TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner

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Mario Joseph Alfred Borg

Member
Hello and thank you for this great History site.I need to know and I have been trying for 7 years to find out if there was on board Mr Thomas Taverner or Tavner an apprentice cook (18-19 years old) on board The Titanic? I have been told that all the official names may never be accurate as there may have been stowaways on board is that right? You see I have met a lady who is now about 58 years old and she claims that her Grandfather Mr Thomas Taverner or Tavner was on board The Titanic.I have tried so hard to find out over the past 7 years but with no luck at all just dead ends. She recalls when she was very young Mr T. Taverner being interviewed on Australian TV in the late 50's or 60's about his survival story which she had told me and it's fantastic.He of corse has passed away a while ago.Yet his Family say that they have newspaper clippings of his story which I have bee trying so hard to trace down......no luck....Thank you.
 
Hello Mario,

I'm afraid there is nobody by that name listed on the passenger and crew lists, which are on this site. That means he was not on the ship.

Perhaps he changed his mind and didn't board, or it's possible he was on another vessel.
 
Also, if there were stowaways on board they certainly didn't survive. And any doubts about true names also are restricted to those who didn't survive. There have been a great many people over the years who, for various reasons, have craved the attention accorded to survivors of the Titanic - mostly from friends and family, but sometimes also in the Media. There can be little doubt that Mr Taverner's story really was 'fantastic', in the sense of the Oxford dictionary definition of that word: Existing only in the imagination; fabulous, unreal
 
Hi there all, it is me Mario J. Borg from Sydney Australia writing about the TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner again and you you all can read this article:

TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner was invited to a special meeting in George Street at The Flying Angel Mission to Seaman in 1962 (The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday April 7th 1962) held by The N.S.W. Ship-Lovers Society. I have a copy of the original newpaper which was kindly sent to me by Gwenda Johnston at The State Library of N.S.W. Someone out there must be able to shed some more light on this matter please!

His grandaughter and her husband are friends of mine and they claim to have seen TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner being interviewed on Sydney TV and Radio in the 1960's about his fantastic journey and survival. Mr. Taverner was an apprentice chef aboard the ship and he may have been about 16 at the time...

Mr. Taverner loved to play the Banjo/Mandolin in his spare time and had this instrument on board with him at the time of the disater. When the ship was sinking he had the instrument in a leather style carring bag and dived overboard with the instrument in hand.....

As he surfaced a large piece of timber (may have been a door) passed by him and he placed his body with his treasured Banjo/Mandolin in hand onto the large piece of timber to prevent himself freezing and survive long enough to be recued by the crew of the Carpathia.

The instrument (Banjo/Mandolin) was passed on to his grandaughter after his death......I have read many articles and achives on this fantastic story and it does say that not all names aboard the TITANIC were recorded as there were many stowaways those days....Even the insurer Lloyds of London have been unable to track down every passenger name that boarded the TITANIC on that fatal journey......

Someone out there must be able to shed some more light on this matter please! This story must be of true substance and I have personally held and played the subject Banjo/Mandolin in question.....I had it dated by profession Banjo/Mandolin makers from all over the world to a possible pre-build pre-1912 as well....

Thank you for reading this article about TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner.....Mario J. Borg...
Contributor
Mario Joseph Borg
 
How strrnge is this as my late father Victor Thomas Taverner-  His father was called Joseph Thomas Taverner born in London had a brother who stowed away on the titanic  he too was around 16 years of age not sure if is first name was Robert though as everyone has since passed away many years ago.  I was always told he had drowned and my dad could not rember much about either. Odd that 2 people on the Titanic were called Taverner though!
 
this sounds like my family aswell. Thomas taverner , the story is alittle different fell onto a door , i know nothing about the banjo thou. i have photos of his grave and newspaper clipping of his story. maybe its the same person.
 
Hello- I am researching my family history too- my uncle is Thomas's grandson. I would love to share any of the information you have about his grave.
 
I am the grandson of this person Tomas Tavner,I remember the bingo very well, my brother and I had to listen to it every Saturday morning to receive 6 pence pocket money and that was 60 yrs ago, as a kid I was told that he was an apprentice pasty cook,and he had fIoated 19 hrs on a table I have never heard the stow away story, but on a trip the UK several years ago I went to Southampton shipping office and personally went though the Titanic articles and log, there was never a Tom Tavner on board
 
Mario Borg said:
Hello and thank you for this great History site.I need to know and I have been trying for 7 years to find out if there was on board Mr Thomas Taverner or Tavner an apprentice cook (18-19 years old) on board The Titanic? I have been told that all the official names may never be accurate as there may have been stowaways on board is that right? You see I have met a lady who is now about 58 years old and she claims that her Grandfather Mr Thomas Taverner or Tavner was on board The Titanic.I have tried so hard to find out over the past 7 years but with no luck at all just dead ends. She recalls when she was very young Mr T. Taverner being interviewed on Australian TV in the late 50's or 60's about his survival story which she had told me and it's fantastic.He of corse has passed away a while ago.Yet his Family say that they have newspaper clippings of his story which I have bee trying so hard to trace down......no luck....Thank you.
Click to expand...
Thomas Taverner was my paternal Great Grandfather. After over 20 years of research into his claims to have been on the Titanic I am 100% convinced that he made the entire story up. The referenced interview with the ABC in Australia was in 1962, ran for about 2 minutes and was based entirely on Taverner's assertions only. There is no evidence that the ABC fact checked anything he claimed. There are no extent newspaper or magazine articles which present his story (despite claims from members of the family that they exist). The ABC interview contradicts the family folklore regarding the way he allegedly survived the disaster; much of what was 'known' was little more than family anecdotes, supposition and hearsay. If he was on the Titanic on that fateful night, he had to have been a stowaway and for reasons outlined elsewhere on this site, the chances of that are next to zero. Please......someone prove me wrong!!!
 
Mario Joseph Alfred Borg said:
Hi there all, it is me Mario J. Borg from Sydney Australia writing about the TITANIC Survivor Mr Thomas Taverner
Click to expand...
Was there really a Titanic survivor named Thomas Taverner? I cannot find his name on any passenger list and quite frankly, outside this thread and that TV interview, I cannot find any mention of a passenger on the Titanic by that name.

Sally Coogan said:
How strrnge is this as my late father Victor Thomas Taverner- His father was called Joseph Thomas Taverner born in London had a brother who stowed away on the titanic
Click to expand...
Even if he was a stowaway, - in fact, especially if he was a stowaway - by now he would have been discussed by several reliable sources but I cannot find any.

With respect, that TV interview seems distinctly like a put-up job. Can someone throw light on this?
 

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