Today in 1912, RMS TITANIC sunk in the icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean, while on her maiden voyage to America. There are a few connections to the local area and one of grandest, most in~famous ships to grace the seas.
Hoveton crime fiction writer and boat enthusiast Chris Crowther is involved in Norfolk's own Titanic Association and took part in the centenary commemorations of the fatal loss of the great ship.
Astonishingly, physical evidence did lay, until not so very long ago in an actual motorised work boat, previously based at Upton dyke, down the Bure. Local legend tells of this former lifeboat belonging to the doomed Titanic ~ said to be sole surviving lifeboat.
The double ended lifeboat was built from strong timber with clinker (overlapping) planks. Immediately after the RMS TITANIC disaster, the ships boats were gathered in New York harbour, only to disappear. It is said they were reutilised on board a sister ship, OLYMPIC amongst others.
Tellingly, on either side of the snout were a pair of painted bronze metal pennant badges ~ with the five pointed white star emblem of the shipping line (to whom TITANIC belonged). The loss of this important historic vessel in very recent times, is not only a sad blow to the maritime world, but also Broadland ~ an area supposedly managed with strict conservation controls. It isn't feasible to save everything for prosterity, although a simple record could have been made of the boat. The true story behind this boat and location of the surviving White Star pennant badges from her bows, remains an intriguing mystery.
Over time, many ship's lifeboats and other utility craft have been repurposed on the sheltered Broads waterways ~ giving these working boats a new lease of life in old age. During Heather's time at Turner's Boatyard in Horning, a tall tale grew between boat builders that the hull was originally one such lifeboat. In the late 1980s John Royall Esq dispelled this theory, when he found the hull of the houseboat couldn't have been built with high sides, unlike typical lifeboat construction.
Curiously, the star on a red swallow tail pennant (used by the the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, better known as the White Star Line), plus badges of similar thrusting Victorian shipping line companies ~ may have inspired pioneer Broadland yachting founders like the great John Loynes (who died 80 years ago) and later Herbert Woods to create their own star badges. The distinctive designs were an earlier form of eye catching branding.
Picture detail: C 1978, Wherry Maud Trust.
Loynes pennant by Matthew Nicholson
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Timothy, Andrew, John
I had an idea that the White Star line owned both the Titanic and the Oceanic. When Titanic sank, all surviving lifeboats went on board the Oceanic - but with Titanic name removed as bad publicity. This MIGHT have been one of Titanics lifeboats, or it might just be an old lifeboat. We'll probably never know now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. It is a very fascinating subject.
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