THE TITANIC-Hits the Iceberg at 11:40 PM, April 14, 1912-Sank 0n April 15, 1912.
TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner by MARIO J. BORG-Tuesday 2nd August 2011-10.54pm.
Hi there all, it is me Mario J. Borg from Sydney Australia writing about the TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner again and you you all can read this article: TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner was invited to a special meeting in George Street at The Flying Angel Mission to Seaman in 1962 (The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday April 7th 1962) held by The N.S.W. Ship-Lovers Society. I have a copy of the original newpaper which was kindly sent to me by Gwenda Johnston at The State Library of N.S.W. Someone out there must be able to shed some more light on this matter please!
His grandaughter and her husband are friends of mine and they claim to have seen TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner being interviewed on Sydney TV and Radio in the 1960's about his fantastic journey and survival. Mr. Taverner was an apprentice chef aboard the ship and he may have been about 16 at the time...
Mr. Taverner loved to play the Banjo/Mandolin in his spare time and had this instrument on board with him at the time of the disater. When the ship was sinking he had the instrument in a leather style carring bag and dived overboard with the instrument in hand.....
As he surfaced a large piece of timber (may have been a door) passed by him and he placed his body with his treasured Banjo/Mandolin in hand onto the large piece of timber to prevent himself freezing and survive long enough to be recued by the crew of the Carpathia.
The instrument (Banjo/Mandolin) was passed on to his grandaughter after his death......I have read many articles and achives on this fantastic story and it does say that not all names aboard the TITANIC were recorded as there were many stowaways those days....Even the insurer Lloyds of London have been unable to track down every passenger name that boarded the TITANIC on that fatal journey......
Someone out there must be able to shed some more light on this matter please! This story must be of true substance and I have personally held and played the subject Banjo/Mandolin in question.....I had it dated by profession Banjo/Mandolin makers from all over the world to a possible pre-build pre-1912 as well....
Thank you for reading this article about TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner.....Mario J. Borg...
