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Was it women and children first on the Titanic?

Was it women and children first on the Titanic?

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As panic rose about the fate of the damaged Titanic, crew started to load the lifeboats. Why weren’t women and children first? Only 53% of the 706 survivors were women. 157 women and 56 children, exactly half of the children, perished that night. What happened to the ‘women and children first’ policy?

That terrible night, April 14, 1912, the stricken Titanic liner that had been deemed unsinkable was already sinking and had a distinct lean to the starboard and bow. The collision with an iceberg had caused a 300-foot gash to its starboard side, leading to five out of five front watertight compartments filling one after the other as seawater poured in.

In less than two hours, the sinking bow caused the massive ship’s stern to rise out of the water, breaking the ship in two. As this occurred, the four giant funnels crashed, and the bow and stern sank separately to the icy depths of the North Atlantic.

This final act abandoned 1517 passengers to the minus 2-degree sea, over two hundred of them women and children. A few would manage to survive these conditions by clawing onboard a lifeboat, if allowed by those already onboard. Yet 332 men lived to tell the tale of their survival, many with shame.

The brand new $ 7.5 million Titanic, pride of the White Star Line, the largest man-made object ever afloat, would lie on the ocean floor for 74 years with her cargo of passengers, undiscovered until 1986. Titanic never completed her maiden voyage from Southhampton to New York.

What happened? Titanic had everything, didn’t it?

The Titanic had everything but enough lifeboats and a functional pair of binoculars on the lookout bridge. For the 2223 people onboard, the Titanic had only enough lifeboats for 1178 people and only if the 20 boats were filled to capacity of 65. Four of the boats, the collapsible ones, took less.

So, you would think that the loading of these boats would be supervised with nautical command to ensure women and children boarded first. But there seemed no one in command. Even though Captain Smith was well aware of the dilemma he and his ship were in, he opted out of delivering orders. Survivors said he wandered around like a lost soul rather than taking command. It was not the glorious last voyage before retirement that he had envisioned.

Instead, an assortment of crew took command. Lifeboats 1 to 8 were located on the first-class decks at the bow end. As such, they were accessible by first class passengers who were willing to board. But many were not. Women especially feared boarding one. There had been no drill beforehand to allay passenger fears.

The Titanic was unsinkable after all, why bother the passengers? Because the Titanic was viewed as unsinkable, the number of lifeboats had been reduced in the first place. They would clutter the decks and look unsightly. They were not considered essential at the time of fitting the luxury ship.

What about women and children first?

This was the creed dictated by the chivalrous Edwardian society. Women had few other rights and privileges. They could not vote, own a business or home or even a passport. Women were just considered home bodies who occupied a small domestic sphere in life.

At best, they were decorative, submissive and pleasant company for men and provided a man with a family life. At best, men opened doors for them and surrendered their seats in vehicles and boats to them, the fairer delicate sex. Women and children first.

Men, in 1912, were the providers, the protectors, the decision makers. Given this role description, one would expect that all the lifeboats be filled with women and children. And this should have been easy as there were only 555 women on board and 1692 adolescent boys and men. This included the huge number of crew; 899 with just 23 female crew. The Titanic carried mostly men and boys.

Depending on which crew supervised the loading, adolescent boys as young as 13 could be rejected and classed as men. Many such lads went down with their fathers to the bottom of the Atlantic. On the first class deck, where the first boats were loaded, the ‘women and children rule’ was not enforced well. Neither was the ‘fill the boats’ rule.

Women were reluctant to board the lifeboats and descend the huge drop to the sea below. Even getting into the boat was tricky when you were wearing a nightgown or ball gown and it was after midnight and freezing on deck. Many women preferred to wait in the warmth and comfort of their nearby cabins and stay with their husbands and sons.

Women who should have been first missed the boat

So, not understanding the urgency of the situation, these women literally missed the boat. The first 8 boats lowered with only about 20 or less people onboard. Quite a high proportion of men and crew hopped in as women were not visible on deck. These starboard boats launched from first class boat deck were occupied by mostly men.

One, to his later shame, was Bruce Ismay, the owner of White Star Line. He had urged the full speed ahead command into the ice fields because he wanted the ship to impress people by getting to New York a day early. Most passengers would have just preferred to arrive there as promised.

In second class, the lifeboats, 9 to 16, were aft of the bow, and accessible if passengers ascended from their cabins in D, E, F and G decks. By the time loading began here, more passengers were alert to the situation so more women boarded. But these boats for the second class were also filled with first class women who now decided to board.

145 of the 156 first class women thus managed to save themselves and 104 of the 128 second class women. So only 35 of first- and second-class women died that night. Some, admittedly, by their own choice, elected to stay with their family onboard. Only one first class child died. Little 3-year-old Lorraine Allison died with her parents as they stayed behind to search for baby Trevor and the maid. But, unbeknown to the family, the maid had boarded a boat earlier with the baby and was saved.

Why didn’t the boats save all the women?

So, these statistics don’t explain the damning fact that of those saved only 53% were women or children and 157 women died with half the children onboard. What went wrong? The answer lies in the prejudice of the class system at the time. The site, Titanic Demographics, unpacks the stats on the situation. Firstly, there were no lifeboats provided for third class or steerage passengers. None at all. These people, the most numerous of any class, the 710 of them, mostly men, had to fend for themselves.

