Semus,
Yes, Frank Prentice most likely was on Titanic until very near the end. He claimed that he and a fellow crewman jumped together as I recall. He also claimed that he witnessed at least one crewman floating on top of a piece of debris who, after informing Mr. Prentice that he was going to 'swim for the ship's lights' paddled off out of site in the direction of the 'mystery ship' never to be seen again.
Hi Scott,
I mean this in the nicest way possible way but your posts on here would be elevated if you did not seemingly appear to have only one book on your 'Titanic' book shelf namely one by Senan Moloney.
Can I suggest you might like to expand your 'Titanic' bookshelf and include Sam's new book 'Strangers on the horizon'.
Cheers,
Julian
I have
many, many books on
Titanic on my bookshelf; however, you are correct, much of my knowledge on
Mount Temple specifically comes from Senan Moloney's
Trial of Mount Temple.
Importantly, not to rehash an old conversation from another thread, but I would point out that Senan does not mention Frank Prentice at all in that book, nor is the evidence in Senan's book fabricated. A passenger of
Mount Temple really did make those claims, regardless of whether or not they appeared in Senan's book.
Frankly, your post makes it seem as if your implication is that the mere appearance in Senan's book invalidates the existence of something, which is very strange indeed. This is particularly the case since Senan is a contributing historian to
Encyclopedia Titanica. I understand that some of his theories are unpopular here, and as I have said elsewhere when it comes to
Mount Temple Senan's arguments do
not convince me that
Mount Temple is Titanic's mystery ship. What Senan
did convince me of is that there is something very off about Captain Moore's testimony regarding his behavior, and the behavior of
Mount Temple on April 14th, 1912.
I will not rehash
Senan's book for you--you should read it for yourself--and will only say that, while
Trial of Mount Temple does not come anywhere near 'proving' that
Mount Temple was the 'mystery ship,' what it does for me is support my only assertion:
Mount Temple cannot yet be eliminated, at least in my mind, as one of the potential candidates.
And, at the risk of repeating myself, in the post I made in this thread where I reference the
Mount Temple passenger statement that appeared in Senan's book, I very clearly state that I
do not believe that there is any substance to it. I was merely pointing out that one could read Frank Pretince's claim that one of his fellow crewmen paddled off on wreckage 'towards the ship lights' as aligning with that passenger's claims.
Finally, I want to add that when it comes to the many mysteries still surrounding
Titanic, my interest in the whole 'mystery ship' question is fleeting. This is because I do not believe it would have made
any difference at all had that ship immediately came to
Titanic's aid; this is not entirely true, but the only difference the aid of the mystery ship would have made is that you and I would not be having this conversation, perhaps (though unlikely) a few dozen more people would have been saved, and someone other than
Carpathia and Captain Rostron would have inherited the title of the savior of
Titanic's 706 or so survivors.
On a personal level, I am
far, far, far more interested in why, and for how long,
Titanic began making way again after the collision, and what, if any, impact this had in
Titanic's foundering; and by extension, the actual damage
Titanic suffered during the collision. A topic, I might add that, at least to my knowledge, Senan Moloney has
never written or spoken about.
Edit
For the record, I think the notion the coal fire played a role in the foundering of
Titanic is an error--another of Senan's theories. Though, I do find it worthwhile to speculate on whether or not the warping of the watertight bulkhead, as testified to by two crew members, harmed in anyway the structural integrity of that bulkhead--importantly not the hull plating.
