Friday, April 20, 2012

Source List with Hyperlinks


Basic Sources

Wikipedia "RMS Titanic"
Wikipedia "Sinking of the RMS Titanic"
Wikipedia:  "RMS Titanic alternative theories"

Wikipedia "Crew of the RMS Titanic"
Wikipedia "Passengers of the RMS Titanic"
Wikipedia "Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic"

Titanic Archive: "Ship History"

Notable People On Board Titanic

Some of the most prominent members of the American social elite made the trip:

J. Bruce Ismay, the White Star Line's managing director

Thomas Andrews, the ship's Harland & Wolff designer, on board to oversee the ship's progress on her maiden voyage. Andrews headed a small group of Harland & Wolff workers who were given the job of observing the ship's operations, highlighting any problems, and assessing the general performance of the new ship.

Major Archibald Butt, President William Howard Taft's military aide, who was returning to resume his duties after a six-week trip to Europe.

Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and his 18-year-old wife Madeleine. They had just spent their honeymoon in Cairo, Egypt.  Madeleine was reportedly pregnant, and they were presumably returning to the United States for the child's birth. Astor was quite possibly the wealthiest man in America, with a fortune estimated somewhere between $100,000,000 and $200,000,000 in 1912 dollars. He served as a director on more than 20 corporate boards, belonged to a dozen clubs, and owned almost a quarter of the real estate in New York City, including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.  His biographical details may be found in free Google books:  "Who's Who in New York City and State" (1911) pg. 26 and "Who's Who In Banking, Finance and Insurance" (1911) pp. 513-514.

Notably, Col. Astor and his cousin and business partner, William Waldorf Astor, were Egyptian rite masons of high degree and avid collectors of all things Egyptian.  The Astors heavily financed archaeological  digs in Egypt, and William wrote two stories, published in Pall Mall Magazine. that indicate a special interest in the pharaoh Akhenaton ("Ikhnaton"), Queen Tiya, and possible links between this dynasty and the Biblical story of Moses (whom they identified as Tuth'mosis III)..  The founder of psychiatry, Sigmund Freud, later picked up this same theme in his 1937 book Moses and Monotheism.

The notion that Moses was identical to Akhenaten remains a favorite among followers of British Israelism, a belief that the English-speaking races are direct, lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and that the British Royal Family rule by right of sacred blood. The Astors appear to have been strong supporters of an Anglo-American alliance, they were participants in Lord Milner's 1909 Round Table Movement, and they were reportedly among the founders of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute of International Affairs (the "submerged Round Table groups") as well as The Pilgrims Society, a secretive and elite society that devoutly believes in the superiority of the English race.

If that sounds disturbingly like a form of English fascism, it should.  In 1905, John Jacob Astor's cousin William Waldorf Astor gave his English estate at Cliveden to his son, William Waldorf Astor II, on the occasion of junior's marriage to Nancy Langhorne, and thereafter Nancy Astor's elite circle of friends became known as the Cliveden Set, a group of aristocrats notorious for their strong support of Hitler. Portrayed in the film "Remains of the Day," the history of the Cliveden Set remains embarrassing to many aristocrats in England and America.

Margaret Tobin Brown, aka "Molly" Brown, was the wife of Leadville, CO mining millionaire J.J. Brown and a 1909 candidate for U.S. Senate. Margaret kept a summer home near Newport, Rhode Island, not far from the place where John Jacob Astor IV married Madeleine in September 1911.

Apparently Margaret was invited to join a group of millionaires that accompanied the Astors to Egypt.  The Astor entourage in Egypt included several wealthy people in addition to Margaret Brown, namely steel financier Henry Clay Frick ("the most hated man in America"), his wife Adelaide, banker J. Horace Harding and Harding's wife.  Henry Frick was an agent and close associate of J.P. Morgan, the man who brokered the sale of Andrew Carnegie's steel company to the Morgan firm. He was also an avid art collector.

Strangely, Margaret Brown was carrying an Egyptian figurine, called an "Ushabti," in her pocket as a good luck charm when she abandoned ship. She later gave it to the captain of the S.S. Carpathia as a token of her appreciation for being rescued.

Brown's insurance claim indicates that she had taken a crate of Egyptian art figures on board the Titanic, with the intention to donate them to a Denver museum. They were lost when Titanic sank.

To this day, Egyptian lion figures guard the Molly Brown House in Denver, which was sometimes referred to as the "House of Lions."

