11. The Titanic Inquiry

Summary

Episode Summary: Titanic: Ship of Dreams – Episode 11: The Titanic Inquiry

In Episode 11 of Titanic: Ship of Dreams, titled "The Titanic Inquiry," host Paul McGann delves deep into the official investigations that followed the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic. This episode meticulously examines both the American and British inquiries, shedding light on the complexities, biases, and enduring controversies that surrounded the disaster nearly a century ago.

---

1. The American Senate Inquiry

Setting the Scene

Just four days after the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, a formal investigation was underway in a grand conference room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York ([00:00]). The U.S. Senate appointed Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan to lead the inquiry, granting him subpoena powers to compel testimonies from key figures, starting with Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the White Star Line.

Bruce Ismay's Testimony

Ismay approached his testimony with apparent reluctance and defensiveness. When questioned about the ship's collision with the iceberg, he responded minimally:

Bruce Ismay: "The accident took place on Sunday night, I was in bed, myself, asleep. The ship sank, I'm told at 2:20. That sir, I think, is all I can tell you." ([04:20])

Expert Insights

Professor Klaus Wetterholm emphasizes the Senate's intent to find a "smoking gun"—a singular cause or culpable party behind the tragedy ([03:37]). Professor Stephanie Barchevsky adds that there was a societal inclination to pinpoint scapegoats, making Ismay an easy target due to his surviving status and high position ([04:32]).

Media Influence and Public Opinion

The American press, particularly influenced by media mogul William Randolph Hearst, played a pivotal role in shaping public perception. Hearst's yellow journalism tactics led to sensationalist portrayals of Ismay as a coward, despite official inquiries later vindicating him:

Sir Rufus Isaacs (Attorney General): "Did you hear your wife say that?" ([32:47])

Mental Health Considerations

Ismay's evasiveness was partly attributed to his mental state post-disaster. Experts suggest he suffered from what we now recognize as PTSD, compounded by his shyness and sudden thrust into public scrutiny ([09:52]).

---

2. The British Board of Trade Inquiry

Parallel Investigation

A week after the American Senate concluded its inquiry, Britain launched its own investigation, led by Lord Mersey. Unlike the American inquiry, the British investigation spanned 36 days and interviewed nearly 100 witnesses, including those not heard by their American counterparts ([29:03]).

Key Testimonies

Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon and Lady Duff Gordon

The episode highlights the controversial testimonies of Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon and his wife, Lady Duff Gordon. Sir Cosmo's account of distributing "fivers" (five-pound notes) to crew members clashed with other witnesses' stories, raising questions about the motives and sincerity behind his actions:

Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon: "I did. There were many things to think about. No thought entered your mind at that time that you ought to go back and try to save some of these people?" ([32:21])

Lady Duff Gordon's Defiance

Lady Duff Gordon staunchly denied attributing cries and panic to the water, challenging newspaper reports that painted her and her husband in a negative light. Her refusal to align with erroneous media portrayals underscored the tension between personal testimonies and public narratives:

Lady Duff Gordon: "No, I never said that." ([36:59])

Captain Charles Lightoller's Testimony

Captain Lightoller, Titanic’s second officer, presented a conflicting account by denying the ship split in half and downplaying the chaos onboard. His reluctance to discuss the harrowing moments in Collapsible B highlighted the strained nature of the inquiry:

Captain Lightoller: "I could not say, sir." ([19:26])

---

3. Aftermath and Legacy

Judicial Conclusions

Both inquiries ultimately absolved the White Star Line and its personnel of direct blame. Senator Smith criticized the crew of the Californian for failing to respond to Titanic's distress signals, while Lord Mersey defended figures like Bruce Ismay and Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon, attributing their survival to circumstance rather than moral failing.

Public Perception vs. Official Verdicts

Despite official exonerations, public opinion remained unforgiving, heavily influenced by media portrayals and societal expectations of heroism and cowardice. Figures like Bruce Ismay endured lasting reputational damage, illustrating the power of media in shaping historical narratives.

Expert Reflections

• Professor Stephanie Barchevsky: "It's very, very complex. So you can't just say it's his fault or it's her fault..." ([46:01])

• Professor Klaus Wetterholm: "It's a cumulative pile of things." ([47:38])

Experts underscore the multifaceted nature of the disaster, emphasizing that attributing blame to a single individual overlooks the intricate web of decisions and circumstances that led to the tragedy.

---

4. Unanswered Questions and Continuing Debates

The episode concludes by grappling with the enduring mystery of accountability in the Titanic disaster. Despite extensive inquiries and decades of research, the question of "Who was to blame?" remains largely unresolved, perpetuated by conflicting testimonies and the limitations of human memory under extreme stress.