As they occupied F and G deck cabins, third class had no easy access to lifeboats or even news of what was happening. No staff urged them to go up to the decks or informed them of impending chaos. Instead, crew who were still in the corridors told them to stay put.

Even if the third-class people wanted to go up to see what was happening, they couldn’t as gates prevented them from accessing first or second-class spaces where the lifeboats were.

Steerage passengers considered vermin

This was a health precaution. Steerage passengers were considered vermin by he upper classes. As these paying steerage passengers boarded, they and they only, were checked for lice and other possible contagion. Hence the separation onboard and disregard for their well-being.

Only 25% of the women and children of this class managed to survive and only by boarding the last of the boats or diving into the sea. As the boat slowly sank, the lower cabins filled with water drowning their occupants. Even trying to escape was difficult due to the list of the corridors. It was almost impossible to walk along them as they were steep and flooded.

3rd class woman, Rhoda Abbott, free of her cabin, jumped at the last moment into the sea with her two young sons. She made it to a lifeboat, but her sons did not. Similar tragedies occurred onboard the fated Andrea Dorea in the 1950’s.

Most of the third-class men died too, 417 of the 486. It is a wonder any of the third class made it to safety. Perhaps, if they made it up on deck or out to the sea, they were better swimmers, fitter, younger than their upper-class contemporaries. This class was multinational, single men or families off to start a better life in America. Filled with hope, they could never have foreseen this outcome on a brand-new ship deemed unsinkable.

Policy, not women first, but class first

Admittedly, being a man onboard Titanic did skew the chance of survival due to the ‘women and children first’ policy, but this policy only worked in the favor of first- and second-class women. 70% of first class and 90 % of second-class men died. Of the crew, mostly men, 78% men perished. Those that survived were most likely rowers of the lifeboats or had easy access to boats on deck. They hopped in when no women were available nearby to board.

Women as Survivors

Of the 23 women crew, only 3 died. Most had boarded lifeboats to show other women it could be done or had saved themselves by swimming to a collapsible in the sea. Young Violet Jessop survived three crashes on White Star liners. First the collision of the Olympic sister ship, then the Titanic then on board the Britannic as it hit a mine in WWI.

As illustrated in this article, the ‘Women and children first’ policy only operated to an extent in the upper classes of society. Third class women passengers did not have the same treatment. Really, survival was not dictated by gender but by class.

Surviving the Titanic Tragedy

Surviving the Titanic Tragedy

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SURVIVING the TITANIC

At 4am, on the icy dawn of April 15, 1912, a still, glassy sea lay scattered only with silent lifeboats. The mighty Titanic had sunk hours before and taken 1700 souls with it down to the icy, minus 2-degree depths of the North Atlantic.

The night before, the RMS Carpathia was fifty-eight miles away when the Titanic radio operators sent a distress signal. This smaller, distant ship had onboard 725 sun seeking passengers, mostly steerage, travelling from New York to five Mediterranean ports. However soon the then unknown Carpathia would go down in history as the ‘ship of widows’.

Unfortunately, the Carpathia was not as close as the SS Californian, but it was the only ship to act on the Titanic wireless SOS distress signal. Powering away, it headed northwest to the Atlantic ice fields, the location of the stricken Titanic. Risking his own ship to the two-hundred-foot icebergs, Captain Rostron navigated through them to the compass position given.

But the sea was empty of ships. One as large as the huge liner would surely be noticed. Time had run out. The Titanic was gone. A series of human errors had coalesced to compound its fate.

The Titanic was Gone

Captain Rostron had prepared his ship for the rescue mission. But he could never prepare himself for the sight of the sad little boats with their dismal load of women and children, dressed in just nightdresses and ballgowns.

One by one his crew hauled the frozen, silent survivors on board and bundled them to warmth in the ship’s lounge and dining areas. Hot soup and coffee gave some comfort but how could anything erase the grief of leaving one’s husband and teenage sons to a sinking ship in icy waters?

Grief and Loss

The 705 survivors of the sinking, mostly women and children, would never shed their grief. Long before PTSD was a well-known condition, these women surely were candidates for that long lasting mental trauma. They would forever live in the shadow of the Titanic.

Most were wealthy first-class women due to the class system of loading of the boats, but some by mere chance were second or even third class. The statistics speak for themselves; only 2.7 per cent of first-class women died, just 4, and 3 had opted to stay aboard, whereas15 per cent of second-class women died and in third class, 53 per cent died.

Most men did die, between 83 to 91 percent depending on class again. Interestingly, a higher percentage of British men died than any other nationality, possibly due to their chivalrous nature and politeness in queues.

Those who survived, either left in lifeboats to row the women, or clambered onto a boat after the sinking. A few men like Bruce Ismay, the owner of White Star Lines, had slipped through the cracks of the panic-led loading. Branded as cowards, they would live to regret their actions on that night.

Survivors Tell their Stories

Many, many refused to ever speak of the sinking again. They closed the book on the matter, but really the events of that night lay frozen in their souls forever.

