Unless I'm mistaken, one of the photos in the updated Stenson bio of Lightoller contains a group photo of some officers which supposedly includes Blair. I believe Earl Chapman can tell us more about this (since I don't own the updated edition of the book.) Earl?
Hallo George -
I don't know if Earl is a member of this messageboard - I rather hope so, as he's a valued contributer to several other messageboards and forums in the on-line community. However, if you scroll up to my message on the 15 December in this thread you'll find that I mention the very photograph to which you refer
You probably don't recall, but I brought this photograph and the problematic identifications to the attention of Earl, Parks, yourself and a couple of other individuals in a circular email when we were discussing photo i.d.s last June - I'd be happy to resend the emails if you're curious about them.
As I've discussed since with Earl, investigation of the Oceanic's agreements has revealed that Lightoller, Boxhall, Blair, Murdoch and Wilde never served aboard the Oceanic at the same time. Lightoller and Boxhall did serve aboard her together, and these two men are in the shot. Ilya is quite correct in saying that I've narrowed down the dates/crew to a certain 'window', and I had promised to email these to Earl before heading overseas. Unfortunately the chaos in my papers and notes made this - er - 'unfeasible' and it will have to wait until I return to the UK
As I said above, I'd welcome any more information on either this photograph or the officers who served on the Oceanic.
By the way, did Earl mention to you that I believe I have some more info on the 'Lancaster' who appears in the Pitman photo?
Ilya, I do hope you'll be able to publish that superlative photograph of the Olympic's officers soon - it's a beauty. I might add here that I referred to both you and Parks in the
Commutator article, although not by name. Parks' questions regarding the chief officers of the Olympic (Evans and Wilde) finally piqued my curiousity enough that I set off on one of those research tangents and called up the early crew agreements on the Olympic, and you were unstinting both with materials and feedback
Now, if only we can 'nail' that officer who appears in all those early Murdoch photos...you know, the bloke with the moustache...?
All the best,
Inger