Professor Klaus Wetterholm: "The bigger the disaster, then the more there's going to be a search for what was to blame." ([47:38])

---

Notable Quotes

• Professor Klaus Wetterholm: "We want to find the One thing that happened that makes it make sense, that makes someone culpable for the tragedy." ([03:37])

• Julian Fellowes: "Society or ours or any other are alone in canceling people who fall below some kind of general moral position." ([45:30])

• Professor Stephanie Barchevsky: "We have about 100 men saying this. They couldn't. They were socially stigmatized." ([27:24])

---

Conclusion

Episode 11 of Titanic: Ship of Dreams offers a comprehensive examination of the intricate and often contentious investigations that followed the Titanic's sinking. Through expert analyses and detailed recounting of testimonies, Paul McGann invites listeners to ponder the complexities of human behavior, media influence, and the elusive nature of historical truth.

---

Next Episode Preview: Paul McGann teases the upcoming episode, which will explore the recovery efforts of Titanic's dead and the subsequent lives of its crew, including his own great uncle Jimmy McGann.

---

For those eager to delve deeper into the Titanic's legacy, subscribe to Noiser+ for early access to new episodes and ad-free listening.

Transcript

[Narrator]

The new McCrispy strip is here. Dip approved by Ketchup, Tangy barbecue, Honey mustard, honey mustard, Sprite, McFlurry, Big Mac sauce, double dipped in buffalo and ranch, More ranch and creamy chili. McCrispy strip dip now at McDonald's. It's 10:30am on April 19, 1912, just four days after RMS Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean. We're in a conference room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. All floral wallpaper and Corinthian columns. Not a million miles from the elegant interiors now resting on the seabed. At one end of a long wooden table sits a 49 year old man fiddling awkwardly with his cufflinks. With his smart suit and tidy mustache, he looks every inch the successful businessman. And a week ago White Star chairman Bruce Ismay must have felt like the king of the world. Steaming across the Atlantic on his brand new state of the art ocean liner. Now his care worn eyes tell a different story. At the far end of the table sits a man four years Ismay's senior, Senator William Alden Smith, a white haired Republican from Michigan. He and the men crowded around him are carrying out the will of the U.S. senate. Smith reads their official instructions to investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White Star liner Titanic with its attendant loss of life so shocking to the civilized world. The Senator has been granted subpoena powers. He can call anyone he wants to testify. And the man he wants to hear from first is Bruce Ismay. He begins by swearing in the witness. Ismay promises to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But it's clear from his uncomfortable demeanor that he really doesn't want to be here. After a few preliminary questions, he launches into a rehearsed statement. I would like to express my sincere grief at this deplorable catastrophe. I understand that you gentlemen have been appointed to inquire into the circumstances. So far as we are concerned, we welcome it. We court the fullest inquiry. We have nothing to conceal, nothing to hide. But when it comes to the sinking of the Titanic, Ismay's testimony is not exactly fulsome. The accident took place on Sunday night, he says. I was in bed, myself, asleep. The ship sank, I'm told at 2:20. That sir, I think, is all I can tell you. If Bruce Ismay thinks Senator Smith will be satisfied with that, he has another thing coming from the Noiser podcast network. This is Titanic Ship of Dreams Part 11.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

We want to find a smoking gun.

[Narrator]

Professor Stephanie Barchevsky.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

We want to find the One thing that happened that makes it make sense, that makes someone culpable for the tragedy, right? I think the Titanic sank. It's quite simple. I mean, I think it hit an iceberg in this very kind of fluky way that, you know, wouldn't happen 999 times out of a thousand. It would not happen in this way. But nothing like this has really ever, ever happened, right? Nothing on this scale has ever happened. Obviously, ships have sunk, but not a ship of this scope and scale and not a ship of this fame and a ship of this kind of level of publicity and then it's its first voyage, right? It doesn't happen 10 years after the Titanic sets sail. It wouldn't be nearly as big a deal. And just all of the kind of incredulousness of that. It demands explanations, it demands blame, it demands a sense of order on it.

[Narrator]

Klaus, you're in Wetterholm.

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

We want to have this black and white answer, don't we? We always want to find scapegoats. I can't say that Ismay was to blame. He was the perfect scapegoat in 1912 because he was the surviving director.

[Narrator]

Julian.

[Julian Fellowes]

Fellowes Ismay, you know, a coward of the Titanic who got aboard a lifeboat with a bunch of ladies and went to safety. The temptation at the time was to blame everything on Ismay, but actually, I don't think that's true.

[Narrator]

By the time Bruce Ismay gives his testimony to Senator Smith on Friday morning, another unofficial inquiry has already begun in the American press. Since news of Titanic's sinking broke four days earlier, journalists have started to ask difficult questions. And many of them come back to the White Star chairman, a man who survived the disaster in which more than 150 women and children died, Clifford Ismay.

[Expert 1]

I think part of the problem with that inquiry was Bruce was tried and judged before he even got to New York because of the American newspapers.

