It seems that Browne's album contains all the photos he took of/on the
Titanic, with the exception of the two photos in Cabin A-37. The other photo’s in chapter 4 (“Supplementary Pictures”) of the book
Father Browne’s Titanic Album show either the
Olympic or were taken by someone else.
There might be a third exception: a photo that is in the book - even on the front cover - but not in the album or in chapter 4.
Nor is this photo included in
Titanic in Photographs. I wonder why? Was it because of the confusion about the authorship of the photograph? According to Fr O'Donnell, Browne sent the photo to the Odell family, while keeping a print (positive) for himself, which consequently was used for
Father Browne’s Titanic Album. The “bum boat” in the lower right corner looks very similar to the one visible in the last photo Browne took of the
Titanic.
So I think it’s very likely Browne took the photo from tender
Ireland’s deck, although Kate Odell and other photographers, like Thomas Barker, were of course nearby, but I see insufficient reason to argue the opposite.
For the fourth and possible last exception to the conclusion that Browne’s
Titanic Album is complete, I turn to the excellent 2004 article that Senan Molony wrote about Browne’s work and the possibility that some photo’s maybe missing. The article includes a photo in which
Titanic’s aerials are clearly visible. The photo was found in the estate of a contemporary of Browne and a Jesuit colleague, Fr Gill. It’s not in
Father Browne’s Titanic Album, nor in
Titanic in Photographs, but it’s on Titanicphotographs.com.
According to the caption it shows
Titanic leaving Southampton. If that’s the case, Browne would have been aboard and can’t have taken the photo. But I doubt whether the caption is correct. There’s no smoke, wake and no passengers in sight and there seems to be some sort of action at funnels #1 and #2. So the photograph must have been taken earlier between the 4th and 10th of April (?), which also dismisses Browne as author of the photo. From his eyewitness account it’s clear that he saw the
Titanic for the first time on the 10th, with no time to spare to capture
Titanic from the vantage point the photo was taken.
If the above is logical and complete, can we then draw the conclusion that Browne’s album contains all his
Titanic photographs, except for three out of the four photo’s discussed above? That would lead to the assumption that all other photo’s Browne may have taken were either technically flawed beyond repair (and subsequently thrown away a long time ago) or went missing prior to any sharing/publication (which is hard to believe given the intense interest/scrutiny right after the sinking). The fact that Browne already 100 years ago resorted to photos from other photographers to supplement his album is an indication that he had no other (usable) photos at hand. This line of thought is further reinforced by the fact that none of the more than 40,000 negatives Fr O'Donnell discovered in an old trunk, were exposed on or near
Titanic.
This is why I think the chance of new
Titanic photos from Browne is sadly very slim.
Please prove me wrong!
) We were debating rather or not the top line on the window should have been angled upwards, but instead just taking from the height of the outer edge, as seen.
