Heroic Musicians

of the Titanic 

A tribute to the bandsmen of the Titanic.

When the order was "each man for himself," 

 these heroes remained on board 

and played till the end.

-- Memorial Plaque, New York Musicians' Union 

On April 15, 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York. The Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time. About 1,500 people died resulting in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern maritime history.

Included among the casualties were eight musicians who played in two ensembles under the leadership of bandmaster Wallace Hartley. The orchestra played at teatime, dinner concerts and at Sunday services. They were members of Britain's Amalgamated Musicians Union. 

As the ship began to list and take on water, many of the passengers panicked. As the lifeboats were being lowered Wallace Hartley urged the musicians to play on and calm the passengers with upbeat ragtime tunes and waltzes. As the ship submerged the musicians kept on playing and, many believe, ended their performance with a hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee."

Perishing in the disaster were Wallace Hartley (bandmaster, violin), John Frederick Preston Clarke (bass violin and viola), Theodore Ronald Brailey (piano), Roger Marie Bricoux (cello), John Law Hume (violin), Georges Alexandre Krins (violin), Percy Cornelius Taylor (cello and piano) and John Wesley Woodward (cello).  

Poster created by the Amalgamated Musicians Union and sold as a fundraiser for the deceased musicians' families. Eighty thousand copies were sold in its first month, at threepence a piece. The Amalgamated Musicians Union was founded in Manchester in 1893.

Did the band play "Nearer, My God, to Thee?"

According to Charles William Daniels, a survivor, "all the lifeboats reached the water safely and the ship's band played as the boats were being lowered. The musicians played selections from opera and the latest popular melodies from Europe and America. Only before the final plunge did they change the character of their music. They then played "Nearer, My God, to Thee."

But there are conflicting witness testimonies and a debate has ensued about just what tunes the Titanic band actually played. In The Band that Played On -- the Extraordinary Story of the 8 Musicians who went Down with the Titanic author Steve Turner writes that, "some witnesses claimed they'd stuck to popular tunes and that hymns would have been inappropriate" because it would have been a warning of immediate death. The most likely cause for the differing witness accounts, he concludes, is that the band -- which played for about two hours as the ship was sinking -- performed both popular music and hymns. The evidence that they played "Nearer, My God, to Thee," Turner writes, "seems overwhelming."  

"One has to wonder now at the character of the musicians. When all around them there was panic and trauma they kept playing. They stayed their post through all of the agony that now had filtered through to the passengers."  

Titanic's Valiant Musicians by Jack Kopstein (on-line) 

Titanic Musicians' Memorial 

Southampton, United Kingdom

The memorial was unveiled in 1913, located in the old Southampton library. In 1940 it was destroyed - together with the library - by the Luftwaffe's bombing. A replica memorial was made in 1990 and installed on the same site. (Wikipedia)

Solidarity 

from the New York Musicians' Union 

It was probably inevitable that the heroic deaths of Wallace Hartley and his seven colleagues would touch the hearts of their musical brethren in New York. By Saturday, April 27, 1912 - a mere 12 days after the Titanic met its demise - the Musical Mutual Protective Union, affiliated with the American Federations of Musicians, organized a committee to aid the bandsmen's families. 

On June 2, 1912 at New York's Moulin Rouge Theatre a concert was organized featuring the talents of more than 500 musicians. As they entered their box seats, the captain and some of the crew of the Carpathia - the ship that rescued the Titanic's survivors - received prolonged applause.  The evening raised $1500 and concluded with a poignant rendering of "Nearer, My God, to Thee." 

By Charles A. Haas. This is an edited version which appeared in Allegro (AFM Local 802, New York), October 2013, "Titanic Mystery : Musicians and Heroes," see link below.

Read the fascinating story of the bronze memorial plaque commissioned by the New York musicians' union and how it was rescued from the scrapyard and rediscovered. 

Click here.

The Titanic

by

Lead Belly

(1888-1949)

In 1912 Huddie Leadbetter or Lead Belly - the blues & folk singer and 12-string guitar virtuoso - began singing The Titanic with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Included in the lyrics was the popular, but unverified, story about Jack Johnson, the Black boxer, who - it was said - attempted to board the ship but was denied passage by Captain Edward Smith. In the song, Lead Belly sings:

Jack Johnson wanted to get on board

Captain, he said, "I ain't hauling no coal"

Fare thee, Titanic, fare thee well.

On July 4, 1910, two years before the Titanic disaster, Jack Johnson had knocked out Jim Jeffries - the "Great White Hope" - in the "Fight of the Century." Incensed that a Black man was crowned heavyweight champion of the world, angry white boxing fans rioted in dozens of cities and small towns. Scores of Black people were beaten and killed and, after the rioting, many state and local governments banned a motion picture film of the epic fight, fearing that showing it would spark more violence. 

Lead Belly sings that when Johnson heard about the sinking he was so glad to be safe and sound that he did the "Eagle Rock," a popular jazz dance at the turn of the century.

During the Jim Crow era the Jack Johnson-Titanic story became part of African-American folklore. Although he was discriminated against, denied his rights and treated like a "piece of coal" Johnson's life was spared. In the aftermath of the Titanic tragedy the boxing champion - and the nation's African-American community - may have had the last laugh. 

Sources: Wikipedia; The Disaster Song Tradition (disastersong.ca/titanic) ; The Toast of the Titanic by Dana Hill, Washington Post (online), 12/20/97   

Sinking of the Titanic

 by

Bill Jenkins and the Virginia Mountain Boys

Friday's Labor Folklore

Saul Schniderman, Editor



Thanks to Mikael Elsila, Allegro (AFM Local 802)