[Narrator]

On Friday morning, the New York Times publishes its own list of questions for Bruce Ismay. How far he was responsible for Captain Smith's action in proceeding on his dangerous course after receiving warning of the icebergs. Whether Mr. Ismay was desirous that the Titanic should make a record on her maiden trip regardless of danger. How many conferences took place on board ship between Mr. Ismay and the captain on the subject of the ship's course and speed. And what was said at these conferences. 200 miles away in Washington, Senator Isidore Rayner from Maryland thinks he already knows the answers. On the Senate floor, he launches an excoriating attack on Ismay, who he says acted in a most cowardly manner by boarding a lifeboat. But Rainer goes further. Ismay, he claims, was the officer primarily responsible for the disaster, a man who risked the life of the entire ship to make a speedy passage across the sea. He wants him to face criminal charges. That's a tall order, not least since Ismay is a British citizen and Titanic is technically at least a British ship. But Senator Rainer has captured the mood of his fellow countrymen.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

The tensions between Britain as the old power and America as this rising new power are very much felt. There is a sort of tension of the Americans saying, did you British actually cause this? And did you kill a lot of Americans in the process?

[Narrator]

When it comes to Senator Smith's inquiry, Ismay doesn't do himself any favors. Many of his answers are evasive and he seems determined to split hairs. When Smith asks if he knew that Titanic was sailing through a region containing icebergs, he replies pedantically, I did not. I knew ice had been reported. On navigational matters, he claims, I was simply a passenger on board the ship, on Titanic's engines. Those are technical questions which can be answered by others. Smith asks how long each lifeboat took to be lowered. I could not answer that, replies Isme. The Senator pushes, can you approximate it? He knows that during his time on the boat deck, Ismay helped launch a number of lifeboats. But Ismay insists it is not possible for me to judge the time.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

I think there's a sense of not wanting to say anything that makes these things that already look bad seem worse than they are. He's an awkward character in general. He's not someone who's particularly kind of beloved by the sort of business establishment or by the press. He's just not a winning character.

[Narrator]

It may be that Bruce Ismay is just trying to be as precise as possible. This is a man who, to modernize, exhibits a number of traits that could be associated with autism. Seemingly socially awkward, with an unusually meticulous attitude to timekeeping. But to Smith and his fellow senators, Ismay's answers seem not only defensive, but borderline contemptuous. Timoltin.

[Expert 2]

Senator Smith had instituted a full inquiry in America, and the British rather resented this because we were a proud maritime seafaring nation. And, of course, not to be outdone, we had a massive British inquiry later on the same year. I think Ismay was not perhaps as respectful of the American court as he would have been the British court. And of course, he did come across as aloof. But actually, if you listen to his answers, and a lot of them are quite sensible.

[Narrator]

There's also the fact that Bruce Ismay's mental health has been precarious of late. Just four days earlier on Carpathia, he was under sedation in the doctor's cabin.

[Expert 1]

I think during the inquiries, Bruce was suffering from ptsd, which is something that wasn't really recognized at that time. I think Bruce had this PTSD going on, but he also had this shyness. Suddenly he was thrust into the limelight. He had been in the public eye. He was still a very shy man, even at almost 50 years old. And he was thrust into this arena where he was up in front of everyone. The press were there, taking photographs, making sketches, noting everything down. Bruce knew that every word that he said would be written down as evidence. And I think he had a problem dealing with that. That did affect some of the answers that he gave through the inquiry. I think it was in a very difficult situation.

[Narrator]

What Ismay seems to want more than anything is to be far away from here. Already, newspapers are reporting on his failed attempt to delay the departure of the White Star liner Cedric so that it might transport him and his officers back to England, a plan ultimately scuppered by Senator Smith. Now, Smith tells reporters he has no intention of letting Ismay leave the country. He will remain here. I have some more questions for him. When he asks Ismay to describe the circumstances under which he left Titanic, the White Star chairman becomes more defensive than ever. In what way? He asks coolly, before interrupting when Smith attempts to repeat the question. The boat was there, says Ismay. There were a certain number of men in the boat. And the officer called out, asking if there were any more women, and there was no response. And there were no passengers left on the deck. And as the boat was in the act of being lowered away, I got into it.

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

His mistake was that he survived, that he was alive. When you summon the saved people afterwards and you realize that way over 450 seats were unused, it's extremely unfair what he had to face later on. But since he was the director of the company, it put him in a completely different position.

[Narrator]

Put us in a box. Go ahead. That just gives us some something to break out of. Because the next generation 2025 GMC terrain elevation is raising the standard of what comes standard. As far as expectations go, why meet them when you can shatter them? What we choose to challenge, we challenge completely. We are professional grade. Visit gmc.com to learn more.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone. Paying big wireless way Too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world. With Mint you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

Of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra.

[Narrator]

See full [e-mail] alongside Smith's Senate inquiry, American journalists remain hard at work making sense of the story of the century.

[Expert 1]

Both inquiries vindicated Bruce of any blame, but unfortunately the newspapers didn't and public opinion didn't because he was so far ingrained into the minds by the reports in the newspapers.

[Narrator]

Many of those covering the new Titanic beat are employed by a former friend of Ismay's, now more of a frenemy, William Randolph Hearst.

[Expert 1]

Hearst and his may have been very good friends when Bruce was living in New York years earlier, but at one point Hearst had asked Bruce to become a partner in his newspaper business. Well, Bruce being very shy, he didn't like newspapers very much and he politely declined the invitation. Unfortunately, Hearst had taken this very, very personally and they never spoke again.