Benjamin Guggenheim owned a vast fortune made through what was known as the "Smelting Trust." Like Molly Brown, he made his millions from the silver and gold mines in Leadville, CO, where he worked for several years in the 1890s as a smelting engineer. Guggenheim boarded Titanic with his mistress, Leontine Aubart,  in Cherbourg, France.  Ben's brother, U.S. Sen. Simon Guggenheim of Colorado, was a neighbor and political rival of Margaret Brown (Simon lived at 1555 Sherman Street, a couple blocks from Molly Brown's house on Pennsylvania Street in Denver).  Simon was accused of buying his senate seat and corruption (see Russell, Charles Edward "What Are You Going to Do About It? Colorado - New Tricks in an Old Game" Cosmopolitan, Vol. 50, December 1910 - May 1911).

While serving in the Senate in 1910, Simon Guggenheim partnered with Sen. Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island to manipulate stock prices in rubber. The Guggenheim family and Aldrich had invested heavily in the "Rubber Trust" (the Intercontinental Rubber Co.) which was notorious for exploiting slave labor in the Belgian Congo. "In other investments, the great Guggenheim combination goes hand-in-hand with the great Morgan combination," says Charles Russell. By 1912 they were helping Sen. Aldrich to create a "Money Trust" on behalf of J.P. Morgan (owner of the Titanic) and the Rothschild banking family of Europe.

Isidor Straus owner of Macy's department store, and his wife Ida, were returning from a visit to Palestine when they died.  Their death so strongly affected Isidor's brother and business partner, Nathan Straus (who had accompanied them on the trip to Palestine but "just missed" the Titanic), that Nathan gave away most of his fortune to the Zionist cause and to several charities.

Another Straus brother, Oscar Straus, served as U.S. minister to the Ottoman Empire from 1887 to 1889, and again from 1898 to 1899.  In 1906 Oscar became the United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under president Theodore Roosevelt, which meant Oscar was in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and shipping lines. He worked closely with police and the Secret Service to deport immigrants with anarchist beliefs and to enforce the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1903.  In 1909-1910, Oscar served as U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and in 1912, shortly after Titanic sank, her ran for governor of New York.


Charles Hays, president of Canada's Grand Trunk Railway

John Thayer an executive of Pennsylvania Railroad

George Dunton Widener, who made his millions in street cars

George Dennick Wick, founder and president of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company

Edward Austin Kent, a Buffalo architect

William Ernest Carter and his wife Lucile Carter,

Dorothy Gibson, an American silent film actress 


Ticket-Holders Who Did Not Sail (The "Just Missed It" Club)

Among those who held tickets for a passage, but did not sail were

John Pierpont Morgan,  Emperor of Wall Street and the owner of Titanic

Henry Clay Frick,

Guglielmo Marconi,

Milton Hershey,

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt.

Theodore Dreiser,

Edgar Selwyn,



Owners of the RMS Titanic

International Mercantile Marine Co.(IMM)

   Wikipedia: "International Mercantile Marine Co."
   Wikipedia "International Navigation Company" (INC)
   Wikipedia: "Pennsylvania Railroad"

   Sapphire, William B. "The White Star Line and the International Mercantile Marine Company"

IMM Founders

    J.P. Morgan, Lead Financier
       Wikipedia:  "J.P Morgan "
       Wikipedia: "George Peabody" and "Junius Spencer Morgan"
       Wikipedia: "J.S. Morgan & Co." of London
       Wikipedia: "Morgan, Grenfell & Co." of London and New York
       Wikipedia: "Morgan, Harjes & Co" of Paris
       Wikipedia: "Panic of 1893" and "Rothschild Family"
       Wikipedia: "Anthony Joseph Drexel" of Philadelphia
       Wikipedia: J.P. Morgan & Co. 
       Wikipedia: "United States Steel Corp."
       Wikipedia: "Panic of 1907"
       Wikipedia: "Nelson W. Aldrich" agent of J.P. Morgan
       Wikipedia: "Aldrich-Vreeland Act" of 1908
       Wikipedia: "National Monetary Commission"
       Wikipedia: "Henry Pomeroy Davison" agent of J.P. Morgan

   Clement Griscom, American Line and Red Star Line
       Wikipedia:  "Clement Griscom"
       Wikipedia:  "Mark Hanna"
       Wikipedia:  "William McKinley"

   Bernard N. Baker, Atlantic Transport Line
        Wikipedia:  "Bernard N. Baker"

