Continued from bove...
As I found out, other ships had at least one set of whistles from the same manufacturer. To name a few were Olympic, Britannic, Normandie, Lusitania, Aquitania, and Mauretania. Apparently they were fairly popular for "super liners". One ship who's whistle still exists today is Mauretania's. It ended up on a brewery for a great many years, and when they demolished it a Mr. Rowland Humble bought them. Supposedly he owns a ship whistle museum and even blows these whistles occasionally. Here is an audio recording from such a time. This is much better! Not quite there, but you can really tell this is a ship.
At this point I had given up on the idea of any historical or modern clips would ever have a decent recording of a "super whistle." However, I came upon this clip of Mauretania in dry dock tooting her whistle. Somewhat distorted, but you can hear certain aspects of the whistle you couldn't make out, even in the more modern recording, specifically just how loud these whistles really were. Much louder than any modern horn.
Go to 0:18
I had heard recordings of the Normandie's whistle over time, but I wasn't sure how close her set was to the older sets. There was something like 20+ years difference in manufacturing differences, but as it turns out they're pretty close! It's pretty distorted as well, but at least there's clear video playing.
Go to 0:08
At this point, I was desperate to hear a good recording of one of these whistles without much, if any, distortion of the audio. I had heard that the replica of Titanic's whistles had occasionally been blown, but I've been unable to find any video or audio. What I did find, however, is a very clear recording of Aquitania's whistles blowing in 1930 while leaving New York. The audio is still somewhat distorted, but you really get a feel for the presence and the tone of these whistles. Quite epic! They blow it for a good long while, but I've set it to a timestamp of the best section.
Go to 1:54
I was a little late signing up for this, but the above video should give you a pretty accurate idea of how Titanic sounded when she blew her whistle for the last time.
I guess that leaves me one question. Can anyone tell me some of the information on the manufacturer, Smith Hyson Bros., or whatever the actual name is. I've been curious for a long time. I haven't been able to find out much about them other than a loose location.
EDIT:
Thinking about how I wrote this post, I realize this may be in the wrong section. I thought talking about the whistles would fit in the construction/design aspect of it, but perhaps it should have been in the web media section. To the moderators, I apologize for the mistake, if I do so.
EDIT 2:
I just realized I missed a section for funnels and whistles. I didn't expect a subsection just for that.