Titanic at the National Archives

The National Archives at New York City holds records in the admiralty case files related to Titanic, specifically the petition filed by the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, as the owner of Titanic, for limitation of liability. And these are the claims for loss of property and life or injury sustained during the sinking. I took out the one from Margaret Brown, or “the unsinkable Molly Brown.” There’s a myth or a legend on the Titanic that there was supposedly a cursed mummy. And some people say that Molly Brown’s claim for ancient models from the Denver Museum and the souvenirs from Egypt, that’s maybe the origin of the myth. The deposition of Emily Ryerson is another really interesting piece of testimony given during the Titanic case. She talks about her experience getting off the ship, which is pretty harrowing. “Stout, the second steward, he was at the foot of the stairs as we came from the boat deck, and he put his hand in front of my little boy, who is 13, and said, ‘He can’t go.’ My husband said, ‘Of course that boy goes with his mother.’ The man said, ‘Very well, sir, but no more boys.’ And some woman rushed forward and took her hat off and put it on her little boy’s head, so he could go as a little girl.” Some of the more requested items from the Titanic case are the photographs. While we don’t have many we do have a few, including some of the survivors in the lifeboats as they approach the Carpathia. And this is one of my favorites, and one of my favorite pages here. And it lists each of the individuals who bought tickets. There’s Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus of Macy’s department stores. Mr. Guggenheim of the prominent New York family. Mr. and Mrs. Straus and Mr. Benjamin Guggenheim did not survive the sinking of the ship. There were a number of documents introduced as evidence during the case. Here we have a detail of the ship’s plan. And that second section of the plan actually also outlines where the lifeboats were located. If you read through the ice reports on April 7th there’s a comment saying that a ship has run into a strip of a field of ice about three to four miles wide. And then you have the fateful day of April 14th. “The British Steamer Titanic collided with an iceberg seriously damaging her bow; extent not definitely known.”

Channel: US National Archives

Views: 26,725

Keywords: US National Archives, Inside the Vaults, Titanic, Margaret Brown, Molly Brown, records, photographs, loss claims, Strauss, Guggenheim, ship's plan, ice reports

Id: rPxhj4BtGQQ

Length: 2min 41sec (161 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 09 2012