   John Ellerman, Leyland Line
        Wikipedia: "Sir John Ellerman, 1st Baronet"

   J. Bruce Ismay, White Star Line
        Wikipedia: "Joseph Bruce Ismay"
       Encyclopedia Titanica: "Mr. Joseph Bruce Ismay"

White Star Line

   Wikipedia:  "White Star Line"
   Wikipedia: "List of White Star Line Ships"
   See Also:  Sapphire, William B. "The White Star Line and the International Mercantile Marine Company"

Founder of White Star Line:  Thomas Henry Ismay
   Wikipedia: "Thomas Henry Ismay" 

Chairman of White Star Line:  J. Bruce Ismay
   Wikipedia: "Joseph Bruce Ismay"


Builders of the RMS Titanic

   Wikipedia: "Harland and Wolff"

Insurers of Titanic

Willis Faber & Co. (today part of the Willis Group) are reported to have brokered the deal for underwriting the hull and cargo insurance for the Titanic. The original boat insurance slip was passed to Lloyds Mercantile Dept for underwriting, but is since reported lost to this day.

Lloyd's of London

   Wikipedia: "Lloyd's of London"

Willis, Faber & Co.

   Wikipedia:  "Willis Group Holdings"

Insurance Blogger "Was the RMS Titanic Sinking an Insurance Fraud?"

See Also:  Wright, C. and Fayle, C.E.  A History of Lloyd's (1928), which contains a copy of the original
slip at Lloyd's of London

New York Times, "Titanic Insurance Claims Quickly Met"  28 April 1912

The list of Claims losses paid out were:
Titanic Hull Insurance – Actual loss $8,000,000 – Paid out $5,000,000
Titanic Cargo Insurance – Actual Loss $420,000 – Paid out $400,000
Titanic Personal Effects – Actual Loss $1,000,000  – Paid out $600,000
Life Assurance Passengers -  Actual Loss >$4,000,00 – Paid out $2,125,000

Over 119 Life insurance companies paid out the largest of which was the Travelers Insurance company of Hartford, Conneticut.

Personal Accident Claims – Actual Loss >$2,000,000 – Paid out $1,564,000

Over 48 personal accident companies were involved in claims payouts.


Officers of the RMS Titanic

Smith, Commander Edward John, RNR, Captain
Wilde, Lt. Henry Tingle, RNR, Chief Officer
Murdoch, Lt. William McMaster, RNR, First Officer
Lightoller, Sub-Lt; Charles Herbert, RNR, Second Officer
Pitman, Mr. Herbert John, Third Officer
Boxhall, Sub-Lt. Joseph Groves, Fourth Officer
Lowe, Sub-Lt. Harold Godfrey, RNR, Fifth Officer
Moody, Mr. James Paul, Sixth Officer


U.S. Senate Investigation

Wikipedia "United States Senate Inquiry Into the Sinking of the RMS Titanic"

Chairman: Sen. William Alden Smith
   Wikipedia: "William Alden Smith"

Senate's Commerce Committee



British Investigation

Chairman: John Bigahm, 1st Viscount Mersey
  Wikipedia: "John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey"


Board of Trade, a committee of the Privy Council
   Wikipedia: "Board of Trade"
   Wikipedia:  "Privy Council of the United Kingdom"