Those few who later in the 1950s, responded to historian, Walter Lord, recalled the Titanic as an auditory, rather than visual memory. One by one they told Lord, the author of A Night to Remember of the roaring wail, the collective screams, the unbearable sound of 1700 people dying. Time does not erase this sound. Just a few years later soldiers from the Western Front would experience the same with the thunder of guns, and the screams of their comrades.

So, who were they, and what happened to these 705 survivors who by either fortune or misfortune, depending how you view it, managed to survive? Andrew Wilson in his book, The Shadow of the Titanic examines this question. As I own this book along with many other books on the Titanic, I can share some of his fascinating findings and showcase the lives of a few of the women survivors.

Widows, Young and Old

They were not all widows, but many were, the young and the old. Pepita Penasco, the new bride of wealthy eighteen-year-old Victor Penasco, farewelled her new husband to step aboard a lifeboat. Neither spoke English nor fully grasped what was going on. They were on an extended honeymoon. Later in the lifeboat, she screamed for him to no avail. His body was not recovered, posing a problem for the seventeen year old. In Spain, a person could not be declared dead without a body without waiting twenty years.

So eventually wanting to remarry, she arranged an unidentified corpse to be named as Victor, so she could move on from the tragedy. Pepita was well set financially, as Victor was the heir to his grandfather’s fortune.

Writer, May Futrelle lost her husband that night, the crime writer, Jaques Futrelle. The couple had left their children behind with grandparents to take a tour of Europe promoting his detective novels and discover background for their writing. His specialty was daring escape plots, but on the fateful night, he found himself in a plot with no escape.

May last saw her husband on deck lighting a cigarette with John Jacob Astor by his side. She kept him in her sight as the lifeboat lowered and crew rowed it away. Another young woman wailed beside her at the loss of her talented sculptor husband. May Futrelle forever honoured his talent and memory by promoting his books and finishing his uncompleted novel.

Madeleine Astor was just eighteen and the new and pregnant wife of Lord Astor the richest man in the world. She too was ushered unwillingly into a boat, reluctant to leave her husband. Read her story in the next section.

Wives Reluctant to Leave the Titanic

Many arguments broke out between couples. They wanted to stay together. Some only left their husbands for the sake of the children. The common encouragement being, ‘You go, dear and I’ll stay awhile.’

Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Strauss, an older married couple, decided to stay onboard together and would die in the sinking. Many women not only had to leave their husbands, but their teenage sons. Young Jack Thayer was fortunate to survive the sinking and reunite with his mother Marion, but this was a rare event.

Imagine how these women, safe in lifeboats, felt watching as the giant liner reared its stern and sank before their eyes, knowing their family members were part of this. Out beyond the liner they were powerless to help all the 1700 in the water. Some rowed towards the sinking liner but most did not, fearful of being sucked under or swamped by desperate frozen swimmers. Yet the lifeboats were barely full, some only at third capacity. The Duff Gordons went down in history for their chilling selfishness as they bribed other passengers to not row towards the sinking liner to save people in the water.

Being a Widow In 1912

Onboard the Carpathia, widows wept and told those who tried to comfort them, ‘Go away, we have just seen our husbands drown.’ Apart from the sheer emotion of it, being a widow in 1912 was no easy matter. Husbands were the sole breadwinners back then and women of middle class did not work. Adding to this issue was the fact that many travellers had carried their life savings onboard the ship. They were starting anew in America and had brought their wealth with them. This was the days before international wire transfers of funds. Bodies found at sea had their suit pockets stuffed with cash.

Fortunately, the Red Cross would help those left penniless, but many widows had lost their will to live. Marion Thayer never recovered from losing her beloved fifty-year-old husband. She remained haunted by the vision of his body at the bottom of the ocean and died on the 14 April exactly 32 years after the disaster. Her son, Jack killed himself at the age of fifty, the same age as the father he left behind on the Titanic.

Renee Harris bravely tried to run her husband’s Hudson Theatre but ended up miserable and penniless. A second marriage failed and by 1940 she lived alone in a single room in a welfare hotel. When someone once commented on her luck at being saved, she replied, ‘Was I saved?’

This was not an uncommon response from survivors. Many felt it would have been better if they have died along with their husbands and sons. Some suffered survivor’s guilt, others had no will to embrace life. They drifted along like ghosts, a shadow of their former selves. Young Constance Willard never married, never had children, never worked. She lived out her days in a mental institution where her only joy was caring for cats.

Young Madeleine Astor, the pregnant widow of fabulously wealthy John Jacob Astor seemed best suited to recover and move on from the tragedy. But did she? At least her husband’s body had been recovered and given a stately burial on land. His will left her well cared for by way of a $5 million trust fund, a Fifth Avenue apartment and $100,000 in cash, a lot of money in 1912. But there was a sting to it. She could only have it if she did not remarry. A dilemma for a young widow of eighteen.

After four years of playing the perfect widow, Madeleine again fell in love and decided to turn her back on her fortune to marry again. But by 1932 she had to escape this unhappy second marriage. On a trip to Europe on the Titanic’s sister ship, the Olympic, she met a young professional boxer, and he became her third husband. Ultimately, he used her and her money to advance himself at her expense. Her life, full of promise did not bring her any lasting happiness.

Child Survivors of the Titanic

Life after the Titanic was difficult emotionally and financially for widows. Was it any better for the child survivors?

