Thanks, Jason! I'm interested in passenger Elmer Taylor's memoirs about the sinking because of something that was written in a book published shortly after the sinking. In
Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic: The Ocean's Greatest Disaster (published in 1912), there is a mention of Taylor's eyewitness account (purportedly recorded aboard
Carpathia). Here's that short account:
JUMPED INTO THE SEA; PICKED UP
E. Z. Taylor of Philadelphia, one of the survivors, jumped into the sea just three minutes before the boat sank, He told a graphic story as he came from the Carpathia.
"I was eating when the boat struck the iceberg," he said. "There was an awful shock that made the boat tremble from stem to stern. I did not realize for some time what had happened, No one seemed to know the extent of the accident. We were told an Iceberg had been struck by the ship.
"I felt the boat rise and it seemed to me that it was riding over the ice. I ran out on the deck and then I could see ice. It was a veritable sea of ice and the boat was rocking over it. I should say that parts of the iceberg were eighty feet high, but it had been broken into sections, probably by our ship.
"I jumped into the ocean and was picked up by, one of the boats. I never expected to see land again. I remained on board the boat until the lights went out. It seemed to me that the discipline on board was wonderful."
Link to cited reference @ Google Books:
Recounts the events of the 1912 disaster, when the ocean liner struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sank, killing almost 1600 men, women, and children. Includes the first-hand accounts of many survivors.
tinyurl.com
Although not cited by the book, this account apparently was gathered from a
Toronto Daily Star article published on April 18th (the day
Carpathia arrived to New York City.
I'd like to know if this particular account (published by the
Toronto Daily Star and subsequently in the book) is consistent with his later published memoirs. I find it fascinating because of his claim of seeing the iceberg ("
parts of the iceberg were eighty feet high, but....broken into sections") and a surrounding "sea of ice."
Taylor was a first-class passenger and an chemical engineer with a remarkable career. His account would have been very helpful if it was consistent. However, there is another newspaper article that claims that Mr. Taylor was allowed into a lifeboat because there was still room and no other women or children were around.
When the second boat was lowered there were only two men remaining on the deck, Taylor and another person. After the boat was lowered slightly it was discovered that there was room for two more and they were ordered in. Therefore both were saved.
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
Another article mentions that he was asleep with his wife when the ship struck the iceberg.
The two Winston-Salem granddaughters of John Burns, a 28-year-old laundry superintendent on the Titanic, said their grandfather didn't have much of a chance. He was stationed four decks above the
journalnow.com
It begs the question whether or not the reporter for the
Toronto Daily Star confused Taylor's account with that of another survivor. This is why I'd like to see his memoirs. If the inconsistencies are present when reading through all of the accounts, then I suppose that it calls into question the validity of some (or most) of his claims.
