:00:21. > :00:29.This is the old cemetery on Southampton common. There are 57
:00:29. > :00:31.graves here connected with Titanic, but they are all empty. Few in 1912
:00:31. > :00:41.could afford to repatriate the bodies, but still, they needed a
:00:41. > :00:50.
:00:50. > :01:00.Around 750 of Titanic's 908 crew lived in Southampton, 550 of those
:01:00. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:07.perished. All but three were men. For Southampton, the unwritten law
:01:07. > :01:14.of the sea, "women and children first", ensured the loss of
:01:14. > :01:24.husbands, fathers, sons. It plunged streets and houses into weeks of
:01:24. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :02:00.I'm, Bernard Hill. I played Captain Edward Smith in Titanic, the 1997
:02:00. > :02:03.film directed by James Cameron. Lots has been said about the ship,
:02:03. > :02:06.its design, its flaws and the passengers - the first class, the
:02:06. > :02:16.steerage - but very little about the effect that the disaster had on
:02:16. > :02:28.
:02:28. > :02:32.Southampton wasn't a city then. It was a much smaller, crowded town.
:02:32. > :02:35.Some 23 steamship companies were based here. Five years before, The
:02:35. > :02:41.White Star Line had decided to switch its transatlantic express
:02:41. > :02:44.service from Liverpool to Southampton. A new deep water dock
:02:44. > :02:54.was built to accommodate the world's largest liners, Olympic and
:02:54. > :02:56.
:02:56. > :03:01.Titanic. The greater part of employment in Southampton depended
:03:01. > :03:06.on the ships being there. You could go from here to New York or to
:03:06. > :03:11.Canada and be there in less than a week. Big luxury liners like the
:03:11. > :03:15.Olympic and the Titanic were going out term unturned about. That was
:03:15. > :03:19.the work that was available. In February 1912, the whole country
:03:19. > :03:24.was in the grip of a coal strike. The miners were demanding a unified
:03:24. > :03:26.minimum wage for any job that they did underground. Given that trains,
:03:26. > :03:33.electricity and ships all ran on coal powered steam engines, this
:03:33. > :03:41.strike paralysed the country. It lasted until early April 1912. The
:03:41. > :03:44.miners got what they wanted and the minimum wage bill came into force.
:03:44. > :03:47.When Titanic arrived from Belfast at midnight on April 4, its crew
:03:47. > :03:50.would have seen a host of ocean going liners laid up, including
:03:50. > :03:56.Majestic, New York and Oceanic, unable to leave due to the lack of
:03:56. > :04:00.coal. The White Star Line was determined Titanic would sail on
:04:00. > :04:10.its maiden voyage and arranged for coal to be taken from other ships
:04:10. > :04:14.
:04:14. > :04:19.For my role of Captain Smith in the James Cameron film, I tried to
:04:19. > :04:23.understand this man. He seems to have taken much of the blame
:04:23. > :04:29.through history for the events that occurred that fateful night. But
:04:29. > :04:34.was he at fault? What happened to him when the ship started sinking?
:04:34. > :04:37.This is Winn Road in Southampton. It's here that Capt Smith had an
:04:37. > :04:41.imposing six bedroom house where he lived with his wife Eleanor and
:04:41. > :04:51.daughter Helen. The house was bombed in the second world war and
:04:51. > :04:54.
:04:54. > :04:59.these flats erected instead, but inside here, there is a memorial.
:05:00. > :05:04.Hardly a blue plaque, but it is the only memorial in Southampton to
:05:04. > :05:08.Edward Smith both as captain and man.
:05:08. > :05:12.Smith was a highly experienced sailor. He went to sea at the age
:05:12. > :05:14.of 13. He'd been with the White Star Line for 32 years when he took
:05:14. > :05:17.charge of Titanic. He was their most prized asset, well respected
:05:17. > :05:22.by the wealthy and affluent American passengers, so much so, he
:05:22. > :05:25.became known as the "the millionaires captain."
:05:25. > :05:30.But some of Titanic's crew were less reverential about Smith's
:05:30. > :05:33.seamanship. Whilst Captain of its sister ship, Olympic, a year before,
:05:33. > :05:41.the ship was in a collision with a Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off
:05:41. > :05:45.the Isle of Wight. I think it is important to say that
:05:45. > :05:48.other ship's captains also had collisions. Part of their pay
:05:48. > :05:58.package was that they would receive a bonus of �200, if they didn't
:05:58. > :06:00.
