Humor during the evacuation

[Sarah S]

Good evening everyone~

There were two occasions that I know of that were somewhat considered „humourous“ moments during the evacuation.
One situation was when a corpulent passenger stumbled into a lifeboat and an officer said something like „this is the funniest thing I’ve seen tonight“
And another moment was when a crewman approached Officer Lightoller with „Are you warm, Lights?“

Were there other such moments of humour?

 

[Arun Vajpey]

There were two occasions that I know of that were somewhat considered „humourous“ moments during the evacuation.
One situation was when a corpulent passenger stumbled into a lifeboat and an officer said something like „this is the funniest thing I’ve seen tonight“
And another moment was when a crewman approached Officer Lightoller with „Are you warm, Lights?“

I think the people involved were doctors in both cases. The portly man who stumbled into Lifeboat #5 after his wife was the New York surgeon Dr Henry Frauenthal, who was reputed to weigh over 200 pounds; Murdoch is supposed to have thought that it was funny.

But the portly man could also have been Elmer Taylor, who was also saved on Lifeboat #5 with his wife and injured Anne Stengel when he jumped in.

Then the "Lights, are you warm?" quip was supposedly from Dr John Simpson, the Titanic's assistant surgeon.

The difficulty here is the reliability of the source, assuming that there was one for the Lifeboat #5 incident, because both Murdoch and Simpson died on the sinking. I doubt if Murdoch thought it was funny; in fact, Charles Stengel, Anne's husband, reported that the officer in charge was cross with the ungainly jumper(s). To me, the 'joke' sounds like a newspaper embellishment.

Regarding the Lightoller-Simpson encounter, it could have happened that way but we only have Lightoller's word for it, as far as I know.

To me, if true (and this is by no means certain), 'humour' in the worst possible taste was Lucile Duff-Gordon's supposed remark to her maid Laura "Franks" Francatelli "There's your beautiful nightdress gone" just as the Titanic's stern sank into the sea. It is not only mentioned in Walter Lord's ANTR but the whole chapter is titled by that phrase. But AFAIK, the remark does not appear in other good Titanic works like OASOG and so might not be true.

 

[Sarah S]

I think the people involved were doctors in both cases. The portly man who stumbled into Lifeboat #5 after his wife was the New York surgeon Dr Henry Frauenthal, who was reputed to weigh over 200 pounds; Murdoch is supposed to have thought that it was funny.

But the portly man could also have been Elmer Taylor, who was also saved on Lifeboat #5 with his wife and injured Anne Stengel when he jumped in.

Then the "Lights, are you warm?" quip was supposedly from Dr John Simpson, the Titanic's assistant surgeon.

The difficulty here is the reliability of the source, assuming that there was one for the Lifeboat #5 incident, because both Murdoch and Simpson died on the sinking. I doubt if Murdoch thought it was funny; in fact, Charles Stengel, Anne's husband, reported that the officer in charge was cross with the ungainly jumper(s). To me, the 'joke' sounds like a newspaper embellishment.

Regarding the Lightoller-Simpson encounter, it could have happened that way but we only have Lightoller's word for it, as far as I know.

To me, if true (and this is by no means certain), 'humour' in the worst possible taste was Lucile Duff-Gordon's supposed remark to her maid Laura "Franks" Francatelli "There's your beautiful nightdress gone" just as the Titanic's stern sank into the sea. It is not only mentioned in Walter Lord's ANTR but the whole chapter is titled by that phrase. But AFAIK, the remark does not appear in other good Titanic works like OASOG and so might not be true.

I also heard that the officer who thought the portly man was funny was Lowe rather than Murdoch, because it fits more Lowe’s sense of humor to react like that, but there is no ultimate source for that.

The joke by Lucile Duff Gordon is really of poor taste if it’s really true. The other “humourous” situations that I mentioned happened during the evacuation when nobody really expected the horrible outcome and these jokes were not made foolishly at the expense of others.. meanwhile her joke was basically made after thousands of people suffered a horrible death. I hope it’s not true.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I also heard that the officer who thought the portly man was funny was Lowe rather than Murdoch, because it fits more Lowe’s sense of humor to react like that

I think you could be right. I just checked in my copy of ANTR because I remembered reading about the "funny portly man" in it. It appears on p91 (of the Allen Lane illustrated hardback copy) and the Officer involved was supposedly Murdoch, but described as an "agile terrier of a man". I was under the impression that Murdoch was tall and broad-shouldered and so that description does not fit him; on the other hand, it does fit Lowe.

To make the confusion worse, the passenger involved as mentioned in the book was neither Dr. Frauenthal nor Elmer Taylor but Charles Stengel himself. But going by Stengel's own impressions, the officer in charge of Lifeboat #5 (Murdoch) was not happy with the ungainly jumpers and is even supposed to have threatened to go below and get his gun if there was any more disturbance.