Young Eva Hart, just seven at the time, was by 1992, one of the oldest survivors and the inspiration for the character in the Titanic film of 1998. Eva like other young survivors never married nor had a sexual relationship. She was the only surviving child of ten born to her mother, Esther. They had not died on the Titanic but previously as infants. If not for Esther, Ava would have died too.

Esther had misgivings about travelling on a ship dubbed ’unsinkable.’ It seemed to her to be flying in the face of God. She refused to sleep at night, convinced something would happen and it did. Wakeful, she roused young Eva and went up to the decks to be one of the first women to board a lifeboat. But the events of the night forever haunted their future lives. They may have been better to have not survived without their husband and father, Benjamin Hart.

Little Douglas Spedden escaped the sinking in lifeboat 3 with both his parents and white mohair toy bear, Polar, as they were first class travellers. But just three years later Douglas was killed in a rare automobile accident leaving his shattered parents forever childless. Their story is told in Polar, the Titanic Bear written for Douglas by his mother, Daisy Spedden. A beautifully illustrated book, it was a favourite of my Titanic obsessed son when he was eight years old.

The Titanic Cast a Long Shadow

There are few happy stories to tell about the survivors. Those who did open up seemed to have unhappy lives, lives lived in the shadow of tragedy. It did not help that World War One broke out just two years later. From this event, more widows would emerge. This war cast another shadow over Titanic survivor’s lives. Twenty years later another war would erupt. It is no wonder those touched by the Titanic had issues moving forward in those challenging times.

Annie Robinson, a young stewardess on the Titanic was the first of ten survivors to commit suicide. Many others lived lives of mental trauma, going forward only as ghosts of their former selves. I will not go into the sad details of these but mention one interesting case. Frederick Fleet, the young man on watch that night hung himself. He must have suffered enormously feeling it was his fault for not sighting the iceberg sooner. But the binoculars were missing from the poop deck!

‘If only’ is a phrase used over and over for this tragedy. So many human errors and human vices came to coalesce on that night, culminating in disaster. From my fascination with twentieth century history, it seems to me that the Titanic tragedy and the Spanish Flu were two events that book-ended the greater tragedy of the Great War. For these survivors where was no comfort in collective grief.

If you did enjoy this article, I have written another on the Titanic, Women of the Titanic, and include the disaster in my historical novel, Whispers Through Time.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with five published novels, three of them historical and has her own website; https://joniscottauthor.com.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Today the Sydney Harbour Bridge spans the beautiful and now famous harbour of Sydney, Australia. Tourists flock to explore the harbourside city at the bottom of the world. The Sydney Opera House, well known for its white concrete sails, sits close and just below the grey steel bridge that unites the city, north and south.

But of course, these structures are modern in the overall scheme of things. Australia is a new country compared to Europe and Britain. Its geographic isolation kept it secret and separate until just a few centuries ago. Then Britain colonised its shores in the late 1700s and used the Great Southern Land as a penal colony for surplus convicts.

The dream of a bridge

As early as 1815, architect Francis Greenway proposed a bridge to unite the north and south sides of the vast Sydney harbour. Development of the new city only focused on the south side of the city. Greenway was a convict himself until paroled by the then Governor Macquarie. Francis Greenway was born in Gloucestershire, England. He had a promising career as an architect in the Bristol area until the firm went bankrupt. In March 1812, Greenway was found guilty of the capital charge of forgery. His sentence was commuted to transportation for 14 years to the colony of New South Wales.

Britain’s loss was Australia’s gain. Francis Greenway went on to be the civil architect for Sydney and design many of Sydney’s colonial landmarks that still stand. Governor Lachlan Macquarie employed Greenway’s skills wisely and well.

Governor Macquarie was from Scotland and was an uncle of my Scottish grandmother, Mary Macquarie. Unfortunately, Macquarie did not consider the bridge to be a priority and so it never happened till much later after these two men passed.

A bridge unrealised for many years

Throughout the next century, the 19th, other bridge enthusiasts came and went. However, by the 20th century, the lack of a way across the harbour became more of a priority. People on the north side of the harbour could only access the city and beyond by ferry or punt. This left the beautiful northern side of the harbour quite underdeveloped. The wheels of progress can be slow at times and unfortunately, by the time a draft design for a bridge eventuated, World War I erupted.

Only after the terrible war ended and peace returned did the idea resurface. In 1922, a steel arch bridge was proposed to cross from Dawes Point in the south to Milson’s Point on the northern side, now called the North Shore. The chief engineer was Dr John Bradfield, already the engineer for the Department of Public Works.  Bradfield dreamed of making Sydney the greatest city in the Pacific. Indeed, he had grand ambitions even thinking of another bridge from the North Head to South Head further towards the coastline.

Bradfield did not design the bridge only propose it. It was Ralph Freeman who designed the simple single arch with decorative not functional pylons. Bradfield did not like this design, and the men fought badly both claiming to be the sole designer. When it came to the official plaque, the fight for recognition was really on. The highway across the bridge became the Bradfield Highway and instead, King George VI knighted Freeman for his services.