:06:00. > :06:08.damage the ship within the 12 I'm here at berth 43/44, this is
:06:08. > :06:18.where she sailed from. Titanic sailed without major
:06:18. > :06:22.
:06:22. > :06:25.fanfare. Crowds had been kept out of the docks due to the coal strike.
:06:25. > :06:35.As she pulled away and the power of her propellers churned the waters,
:06:35. > :06:43.
:06:43. > :06:46.there was a near collision with the liner New York tied up nearby.
:06:46. > :06:55.Ropes snapped and the New York drifted out only yards from Titanic,
:06:55. > :06:57.but tugs managed to avoid the danger.
:06:57. > :07:07.This unexpected drama over, Captain Smith pointed the luxurious liner,
:07:07. > :07:07.
:07:07. > :07:17.towards the English Channel. "Take her to sea Mr Murdoch, lets
:07:17. > :07:30.
:07:30. > :07:35.Only 23 of the 908 crew were female. Most were stewardesses for the
:07:36. > :07:42.first class passengers. There was one female matron for the 3rd class
:07:43. > :07:45.decks, a Catherine Jane Wallis or Cissie. She was 35 years old, lived
:07:46. > :07:55.in St Marys Place in Southampton, and had been widowed the year
:07:56. > :07:58.
:07:58. > :08:05.before. This is work that women can do. Either that or you go into
:08:05. > :08:08.service and it is a form of going into service, but it paid.
:08:09. > :08:14.With four children to care for, the prospect of �3 a month pay was very
:08:14. > :08:19.attractive. She was employed as a matron in the old fashion sense
:08:19. > :08:25.when she was all things to all people. She looked after the 700
:08:25. > :08:30.steerage passengers. Each of those had paid upwards of �7 for a ticket.
:08:30. > :08:35.Her role was to ensure that their children and their families were
:08:35. > :08:39.safe and healthy. A lot of things the steerage passengers would not
:08:39. > :08:43.have seen before like a flushing toilet. It would be a new thing for
:08:43. > :08:48.them and she would show them how to use it. She would also make sure
:08:48. > :08:53.there were provisions like milk for the children. The Titanic carried
:08:53. > :08:56.over 1500 gallons of milk. She was there to be like a mother figure,
:08:56. > :09:00.really. Across the water is St Marys. There
:09:00. > :09:04.lies one of the darker tales from Titanic. William Mintram lived in
:09:04. > :09:08.st Marys with his wife Eliza. It seems it was a tempestuous
:09:08. > :09:14.relationship. One night, in a drunken row over his wife pawning
:09:14. > :09:17.his son' boots to pay for drink, he stabbed her to death with a knife.
:09:17. > :09:27.A jury returned a verdict of manslaughter and he was sentenced
:09:27. > :09:27.
:09:27. > :09:33.to 12 years in Winchester prison. My grandmother never blamed him.
:09:33. > :09:39.She always said he did not mean to do it and it was an accident. We
:09:39. > :09:42.believed her. She told us that, actually, so we believed her.
:09:42. > :09:45.After serving his time, he came to live in Chapel Road with his
:09:45. > :09:49.daughter and son-in-law Walter Hurst. It was Hurst who got him the
:09:49. > :09:52.job on Titanic. Hurst and Mintram were stokers. There were 162
:09:52. > :09:59.furnaces on the ship, which heated the boilers making the steam which
:09:59. > :10:04.powered the engines. 160 fireman worked shifts that were four hours
:10:04. > :10:11.on and eight hours off. Together they shovelled over 600 tonnes of
:10:11. > :10:15.coal a day to keep Titanic moving. For some of Titanic's crew, the
:10:15. > :10:18.shadow of the disaster and their role in it stayed with them for the
:10:18. > :10:20.rest of their lives. Fred Fleet, from Freemantle in
:10:20. > :10:29.Southampton, played a central role in the moments that sealed
:10:29. > :10:34.Titanic's fate. He was one of the ships lookouts. On the night of
:10:34. > :10:38.April 14, 1912, Fleet took watch at 10pm. Crucially, there were no
:10:38. > :10:43.binoculars for the lookouts, they had been locked away. By 11.30pm he
:10:43. > :10:45.could see a haze appearing with his naked eye.
