Other books before the wreck was found that show an image of Titanic splitting in half?

[Dan Kappes]

In Vol. 7 of The Golden Book History of the United States, titled "The Age of Steel: From 1889 to 1917", which was published in 1963, about United States History, a page is shown in the book with a painting of the Titanic splitting in half by the famous American painter Alton Tobey.

This painting in my view seems to be based on the famous drawing by Carpathia passenger L.H. Skidmore based on Jack Thayer's account of the breakup, as it shows the bow buoying back up erroneously after the breakup.

Are there any other books published before the wreck was found in 1985 showing the Titanic breaking in two?

 

[Kyle Naber]

Do you happen to have this picture available for us to see? We’d love to take a look! There were actually a few depictions including photoshop for newspapers in 1912 of the ship extremely dramatically blowing up in the middle (inaccurate, of course, but they got the idea).

 

[Dan Kappes]

Unfortunately, I can't post a photo of it online yet as I don't own a copy of the book. I remember reading this book as a child. Maybe after I order it from Amazon, I can post a photo of the painting. Here is a link to its Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NOCE6M/?tag=encyclopediatita

By the way, in the same book Alton Tobey did another painting of the Lusitania sinking, showing her stern as high in the air as the Titanic's in the 1997 film, and depicting her in her regular Cunard Black & Red funnel livery, and not all black funnel livery like Ken Marschall paints them. Most of the paintings of the Lusitania of that era such as that famous "Irishmen Avenge" recruiting poster also showed her with her traditional livery.

 

[Aaron_2016]

First impressions from 1912 showing the Titanic breaking in two.

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[Dan Kappes]

I have just ordered the Golden Book History volume from Amazon that has the painting, and I will post a photo here of it as soon as I get it. In the meantime, I found a photo to post of a postcard collection of another version of the "Thayer Drawing".

 

[Dan Kappes]

And here's the original Thayer Drawing for comparison.

 

[Dan Kappes]

Finally, here is the Titanic painting by Alton Tobey I was talking about. I took this photo as soon as I got the book from Amazon. As you can see, it is clearly based on the Thayer drawing.

 

[Dan Kappes]

And here is the painting of the Lusitania sinking from the same book.

 

[Itsstillthinking]

Nice finds, thought it should be noted that Thayer did not draw that, though what else is one going to call it?

 

[Robert T. Paige]

The drawings seem to be signed by someone named "Skidmore"......Was he (or she ?) a Titanic survivor or a Carpathia passenger ? In either case, could it have been someone who had be-friended Jack Thayer, and had made the drawings from Jack Thayer's instructions of what he observed during the sinking ? Something like Police drawings made from descriptions from a witness .In other words, who was this "Skidmore" ? ......Or whoever made the drawings ?
The drawings do seem to have been made by someone who was fairly skilled as an artist or a drafstman ?

 

[Kyle Naber]

youtube:LbKXjbLWGAg
(16:55)

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Thanks, Kyle-
You have solved one mystery !

 

[Dan Kappes]

Wow! That video really explained a lot.

 

[Aaron_2016]

Nice finds, thought it should be noted that Thayer did not draw that, though what else is one going to call it?

Mentioned this on another thread, but Jack Thayer did sketch the outlines and descriptions of the sinking. Mr. Skidmore merely shaded them in and added some detail and took the credit for their publication as a well known artist. The credit should really go to Jack Thayer for sketching the originals and descriptions.



The newspapers gave credit to both men for their joint work.

The original sketches and outlines probably looked like this before Mr. Skidmore shaded them in and added some detail.

The description below each drawing was also provided by Mr. Thayer and he described to Mr. Skidmore what happened.

.

 

[Kyle Naber]

"Outlines" could be a synonym for "series of events" or "timeline" of the sinking as told from Jack.