Work begins on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Work on the Sydney Harbour bridge started in 1923. This necessitated the demolition of hundreds of houses, shops, hotels and businesses. The authorities did not offer these displaced people anywhere to go or recompence for their property lost. The people moved south, and tent cities sprouted up on the south side of the city near La Perouse. Others moved in with their families. To fund the bridge the government borrowed money from overseas. This caused huge problems when the Great Depression came in 1930. The 1929 Stock crash on Wall Street meant banks started to call in debts. The Australian economy struggled with its funding. Unemployment and homelessness rose steeply.

However, the bridge construction gave work to many, including my grandfather. The bridge united the city in hope at a dark time during the early 1930s. Nicknamed the Iron Lung of the city, the construction employed 1654 workers and kept Sydney alive through the Great Depression. When one shift of riveters or painters finished another surge of workers clocked on. This shared the work between as many men as possible to keep families financially afloat. 4000 men worked on the construction over ten years.

Bridge work was dangerous

Work on the huge steel bridge construction was very dangerous. There were no safety nets or other precautions against falls. Nor did the workers wear safety clothing or helmets as they do today. Sixteen men died by falling either from the arch or pylons or dying at the surrounding work sites. Read about them here.

Most Sydneysiders were unaware of these tragedies.

Set in the early decades of 20th century Sydney, this historical novel completes the tale of two sisters, Winnie and Francesca.

“Those who gave their lives for the bridge were barely acknowledged,” explains Caroline Mackaness, co-author of Bridging Sydney and curator of the exhibition of the same name at the Museum of Sydney.

“The politicians clearly did not want to spoil what was meant to be a joyous occasion, especially at a time of Depression, by drawing attention to the negatives,” she said.

The dramatic bridge opening

Finally, in March 1932, the bridge was complete. The opening ceremony however was plagued by political issues and made world news. For some months, there was civil unrest due to political issues concerning welfare payments and funding for government services. One disgruntled group called the New Guard was opposed to the premier Jack Lang. He was in favour of not repaying the overseas loan but instead helping Sydney and its people. The New Guard feared a revolution and even communism so lobbied to the Governor to have Lang dismissed.

The activist New Guard was also furious that Lang was opening the bridge instead of the king or the governor. As a result of this, Captain Francis de Groot of the New Guard gate crashed the ceremony on horseback and, using a sword, slashed the ceremonial ribbon himself before Premier Lang could do so.

The dead workers honoured

The premier, Jack Lang, made no mention of the deaths. However, the Minister for Public Works laid a modest plaque honouring the men.  It is above the steps on the southern approaches to the bridge but today, it is easily missed by passing pedestrians.

In 2007, the workers who died for their bridge received recognition on the 75th anniversary of the opening. Also, a new plaque was laid in their honour. More can be learnt at the Museum of Sydney located at the corner of Phillip and Bridge streets.

Crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

During the opening, an estimated half of the population of Sydney walked across the bridge. This was about 600, 000 people.

In 1982, on the 50th anniversary, about the same number crossed by foot again. By then, you could also cross by car or train. many celebrated this anniversary on ferries or other watercraft or on the nearby foreshores. Sydneysiders love their bridge! Today there are bridge tours and bridge climbs available to the public if you are not height wary.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge remained the symbol of Sydney for many years until the Opera House, built nearby, stole its limelight. It is amazing to reflect that these two structures like many other amazing buildings around the world were built on the sweat of physical workers. No computers, calculators or mobile phones can claim any credit.

Every New Year’s Eve, millions of people gather on the harbour or its foreshores to watch the fireworks herald in the new Year. Australia is always one of the first places in the world to see the new year or century. Our time zone like New Zealand’s is about ten hours ahead of the Uk and Europe.

Read what it was like in the days of the bridge construction in Vashti Farrer’s small book, Sydney Harbour Bridge. Vashti uses the unique voices of two children to tell her Australian story. I read this book and a few others before writing my own historical novel, Last Time Forever which tells the story of two sisters who, at the time and up to 1950, lived in Sydney. Based on the true-life story of my grandparents.

 

 

 

The mystery ship and the Titanic

The mystery ship and the Titanic

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This SS Titanic is one of my history obsessions. As such, it showcases so much of humanity and was a pivotal moment in history, It and the Spanish Flu are bookends to the greater tragedy of WWI. The tragic story of the Titanic still fascinates, despite the ship’s loss over a century ago.

Indeed, The RMS Titanic lives on as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when ego and greed overpower responsibility and safety concerns. But intriguingly, the mystery of the ‘mystery ship’ sighted by Titanic crew and passengers also endures. The loss of the Titanic affected many lives but just not those aboard. The involvement of other ships in its rescue affected the crew of those ships too.  Read on for details of these mystery ships surrounding the Titanic.

Yes, the Titanic story is one that keeps on giving. There is so much to fascinate, so many lessons about human nature to appreciate and ongoing mysteries to puzzle. What really happened that night onboard the Titanic and the nearby ships?

What caused the Titanic tragedy?

It is telling of human nature that we are drawn to details of tragedies. Perhaps it is because there is so much to take away and reflect on. The factors that caused the real-life Titanic tragedy are themselves endlessly fascinating. In this instance, there were a myriad of fateful errors both human and natural.

