Addergoole Titanic Society, newspaper articles from 1912

One main thought has forced itself on the writer, and doubtless has forced itself on others, and it tends to make the coldness of the sudden drowning more cold; namely, the manner in which the poor steerage passengers were neglected in the struggle for life. Of the first class women and children all were saved; of the second class women and children almost all were saved, of the third class women and children almost all were lost; of the 450 men steerage passengers only 50 or 60 were saved; and it has been sworn that several of the boats could have safely contained more people. The inquiry that has been held in New York, and that is now being conducted in London must be taken for what it is worth, like all inquiries. Even when there is no desire to state what is not true, yet the whole and real truth is hard to ascertain in every large inquiry. The evidence of Daniel Buckley, of Cork is unfortunately borne out by facts. His evidence is "that when the steerage passengers first tried to reach the upper decks they were met by sailors at the top of the ladder and thrown back by them." "Sometime after no obstacle was put in their way, and they ranged the decks at will." In reply to the question whether the steerage passengers had as much chance of being saved as the first and second class passengers, Buckley answered "yes, they had just as much chance." It is not easy to reconcile both his statements. But the sad fate remains that most of the steerage passengers went down with the ill-fated ship.

The Diocese of Killala is indented by many arms of the sea. Many of its families are in close touch with sea life, and knew something of "the sorrows of the sea." Some families in the diocese of Killala or in the neighbouring dioceses of Elphin and Achonry are heart rending weepers through the catastrophe. This being so the way is open to soften the sorrows of widows and orphans and of dependent old age caused by this tragedy of the deep. In England collections are being raised in every hamlet and village, as well as the great towns. Though there is not the money in Ireland that there is in England, yet there is a heart in Ireland but a thing like this needs a heading and to be set going.

"Are there no prison doors to ope,
No lambs to gather in th fold,
No treasure house of new and old
To meet each wish and crown each hope."

Loss of the Titanic.
Flower of Mayo's Youth Sank with Hands Joined on The Titanic
Of Fifteen Merry Lads and Colleens Seeking Fortune only Two Arrive
The Connaught Telegraph, 25th May, 1912.

The Chicago "Evening World" says:- Of twelve young Irishwomen and girls, two young men and a boy comprising a party of fifteen from the County Mayo who started for Chicago on the Titanic, only two have arrived here - two colleens, Annie Kelly and Annie McGowan. The Rest are at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, for they went down with the Titanic, and there is grief here in Chicago, where relatives mourn, and grief back in County Mayo, over the sudden end to the dreams and plans of thirteen of the flower of Ireland's youth.

It was a family party, all the members being bound by the ties of kinship or of lifelong companionship. In it were John Bourke, a sturdy young farmer, and his Kate, the bride of less than a year and John's sister Mary, all from the farming country around Crossmolina; Kate McGowan, a former resident of Chicago, and her niece Annie McGowan, a girl of sixteen; Annie Kelly, aged 18 of Castlebar, the County town of Mayo, and a few miles from Crossmolina; Patrick Canavan 18 a cousin of Annie Kelly; Mary Manion bound to join her brother in Chicago; a boy Patrick, and Mary Flynn his sister; three blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked girls named O'Donohue, and Mahan Driscoll and Nora Fleming and Mary Glynn.

The mysterious workings of destiny contributed to the formation of this ill-fated little squad of ocean travelers. Some ten years ago Kate McHugh and Kate McGowan then little more than children, came to Chicago from their homes near Crossmolina.

Romance of Ireland Comes into Kate's Life.

They prospered, and bout fifteen months ago Kate McHugh went back to Ireland for a visit. She met John Bourke, a playmate of her childhood days, and he married her out of hand, for an old affection both had almost forgotten, quickly leaped into love. It was the intention of Bourke and his wife to live out their lives in Ireland.

