213. Gracie also mentioned a man named Frederick Hoyt swimming to boat D, along with Woolner and Bjornstrom Steffansen. Boat D was one of the few boats lowered with the Titanic’s foredeck close enough to the water to allow at least five people to believe that jumping and swimming could be safely attempted.
Joseph Duquemin dove into the water with a friend, but only Duquemin made it to boat D; his mention of diving from the front port side in “waist-deep” water was consistent with conditions about the time of Woolner’s departure: Guernsey Evening Press, May 2, 1912, L/P file, p. 150. On the date of the article, Duquemin was still recovering in a hospital, evidently from the effects of hypothermia compounding circulation problems arising from early-stage diabetes. Family records (http://www.ancestry.com) indicate that one of his legs was soon amputated.
Lightoller’s firing of an early warning shot was reported by Gracie, American Inquiry, Apr. 27, 1912, pp. 991–992. Gracie also reported the throwing down of boat A in Jack Winocour, ed., The Story of the Titanic as Told by Its Survivors (New York: Dover, 1960), 137. Gracie passed John Collins after abandoning efforts to launch boat A in favor of racing the water uphill, toward the stern: Collins, American Inquiry, Apr. 25, 1912, p. 628.
Murdoch continued to struggle with his team to launch boat A: Richard Norris Williams II, letter to Walter Lord, Apr. 27, 1962, p. 2, L/P file, p. 179; Williams, letter to Main Line Life (a shipping magazine), Dec. 18, 1957, reprinted in Paul J. Quinn, Dusk to Dawn (Hollis, NH: Fantail Press, 1999), 233–234.
The pandemonium on the same part of the boat deck, within this same time frame: Jack Thayer, Sinking of the SS Titanic (Indian Orchard, MA: Titanic Historical Society, 1940), 21–22; Thayer, personal communication with Walter Lord, reported by Lord, April 10, 1991, L/P file, p. 59.
Eugene Daly witnessed warning shots escalating to shootings at boat A: letter to his sister, Maggie, Apr. 1912, reprinted in Walter Lord, The Night Lives On (New York: William Morrow, 1986), 128–129. Carl Olof Jansen also witnessed part of a shooting event: Jansen, letter quoted in Wyn Craig Wade, Titanic: End of a Dream (New York: Penguin, 1979), 91. George Rheims appeared to have a particularly close-up view of the shootings: Rheims, letter to his wife, Apr. 19, 1912; Walter Lord, notes, L/P file, pp. 57–58, 234–235.
Jack Thayer had an impression, as the final plunge began, that the ship was breaking up: Thayer, Sinking of the SS Titanic (Indian Orchard, MA: Titanic Historical Society, 1940), 22, 24, 32; Thayer, letter to Judge Charles Long, Apr. 23, 1912, reprinted in Jack Winocour, ed., The Story of the Titanic as Told by Its Survivors (New York: Dover, 1960), 221.
Watching from boat D, Arthur Bright noticed that the lights were burning only very dimly near Thayer’s part of the ship: Bright, American Inquiry, Apr. 27, 1912, p. 839.
Thayer’s friend, Richard Norris Williams, witnessed large, shadowy parts of the ship falling to the deck: Williams, personal communication to Walter Lord, 1962, L/P file, p. 179.
14. THE TRUTH ABOUT WILLIAM MURDOCH
On the significance of boat A survivors who witnessed shootings: Walter Lord and Charles Pellegrino summary and discussion, Apr. 1991, L/P file, pp. 57–59. The evidence was historically sound, but it revealed only part of Murdoch and his last stand. Relevant expedition log notes and recollections are compiled in Charles Pellegrino, Ghosts of Vesuvius (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 394–396. The rest of the story was uncovered by Paul J. Quinn, Dusk to Dawn (Hollis, NH: Fantail Press, 1999). Jim Cameron and Don Lynch were impressed with the Quinn analysis: Cameron, Ghosts of the Abyss, IMAX/Walden Media, 2003.
In 1995, Susanne Stormer published her biography of William Murdoch: The Biography of William McMaster Murdoch (Kosel, Germany: Hans Christian Andersen, 1995), 61–62, 121. The Stormer book was written with input from William Murdoch’s relatives, Scott, Siv, and Harry Murdoch, who supplied letters and other family documents. Later, inside the Mir-2 and aboard the Titanic, a letter was written to William Murdoch in a copy of the Stormer book: Charles Pellegrino, written log, Expedition Titanic XIII, Sept. 10, 2001.
Jessop, who was among the many saved by Murdoch, was perplexed by the final breakup of the Titanic: Violet Jessop with J. Maxtone Graham, Violet Jessop: Titanic Survivor (New York: Sheridan House, 1997), 133.
George Harris and Maude Slocomb watched from boat 11 with Edith Russelclass="underline" Harris, letter to Bill MacQuitty, Dec. 16, 1956; Harris, interview by Bill MacQuitty, detailed by MacQuitty in 1992, L/P file, pp. 560–561; Slocomb, interview by Walter Lord, July 1965, L/P file, p. 268; Russell, in Walter Lord, reproduced in “In Their Own Words: Titanic Passengers,” Apr. 1934, pp. 4–5, http://www.charlespellegrino.com; Walter Lord, letter covering the Russell account, Feb. 11, 1987; Russell, BBC interview, Apr. 14, 1970, L/P file, p. 127.
The rift between Millvina Dean and Ellen (Betty) Phillips began in a lifeboat while one was only an infant and the other was yet to be born: E. Phillips, personal communication with John Hodges, “In Their Own Words: Titanic Passengers,” Apr. 2001, http://www.charlespellegrino.com.