Who was killed by the falling funnel, the break-up, etc

[Don Tweed]

There is only person I know of that was killed by the falling first funnel, because I saw it with my own eyes!!!
And that person was Fabritzio!!!
Everything else is niente!!!
-Don

 

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

And I saw Crossroads' David Hunter killed with his wife in the same way! Or Ronnie Allen in ANTR for the non-Brits!

Cheers,

Boz

 

[alan ward]

I was at sea for 10 years as a Purser.First going away as a 16 year old Pursers clerk on an old passenger ship called the`Accra`.Perhaps because of this I have been looking for information on the Pursers and what they were up to during the sinking,any help on where to search on this enormous site would help.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Hallo, Alan. The Pursers and clerks are known to have emptied the safes and transferred the valuables into leather holdalls in the hope that they could be transferred to a rescue vessel. Chief Purser McElroy also aided in the loading of lifeboats and there is one account that he was seen firing a pistol to discourage men from rushing a boat. McElroy and Barker were last seen on the boat deck in the final minutes, standing quietly in the company of the ship's surgeons and presumably resigned to their fate. None of these men are known to have attempted at any time to board a lifeboat.

The individual biographies can be found from the search engine on the front page of this website. The names to look for are:

Hugh McElroy (Chief Purser)
Reginald Barker (Second Purser)
Ernest King (Clerk)
Austin Ashcroft (Clerk)
John Rice (Clerk)

 

[Jeremy Lee]

The leather holdalls - were they ever recovered?

Leather would still remain even today, so there is a possibility of everything recovered in great shape.

Slim chance, perhaps.

 

[Chris Dohany]

Jeremy, I believe that one of these bags was recovered from the ocean floor - a leather satchel thought to belong to purser Barker (The initials RLB adorned the bag), which contained an assortment of valuables. These items may have come from the 2nd class pursers safe as that was the office Barker had charge over.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

Are there any pictures?

Thanks anyway, Chris!

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

RLB could also stand for First-class passenger Richard L. Beckwith.

 

[Chris Dohany]

Jeremy, there are some pictures of the bag and some of its contents out there. The item that perhaps sparked the most interest and/or discussion was a bracelet with the name Amy on it.

RLB could also stand for First-class passenger Richard L. Beckwith.

As was initially speculated, I recall. However I also recall some mention that the contents of the bag did not match the items on Beckwith's claim against WS. Thus entered another theory that the bag was used by a thief who went around looting cabins. That all sounds a bit much to be, but who knows - Titanic's story is full of weird twists.

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

If I remember correctly, the original 'guesses' for the bad were Beckwith. And the speculation that the bag didn't contain the right kind of stuff for a first-class passenger. I hadn't heard the bit about it didn't match Beckwith's claim, though, Chris - are you sure about that piece of that?

 

[Chris Dohany]

Bill, I'm not sure of the claim info at all. I'm more or less repeating something I "heard" on the board some time ago.

Digging through past boards, I think I may have found that initial posting here (Michael Poirier's post, fourth from the bottom).

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

Thanks, Chris! I probably read this years ago, but have forgotten over time.

 

[Matthew Nicholas Clover]

When the Titanic split, who died while falling in it, or just who died because of it. Thanks.

-Matthew-

 

[lisa-marie mackay]

Col J.J Astor was indentified as being crushed by a funnel, it was said that when the body was found it was in a very bad condition. Because many of the bodies had been pulled down by the suction many bodies were then pushed back to the surface from the pressure.
I dont think anyone will really know what the victims died from as many were burried at sea anyway if they were unindentified.

 

[Paul Lee]

Lisa-Marie,
Have a read of this:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Carpathia/page12.htm

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

FYI - the link posted by Paul above is George's old website. His new is at http://home.comcast.net/~georgebehe/titanic/page12.htm, but the articles are the same.

Moderator's note: The url, current to 20 May 2020, is now George Behe's Titanic Tidbits . MAB

 

[Kevin P Tischer]

I would guess that the unrecoverable bodies of the crew standing near the bridge were crushed and dragged down with the funnel. Victims like Murdoch, Wilde, Smith, Moody.