Kate McGowan went back to Ireland last October. She owned a rooming house in this city, and it was her intention to return in the spring. Right industriously did she sing the praises of Chicago at the homes of those she visited in Co. Mayo, and the result of it was that when she came to start back there were fourteen ready to accompany her, among them the Bourkes, who had sold their farm and planned to invest their money in a teaming business in this city.

The night before the fifteen started for Queenstown to board the Titanic there was what the Irish call a "live-wake" at Castlebar. Hundreds of friends of the young people gathered and made merry that they start with light hearts and merriment. Never were fifteen voyagers to a strange land launched on their journey with such a plentitude of good will and good wishes.

The immense Titanic overshadowing everything in Queenstown harbour, was a revelation to thirteen of the little party as they came alongside in the tender. Some of them had never seen an ocean liner before. The Mayo delegation was given a section of the third class quarters remote from the Lithuanians and Herezgovinians and Slavs. Who had boarded the vessel the day before at Cherbourg and were already filling the steerage with strange odours.

Although travelling third class this little party of fifteen was prosperous. All had money and good clothing and many little trinkets they were carrying to loved ones who had gone before to the far-off and mysterious and magical Chicago. The fifteen kept to themselves spending the days on deck in the fresh air and sunshine.

They were all asleep, when the Titanic, rushing along at twenty-three knots an hour tore a hole in her hull against an iceberg. The jar did not disturb the third cabin, where the rush of waters and the throb of the engines was always felt and heard. It was half an hour or more after the Titanic struck when a steward roused the County Mayo travelers and told them the ship had struck something, but there was no danger.

Although they believed the steward, they did not go to sleep again. There was apprehension in the hearts of the lads and colleens from Mayo, and when Mrs. Bourke suggested prayer they all knelt. One of them recited the rosary and the others with their beads in their hands, intoned the responses aloud. They were calm then but they did not sleep.

Just twenty minutes before the boat went down stewards ran through the steerage shouting orders for all passengers to go on deck. There was no time for those who had neglected to clothe themselves to dress. They swarmed to the companionway leading to the upper decks, but were held back by officers, who said things were not ready.

John Bourke and Patrick Canavan knew there was a ladder leading to the upper decks. Gathering the women and girls about them they started for the ladder. Just then a steward who had talked on several occasions to Annie Kelly, a roguish miss, happened along and saw her, frightened and confused, dropping behind her friends.

Grasping her hand the steward dragged her up the stairway to the deck where the lifeboats were loading. She was clad only in a nightgown. A boat was just about to be launched. The steward pushed her in. It was only half full.

Then John Bourke and his wife and his sister Mary and the little Flynn boy appeared on the deck. The stewards tried to push the two women into the boat after Annie Kelly. "I'll not leave my husband," said Kate Bourke. "I'll not leave my brother," said Mary Bourke.

The crew of the lifeboat would not let little Flynn aboard, although he was a slight boy and not able to take care of himself. The last Annie Kelly saw of John Bourke and his wife and his sister and little Patrick Flynn they were standing, hands clasped in a row by the rail, waiting for the end. The end came in a few minutes. The great Titanic went down and of all that left County Mayo on that ship Annie Kelly thought she was the sole survivor. But the next day, when she had recovered form the effects of the shock and exposure she found Annie McGowan lying beside her.

Captain E.J. Smith commanded
the Titanic on her maiden voyage.

The Titanic Disaster, Due to Excessive Speed.
The Connaught Telegraph Sat. August 3rd, 1912

Lord Mersey, the specially appointed Commissioner of Wrecks to enquire into the loss of the White Star Liner Titanic, on Tuesday delivered the finding of the Court.

The attendance at the London-Scottish Hall, Westminster, where the inquiry has been held and where judgement was delivered was not a large one, and save for Counsel, Pressmen, and others specially interested, the general public was represented by less than a hundred persons, most of whom were fashionably attired ladies.

His Lordship read from a lengthy printed document almost the first notable sentence of which was that "The loss of the ship was brought about by the excessive speed at which she was navigated."

The report contains an elaborate and most minute description of the ship, a lengthy account of the disaster a description of the damage to the ship, and of its gradual and final effect with observations thereon.