:10:46. > :10:51.At 11:40pm, Fleet saw a black mass ahead, immediately struck three
:10:51. > :10:57.bells and telephoned the bridge. He reported "Iceberg right ahead,"
:10:57. > :11:01.receiving the reply "Thank you." While still on the telephone, the
:11:01. > :11:04.ship started swinging to port. The lookouts saw the starboard side of
:11:04. > :11:11.the ship scrape alongside the iceberg and saw ice falling on the
:11:11. > :11:21.decks. They had thought that it had been a near miss. It wasn't.
:11:21. > :11:24.
:11:24. > :11:27.Titanic was fatally holed and began to sink. There is a family
:11:27. > :11:33.resemblance, you know. Dave Fredericks great grandfather
:11:33. > :11:39.Walter was crewman on the ship, Dave has been researching his story.
:11:39. > :11:46.He was chosen as an oarsman and because all of the semen had left
:11:46. > :11:52.earlier. He was facing the ship and he remembers all of the lights
:11:52. > :11:56.suddenly going out and it being pitch black. Shortly after, it went
:11:56. > :12:03.under the water. There were screams from the thousands thrashing about
:12:03. > :12:09.and crying for help, which he said reminded him of a football stadium.
:12:09. > :12:16.Everyone shouting. One by one they died out and it was the silence
:12:16. > :12:22.that was the most scary thing. Just the sound of women crying in the
:12:22. > :12:27.lifeboats and not much else. The year after was when my grandfather
:12:27. > :12:32.was born. Had he not survived, I would not be here today telling the
:12:32. > :12:35.story. It was Monday morning in Canute
:12:35. > :12:45.Road, Southampton when word started to reach the White Star Line
:12:45. > :12:46.
:12:46. > :12:49.company office via telegrams that Rumours spread throughout the town
:12:49. > :12:52.like wildfire, women from all over the city headed for the only place
:12:52. > :13:02.where they thought they would get reliable news - the White Star
:13:02. > :13:07.
:13:07. > :13:13.My name is Philip Curry, I'm the manager of the White Star offices
:13:13. > :13:21.here in Southampton. This fine town was plunged into despair, we were
:13:21. > :13:24.deluged with relatives desperate for any news. Initial rumours were
:13:24. > :13:34.that everyone had been saved, but my colleagues in London thought it
:13:34. > :13:40.
:13:40. > :13:44.He and his team soon realised the enormity of the situation and
:13:44. > :13:50.throughout the next four days, no- one went home. They camped in
:13:50. > :13:57.makeshift beds on the hard office floor.
:13:57. > :14:07.I watched the women keep vigil throughout the night. They had put
:14:07. > :14:07.
:14:07. > :14:47.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds
:14:47. > :14:57.on a "bit of black" as a mark of This is the Southampton city
:14:57. > :15:07.archives, down here are thousands of ships logs and school records.
:15:07. > :15:08.
:15:08. > :15:11.This is the Northam Girls' School log. April 15th 1912. A great many
:15:11. > :15:18.girls are absent this afternoon owing to the sad news regarding the
:15:18. > :15:28.Titanic. Fathers and brothers are on the vessel and some of the
:15:28. > :15:39.
:15:39. > :15:49.little ones have been in tears all Day after day, the people came.
:15:49. > :15:49.
:15:50. > :15:57."had I seen Barrett on the list?" "Did I know if Kemish was saved?
:15:57. > :16:01."I'm sorry, no further names yet," I had to say. It is worth pointing
:16:01. > :16:07.out that it was the custom on all shipping lines that, once a ship
:16:07. > :16:11.had sunk, payment for the crew also stopped from that time and date.
:16:11. > :16:16.Many of the families were close to starvation from the coal strike and
:16:16. > :16:23.the lack of work over the previous months. Now the situation was that
:16:23. > :16:26.they wouldn't get any more money for the time being. And that there
:16:26. > :16:30.was a great probability their breadwinner could be lost. It took
:16:30. > :16:36.until Thursday for the final lists to be sent to Southampton. First
:16:36. > :16:41.class passenger lists had been posted on the Tuesday. Curry died
:16:41. > :16:51.in 1933 at the age of 71. His obituary in the local paper never
:16:51. > :16:56.Throughout Southampton, there was hardly a street or road that was
:16:56. > :17:06.unaffected. This 1912 map shows a black dot for every person who died
:17:06. > :17:17.
:17:17. > :17:24.This is Malmesbury Road in Shirley. Shirley was known as "steward's
:17:24. > :17:30.town" in 1912. Eight crew members lived here and set off on the
:17:30. > :17:34.morning of April 10th to join the ship. Number 134. Electrician
:17:34. > :17:44.Alfred Allsop aged 36. He left a wife Hilda and a one-year-old child
:17:44. > :17:45.
:17:45. > :17:48.Philip. Next door, assistant butcher Herbert Hensford. He had
:17:48. > :17:53.just married Alice and moved in with her family only a few months
:17:53. > :17:56.before he went on board. Number 102. First class saloon steward William
:17:56. > :18:00.Revell was married to Blanche and had a nine-month-old baby son
:18:00. > :18:06.called Jack. His body was never recovered. Blanche also lost her
:18:06. > :18:09.brother Ernest. His body was never recovered either. At Number 89,
:18:10. > :18:19.saloon steward Edwin Best, aged 36, married to Annie. He had four
:18:20. > :18:20.
:18:20. > :18:25.children. His body never recovered. At 120, saloon steward Ted Stroud,
:18:25. > :18:29.aged 19 and here with his parents. Across the road at number 103,
:18:29. > :18:35.saloon steward James Toshack, aged 31. He was married to Phoebe. His
:18:35. > :18:40.body was never recovered. This was where number 51 used to be, which
:18:40. > :18:46.was pulled down for playing fields. This was where 18-year-old Albert
:18:46. > :18:53.White live. He gave his age as 21 when he signed on far Titanic. His
:18:53. > :18:59.body was never recovered. John Smillie had lodgings at Number 16.
:18:59. > :19:05.His body was recovered still wearing his steward's white coat.
:19:05. > :19:11.He was buried at sea. And what happened to Matron Cissie Wallis?
:19:11. > :19:18.At the time of the sinking, her body was never identified. The
:19:18. > :19:23.story ended there until 1919, where a stewardess who worked alongside
:19:23. > :19:29.her wrote in a newspaper that Catherine Wallace told the
:19:29. > :19:34.stewardess, I am not going on Dec, I will stay here. It is believed
:19:34. > :19:42.she stayed with steerage passengers to make sure they would be safe.
:19:42. > :19:50.And she remained to look after the people in her care. Walter Hurst
:19:50. > :19:54.and William Mintram were still on the ship as it began to sink.
:19:54. > :20:00.great-grandfather went up on deck and threw a piece of ice at my
:20:00. > :20:05.grandfather and said, you had better get up, or water, we have
:20:05. > :20:12.hit an iceberg and we are sinking. Both made their way up to the top,
:20:12. > :20:18.whenever the lifeboats were, could not get one. My great grandfather
:20:18. > :20:24.had a life jacket and Walter Hurst did not have one. Walter was given
:20:24. > :20:34.his life jacket and said, your wife needs you and you are much more
:20:34. > :20:36.
:20:36. > :20:46.required than I am. You take the Both hit the water and tried to
:20:46. > :20:47.
:20:47. > :20:57.swim away. As Titanic was sinking, a falling funnel just missed Walter
:20:57. > :21:08.
:21:08. > :21:15.as it hit the sea. But it crushed SINGING. A memorial service was
:21:15. > :21:19.held a week after the sinking at St Mary's Church. Other White Star
:21:19. > :21:25.Line crew and officers were among those who attended. The families of
:21:25. > :21:28.those killed were not entitled to any compensation. Fundraising
:21:28. > :21:38.happened in a variety of ways from musical concerts to a Southampton
:21:38. > :21:47.
:21:47. > :21:49.There was even a charity record issued entitled Be British.
:21:49. > :21:58.Something we regard as a modern innovation was popular 100 years
:21:58. > :22:08.ago. Eventually, over �412,000 was collected. Southampton itself
:22:08. > :22:09.
:22:09. > :22:12.managed to raise �41,000 of that. My name is Ms Maude Newman. I am
:22:12. > :22:20.the lady visitor for the Southampton branch of the Titanic
:22:20. > :22:24.Relief Fund. Maude was known as the lady with the bicycle.
:22:24. > :22:34.My role is to help the widows and orphans left behind after that
:22:34. > :22:35.
:22:35. > :22:39.dreadful tragedy. There were 900 when I first started. I make sure
:22:39. > :22:49.they are in good health and not in need. The children may need shoes
:22:49. > :22:51.