Frankly, all those unlikely, contradictory and unverifiable statements sound very much like the incident never happened; some unscrupulous reporter (probably the only kind in those days) 'borrowed' words from survivors' statements here and there and had a field day concocting stories.

 

[N Alison]

Strange. I had thought that "funniest thing I’ve seen tonight" statement to have been made at lifeboat number 1. It has popped up quite a bit here and there.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Strange. I had thought that "funniest thing I’ve seen tonight" statement to have been made at lifeboat number 1. It has popped up quite a bit here and there.

You are right but the statements are confusing and contradictory. Anne Stengel was saved on Lifeboat #5 and was the one injured by the portly jumper, who might have been Elmer Taylor or Dr Frauenthal. Her husband Charles Stengel saw that incident and remarked about the officer's reactions but did not get into Lifeboat #5 himself. He was saved on Lifeboat #1 and as he was also on the portly side, an officer could have made that remark when he rolled into the boat. But how that trivial incident became public is anyone's guess that that's why I feel that the whole thing is a concoction.

 

[Steven Christian]

"Send SOS; it's the new call, and besides, this may be your last chance to send it!"

 

[LuzzzTino]

There’s actually quite a lot and I can only imagine how many were omitted either because the witnesses forgot about them due to the stress of the situation or because they didn’t want to remember such attempts at joking. I’ve heard that it’s common to have humour as a defense mechanism against stressful scenarios so I don’t blame them.

 

[Ezekiel]

You are right but the statements are confusing and contradictory. Anne Stengel was saved on Lifeboat #5 and was the one injured by the portly jumper, who might have been Elmer Taylor or Dr Frauenthal. Her husband Charles Stengel saw that incident and remarked about the officer's reactions but did not get into Lifeboat #5 himself. He was saved on Lifeboat #1 and as he was also on the portly side, an officer could have made that remark when he rolled into the boat. But how that trivial incident became public is anyone's guess that that's why I feel that the whole thing is a concoction.

The incident occurred at Boat 1 and the protagonist was Charles Stengel. He himself recounted it, officer's remark included, at the United States Senate Inquiry:

. I asked the officer - I could not see them, it was so dark, and I presume I was agitated somewhat - I asked him if I could not get into that boat. There was no one else around, not a person I could see except the people working at the boats, and he said, "Jump in." The railing was rather high - it was an emergency boat and was always swung over toward the water - I jumped onto the railing and rolled into it. The officer then said, "That is the funniest sight I have seen tonight," and he laughed quite heartily. That rather gave me some encouragement. I thought perhaps it was not so dangerous as I imagined. After getting down part of the way there was a painter on the boat, and we were beginning to tip, and somebody hollered to stop lowering. Somebody cut that line and we went on down.

The officer was evidently either Murdoch or Lowe. My money is on the latter, it seems more "in character" of him.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

The officer was evidently either Murdoch or Lowe. My money is on the latter, it seems more "in character" of him.

You could be right. Recalling what I read about the incident - and I think it was in A Night To Remember - the Officer who made that remark was described as "a small terrier of a man". I don't think that description applied to Murdoch; I am not sure what kind of a build Lowe had.

 

[Thomas Krom]

You could be right. Recalling what I read about the incident - and I think it was in A Night To Remember - the Officer who made that remark was described as "a small terrier of a man". I don't think that description applied to Murdoch; I am not sure what kind of a build Lowe had.

Murdoch was 5’9” in height and Lowe was 5’8” in height.

 

[Ezekiel]

Poor Mr Stengel seems to have acted as a sort of comic relief to the drama surrounding Boat 1. Besides his inglorious entry into the boat, at the inquiry he said that he, with Duff Gordon, more or less decided which way the boat went; but when Duff Gordon himself was asked on the matter, he said that yes, Stengel kept shouting "directions", but the others pretty much ignored him and he (Duff Gordon) eventually told him to be quiet.

The joke by Lucile Duff Gordon is really of poor taste if it’s really true. The other “humourous” situations that I mentioned happened during the evacuation when nobody really expected the horrible outcome and these jokes were not made foolishly at the expense of others.. meanwhile her joke was basically made after thousands of people suffered a horrible death. I hope it’s not true.

Lucile Duff Gordon is another interesting character... a successful businesswoman, not common in her time, a pioneer in fashion, and a braver woman than most on Titanic, refusing to enter a boat as long as her husband couldn't come as well. On the other hand, she did have these "are you aware you are in the middle of a tragedy?" moments - one was the nightdress remark (I guess it was the fashion designer talking in her...), another her request to the occupants of Boat 1 to autograph her lifejacket on Carpathia.