[Narrator]

Hearst is a pioneer of what's become known as yellow journalism. Sensationalistic, moralistic are not always entirely factual. There are no shades of grey here, no nuance. It's a pantomime of one dimensional heroes and villains. And with his eminently twirlable black mustache, Bruce Ismay fits the latter role perfectly.

[Expert 1]

This was Hearst's revenge on Bruce. Hearst was condemning Bruce as the coward of the Titanic. Hearst had renamed Bruce J. Brute, his mayor. Hearst had suggested that the name of the White Star Line should be changed to Yellow Star Line. The way he attacked Bruce was way out of order. They just wanted to slander Bruce as much as they could.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

One of the fascinating things about the Titanic story is how we evaluate the standards of conduct. I think it's very gendered. Bruce Ismay, he just takes an empty seat in a lifeboat and then that poor man afterwards, right, he is just subjected to the most like vicious criticism. And these rumors start that he dressed up like a woman to do this, right? And there get to these stories about other people dressing up like women to do it. And apparently some male passengers actually do, which is making them look even more unmanly, right? That they literally take on female feminine clothes to do this again. I think it's something that's interesting, just kind of subverting Gender norms.

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

Those men that survived, many of them were stigmatized afterwards and preferred never to speak again about what they had experienced. Never. It was so traumatizing.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

I think today we don't necessarily assume now that all men should stand aside so that women should survive. Right? We believe in women's equality and so we don't hold men to that kind of strict accountability. But Ismay, he was so strongly criticized for having violated this kind of sense of gender norms of the time.

[Narrator]

On May 9, an affidavit from Titanic's barber, Augustus Weichmann, sheds new light on the story. According to Weichmann, Ismay was actually ordered into the lifeboat by one of the ship's officers. Ismay's own testimony, however, refutes this. Who, if anyone, told you to enter that lifeboat? Smith asks him after the inquiry reconvenes in Washington D.C. no one, sir, Ismay replies. It's hard to know what to make of the barber's testimony. He may have been telling the truth. Some believe by this point Ismay is in such a spiral of self loathing that he doesn't want to be let off the hook for the biggest mistake of his life. Equally, the barber may just have been trying to do his boss a favor. After all, he's got a good gig with White Star. He will later be offered a job on Titanic's sister ship, Olympic. Weichmann certainly wouldn't be the only White Star employee whose testimony seems geared towards damage limitation.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

These are people who still hope to have a career. It's not just that they work for White Star, right? They know they're not going to work for anybody. They're not going to work for Cunard. If they stand up and say, my employer was terrible, the captain of the ship made all these awful decisions. You know, people behaved horrible, the crew behaved horribly. They're not going to get another job and they are definitely looking to protect their employment.

[Expert 2]

The White Star Line was very worried about being found negligent in the disaster. So what they did was they wanted to really put a very polished sort of gloss on everything.

[Narrator]

For Senator Smith and his colleagues, Titanic's crew can be infuriatingly vague, playing dumb in the face of awkward questions at times. Lookout Frederick Fleet almost seems to be trolling the inquiry. How far away was the iceberg when you saw it? Smith asks him. I have no idea, Fleet replies. How fast was Titanic going? I have no idea. How long before the collision did you ring the bell? I have no idea. The Senator is getting exasperated. Was it more like five Minutes or an hour? He asks the lookout. But it's no good. Fleet tells him, I could not say, sir. When he's asked to estimate the size of the iceberg, he responds, I have no idea of distances or spaces.

[Expert 2]

It was before the days of witness coaching and things like that, so they were not specifically coached. However, they would have been well aware that they were company men or company women and that they were expected to toe the line.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

We know now the things that they didn't say. I don't think there's anything that they didn't say that's somehow still hidden or I don't know that they were doing a cover up of some smoking gun. I think they were being protective of their own futures, of their employers. And I think they didn't want to add to what they felt could easily become a public misunderstanding of what had actually occurred.

[Expert 2]

That said, they were also God fearing and would absolutely not have wanted to perjure themselves. I think they were as truthful as possible. With the exception perhaps of Ismay and Lightoller, who were just desperately trying to make sure that no one found the White Star Line negligent.

[Narrator]

So far, Titanic's second officer Charles Lightoller has been spared the kind of suspicion directed at Bruce Ismay, not least because he remained on board until after the last lifeboat had been launched. But if anything, Lightoller's testimony at the American inquiry is even less helpful than his boss's. He insists the Titanic didn't split in half, despite other witnesses saying it did. He denies there was any panic on deck or that passengers tried to force their way into the lifeboats. They could not have stood quieter if they had been in church, he tells the Senator. Regarding his time on collapsible B, Lightoller is understandably reticent. He has little to say about those dark hours before dawn when he and the other men on the lifeboat, including my great uncle Jimmy, were pushing away the so called blokes in the water with their oars, desperately trying to keep the upside down collapsible from capsizing. Was there any effort made by others to board her? Smith asks. Lightoller dodges the question. We took all on board that we could, I understand, says Smith, but I wanted to know whether there was any effort made by others to get aboard. Not that I saw, replies Lightoller tersely. Given what we now know, thanks to other survivors accounts, it's hard to escape the conclusion that Titanic's second officer has just perjured himself.