Titanic was steaming ahead in a fateful race with Time itself. Captain Edward Smith confidently ordered her throttled into full steam so she could arrive in New York ahead of schedule. He, along with Bruce Ismay, director of White Star Line, wanted to showcase her capabilities as the biggest ship ever to sail the seas. It was Smith’s last commission at sea, so this would be a fitting end to his career. A timely six day crossing of the Atlantic was important for both men. But thousands of others would have preferred to just arrive.

The Titanic had everything but lifeboats

Neither man seemed concerned by reported ice warnings in the ocean ahead. Nor were they overly mindful of their responsibility to the cargo of 2240 passengers considering the paucity of lifeboats. The Titanic had everything anyone could want on board a ship, except enough lifeboats and a pair of binoculars. Those were missing to from the look-out.

There were only enough lifeboats for 1178 people, leaving 1023 others stranded. That is only if the lifeboats were fully loaded, which was definitely not the case. Many that could take 65 people, left with less than twenty aboard. Some of these fortunate passengers were extremely wealthy and influential women along with children and even first-class men. Most second and third-class passengers went down with the ship.

So many fateful errors

If it were not for the speed, the inattention to ice, the lowered bulkheads, the limited lifeboats, the missing binoculars on the watch deck, the poor-quality steel, the pop rivets, the last-minute attempt to swerve around the iceberg…. So many ‘ifs, so many factors that coalesced to cause tragedy. The mysteries surrounding the Titanic are many.

Then, apart from the ship’s construction, the speed and human factors, there was the bad luck that the only nearby ship, the Californian, turned off its telegram service and retired all staff to bed, even after sighting a flare rocket. ‘We thought it was a just a party,’ the captain claimed in defense. Words that went down in history like those of Captain Smith. ‘I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.’

The mystery ship nearby

Captain Lord of The Californian would become the scapegoat during the British enquiry into the disaster. However, the Californian lay actually 20 miles to the north of the Titanic and may not have been the mystery ship on the horizon seen from the Titanic. Perhaps it was the crew of the mystery ship now identified as the SS Mount Temple who ignored their duty. This ship was also nearby but on the other side of the deadly icefield.

A night of confusion

The SS Mount Temple responded to the Titanic‘s distress signals on 14 April 1912 but its captain, Capt. Moore, stopped short of helping, He later claimed the ice was too thick to safely pass through. Controversy continues as to the exact position of the SS Mount Temple on tht fateful night. Moore’s recollections of his ship’s true speed and distance from Titanic confound conclusions to this day. Some historians claim that Mount Temple was the ‘mystery ship’ seen by officers and passengers aboard the Titanic five to ten miles away, rather than the SS Californian blamed in the British Inquiry.[1][2]

However, many other experts firmly believe that the ‘Californian‘ was the ship seen from the ‘Titanic‘, and vice versa. This history article is one of many to summarize the findings.

Wrong coordinates for Titanic wreck

One of the most confounding mysteries surrounding the Titanic is why nearby ships did not come to the rescue. Mystery ship, SS Mount Temple stopped to the west of The Titanic disaster site.  The British enquiry overlooked this because the reported disaster site had the wrong coordinates. Only in 1984 when the wreck of the Titanic was discovered were the true coordinates known. Despite being critically damaged by the iceberg, the Titanic drifted, not completely stopping, as first believed. This is one of the mysteries surrounding the Titanic

Quoting Wikipedia, as it explains the matter well,  ‘At a distance of 49.5 nautical miles (91.7 km; 57.0 mi) from the famous distress coordinates of Titanic, and roughly 60 miles (97 km) from the actual location of the disaster, SS Mount Temple was simply too far away to be seen from those aboard Titanic, and for those aboard Mount Temple to see Titanic or her distress rockets. Captain Moore and his crew made a desperate attempt to reach the stricken Titanic but only reached the western side of the ice field that stood between her and the wreck site some 2 hours and 40 minutes after Titanic sank. There was no way that she could have reached Titanic in time to carry out a rescue; she did not ‘abandon’ Titanic.’

A possible rescue?

This seems the consensus of most historians on the SS Mount Temple’s possibility of rendering assistance.

The wireless operator onboard Titanic reported two sets of coordinates, one on either side of the icefield. But not all nearby ships received both as it was very late at night, and some had shut off the Marconi wireless. Smaller ships may not have even had the new innovation of a wireless. Other historians claim it was neither of these nearby ships, the Californian or the Mount Temple, but a northbound Norwegian steamer, named Samson. But this ship was very small and unlikely to be the mystery ship seen that night.

The hope of a rescue was one factor in the reluctance of passengers especially women to board lifeboats and leave the warm comfort of the Titanic. The mystery ship visible on the horizon seemed as if it could come soon to rescue them. The women waited with their men folk and let others board. A lack of urgency led to the boats leaving partially loaded. some with a capacity of 60 left with only a dozen or so, mostly men.

Titanic and its Women Passengers.

Women were also afraid of the drop down to the cold dark sea below. It was 70ft from Boat deck A to the chilly Atlantic. One of the few advantages of being a woman in the Victorian age was chivalry. For those who have no experience of it, chivalry is the social and moral code by which men supposedly, selflessly, respect women. It is definitely a dying art!

In 1912, chivalry dictated that women and children had priority over men, with regards to lifeboats. The problem, of course, was that there were not enough lifeboats, even for the women and children and women were not eager to be in one.

