Annie Caton Turkish bath attendant

J

Jennifer Mueller

Member
to all members of the board i would like to say that a titanic cremember by the name of ann caton wasnt paid by the white star after surviving the sinking she went to get paid by the white star line but they told her that they wont pay her because the ship went down is this right or could they do this i dont think so because she deserved her money because she survived the sinking and i hope someone can answer the question jennifer mueller
 
Hi Jennifer,

All pay for the crew ceased on the 15th. The header sheet for the Surviving Crew reads: Termination of Voyage ... 15th April ....Vessel Lost.

With specific reference to Annie Caton she signed for and received 16/-. That equates to 6 days pay based on a monthly wage of 4 pounds.

I hope this helps,
Lester
 
Actually, Lester is only half right. Although the crew's pay stopped on April 15th, in accordance with the practice of the time, the surviving crew were paid a bonus by White Star. This consisted of full pay for the time they spent away from home. For most, it was an extra 13 days, representing time spent in New York and in returning on Lapland.

An example of an Account of Wages, showing this bonus, can be seen on page 135 of the illustrated edition of A Night to Remember. The bonus was announced as early as April 22nd.
 
Lester, it doesn't seem to be in anything I've seen from the PRO. The form on their file is as you describe. Everybody signed for 6 days pay. Several Account of Wages forms have been published, including three in Titanic Voices. These show a bonus, usually of 13 days, for those who returned on Lapland, but sometimes it's more. George Moore appeared at the US inquiry and didn't get back to England until Saturday, May 11. On Monday, May 13, he collected his 6 day's pay, plus a bonus for 26 days. That amounted to £5-6-8. He must have been broke before he sailed, because he obtained a £2 advance on his wages at Southampton. That was an ancient custom of the sea.

I can't find the reference just now, but somebody said the bonus was given because 'the unions squawked'. That may have been so, or it may have been a PR stunt. Whichever it was, it didn't cost White Star much.

I make Annie Caton's payout £2-10-8. What it is to be old enough to be expert with pounds, shillings and pence!
 
I believe that Annie Caton was my (step) great grandmother and would be interested if anyone has details of what happened to her upon reaching New York.
 
John,
My colleague Brian Meister and I will be telling "Annie's Story" in a book we plan to publish in the near future. She lived a relatively long and interesting life and had a daughter very late in life. Her daughter is still living and has been very helpful to us in getting an accurate picture of Annie's life subsequent to Titanic. She remained at sea for a while (I have copies of her sign-on book with the entry for Titanic and other ships) but she and her husband later owned a small food business of their own. Only two photos of her exist to my knowledge (those are the only two her daughter has and has ever seen). I've had one of them (taken circa 1900) enlarged and framed and have it hanging on my "Titanic Wall" at home--she's leaning against a monument of some sort and wearing a fancy hat. Both photos will appear in our book. She was a widow for a number of years before succumbing to cancer.

Regards,
Phil Gowan
 
Lester, I can even do long division of £sd. (Down hill, with a tail wind)

I found the bit about the unions squawking. It's on this site. It's a radio interview with Albert Horswell dated May 10th 1934. In it he said,

"After the hearing the surviving members of the
Titanic's crew were paid off. First we were offered 2 pounds,
3 shillings and fourpence, but the unions squawked and the
line finally settled with us for 3 pounds, 3 shillings
and fourpence -- $15.83 in American money. That's all we got
for our work and our so-called "heroism."

Although a lot of his story is inaccurate, his figures make sense. £2-3-4 is 13 day's pay for a seaman. £3-3-4 is 19 days, 6 on Titanic and 13 on Lapland.
 
Hi Dave,

Long division of £sd! I would wait for that tail wind. But yes at a pinch I think I could still manage multiplying and dividing in £sd! The hard bit is converting £sd to US dollars and cents; for which you score 10 out of 10.

Thanks for the added info on the pay received by the Surviving Crew.

With my best wishes.
Regards,
Lester
 
According to a report on page 3 in today's "The Editor", a supplement to "The Guardian":

"Annie Caton, a 50-year-old Turkish bath attendant, survived the sinking of the Titanic, but received no sympathy from her bosses at the White Star Line when she went to collect her pay, "Her hours were calculated with ruthless efficiency." reported the Daily Telegraph. "Her entitlement to pay ended at the moment the ship went down and her termination of employment was entered as the precise moment the "unsinkable liner" sank on April 16 1912." The woman's employment log, which was passed down through several generations of her family, is to be auctioned at Christie's [presumably in London], where it is expected to fetch £2,000."

I shan't be bidding but some other members of ET may wish to consider it.
 
I recently pointed out on another thread that this story is only half true. The crew were actually paid for the entire time they spent away from England. In Annie Caton's case, this was 19 days.

The prices being paid for employment records, properly called a Certificate of Continuous Discharge, are quite crazy. The example on sale would never have been on board Titanic, as the crew's records were lodged with the captain when they joined the ship and were lost. The surviving crew were issued with new books, showing their last ship as Titanic and certifying that the original was lost.

If anybody wants to pay £2,000 for this item, it's their affair. Personally, I can think of better things to do with £2,000.
 
Dave wrote: If anybody wants to pay £2,000 for this item, it's their affair. Personally, I can think of better things to do with £2,000.

And for those of you who *can't* think of anything better to do with that kind of money, consider a donation to the John M. Feeney Charitable Trust for Penniless Historian [sic].

Just make your check or money order out to "John M. Feeney". It'll get to the right place. Really! Hey, would I kid you? ;^)

[The preceding announcement has been an unpaid commercial scam.]
 
Andrew

I've checked out the original report in the Daily Telegraph of 21 October. There is no mention of Maude Slocombe. Perhaps her log has not survived or it is still being held by her descendants.

Tony
 
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