[Expert 2]

Lightotl was extremely clever. He was Very good at speaking, which he perhaps might not expect for someone with the sort of background that he has come from. But equally, there is this feeling that he is trying to keep a lid on what happened. So I think he was trying to tell the truth, but he was perhaps not always telling the whole truth in order to protect, as far as possible, his paymasters, the White Star Line.

[Narrator]

Lightoller's reluctance to be drawn on the story of collapsible B is understandable. Other witnesses also clam up when Senator Smith asks them about the people dying in the water. Beginning only days after Titanic went down, this inquiry is relying on witnesses who are still processing their trauma. Third Officer Herbert Pitman is questioned about the noise the dying passengers made. How many of these cries were there? Smith asks him. Was it a chorus or was it. Pitman interrupts him. I would rather you did not speak about that. But the Senator perseveres. I would like to know how you were impressed by it. I cannot very well describe it, Pitman tells him. Then he repeats, I would rather you would not speak of it. But Smith is insistent, demanding to know how many cries Pitman heard and for how long they continued. There was a continual moan for about an hour, Pitman tells him. They died away gradually. He then adds bleakly, I would rather that you would have left that out altogether. Smith's questioning may seem callous, but he's grappling with quite a conundrum. How was it that with 500 empty spaces in Titanic's lifeboats, only a handful of people were rescued from the water? Pickman claims that he actually suggested going back to rescue survivors, but others in his boat talked him out of it. He begs Smith to change the subject, but the Senator refuses. I must know what efforts you made to save the lives of passengers and crew under your charge, he tells Pitman. If that is all the effort you made, say so, and I will stop that branch of my examination. That is all, sir, Pitman replies. That is all the effort I made.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

These men are subjected to this incredible microscope of analyzing their behavior. I think again, that's a way to try to make sense of the strategy, to try to turn the irrational into the rational, to try to turn the random into order.

[Narrator]

Reading the transcript of the inquiry 100 years later, it's hard to ignore the undercurrent of shame that seems to run through Senator Smith's questions. Some of Titanic's officers push back more than others. Fifth Officer Lowe, the only crewman who did try to rescue survivors in the water, is determined to make Smith understand why he couldn't save more of them. He explains how he calculated the right moment for his lifeboat to return safely. I had to wait until the yells and shrieks had subsided, he says, for the people to thin out. Then I deemed it safe for me to go amongst the wreckage. Senator Smith is incredulous. He can't fathom making such a cold blooded decision. Three times he asks Lowe to confirm what he's saying. You lay off a bit until the drowning people had quieted down. And each time Lowe gives the Same answer.

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

Yes, 1,000 people fighting for their lives in one lifeboat. We would have been drowned immediately. But you could have tried. Senators missed. No, sir, we couldn't. It was suicide. I did my best.

[Narrator]

He said, my brother Stephen, it's one.

[H]

Of those primal questions. You don't quite know how you would react. And I never think about Jimmy on that lifeboat. Could I have held out? I don't think I would have. Or maybe I would have tried to get onto a lifeboat in a blind panic. And I say that with all humility. When I read over the reports of the disaster in the days afterwards, I can feel the neediness to feel that it was done properly. It's very interesting and it gives you a little insight, a little light into their minds, you know, to try and get into the Edwardian mindset. Because it was very important to the British to show the right side. They love the stories that told them about wild moments of self sacrifice or courage. This is what we do. If we hand you a rifle and you find yourself in Rorke's Drift, this is what you do. And then you're the best boy in the empire. If you don't, then you know you're condemned. There was a real thing in the Brits to see that it was all done well.

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

Very much. All what is told today is filled with wishful thinking. The greatest myth is actually that the majority of the saved were women and children, when in fact, out of those surviving, there were 333 women and 326 men. If you add the children, the girls as women and the boys as men, the difference shrinks down to six people. Six more saved women than men. And it was important in 1912 to tell this story, to say that, yes, we kept up the traditions of the sea. Most saved were women and children in the last two lifeboats on the stormboat side, the majority were men. 40 men perhaps in number 13, and 20 women and children. These men could never say, yes, I stepped into a lifeboat. I don't know how many stories I have where they say I jumped into the water and swam to a boat. We have about 100 men saying this. They couldn't. They were socially stigmatized. In 1912, if they'd said that, yes, I stepped into a boat.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

And so instead of again trying to grapple with the enormity and the randomness of the tragedy, it becomes, it's all Bruce Ismay's fault because he got in a lifeboat and he violated these standards. And if everybody had just upheld these standards, then, yeah, this bad thing would have happened. But there would have been an order to it, there would have been an explanation to it. It would have been something that we can kind of grapple with mentally.

