Thayer Automobile

[Joshua Andersen]

Hello my names Josh and live am currently going to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I have been on messaging on here for about 2 years now. And it is now have an interesting problem. A friend of mine who lives in the same dorm as me. Says he is the great, great grandson, or nephew of John Thayer Jr. He also swears that his relative owned the car that we all know belonged to Carter. But he does not believe me. And will not relent. He persists to tell me that the Renault belonged to his family. I have a real hard time believing this. Now I am left with two conclusions. A.) There was another car on board i havent heard about. B.) He heard wrong or was lied to. I am hoping the great people on this site can help me out. Thanks again. Joshua Andersen.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

The evidence is in the cargo manifest, which still exists. There in black & white is the entry: '1 cs auto' (one car in a packing case) alongside the name Carter W E. No other cars are listed, and nothing consigned by Mr Thayer.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>He persists to tell me that the Renault belonged to his family.<<

If he has a copy of the title to the car to back up his claim, I would be interested in seeing it for myself. My bet is that your chum is buying into a family legend otherwise and there are a lot of those out there. Unless he can present documented evidence to support his assertion, I wouldn't take it seriously. I don't think I'd bother making much of an issue of it if only because there are some fights you just can't win.

 

[Daniel Klistorner]

Aside from the cargo manifest, after the disaster, William Carter filed a claim for lost property, and among all the shirts and other clothing articles, he listed his $5000 Renault car.

Daniel.

 

[Noel F. Jones]

"Aside from the cargo manifest, after the disaster, William Carter filed a claim for lost property, and among all the shirts and other clothing articles, he listed his $5000 Renault car."

Do we know how this claim was disposed of? Presumably the car was shipped on a bill of lading in which case there would have been some restriction of liability. Liability under 'outward' bills became set at £100 (c.$420) per package under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924; before this time I presume shipowners were free to specify their own extent of liability in their bills of lading.

Noel

 

[Charles B. Weeks Jr.]

Hello All:
I have just been talking with Lois Thayer Frazier, Jack Thayer's daughter. She assures me that her grandparents didn't have an automobile on the Titanic. They did bring an automobile back but on a different ship at a different time.
Regards,
Charlie Weeks