News reports
Journal articles

Books
  • Aldridge, Rebecca (2008). The Sinking of the Titanic. New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7910-9643-7.
  • Ballard, Robert D. (1987). The Discovery of the Titanic. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-446-51385-2.
  • Barczewski, Stephanie (2006). Titanic: A Night Remembered. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-85285-500-0.
  • Barratt, Nick (2010). Lost Voices From the Titanic: The Definitive Oral History. London: Random House. ISBN 978-1-84809-151-1.
  • Bartlett, W.B. (2011). Titanic: 9 Hours to Hell, the Survivors' Story. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-0482-4.
  • Beesley, Lawrence (1960) [1912]. "The Loss of the SS. Titanic; its Story and its Lessons". The Story of the Titanic as told by its Survivors. London: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-20610-3.
  • Björkfors, Peter (2004). "The Titanic Disaster and Images of National Identity in Scandinavian Literature". In Bergfelder, Tim; Street, Sarah. The Titanic in myth and memory: representations in visual and literary culture. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-431-3.
  • Brown, David G. (2000). The Last Log of the Titanic. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 978-0-07-136447-8.
  • Butler, Daniel Allen (1998). Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-1814-1.
  • Chirnside, Mark (2004). The Olympic-class ships : Olympic, Titanic, Britannic. Stroud, UK: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2868-0.
  • Cox, Stephen (1999). The Titanic Story: Hard Choices, Dangerous Decisions. Chicago: Open Court Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8126-9396-6.
  • Eaton, John P.; Haas, Charles A. (1987). Titanic: Destination Disaster: The Legends and the Reality. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens. ISBN 978-0-85059-868-1.
  • Eaton, John P.; Haas, Charles A. (1994). Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens. ISBN 978-1-85260-493-6.
  • Everett, Marshall (1912). Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic. Chicago: Homewood Press. OCLC 558974511.
  • Foster, John Wilson (1997). The Titanic Complex. Vancouver: Belcouver Press. ISBN 978-0-9699464-1-0.
  • Georgiou, Ioannis (2000). The Animals on board the Titanic. . Atlantic Daily Bulletin (Southampton: British Titanic Society). ISSN 0965-6391.
  • Gittins, Dave; Akers-Jordan, Cathy; Behe, George (2011). "Too Few Boats, Too Many Hindrances". In Halpern, Samuel. Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal. Stroud, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6210-3.
  • Gleicher, David (2006). The Rescue of the Third Class on the Titanic: A Revisionist History. Research in Maritime History, No. 31. St. John's, NL: International Maritime Economic History Association. ISBN 978-0-9738934-1-0.
  • Gracie, Archibald (1913). The Truth about the Titanic. New York: M. Kennerley.
  • Gracie, Archibald (2009). Titanic: A Survivor's Story. The History Press. ISBN 9780750947022.
  • Halpern, Samuel (2011). "Account of the Ship's Journey Across the Atlantic". In Halpern, Samuel. Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal. Stroud, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6210-3.
  • Halpern, Samuel; Weeks, Charles (2011). "Description of the Damage to the Ship". In Halpern, Samuel. Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal. Stroud, UK: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6210-3.
  • Hoffman, William; Grimm, Jack (1982). Beyond Reach: The Search For The Titanic. New York: Beaufort Books. ISBN 978-0-8253-0105-6.
  • Howells, Richard Parton (1999). The Myth of the Titanic. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-22148-5.
  • Hutchings, David F.; de Kerbrech, Richard P. (2011). RMS Titanic 1909–12 (Olympic Class): Owners' Workshop Manual. Sparkford, Yeovil: Haynes. ISBN 978-1-84425-662-4.
  • Kuntz, Tom (1998). The Titanic Disaster Hearings. New York: Pocket Book. ISBN 978-1-56865-748-6.
  • Lord, Walter (1976). A Night to Remember. London: Penguin Books.
  • ISBN 978-0-14-004757-8.
  • Lord, Walter (2005) [1955]. A Night to Remember. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-8050-7764-3.
  • Lord, Walter (1987). The Night Lives On. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-670-81452-7.
  • Lynch, Donald (1998). Titanic: An Illustrated History. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6401-0.
  • Marshall, Logan (1912). Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co. OCLC 1328882.
  • McCarty, Jennifer Hooper; Foecke, Tim (2012). What Really Sank The Titanic – New Forensic Evidence. New York: Citadel. ISBN 978-0-8065-2895-3.
  • Mills, Simon (1993). RMS Olympic – The Old Reliable. Dorset: Waterfront Publications. ISBN 0-946184-79-8.
  • Mowbray, Jay Henry (1912). Sinking of the Titanic. Harrisburg, PA: The Minter Company. OCLC 9176732.
  • Parisi, Paula (1998). Titanic and the Making of James Cameron. New York: Newmarket Press. ISBN 978-1-55704-364-1.
  • Pellegrino, Charles (2012). Farewell, Titanic: Her Final Legacy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470873878.
  • Regal, Brian (2005). Radio: The Life Story of a Technology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33167-1.
  • Richards, Jeffrey (2001). Imperialism and Music: Britain, 1876–1953. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6143-1.
  • Turner, Steve (2011). The Band that Played On. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. ISBN 978-1-59555-219-8.
  • Verhoeven, John D. (2007). Steel Metallurgy for the Non-Metallurgist. Materials Park, OH: ASM International. ISBN 978-0-87170-858-8.
  • Winocour, Jack, ed. (1960). The Story of the Titanic as told by its Survivors. London: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-20610-3.
  • Zumdahl, Steven S.; Zumdahl, Susan A. (2008). Chemistry. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-547-12532-9.
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