[Narrator]

It's not just the American Senate inquiry. In Britain too, the Titanic story raises troubling questions about human behavior, perhaps even about human nature. Just one week after Senator Smith concludes his inquiry in Washington, the British Board of Trade launches one of their own on the other side of the pond. This rec commissioner's inquiry is presided over by Lord Mersey, a 71 year old judge and former Liberal Unionist MP. Born and educated in Liverpool, Mersey's inquiry is held not in the conference room of a swanky hotel, but but at an imposing army drill hall in London. 59 Buckingham Gate. This looming high vaulted building previously played host to the All England Badminton Championships. Now it's been converted into a grand theatre of justice.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

What is Daddication?

[Ryan Reynolds]

The thing that drives me every day as a dad is Dariona. We call him Dae Date for short. Every day he's hungry for something, whether it's attention, affection, knowledge. And there's this huge, huge responsibility in making sure that when he's no longer under my wing that he's a good person. I want him to be able to sit back one day and go, we worked together. We did a good job.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

That's dedication. Find out [e-mail] brought to you by the U.S. department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Oh, such a clutch pickup, Dave.

[Narrator]

I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those Blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

Hard to.

[Narrator]

No, it's easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom too. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install hall of Fame Son. They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

Blinds.com is the goat.

[Narrator]

The goat. Save up to 50% with minimum purchase.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

At blinds.com Rules and restrictions may apply.

[Narrator]

Lord Mersey occupies a throne like chair at the center of a raised platform. Teams of lawyers beaver away in front of him, seated at desks in the first two rows. Witnesses take the stand in a dock off to one side in front of a 20 foot scale model of Titanic. The rest of the hall is filled with row upon row of wooden chairs occupied by members of the public. Many of the witnesses at the British inquiry have already testified in New York and Washington. Bruce Ismay, Charles Lightoller, Harold Lowe. But this one digs deeper. For a start, it runs twice as long, 36 days compared to Smith's 18. Lord Mersey hears from almost 100 witnesses, some of whom were never called by the Americans. Most controversial among them is Sir Cosmo and Lucy Doff Gordon of the infamous money boat. Like Ismay, the Duff Gordons are fighting a war on two fronts. The formal questioning of the inquiry and the even more brutal court of public opinion.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

The behavior of the upper class passengers on Titanic is subjected to a much closer level of scrutiny and they are expected much more to obey these standards of what is seen as appropriate to their class, what is appropriate to their gender, what I think in the British case in many ways is appropriate to their nationality. And so the Duff Gordons, you know, are seen as sort of violating them. And so they do come in for criticism.

[Narrator]

As early as April 22, the Evening Standard carried a story about Titanic's so called money boat featuring an anonymous millionaire with a Coutts bank account who gave away cheques for £5 apiece to the crew of his lifeboat. It doesn't take long for Sir Cosmo to be fingered as the man with the fivers. On May 17, he takes the stand in London. The Attorney General, Sir Rufus Isaacs, asks if it ever occurred to him to go back and try to save the people in the water. It's difficult to say what occurred to me, replies Sir Cosmo. There were many things to think about. No thought entered your mind at that time that you ought to go back and try to save some of these people? Pushes Isaacs. No, admits Sir Cosmo. I suppose not. His Testimony directly contradicts two other witnesses from Lifeboat 1, Charles Hendrickson and George Simons. According to Simons, the men wanted to go back, but Lady Duff Gordon told them not to. Did you hear your wife say that? Isaacs asks Sir Cosmo. No, he replies. Is it not true what the men are saying? It comes to that, of course, the cross examination then turns to the notorious Fivers I must ask you about the money, says Isaacs. Had you made any promise of a present to the men in the boat? Yes, admits Sir Cosmo. I did. He goes on to give his own account that one of the crewmen was complaining that their pay had stopped when Titanic went under, that they'd lost all their kit on the ship and had no money to replace it, and that he offered them a present of five pounds each to make up for it. That is the whole of that five pound note story, he tells the court. Whether they believe him or not is another question. And even if Sir Cosmo's fivers were a well intentioned gift and not a bribe, something about the story doesn't sit well.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

This literal payment for loss. It just seems vulgar in the kind of context of the lightboat at the time, to kind of be already dealing with this in a monetary sense and that they're getting monetary compensation for what happened in a very immediate way. And I think that might also be a sort of perhaps British attitude, right, that it just looks, yeah, it looks vulgar, I think, to a lot of people.

[Narrator]

Two days later, Sir Cosmo is called to give evidence again. The Attorney General wants to address the discrepancy between his account of what happened in Lifeboat 1 and that of George Symons. He points out that Symons insisted he gave the order to go back and search for survivors. I did not hear him, responds Sir Cosmo. It would appear, observes Isaacs, that orders were given which you do not recollect. Sir Cosmo's lawyer, Mr. Duke, interjects. He says he did not hear it, not that he does not recollect it. The Attorney General is not impressed. The distinction, he replies, is a little fine for me. When Lady Duff Gordon takes the stand that afternoon, things go from bad to worse. The celebrity fashion designer is dressed in a black two piece outfit with a frilly white collar, an elaborate hat perched upon her head, the brim so wide you can barely see her face, and she seems to have fans in the audience. The galleries of the courtroom are packed with equally well dressed people who can't resist bursting into applause. Veronica Hinkey.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

When you watch shows like Downton Abbey, Lady Duff Gordon was one of the designers, if not the designer, who really was the engine behind that look. Huge voluptuous hats with plumes, ostrich feathers, those wide brims where you can barely see beneath the brim, it's so wide and just a real spectacle.

