Even after more than a century, the tragedy of Titanic has never left the public consciousness and has been a source of intrigue and fascination to generations since her fateful maiden voyage.
It will be 112 years on April 14 since the infamous White Star Line vessel collided with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic on the way to New York from Southampton. The vessel only began sea trials on April 2, 1912, a couple of days after fitting out was completed in Belfast, with the maiden voyage beginning barely more than a week later on April 10.
The disaster claimed approximately 1,319 lives – 324 in First Class, 284 in Second Class, and 709 in Third Class. Only an estimated 705 people were rescued by the crew of the Carpathia around two hours after Titanic disappeared below the waves.
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After years of searching, the wreck was finally discovered two-and-a-half miles deep on the ocean bed off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985 by an expedition team led by American undersea explorer Dr Robert Ballard.
The last living survivor of Titanic was Elizabeth Gladys ‘Millvina’ Dean, died in 2009 and was just a baby at the time of the disaster. The last passenger with a memory of the tragedy, Eva Hart, passed away in 1996 aged 91.
Many accounts have been told about the Titanic and her tragic story over the decades, and it did have a couple of connections to northern Lincolnshire. Here we look at these fascinating stories, including that of sixth officer James Moody who took the iceberg alert call from the ship’s crow’s nest shortly before disaster struck …
Second Class Passenger
Harry Bartram Faunthorpe, the son of farmer William Bartram and Bethana (Bethiana) Faunthorpe, was born in Scotter, near Scunthorpe on October 30, 1880 – where his parents carried on the family tradition of farming.
The farmhouse had been in both Harry’s paternal and maternal families at different times over at least three generations by the time of his birth, and it was demolished only in 1997.
Harry first appears on the 1881 census living at High Street, Scotter and his father was described as a farmer of 26 Acres. The family appeared at the same address on the 1891 census.
When Harry appeared on the 1901 census he was described as a grocer’s assistant and living and working at an address in Bourne, Lincolnshire, Market Place.
The 1911 census shows him boarding at an address, 70 Park Street in Grimsby, and he was described as an unmarried furniture salesman.
Towards the end of 1911, he had left his employ of five years in the furnishing department of Mr H. Lord’s Bon Marche furnishing store in Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby, and moved to Manchester where he had been engaged in the potato trade.
He was also reportedly a shareholder in the New Cleethorpes Constitutional Club.
Documentation of the day shows that Elizabeth Anne Wilkinson, a Manchester lady, was apparently travelling with Harry on the ill-fated voyage, with her ticket having certainly been purchased under this name. He had purchased ticket number 2926 for £26.
In 1907, Elizabeth had married Samuel Wilkinson, a 24-year-old butcher from Denton. In 1911 she lived in Oldham Road, Failsworth until April 2012, when she boarded Titanic.
Titanic operated a three-class system of accommodation and Harry had been able to afford to travel second class. It is understood their intended final onward destination was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The mystery deepens
Tragically, Harry did not survive the sinking but his body was subsequently picked up by the coffin ship Mackay-Bennett and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.
Elizabeth had been awoken in her cabin by the noise of the collision and had managed to secure a place in one of the lifeboats, later being picked up by Carpathia and taken to New York. Interestingly, all reports of her from this time list her as Mrs Lizzie Faunthorpe.
She arrived in New York penniless and without possessions and eventually, with police help, made her way to a relative’s house in Pennsylvania where she needed urgent medical treatment for nervous prostration. Harry’s body was delivered to his ‘wife’ for burial – at Mount Peace Cemetery in Philadelphia on May 11, 1912.
According to sources on Encyclopedia Titanica, the recovery of Harry’s body was listed as No. 286. Male with an estimated age, 36. Dark hair, going bald. His clothing was described as; Green raincoat; grey coat and vest; blue pants; white waist coat with stripe; purple and green flannel shirt; brown drawers; black boots.
Harry’s personal effects included: 6 gold and diamond rings; sovereign case; £3 10s; George sovereign; spectacles; gold watch chain and seal; silver watch; silver chain; two knifes; papers; 12s. 6d. in silver; 1s. 2d. in copper.
Why was Harry travelling with a mysterious woman?
In 2002, Maureen Shannon e-mailed the Lincolnshire Echo and recounted the story told by Lincoln couple Rod and Jean Fanthorpe, which followed their lengthy research into the history of Rod’s cousin, Harry Faunthorpe.
A thorough search of all Fanthorpe and Faunthorpe references in the Civil Registration indexes for marriages, brought about no record of their marriage on-shore prior to embarkation.
In an email she told the Echo: “Rod and Jean never knew whether the couple were married on board the Titanic or whether Elizabeth assumed the surname after the loss of her loved one.
“My mother Norah, whose maiden name was Faunthorpe, is now aged 78 (in 2002) and lives in Lincoln. She and I recall my grandfather Harold Faunthorpe telling the somewhat shameful story of how his uncle sailed with an unknown lady on the Titanic.
