William Dwyer (Stowaway)

[Michael Kelly]

This is my first posting to the board, so let me briefly describe why I'm here. After recently looking at my family tree, I discovered that my great great uncle William Dwyer was apparently a victim of the Titanic. He boarded the ship at Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland along with a few of his friends. As far as we know, they did not have tickets and apparently stowed away. They were accompanied to the dock by several female acquaintances who witnessed them board the ship, never to be seen again.

Due to his status, I can only assume he made his way to 3rd class, but may not be among the list of victims. He is also not listed among other Irish victims who were not officially passengers. If there is no documentation of his death on the Titanic, how can I go about proving this so that his name can be added? I know that his status as a stowaway may be looked upon by some as being dishonorable, but what I find interesting in the disaster is that no matter what the status or fortune of the passengers were, they all faced the same fate together.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am looking to help add some information to our family history.

Michael Kelly

 

[Brandon Whited]

Michael, I saw the name William Dwyer in the 3rd-class section of a passenger list of a new Titanic book. I know you said he was a stowaway, but the name was there! The cover of the book shows a close-up of the bow underwater and it says Discovery Channel at the bottom.

-Brandon

 

[Michael Kelly]

Brandon, I emailed you earlier, but I just came across the list from the book. There's no William Dwyer listed anywhere. I'm sure it was just an honest mistake. Can't say I'm not disappointed, because I still don't have an answer to his disappearance.

If I find the entire story is false I won't hesitate to admit it.

Michael Kelly

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Rather difficult to see how anyone could stow away in Queenstown. The ship was anchored out, not moored. The tenders were the only way to and from the ship and if you didn't have a ticket, you didn't get on the tender.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Brandon Whited]

Michael,

It was William DYER I was looking at by mistake. Sorry about that.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

Michael, or anyone; I am curious as to whether the Queenstown tenders were regularly open to people other than embarking passengers and port officials, and as to how "tight" security was. There are those photographs taken from the tender by a Mr. McLean, and others taken by a Mr. Whyte, both of whom travelled out to meet the ship. Father Browne's brother, Rev. William Browne, was also allowed aboard. There is that account (which I doubt) of Mr. Astor buying his wife a $400 lace jacket from a merchant while the Titanic was in Queenstown. Were special exceptions made for McLean, Whyte and Rev. Browne, or were (presumably) First Class visitors allowed? SECURITY: There is that Father Browne picture taken from what appears to be an earlier White Star ship (captioned "Illegal trade in progress alongside a liner" in O'Donnell's Father Browne picture book, pg20) which shows someone ascending or descending a line from the side of the ship from or to a small craft while passengers (and at least one crew member) look on. How common was such a thing, and how seriously was it treated by the Line? The "illegal trade" picture interested me, as it showed a means by which stowaways MIGHT have gotten on board.....but the absense of small craft in the photos taken of and from the Titanic in Queenstown all but eliminates that possibility.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I'm not very well versed in their security, but I would think that special arrangements could be made ahead of time. Stowing away in third class strikes me as rather unlikely as all steerage passangers had to be screened on the peir by health inspectors befor they would even be allowed aboard. Hard to beleive tickets wouldn't also be checked at the time.

The illegal trading strikes me as something that they would have been hard pressed to do much about. Even the largest ships would only have so many officers and crew to go around and they had their hands full with embarking passangers, getting them situated, and still operating the ship. One boatload wouldn't have been hard to get rid of, but a dozen or more.........

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Jim Kalafus]

My thought about stowing away- getting ON would have been relatively easy,(as in that Browne photo) but concealing one's self for the duration and getting off successfully would have presented difficulties. As for any one specific claim pertaining to a stowaway on the Titanic, about the best piece of evidence one could hope to find (and not likely) would be a letter or something written AFTER 11 April, but BEFORE 15 April in which a reference is made (by someone who at that point would have no reason to fabricate) to someone else's probable stowing away.....and even that would be questionable evidence at best.

 

[Peter Engberg-Klarström]

Hello everybody. There was a steward (I think) by the name of William Dyer. I haven't got access to my files right now, but it might be worth to check.

Best regards,

Peter