[Narrator]

After a few preliminaries, the Attorney General questions Lady Duff Gordon about the cries of the people in the water, I never heard a cry, she insists. My impression was that there was absolute silence. When Isaacs is finished, a trade union representative, Clement Edwards, begs to question the witness. He produces a newspaper article published in the Daily News the day after Carpathia Dr. New York, an article bearing not only Lady Dove Gordon's name, but her signature too. Did you write such an article? He asks. No, she replies. A man wrote it from what he thought he heard me saying. The journalist, she explains, was Abraham Merritt, a great friend of ours. Merritt was one of the group drinking champagne with the Duff Gordons at the Ritz on the night of Carpathia's arrival in New York. Half an hour after leaving the party, he called her at the hotel to say that William Randolph Hearst wanted to publish her story the next morning. What did you say? Edwards asks Lady Dove Gordon. I said yes. But the article Merritt wrote hasn't done his friend any favors. Edwards takes her through it line by line, asking if he quoted her accurately. An awful silence seemed to hang over everything. And then from the water, all about where the Titanic had been, arose a bedlam of shrieks and cries. I never said that, replies Lady Duff Gordon. Women and men were clinging to bits of wreckage in the icy water. No. And it was at least an hour before the awful chorus of shrieks ceased, gradually dying into a moan of despair. No, I never said that. I remember the very last cry. It was a man's voice calling loudly, my God. My God. Absolutely untrue. Lady Duff Gordon is adamant that the article bearing her name is a work of fiction. The signature underneath it, she claims, is a forgery. But by now, any credibility the Duff Gordon's once had has gone the same way as the Titanic. They might have survived the sinking, but neither of them will ever live it down in their elite social circle. Many of their friends turn their backs on them. Three years later, they'll formally separate.

[Julian Fellowes]

I think they were punished after the Titanic because the Titanic was one of those tragedies where the public shares them, where all sorts of people feel somehow involved in this particular tragedy, in this particular disaster. I mean, it's that thing that most people can remember where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot or Marilyn Monroe had died or the Princess of Wales had been killed or whatever. There are sort of things where we all a shot in unison. And I think the Titanic was a great example of that. And because of that, the people who had behaved badly or been seen to behave badly were sort of generally thought badly off I think every society has standards.

[Narrator]

Neither of the official inquiries points the finger at any White Star employees. Senator Smith reserves his strictest censure for Captain Lord and the crew of the nearby Californian who he concludes, saw the distress signals of the Titanic and failed to respond to them in accordance with the dictates of humanity, international usage and the requirements of law Carpathius. Captain Rostron, meanwhile, receives fulsome praise for his rescue efforts. When it comes to Titanic's captain, Senator Smith paints a more nuanced picture. Committing his report to Congress, he describes him as a man strong of limb, intent of purpose and pure of character, but at the same time overconfident in the safety of his ship and neglectful of the warnings of his friends. Smith's judgment of Bruce Ismay is qualified. He admits he can find no evidence that the White Star chairman ordered Titanic to go faster. But he believes Ismay's presence on board may have unconsciously influenced the captain in Britain. Lord Mersey's conclusions are substantially similar. He goes further than Senator Smith though, specifically defending the conduct of Bruce Ismay and Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon. The accusation of bribery against the baronet is ultimately unfounded, he concludes, and he does not agree that Ismay had a moral duty to wait on board Titanic until the vessel foundered. Had Ismay not taken a place in collapsible sea, says Lord Mersey, he would merely have added one more life, namely his own, to the number of those lost. For Ismay, the two inquiries have been gruelling. But Titanic isn't out of the courts just yet. In 1913, White Star petitions for limitation of liability, essentially a legal judgment that the sinking was an accident, not caused by negligence. The financial implications are huge. The difference between a $90,000 payout and one stretching to $13 million. It's at these hearings that one of the most shocking claims about Titanic's four day voyage comes out. The testimony of first class passenger Elizabeth Lyons who says she overheard Bruce Ismay ordering Captain Smith to drive the ship faster.

[Expert 1]

She claimed that she'd heard Captain Smith and Ismay talking about getting Titanic into New York at record speed. There's absolutely no evidence as far as I'm aware that proves that I do believe Elizabeth Lyons.

[Expert 2]

Actually I do believe her because I think that both Ismay and Smith wanted to have the headlines. They both loved headlines.

[Expert 1]

After the inquiries, Elizabeth Lyons was asked to identify Bros Ismay and she couldn't. I don't think Elizabeth Lyons intentionally set out to deceive anyone at all, but I Think there may have been some confusion on the conversation and who she actually overheard speaking.