Class onboard Titanic mattered

Sadly, as explained above, most lifeboats left the ship with few onboard and most of these were first-class women and men, and crew. Because, though chivalry was active, class was the dominating decider of who survived.

Third-class women and children had a slim chance of making it on deck, to even try for a lifeboat. There were no lifeboats for third class at all. The rules of the ship restricted third class passengers access to higher decks. This was to avoid mass panic, so the captain maintained, but really it was all about class. James Cameron’s blockbuster, Titanic (1998) portrays this well.

Class and women survivors

The first-class women included the likes of eighteen-year-old Lady Madeleine Astor, the young and pregnant wife of John Jacob Astor. He was the richest man onboard the ship and unlike some first-class men, behaved admirably.  Wealthy Sir and Lady Duff Gordon bribed their way onto a boat and like Bruce Ismay suffered lifelong disgrace.

Rumors abounded that these well-off individuals refused to row back to save others, when the ship finally descended to the icy depths of the Atlantic. The ‘unsinkable Molly Brown’ a nouveau riche society woman tried to influence her fellow passengers in lifeboat 6 to return to help those in the sea.

Most third-class women perished along with their husbands and children, and this was the fate of many second-class women as well. They did not join the ranks of first-class widows who arrived in New York in a state of shock and disbelief. At least they had financial security to continue alone.

Unhappy Survivors

But even these apparently fortunate women who survived, did not live on to have happy lives. The shadow of the Titanic cast a long shadow. The echoes of that night reverberated forever. Many reported that over seventy years later, that they still suffered nightmares and heard the screams from those in the water.  The Shadow of the Titanic follows the ongoing lives of the survivors of that terrible night. Interestingly, most of them lived sad lives and many died young and even quite soon after the event.

The audio memory of the screams of those dying in the icy water, then the silence that followed haunted many survivors.  This was the predominant Some women went insane, committed suicide or just suffered, not only as widows but as remarried women. Many had survivor-guilt and questioned the meaning of life.

Child survivors had similar memories and distress throughout their life. Maybe it was better to drown with your husband and children, than live on as a survivor? Being a third-class widow would have been a difficult role in life in 1912. So many factors compounded to cause the tragedy. There are a lot of ‘if only ifs’ that make this such a human tragedy involving not just nature at work but human nature with all its frailty.

Titanic in Literature

The ill-fated Titanic is the subject of many books such as the definitive A Night to Remember by Walter Lord (1956) and Titanic, An Illustrated History by Don Lynch (1992). The ship features in Stephen Weir’s book, History’s Worst Decisions and is the inspiration for a children’s book called Polar, the Titanic Bear, about the actual teddy bear of a little boy who survived the sinking. The little boy who owned the teddy bear died in a family car crash within a year and is just one example of the long shadow that the Titanic cast over people’s lives. Some folks never recovered from family losses, while others bore survivor’s guilt that prevented their happiness. Because of my obsession with this tragedy, I included the Titanic tragedy in my own historical fiction novel, Whispers through Time, set around 1912.

 

Follow my history blogs on https://joniscottauthor.com

Joni Scott is an Australian author with five published novels, three historical and two contemporary. https://joniscottauthor.com.

Joni’s Scott’s Last Time Forever

Joni’s Scott’s Last Time Forever

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Joni Scott’s Last Time Forever is the third and last novel in her ‘Time’ series of historical novels. It is a standalone novel and Joni’s fifth. Readers can first enjoy the prequel novel, Time Heal my Heart and its prequel, Whispers through Time. All three novels focus on a true story set in the first half of the Twentieth century. Joni sprinkled a true story with the magic dust of fiction and included some exciting subplots and characters. Tellwell Canada proudly publishes this book for the Australian author. Here is the link to the paperback print version of Last Time Forever. on Amazon. The print and e book format are also available on many other popular platforms.

What is Last Time Forever about?

The Great War is over, and the world celebrates. It is 1920. Childless young couple, Francesca and Sebastian leave Sydney, Australia for a second honeymoon in Europe. Paris is abuzz with writers and artists. They fall in love with the city and each other all over again.

But at the abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, the mood is very different. War has left its mark, and the orphanage shelters the tiny victims of its chaos. However, when Francesca and Sebastian meet little Pepe, the sun seems to shine again. They become family and travel on with Pepe to Spain to reunite with Sebastian’s parents. It is a summer to remember, the first they share together as a family.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge Construction

The focus of last Time forever shifts to the disruption and excitement in Sydney as the Harbour Bridge starts to extend across the beautiful harbour. From their vantage point of the North Shore, Francesca and Winnie’s families watch its progress. Winnie’s husband, Walter, is one of the fortunate men to get a job on the construction. He feels doubly fortunate once The Great Depression of the 1930s descends on the city. Life is hard and beggars and the homeless roam the streets. The bridge construction stands as a beacon of hope through these dark times. It is a symbol of hope. It will unite the city.

Sisters, Francesca and Winnie are main characters

Francesca and Winnie are sisters newly emigrated from London. The story focuses on their lives. Circumstances threaten their once close relationship. As Winnie has child after child, Francesca worries for a sister who does not have the same spirit she had before the war took its toll on her. Does Winnie have melancholia as Sebastian her doctor husband suspects?

