Until what time did the band play?

[Charles B. Weeks Jr.]

Roy:
From what she told me I'd say between 35 and 45, I'm not exactly sure. She did it down on the waterfront in early April here in Maine in an empty boathouse. She used a staging and a couple of wood timbers. I'm not certain just how long she played for. She was looking for a topic for her class project. When I discovered that she had an interest in music I suggested she try to find out how difficult it would have been for the band to play while inclined at 15 degrees. She played the violin, but she commented that the cellist might have difficulty, trying to sit and play on the slope.
Regards,
Charlie Weeks

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

Slightly off-topic, have they found any of the band's instruments in the debris field? Remember the scene in "Raise the Titanic" when they find the French horn?

I'm sure wooden instruments would have pretty much rotted away. But the horns would still be there.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

They would still be there if they'd had any, but the Titanic bandsmen played only stringed instruments. The bugle sounded by a steward to announce dinner will be out there somewhere.

 

[Scott R. Andrews]

I would imagine that there's an outside chance that some of the instruments the string players carried with them might still be intact within the wreck or in debris field IF they were still in their leather cases. Certainly, the instruments they were carrying with them and were actually playing that night are long gone, but I've yet to know a professional musician (outside of the pianists) that didn't carry a "spare" with them, or a second, different instrument that they might be called to "double" on when required. The Restaurant Musician's quarters were smack in the middle of the break-up, on E Deck to starboard of center and hard against WTB "K" at the forward end of the reciprocating engine room; any properly cased instruments that survived might be somewhere in the debris field. However, quarters of the remaining musicians were further aft on E Deck -- an outside stateroom on the starboard side, hard against the forward side of WTB "O" in the midst of the 2nd Class area in the stern. Depending on how badly the structure between the Nos. 5 and 6 Hatches was torn apart, there might yet be a violin, viola or cello in a leather case buried in the debris and sediment somewhere in all of that chaos.

Regards,
Scott Andrews

 

[Paul Lee]

Don't know, but Wallace Hartley's violin case, presumably with violin, was found strapped to his back. Whether that means he had time to prepare for the final plunge, well, YMMV.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

There's no primary source for the tale that Hartley's music case or violin case (versions vary) was strapped to his body. The list of effects recovered with the body mentioned nothing of the kind.

 

[Paul Lee]

I'm sure I read this in the recovered effects of Hartley. Boxhall mentioned it too (according to Titanic Voices)

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I'm sure I read this in the recovered effects of Hartley<<

I've heard that one too, but I've never seen any sort of primary source to back that up. According to the information in his bio (See Wallace Henry Hartley : Titanic Victim ) he had the following on his person when he was found;

​

quote:

​

EFFECTS - Gold fountain pen, "W.H.H."; diamond solitaire ring; silver cigarette case; letters; silver match box, marked "W.H.H., from Collingson's staff. Leeds"; telegram to Hotley, Bandmaster "Titanic"; nickel watch; gold chain; gold cigar holder; stud; scissors; 16s; 16 cents; coins.​

That's it. I'm wondering if the claim of the violin in the case being found on his person was one of those newspaper inventions. There were a lot of those out there.​

 

[Bob Godfrey]

And Boxhall made his comment almost 50 years later, when musing on what was right and wrong about the film version of ANTR. He wasn't speaking from direct experience, just from what he'd heard or read about the body like the rest of us, so in this case his opinion is of no particular value.

 

[Brian J. Ticehurst]

Perhaps they were confused by the following:

also there is a Wallace Hartley Memorial Violin made by Mr. A. C. Seth of Lancaster. This violin is in constant use by the Burnley Youth Orchestra, Lancashire.

Thats from Titanic Memorials Worldwide - Where They are Located.
Cheers Brian

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>...also there is a Wallace Hartley Memorial Violin <<<

Mmmmmm....that just might do it. It's amazing how a simple statement like that can "improve" in the telling.

 

[Lucy Steigerwald]

Charles, that's such an interesting experiment! What do you teach?

 

[Charles B. Weeks Jr.]

