Harland & Wolff Post-Sinking Report on TITANIC, 2 May 1912
Abstract
A "Descriptive Statement" produced by shipbuilder Harland & Wolff after the sinking of the TITANIC. Carbon copy on very thin paper, with stamps on the cover indicating it was approved by the company's Managing Director on May 2, 1912. The cover includes the initials "JWK," and the last page includes another approval stamp from JWK and from "EW." The report describes the ship's layout, machinery, watertight doors and lifesaving equipment, and a copy of it was part of the evidence considered by the British proceedings investigating the disaster. On June 1912. Harland & Wolff naval architect Edward Wilding, himself a survivor of the disaster, testified that he had written a Descriptive Statement about the ship and it is clearly this document. There is even an error on page 21 ("main deck" instead of "open deck") that he identified while on the stand. Our copy also includes a blue pencil notation on the cover saying "Parts marked blue to left abstracted for statement in Whiteley v. O.S.N.Co. March 1914," and throughout there are blue brackets around certain portions of text. Thomas Whiteley was a young steward aboard the TITANIC who survived in a lifeboat but suffered injuries. We know that, he filed a lawsuit against the TITANIC's owners alleging, according to press reports, "negligent steering" and that the ship was not seaworthy. The case was set for a hearing on March 1, 1914, but the records of it end there, likely due to an out of court settlement. The annotations in this report may shed light on Whiteley's specific claims, since the portions they focus on are about boat deck access from lower decks, the watertight compartments, and the lifeboats.
Dates
- Creation: 2 May 1912
Extent
1 item(s) : paper ; overall: 12 7/8 x 8 in.
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts Repository
G. W. Blunt White Library
Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.
112 Greenmanville Avenue
Mystic CT 06355 United States
860.572.5367
collections@mysticseaport.org
