Remembering Titanic Victim William T. Stead 100 Years Later
Posted on 02 April 2012, 10:01
With the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster coming up on April 15, it seems like an appropriate time to remember William T. Stead, one of the victims of the tragedy. A 62-year-old British journalist and pacifist, Stead was on his way to New York City to give a lecture on world peace at Carnegie Hall. President William Howard Taft was also one of the speakers.
Several survivors reported seeing Stead at various places in the 2 hours, 40 minutes that elapsed between the time the floating palace on its maiden voyage hit an iceberg and then made its plunge to the bottom of the North Atlantic. All told of a very composed and calm man, one prepared to meet his death with courage and hope. Frederick Seward, a 34-year-old New York lawyer, said that Stead was one of the few on deck when the iceberg was impacted. “I saw him soon after and was thoroughly scared, but he preserved the most beautiful composure,” Seward, who boarded lifeboat number 7, recalled. Andrew Cunningham, a 35-year-old English cabin steward serving Stead (below) and several other passengers, recalled that Stead had not been feeling well all day and had supper in his room. “I did not see him again until after the accident,” Cunningham related. “Then I went to see all my passengers. He had gone on deck but soon came back. I said, ‘Mr. Stead, you’ll have to put on your life-belt.’ He said, ‘Cunningham, what is that for?’ I said, ‘You may need it.’ I put the belt over his head. We bade each other good-bye, and that was the last I saw him.”
the story continues here on Michael Tibb's website White Crow Books.
