Purser's safe

[James Collier]

I know that at least one Titanic safe was raised from the Atlantic and opened on national TV to much fanfare in '87. I hear that there have more safes dicovered in the debris field since!

How many of them are there exactly? I assume that the others haven't been touched yet? Also, have they been identified as to where they came from on the ship exactly?

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Hi James,

There were 3 safes in the Purser's Office on C-Deck, one of them was raised and I assume the other two are among the debris field. I know for a fact that the bottom has corroded out of one of these, so there is no treasure hidden inside it. As for the third, I do not know its location or condition but I can assume it would hold nothing of great value if found and opened.

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Paul Lee]

Don't forget the safes in the first class pursers office...presumably still within the bow section?

 

[Pat Cook]

Not to mention that leather satchel, with the initials 'R L B' (Purser Barker) which was found and brought up, containing various jewels and such.

 

[Paul Lee]

I remember in 1987, people thought that the initials stood for Richard L.Beckwith... but the contents of the bag were so diverse that people wondered how he could have come by them!

 

[Pat Cook]

Amazingly enough, the episode where Barker was loading up his satchel is documented (sort of) by Lawrence Beesley, when he reports passing the purser's office and hearing the safe close and picturing Barker loading the valuables,

"Coming upstairs again, I passed the purser's window on F deck and noticed a light on inside; when halfway up to E deck, I heard the heavy metal clang of the safe door, followed by a hasty step retreating along the corridor towards the first-class quarters. I have little doubt it was the purser, who had taken all the valuables from his safe and was tranferring them to the charge of the first-class purser, in the hope that they might all be saved in one package."

Couple that passage with the actual retrived satchel and the whole event really comes alive!

Best regards,
Cook

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

Hey Pat:

I recall hearing that another part of Beesley's claim ticket (#208?) was recovered somewhere. Was it in the RLB bag, or found somewhere else.

Any idea?

 

[Pat Cook]

Hey Bill,

Indeed it was - and I saw it in person when it was part of the artifact tour through Houston last year!

Not sure where it was actually found - possibly in the leather satchell.

The irony is Beesley's grandson is still looking for the part of the ticket his grandfather kept. That part has vanished while it's counterpart, submerged for some seventy odd years, is found. Talk about fact being stranger than fiction!

Best regards, O M
Cook