[Narrator]

True or not, Lyons account plays into a popular narrative about Ismay and Titanic. Eventually, after three years of legal wrangling, Whitestar agrees to an out of court settlement to the tune of $665,000. In today's money, that's almost 22 million. The inquiries may not have officially blamed White Star or its employees for what happened to Titanic, but the swirl of media attention surrounding them ensures that those who fared poorly on the witness stand will never live it down. For Bruce Ismay and Sir Cosmo Doff Gordon, the reputational impact is terminal.

[Julian Fellowes]

I mean, I don't think that society or ours or any other are alone in canceling people who fall below some kind of general moral position that is shared by most of the population. I mean, those people were seen as cowards.

[Narrator]

More than a century on, the biggest question about Titanic's sinking remains unanswered and perhaps ultimately unanswerable. Who was to blame?

[Professor Stephanie Barchevsky]

I can't answer that question. I remember I did a lecture, it's way over 40 years ago. It's one of my first lectures, 45 years ago, possibly, and somebody raised that question and they didn't like my answer because I said the time, you couldn't slowly blame the captain or the director because there was a travel in public. They wanted faster ships, bigger ships. They asked for this. So everybody is involved. It's very, very complex. So you can't just say it's his fault or it's her fault or it's because of this and because of that, because there are so many things interacting, so many things to consider.

[Expert 2]

We live in a blame culture and what happened on the Titanic was an accident. Now, accidents aren't really allowed to happen anymore and we do our best to prevent them from happening, but they do happen and we learn from them when they happen. But Titanic was an accident and no one was to blame.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

You know, the bigger the disaster, then the more there's going to be a search for what was to blame. So to me it's more just a story of a lot of coincidental what ifs than it is trying to look for. Like the one moment in the story where someone did something that was worthy of blame. Almost the clock starts ticking from the time that the ship leave Southampton, right? That's going to bring the Titanic into collision with that iceberg. And all these little things have to happen for that collision to actually take place. I think it's very hard to point to One person who, in that long chain of very small decisions, one person whose choice is the fateful one. I think it's just a cumulative pile of things.

[Narrator]

Between them. The two investigations called well over 100 witnesses. The majority of Titanic survivors, Uncle Jimmy among them, were never called to give evidence. It must have been strange, to say the least, for them to see an event which was seared into their memories being picked over in the courtrooms and the press. The story told and retold in so many contradictory ways. But even taking into account what we know from all 700 odd survivors of Titanic, piecing together one version of the truth is almost impossible. And not only because their own vested interests affect how people remember their stories and how they share them, but because a community of survivors processing the most traumatic event of their lives are not exactly the most objective. Historians, disaster psychologist Jerome Chertkoff all the.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

Research on trials where you have eyewitness.

[Narrator]

Testimony, people make many mistakes.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

We like to think that eyewitness reports are good evidence. They're actually, some of you know, they can tend to be very inaccurate, right? And we see in history all the time that people report things very inaccurately.

[Expert 2]

Of course, history, as we call it, is actually only experienced by each individual who was there. Now, the night the Titanic Sank, there were 2,000 people on the ship and they all saw the story slightly differently from their own perspective. So if you like the historian, when they look at all these accounts, they have to make it into just one narrative. The truth is, the night the Titanic sank, there were at least 1500 narratives.

[Narrator]

Each of the two Titanic inquiries is a major undertaking and expensive to boot. The accounts for the British one run to more than £20,000. That's well over a million in today's money. And those in charge have their own agendas too.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

There's certainly political to questioning in the United States Senate hearings is by US Senators.

[Narrator]

And we know US Senators are not unbiased and politically neutral. The British inquiry, meanwhile, is carried out under the auspices of the Board of Trade, the very same Board of Trade that certified Titanic safe to depart with only 20 lifeboats.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

The British Board of Trade wanted to exonerate Smith and the officers on the.

[Narrator]

Titanic, and they didn't want to accept.

[Professor Klaus Wetterholm]

Blame for too few lifeboats.

[Expert 2]

Lightoller, in his book Titanic and Other Ships, he actually says that he had to have his hand firmly on the whitewash brush when he was being interrogated. And in fact, this is noticed by the inquiry. Some of the lawyers there, they talk about how polished his answers are.

[Narrator]

The transcripts of the British inquiry include a conversation between Lord Mersey and Sir Rufus Isaacs, in which they comment on Lightoller's testimony. I think it is right to say, suggests Isaacs, that he gave his evidence very well. He gave it remarkably well, agrees Lord Mercy. Too well, your lordship, thinks Lord Mercy repeats remarkably well. In the next episode, White Star dispatch a funeral ship to begin recovering Titanic's dead. The crew return to Britain and try to move on with their lives. For one senior officer, Titanic is but a chapter in a barely believable life. Sailors in the North Atlantic search for the iceberg that sank the ship of Dreams, and decades later, descendants of those lost pay their respects. That's next time. You can listen to the next two episodes of Ship of Dreams right now without waiting by subscribing to Noiser plus. Just hit the link in the episode description to find out more.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, prime helps you get more out of your passions. So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail biting novel from time to time, with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music, and fast free delivery, prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into. Visit Amazon.comprime to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Stay Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.