Titanic – coincidences!
Titanic – coincidences! The Titanic is a name that draws recognition worldwide, sharing a place in popular culture with coverage in hundreds of books, songs, documentaries and films. In Southampton we continue to remember the death of some 550 crew who shared a Southampton address, following the maiden voyage from Southampton on 10 April 1912. In the years following the tragedy, many ‘conspiracy theories’ have evolved together with ‘what if . . .?’ scenarios – helping to form the mainstay of many a documentary. It is also interesting to note a number of ‘Titanic coincidences’ – some merely querks of fate, others a little more difficult to explain. Some coincidences are well known, others less so. Titanic was registered in Liverpool, home to the White Star Line until 1907, when the company moved its operation to Southampton. Our first – and little known coincidence – concerns the running of the Grand National in Liverpool on April 14th 2012 – one hundred years to the day that Titanic hit the iceberg. The horse that won the Grand National that day by a nose (the shortest distance in Grand National history) was Neptune Collonges (or Neptune’s warning) – a grey, priced at 33-1. For those looking to dig deeper there are further ‘Neptune’ (The Roman God of the Sea) coincidences. Titanic’s maiden voyage took place in the aftermath of a coal strike that had seen some 17000 seafarers in Southampton unemployed. A number of ships were laid up in Southampton Docks, awaiting coal supplies, and Titanic was only able to sail by using coal transferred from some of these vessels, including the New York and the Oceanic. New York, of course, was scheduled to be Titanic’s final destination. Tethered to the Oceanic at Berth 38 on 10 April 1912, the New York infamously snapped her mooring lines when the Titanic, aided by five tugs, passed by shortly after 12 noon. One observer commented that her lines gave way ‘as a grocer snaps a piece of twine with his fingers’, with her stern swinging out towards Titanic. Quick thinking by Captain Smith and Captain Gale of the tug Vulcan ensured there was no collision, but there was a delay of approximately one hour. Famous pictures taken by Father Francis M. Browne (who left the Titanic in Queenstown) capture what is known as the ‘New York Incident’ including an image of a tug between Titanic and New York . . . the aptly named ‘Neptune’ . . . On the morning of Sunday 14 April a service, presided by Captain E J Smith, was conducted in Titanic’s First Class Saloon. This service concluded with the playing of the hymn ‘O God Our Help In Ages Past’ – the Southampton ‘town hymn’ written by Isaac Watts. Today Watts Park contains a statue of the ‘Father of English Hymn Writing’, just a stone’s throw from the SeaCity Museum and Titanic Gallery, and the Clock Tower where the opening stanza of ‘O God Our Help In Ages Past’ plays at 12 noon, 4pm and 8pm. In the shadow of the Clock Tower is a small green space, dedicated to the memory of Millvina Dean, the youngest and last living survivor of Titanic, who passed away on 31 May 1999. This date, coincidentally, is significant in Titanic history, as 31 May 1911 saw the launch of Titanic in Belfast. One well-known ‘Titanic Coincidence’ is the 1898 novella written by Morgan Robertson, ‘The Wreck of the Titan’ which foretells of an incident whereby ‘the largest craft afloat’ hits an iceberg in mid-Atlantic in April with great loss of life. On board Titanic was the publisher W T Stead, who in The Pall Mall Gazette in 1866 wrote ‘How the Steamer Went Down in mid-Atlantic’, telling ‘what would happen’ if ships continued to sail with insufficient lifeboats. Stead did not survive the sinking. There are recordings of some 55 would-be Titanic passengers cancelling their journeys, many through feelings of unease or premonitions, including Mr Mrs E W Bill of Philadelphia, who cancelled their tickets following a dream by Mrs Bill in which she saw the Titanic sinking. But back to horse racing. Was it merely a coincidence that the 1913 Derby favourite Craganour, first past the post but subsequently disqualified, was owned by Bower Ismay, brother of White Star Chairman and socially ostracised Titanic survivor Bruce Ismay? Back to article index
King Canute – crowned King of England in Southampton!
King Canute – crowned King of England in Southampton! You Canute get enough of a good King! Described by medieval historian Norman Cantor as the ‘most effective King in Anglo-Saxon history’ King Canute united the three kingdoms of England, Norway and Denmark, together referenced as the ‘North Sea Empire.’ Southampton had suffered Viking incursions in AD 980, 981 and 994, with payment of ‘Geld’ by King Ethelred supposedly ensuring that no further Viking attacks would take place. However, there was a subsequent raid on Southampton and the Isle of Wight in AD 1001, and further attacks in 1006 and 1012. Ethelred is said to have escaped via Southampton and the Isle of Wight to France, but returned following the death of the Danish King, Sweyn. On the death of Ethelred, Sweyn’s son Canute was in Southampton, where a gathering of the Witan gave its blessing to Canute’s rule. The expansion of the town and its relocation to areas later enclosed by the town walls took full effect during the reign of Canute. Today nearby Winchester Cathedral is said to have the bones of King Canute and his son Harthacanute stored in mortuary chests, though over the years bones have been mixed up and moved around. Place names referencing King Canute are many in Southampton. Canute Road runs appropriately past Ocean Village, and is home to the former Canute Hotel bearing the plaque ‘Near this spot AD 1028 Canute reproved his courtiers’. The story of Cnut resisting the incoming tide was first recorded by Henry of Huntingdon in his Historia Anglorum (History of the English) in the early twelfth century: ‘When he was at the height of his ascendancy, he ordered his chair to be placed on the sea-shore as the tide was coming in. Then he said to the rising tide, “You are subject to me, as the land on which I am sitting is mine, and no one has resisted my overlordship with impunity. I command you, therefore, not to rise on to my land, nor to presume to wet the clothing or limbs of your master.” But the sea came up as usual, and disrespectfully drenched the king’s feet and shins. So jumping back, the king cried, “Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and the sea obey eternal laws.’ Could this event have taken place at Southampton? Other places dispute this version of events, with both Bosham in West Sussex and the City of Westminster rival claimants for the site of Canute wetting his robes! Near to the Canute Hotel and on the opposite side of the road are Canute Chambers, once home to the White Star Line, and where families of the Southampton crew of the ill-fated Titanic gathered to find news of loved ones in April 1912. Heading west on Porter’s Lane are the ruins of what is known as ‘Canute’s Palace’, today a Grade I listed building. The title ‘Canute’s Palace’ was given by the antiquarian Sir Henry Englefield, who conjectured in a paper in 1801: ‘Perhaps I indulge but a fond conjecture, when I consider it possibly the hall from which Canute, surrounded by his courtiers, viewed the rising tide; and from whence he descended to the beach, according to that most interesting narrative of our old historians, to repress by a striking and impressive lesson, their impious flattery’. Sadly for Englefield, the building was not a Palace but rather a merchant’s counting house constructed some 100 years after the reign of Canute between 1170 and 1200. Badly damaged during World War 2, Canute’s Palace, although roofless, still boasts an impressive appearance, with Norman windows and a reconstructed full-height gable at its western end. In keeping with the nautical theme, the expansion of trade at Southampton’s Docks during the twentieth century saw the acquisition of a floating crane, named ‘Canute.’ This monster was constructed in Rotterdam in 1968 and had a maximum lift of 200 tonnes. Today Southampton continues to welcome many sea-going vessels from Scandinavia – all are warmly welcomed, unlike the longships from the days of Sweyn and Canute! Back to article index