In its detailed replies, to the questions put before it, the Court finds that the Titanic before leaving Queensotwn did comply with the requirements of the merchant Shipping Acts and the rules and regulations made thereon for the safety of passenger steamers, and that she was properly officered and manned. She was supplied with proper charts and the watches of the officers and crews were properly kept. No special instructions were given the captain when she left beyond the general instructions supplied by the Company which were safe, proper, and adequate, generally speaking; but, having regard to subsequent events, they would have been better if a reference had been made to the course to be adopted in the event of reaching the ice region. The track kept by the vessel was that decided on as the outcome of many years' experience of the normal movement of ice. They were reasonably safe tracks for the time of the year provided of course, that great caution and vigilance when crossing the ice region were observed.

The disproportion between the number of passengers saved in first, second, and third classes is due to various causes, among which the differences in the position of the quarters, and the fact that many of the third class passengers were foreigners are, perhaps, the most important.

Of the Irish emigrants in the third class a large proportion was saved. The disproportion between was certainly not due to any discrimination by the officers or crew in assisting the passengers to the boats. With regard to the question of what the captain ought to have done in the circumstances of the weather conditions and why he pursued, the course he did, the Court says - It was shown that the practice of liners for the quarter of a century had been to keep the course in clear weather to maintain the speed, and trust to a sharp look-out to enable them to avoid danger; but the event had proved the practice to be bad. Its root is probably to be found in competition and in the desire of the public for quick passages, rather than in the judgment of navigators. In these circumstances I am not able to blame Captain Smith. The evidence shows that he was not trying to make a record passage, or, indeed, an exceptionally quick passage. He was not trying to please anybody, but was, exercising his own discretion.

"He made a mistake, a very grievous mistake, but one in which in face of the practice, and of past experience, negligence cannot be said to have had any part, and in the absence of negligence, it is, in my opinion, impossible to fix Captain Smith with blame. It is, however, to be hoped that the last has been heard of the practice and that for the future it will be abandoned for what we now know to be more prudent and wiser measures."

The provision of lifeboat and raft accommodation on board should be based on the number of persons intended to be carried in the ship and not upon tonnage. The accommodation in this respect should be sufficient for all persons on board with, however the qualification that in special cases, where in the opinion of the Board of Trade such provision was impracticable, the requirements might be modified as the Board of Trade thought right. The Board of Trade should have power to direct that one or more of the boats should be fitted with some form of mechanical propulsion; all boats should carry lamps and pyrotechnic lights for the purposes of signaling and should be provided with compasses and provisions, and should be very distinctly marked to indicate the number of adult persons each boat would carry. The Board of Trade inspection of boats and life-saving appliances should be of a more searching character than hitherto.

The concluding recommendation was; That (unless already done) steps should be taken to call an International Conference to consider, and as far as possible to agree upon a common line of conduct in respect of (a) the sub-division of ships; (b) the provisions and working of life-saving appliances: (c) the installation of wireless telegraphy, and the method of working the same: (d) the reduction of speed, or the alteration of course, in the vicinity of ice and (e) the use of searchlights.

All the Commissioners concurred with the judgement and recommendations. The reading of the judgment occupied two hours and a half. Mr. Scanlan, M.P., raised the question of costs.

Lord Mersey said he assumed those who represented the different interests were entitled to costs from somebody. The question was who was the somebody?

The Attorney General said this was a very special case, and he thought it should be treated in a special manner. The view he took on behalf of the Board of Trade - and it was distinctly understood that it was not to be regarded as a precedent - was that the Board should pay such costs as his Lordship considered right should, be paid. In this particular inquiry it was, of course, desirable that there should be some representation before the Court other than that of the Board of Trade. What he suggested meant that the costs would come out of public funds. His Lordship then indicated the gentlemen whom he thought would be entitled to costs, and the attorney General concurred.

It was then arranged that the legal gentlemen should see Lord Mersey privately on the matter.