“My grandfather, who would have been 12 years old at the time, was the son of Harry Bartram Faunthorpe’s eldest brother Joseph.
“The story we know is that his uncle Harry was accompanied by a lady and they planned to start a new life in America.
“We can’t throw any light on whether or not they did marry during the voyage but both my and my mother’s clear understanding from the way the story was told is that they were definitely not married and there was no plan for them to marry during the voyage or afterwards.
“The story and Jean Fanthorpe’s wonderful research has not only revived our interest but told us much more than we ever expected to know.”
The story of Titanic’s 6th officer
James Paul Moody joined White Star Line on August, 17, 1911 after graduating from the King Edward VII Nautical School in London passing his Seaman’s Masters exam in April 1911. He then joined the Titanic on March 27, 1912, in Belfast. He was already in the RNR and took part in Titanic’s trials.
At the time of the tragedy, Scarborough-born James Moody was living with his father’s sister and her husband, Arthur Mountain, in Grimsby. His 1912 address was: St James House, Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
The Moody family were renowned in the town because Dr Charles Bartholemew Moody (James’ grandfather) was Grimsby’s first coroner and was also Mayor of Grimsby in 1855-6. He lived at the big house at the left-hand foot of Deansgate Bridge.
Grimsby solicitor Arthur Mountain, with his brother Thomas, established the firm of solicitors Bates and Mountain.
Historic artifacts on sale
In May 2005, a letter detailing the death of Titanic crew member James Moody, sold for £2,150 at auction.
The slightly moth-eaten document dated April 19, 1912, was sent to a relation of sixth officer Moody, whose registered address was St James ’ House, Grimsby.
It sold to an unknown buyer, by a woman from Gwynedd, Wales, who claimed she found the paper inside a hardback copy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet bought at a jumble sale 30 years ago.
In the letter, White Star Line, the company which owned the doomed ship, informed T B Lammin Esq, of Folkestone, that Moody, who played a vital role in the ship’s story, had not been saved.
The letter was written by Ismay Imrie & Co, parent company of White Star Line, and asked for a £20 deposit – the equivalent of £2,100 today – to pay for James’ body to be returned to his family back home in England.
It read: “While we will be prepared to transport the remains of your brother across the Atlantic to either Liverpool or Southampton, we regret that it is not possible for us to do any more.
“Should you after further consideration desire the remains of your brother to be returned will you kindly telegraph us in the morning at the same time sending us a deposit of £20 for any expenses and land charges on the other side and we will at once cable New York asking then to arrange this if practicable.
“We also think it right to point out that the arrangements and expenses for taking charge of the remains after arrival of the steamer at Liverpool or Southampton would be on your account.”
Officer Moody’s last known movements
History records reveal that Moody was on the bridge on the night the ship struck the iceberg and was the first of the bridge crew to know that the ship was about to strike the iceberg; having answered the telephone warning call from Fred Fleet in the Crow’s Nest.
The officer then relayed the information to first officer William McMaster Murdoch, using the simple phrase “iceberg right ahead”.
During the call to abandon the ship, Moody, then aged 24, helped load the lifeboats, he shared the responsibility for filling and lowering lifeboat Nos 9, 11, 13 and 15 and took sole responsibility for filling and lowering lifeboat Nos 10 and 16. He was last seen about 2.18am bravely helping to launch collapsible rescue vessels before the ship was sunk beneath the Atlantic.
US Army Colonel Archibald Gracie, in his book A Survivor’s Story – written just a few months after the disaster – recalls seeing Moody on deck shortly before the sinking.
He described him as: “A tall, slim young Englishman who was standing on the port side holding back a throng of men to make sure women and children were first into the boats.”
It seems Officer Moody did have a chance to leave in a lifeboat, as Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, being the more senior man should, by tradition, have stayed aboard. Lowe noted that lifeboats had been sent out without an officer aboard and suggested that Moody take the next one. He however, declined, as per the evidence given by Lowe.
An excerpt from St Augustine’s parish magazine dated May 1912, states that a requiem mass was celebrated for the response of the soul of James Moody and other Titanic victims.
It also read: “We sympathise with Mr CW Moody in losing his younger brother and Mrs A Mountain for losing a nephew.
“A letter was received from Mr Moody only the day before the Titanic sailed from Southampton, and it is evident that Mr Moody, as was only naturally to be expected, was looking forward with keen interest to this, the maiden voyage of the world’s largest passenger liner.”
As a way to remember this Grimsby man’s efforts to put other lives before his own, an elegant altar set dedicated to Mr Moody now stands on the altar in St Augustine’s Church, St Augustine’s Avenue, Grimsby.
The set was given to the church by Mr Moody’s family, as they had close ties with the parish of St James, which, together with Old Clee, formed the parish of St Augustine’s.
Grimsby also held its own fundraising rally in People’s Park in the wake of news the Titanic had sunk, one of a myriad held across the country.
Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe