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APRIL 14, 1912
Saturday, April 14, 2012 The
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1 Saturday, April 14, 2012
Way We Were WHITE STAR LINE
Titanic Centenary Special Edition
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THE SENTINEL Saturday April 14, 2012
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ISSUE 31
INSIDE
CAPTAIN SMITH’S DATE WITH DESTINY
Family of ship engineer will never forget PAGE 3
The Titanic, minus its four giant trademark funnels, slips into
the River Lagan, in Belfast, in 1911.
Titanic story’s sombre impact defies the years
O
N May 31, 1911, the largest movable man-made object in the world slid into the River Lagan in Belfast. The textbook launch of RMS Titanic took barely a minute, her journey down the slipway lubricated by 20 tonnes of soap and tallow. A crowd of more than 100,000 watched the launch of the supposedly unsinkable liner. The biggest ship afloat had been taking shape in Harland and Wolff’s shipyard since 1909. She had cost £1.5m and it had taken 2,000 men and three million rivets to build her. During the construction and fitting out, 246 injuries were recorded, 28 of them serious, including severed limbs, and eight men were killed. After the launch, she was towed to a giant fitting-out dock where thousands of workers were waiting to prepare Titanic for her maiden voyage. It would take a full year to transform the empty hull into the White Star Line’s most luxurious vessel. Workers installed her engines, funnels and superstucture, as well as the interior
INSIDE TODAY
Introducing a special edition of Way We Were, marking the centenary of the Titanic tragedy, the origins of the disaster are recalled by Alan Cookman
Captain Smith, right, and Lord Pirrie on board Titanic in 1912. features that were designed to bring the last word in comfort and luxury to the new ship. Titanic was 882ft long and, as well as
opulent cabins and the finest restaurants, she had a swimming pool, gymnasium and libraries, while passengers also had access to powerful wireless telegraphy. But although she boasted modern safety features such as watertight compartments, Titanic’s lifeboat capacity was sufficient for only a third of her passengers and crew. Sea trials began on Monday, April 2, 1912, eight days before she was due to leave Southampton on her maiden voyage. After leaving Southampton on April 10, Titanic visited Cherbourg, in France, and Queenstown, in Ireland, before setting sail for New York under the command of Hanley-born Captain Edward Smith. Although Titanic was designed to accommodate a total of 2,566 passengers, only 1,317 boarded the ship for her maiden voyage to the US.
Of these, 324 were first class, 284 second class and 709 third class. At 869, male passengers significantly outnumbered female, of whom there were 447. There were 107 children on board, mostly third class and the crew numbered 865. It was on April 14, only four days into the crossing, when she was 375 miles south of Newfoundland, that Titanic struck an iceberg with a glancing blow that buckled her hull plates and tore open five of her 16 watertight compartments. The Titanic remained afloat for twoand-a-half hours before finally disappearing into the icy North Atlantic. The disaster cost 1,514 lives, including that of Captain Smith, who went down with his ship. I Do you have a personal connection with The Titanic? Did a relative survive or perish in the tragedy? Write to Colette Warbrook at Features Desk, The Sentinel, Forge Lane, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5SS, including your address and a daytime telephone number, or email waywewere@thesentinel.co.uk.
Harry survived Titanic and world war PAGE 6
How Sentinel broke the news in 1912 PAGES 8&9
Share your memories...email waywewere@ thesentinel.co.uk
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Way We Were
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16-PAGE TITANIC SPECIAL INSIDE
TICKETS TO SEE STOKE Former city councillor asks to stand trial at crown court v ARSENAL
BNP LEADER ON RACE CHARGE
BY ALEX CAMPBELL
alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
BNP leader Michael Coleman has appeared in court on racism charges. The former councillor will go on trial accused of causing racial harassment over a seven-month period. It is understood the allegations relate to comments made on the defendant’s website. The 45-year-old lost his Meir North seat on Stoke-on-Trent City Council in last May’s elections. But Coleman remains the controversial party’s chief organiser
in the city and presented an award to Stoke-on-Trent’s BNP activist of the year during a Christmas party last December. The BNP today refused to confirm whether Coleman’s party membership had been suspended. Asked about Coleman’s court appearance, BNP national spokesman Simon Darby said: “I’m not interested.” Coleman, of Caverswall Road, Weston Coyney, denied two charges of racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress CHARGES: The BNP’s Michael Coleman.
caused by words or writing between August 2011 and March when he appeared at North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court. He requested a crown court trial. BNP activist and former city councillor Steve Batkin, of Bentilee, said the party ordinarily suspends members pending the outcome of legal proceedings. He said: “I haven’t discussed the situation with Michael Coleman. “He has carried on with things like leafleting, but to be honest there has been a lot of demoralisation in the local party ever since the council group leader Alby Walker left.” The BNP had nine seats in 2008/09 and was briefly the second biggest group on the council, earning Stoke-on-
Trent the dubious title as the far right party’s ‘jewel in the crown’ from national party chairman Nick Griffin MEP. Its prominence in the city sparked national attention and the party twice used the city as a base for launching nationwide manifestos. But numbers in the council chamber dwindled to five before last year’s allout elections, where it fielded just 10 candidates and won no seats. Coleman picked up just 299 votes last May as he lost out to Labour’s Ruth Rosenau. Coleman’s case will be committed to Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on May 24. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
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