Titanic Inquiry podcasts

[tkay11]

There's a nice series about the Titanic Inquiry which has been highlighted by the Society for Nautical Research as in the attached note from them. The podcasts recreating the evidence given by four survivors of the sinking are about 30 minutes each and very interesting indeed. In case you haven't heard them, they are strongly recommended.

 

Tony

 

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The Titanic Enquiry 

 

The latest episodes of our award-winning podcast The Mariner's Mirror Podcast include a five-part series based on the British Titanic Enquiry.

An enormous project has been underway in America in recent years to transcribe both the British and American enquiries. To bring this work to a large audience we have dramatised a number of testimonies allowing our listeners to eavesdrop on the enquiry.

You can now hear directly from Lady Duff Gordon, a First Class passenger, and one of only two passengers interviewed at the inquiry (the other being her husband). Lady Duff Gordon was also one of only three women to give testimony. Along with her husband, she was also one of only two witnesses to actually request to be interviewed. Lady Duff Gordon’s perspective, therefore, is unusual and significant in many ways and makes for riveting listening, casting an entirely new light on the tragedy.

We also hear from we hear from Fred Barrett, a stoker from Liverpool. Fred had been tasked with extinguishing a fire and was in one of the boiler rooms when the collision happened. If you are interested in what happened in the bowels of the ship during the sinking his testimony is one of the very best.

Charles Lightoller, Titanic's second officer and the most senior officer to survive the disaster also gives evidence. Lightoller is a fascinating character. By the age of 21 he had survived a shipwreck, a cyclone and a shipboard fire. Lightoller was a major focus for both the British and American inquiries. During the Wreck Commissioner’s Enquiry, Lightoller was called to the stand three times over the same number of days and was asked 2951 questions. His testimony is greatly detailed and provides numerous fascinating glimpses into the disaster and its aftermath.

Finally we hear from Annie Robinson. Annie was a First Class Stewardess and one of only three women interviewed at the inquiry. She was asleep when Titanic collided with the iceberg - and this was the second time she had been on a vessel that had collided with an iceberg. Annie led her charges to safety and escaped herself but was troubled for the rest of her life by her experience and ultimately committed suicide by jumping overboard another vessel just two years later.

All episodes of the dramatised Titanic enquiry can be found here.