:22:51. > :22:53.or the mother a bit extra for food. I try to do all I can. I am also
:22:53. > :23:02.responsible to the relief committee for maintaining the fine Christian
:23:02. > :23:04.values we all expect from all those who benefit from the fund. However,
:23:04. > :23:11.we will not tolerate any impropriety such as excessive
:23:11. > :23:16.drinking or couples sharing houses when they are not married. However,
:23:16. > :23:26.should a widow marry again, we wish them well, but their benefit from
:23:26. > :23:36.the fund.. -- fund will stop. also responsible to the relief
:23:36. > :23:42.committee for maintaining the fine Not everyone agreed with her role
:23:42. > :23:44.as moral guardian. Once, her bike was stolen. Then, a week later, it
:23:44. > :23:49.was found at Berth 43/44, the Titanic berth. Someone had stolen
:23:49. > :23:53.it and dumped it out of spite. use my influence to get as many as
:23:53. > :24:02.I can into apprenticeships and jobs. They are our future. And if the
:24:02. > :24:08.Titanic has a legacy, it should be of hope. The generosity of others
:24:08. > :24:17.has given these youngsters a chance to live worthwhile, fulfilled, hope
:24:17. > :24:22.fall-outs. -- hopeful lives. Maude Newman died suddenly at the age of
:24:22. > :24:25.64 in March 1940. The relief fund officially ended in 1959. But the
:24:25. > :24:35.remaining cash was turned into annuities. Incredibly, the final
:24:35. > :24:37.
:24:37. > :24:47.sum was paid out in 1997 to a woman Fred Fleet was rescued in number
:24:47. > :24:47.
:24:47. > :24:50.six lifeboat. In the subsequent inquiries, his evidence was crucial.
:24:50. > :24:58.Unfortunately, the White Star Line regarded the Titanic survivors as
:24:58. > :25:00.embarrassing reminders of the tragedy they would prefer to forget.
:25:00. > :25:04.Fred lived with his wife in her brother's house in Fremantle,
:25:04. > :25:14.Southampton. For much of his later life, he sold newspapers in the
:25:14. > :25:18.
:25:18. > :25:22.He had to bear the constant calls of, "Have you seen an iceberg today,
:25:22. > :25:28.Fred?" with a smile and some resignation. Deep down, he felt
:25:28. > :25:35.guilty for having survived. Then, in December 1964, his wife Eva died.
:25:35. > :25:44.She had meant the world to him. Her brother then evicted him from the
:25:44. > :25:47.house soon after the funeral. Living off the street, on 10th
:25:47. > :25:54.January 1965, Fred found his way back into the kitchen of his former
:25:54. > :25:56.house. In a fit of grief, remorse, or depression, he hanged himself.
:25:56. > :26:06.He was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at Southampton's
:26:06. > :26:11.
:26:11. > :26:13.Holybrook Cemetery. But the story does not end there. In 1993, the
:26:13. > :26:20.American Titanic Historical Society raised funds to erected this
:26:20. > :26:28.memorial stone. It was proper tribute to a man who accidentally
:26:28. > :26:35.became a part of history. After the event, the survivors got
:26:35. > :26:38.on with their lives. The Titanic disaster was rarely spoken about.
:26:38. > :26:44.By the mid-1990s, Titanic's final living link was Millvina Dean. She
:26:44. > :26:47.was only nine months old when the ship went down. Millvina had been
:26:47. > :26:55.helped by the lady visitor, Maude Newman, and had got a job in the
:26:55. > :27:05.civil service. I don't get tired of it at all. Everyone makes a fuss of
:27:05. > :27:06.
:27:06. > :27:14.me. I enjoy it. I will not get tired of it. No, no. She became the
:27:14. > :27:20.last survivor of the Titanic. She died at the age of 97 in a nursing
:27:20. > :27:23.home near Southampton. Today in Southampton, Titanic can
:27:23. > :27:27.still evoke sadness and some tears for those who remember someone who
:27:27. > :27:35.survived or perished that terrible night. There is also a palpable
:27:35. > :27:40.sense of pride. A pride that it was from here that men and women came
:27:40. > :27:50.to crew the world's most famous ship. For many, the concepts of
:27:50. > :27:50.
:27:50. > :27:55.duty and heroism still has meaning and relevance in 2012. The
:27:55. > :27:59.inscription here is from St John Chapter 15. It would have been
:27:59. > :28:04.familiar to Captain Edward Smith and many of his officers and crew.
:28:05. > :28:11."Greater love hath no man than this. That a man lay down his life for