Lucy:
I teach Ship's Structure, Introduction to Marine Transportation, Cargo Stowage, Stability and an elective course NS-415, R.M.S. Titanic. In that course each student has to submit a project. Most do a Term Paper based on secondary research, however some use primary research such as the one I mentioned in my previous post. We do several things designed to enhance the students appreciation for what it was like to be there that night. For example, each student has to perform Murdoch's Maneuver on the bridge simulator. Interestingly several have managed to miss the berg.
Regards,
Charlie Weeks

 

[Samuel Halpern]

Lucy. CLICK on this: Department of Marine Transportation/Maine Maritime Academy
I assume Charlie that this site up to date? Looks like your teaching NS-301 from the prop your using.

 

[Kylar]

Michael, everything about the Titanic is steeped in myth and legend. Does that mean we should stop speculating about her? I think not and this is what I have found about the band's last moments:

Let's examine the testimonies of two of lifeboat #6's passengers:

Helen Churchill Candee's and Harold Bride's testimonies are identical, if we are to believe Bride confused "Nearer My God to Thee" with "Autumn" as analysed by J. Marshall Bevil, Ph.D. (Music-Titanic) inbetween the time the captain relieved Phillips and Bride of their duties and the time Bride helped with collapsible B.

Bride: "Phillips clung on, sending and sending. He clung on for about ten minutes, or maybe fifteen minutes, after the captain released him. The water was then coming into our cabin. From aft came the tunes of the ship's band, playing the ragtime tune, 'Autumn.' Phillips ran aft, and that was the last I ever saw of him alive."

And later:

"I felt I simply had to get away from the ship. She was a beautiful sight then. Smoke and sparks were rushing out of her funnels. There must have been an explosion, but we heard none. We only saw a big stream of sparks. The ship was gradually turning on her nose -just like a duck does that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind - to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all the band went down. They were heroes. They were still playing 'Autumn.' [which Harold might have confused with "Nearer My God To Thee" as per J. Marshall Bevil's conclusions] Then I swam with all my might."

Compare this with what Helen Churchill Candee said about what she last heard of the Titanic's band (excerpted from a May 1912 account she penned for Colliers Magazine under the title “Sealed Orders." Charles Pellegrino Web Site):

"About the time Harold Bride ascended the roof, Helen Candee also heard the song Autumn. Unlike Bride, she happened to be watching and listening from the relatively calm and safe vantage point of Boat 6, from which she recalled hearing the waltz followed by the beginning of Nearer My God to Thee."

Marjorie Newell Robb was also on lifeboat #6 and she was a violonist (although that doesn't testify of any musical talent even though she went on to teach violon after the disaster; but one would assume she had a musical ear) and she claims to have heard Alexander's Ragtime Band, One O'clock in the Morning I get Lonesome, Turkey in the Straw and The Merry Widow but NOT Nearer my God.

One thing that is puzzling to me is that not only are these accounts contradictory but lifeboat #6 was lowered at around 12:55 which is a full hour and 21 minutes before Bride testified he heard "Autumn" at 2:10.

Are we then to conclude that lifeboat #6 stuck around long enough within hearing distance of the band playing (perhaps because of Molly Brown's insistance that they go back for survivors?) for a full hours and twenty one minutes until Bride and Candee heard "Autumn" followed by "Nearer My God To Thee"?

These are early conclusions from my (as of yet) limited research but from what I've gathered, the following songs were played during the sinking:

Irving Berlin - Alexander's Ragtime Band
Irving Berlin - One O'clock in the Morning I Get Lonesome at 1:00
Turkey In The Straw - American Folk song
Franz Lehár - The Merry Widow

And very near the end, between 2:10 and shortly before the sinking (2:16) and in that order:

Songe d'automne
Nearer My God To Thee

I fully expect to be rebuted but hopefully that will bring us that much closer to discovering the mysteries of the band's last moments on the great ship. Not that we'll ever uncover the full truth but it's the exploration that's fun, isn't it?

Quick question where did you get this