Francesca, the younger sister is the narrator. As an older woman she starts her story in 1920’s just after World War One.

An intriguing French subplot in Last Time Forever

Francesca’s concern shifts to France and her French friend Lisbette. The shadow of war in Europe threatens to become world-wide. Hadn’t the Great War been enough to end all wars?

While the war rages in Europe and another threatens the Pacific, Lisbette becomes involved in the Resistance. Francesca has no idea of her friend’s secretive work.  It is a very dangerous time for the people of France.

The story centres on true events and is a family saga novel.

coverdraft-LastTimeForever-final Joni Scott is an Australian writer with four published novels. Last Time Forever is her fifth novel and third historical fiction based on true lives. Writing is a hobby she discovered while trying to make sense of her family history. Joni has her own website where she writes history and writing blog posts. joniscottauthor.com

 

 

 

 

The Titanic Band Played on

The Titanic Band Played on

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As the doomed Titanic neared its final moments, the Titanic Band Played on. As they boarded the glamorous unsinkable liner, never did these young musicians consider this seaboard work assignment would be their last. They were all still young men. Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster was only 33 years old, from Yorkshire and engaged to be married. Hartley and the other band members boarded as second-class passengers assigned to E deck. There were two rooms each for five musicians next to the potato washroom. But only eight bandsmen boarded. Edwina Troutt, survivor enjoyed hearing them practice. She was also on E deck.

The Titanic band played as the rich ate

Although their quarters were far from glamorous, the band dressed in suits and ties.  They played in the First-Class lounges where the cream of New York and Philadelphia society gathered. The talented band could play anything and well. There repertoire extended to over 300 pieces which they had to know by heart. Protocol did not permit music sheets. Divided into a deck trio and a saloon orchestra, the men played throughout the meals and soirees of the five-day voyage. The quintet played at luncheon in the First-Class Dining Saloon at the foot of the Grand Staircase. There was a grand piano there for this purpose. Double doors opened from the staircase into the lovely saloon room.

Palm Court musicians

Women wore the Paris fashions of the day and men wore the standard black evening suit even at lunch. The quintet would not be visible as the rich passengers entered for lunch. As paid servants rather than celebrity players they were required to play discreetly from behind palm fronds of the potted plants. This gave rise to the expression Palm Court Musicians. Music onboard ships was a tradition dating from the 1850s when White Star and its rival Cunard arranged entertainment aboard their ships. In the afternoons, the quintet band played brisk polkas, waltzes and ragtime in the lounge and in the reception area outside the Dining Saloon after dinner.

For those in peril on the sea.

The trio which included one of the pianists mainly played for First Class in the A la Carte restaurant and the Cafe Parisien. Their music was more continental in flavour due to the French cellist and the Belgian violinist. Both the trio and quintet were very popular with the passengers. They requested pieces and songs for them to play. The quintet also played for the Sunday church service onboard. Survivors remember the hymns, Oh God Our Help in Ages Past and Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The last line of this one is ‘For those in peril on the sea.’ 

A last-minute assignment to Titanic

Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster had not wanted to come onboard the Titanic. He had just left the Mauretania and wanted to go home to see his family and fiancée, Maria Robinson. But fate would have it that the Titanic bandmaster had just become a father and was not sailing on the Titanic maiden voyage. he went home to meet his new child instead. White Star Line asked Wallace Hartley to fill his position for the trip. It was an honour to be bandmaster on the biggest ship in the world, especially for its first voyage. So why did Wallace hesitate?

Hartley hesitated about boarding Titanic

A few reasons. Wallace was happy working on the Mauretania where he knew and liked the other ‘boys.’ Secondly, getting to the Titanic on time would be a rush, allowing no leave with his family. Also, the train fare to Southhampton was expensive and not subsidized by the company. Over the next day, Hartley decided to accept the position. Perhaps the shipping line offered some money to entice him? His musician friend Ellwand Moody felt nervous about travelling on such a big ship and said, ‘No, thanks.’ The men said goodbye in Liverpool.

Wallace Hartley made his way to Southhampton alone and sailed on the ill-fated Titanic the next day. He had never met any of his fellow bandsmen before. Wallace was a violinist and there were two others both in their early twenties. One of them had never played on a ship before but had spent six years studying at the Conservatoire in Liege. There were two pianists. One had just transferred from the Carpathia which would later come to Titanic’s rescue but too late. There were two cellists and a bass player also making his first Atlantic crossing.

 

Rivalry for the Atlantic passenger market.

Some passengers and the public had been nervous about a ship so big. But the media of the time and the White Star Line who built her, promoted her as unsinkable. However, anyone with a scientific or engineering background could see there was a limit to the size of ships. Bigger and bigger was not always the answer to supremacy of the seas. The Cunard and White Star Lines were competing for the Atlantic passenger market. There were no airlines in those days. The only way to get from Europe to America was by ship. The Titanic had everything a ship could have. Except a pair of binoculars and enough lifeboats. But nobody was focusing on these. Instead, they marvelled at the Grand Staircase, the restaurants, the gymnasium, the Turkish Baths and the swimming pool. And the food.

The last evening onboard the Titanic

Dinner the last evening was as sumptuous as ever. First Class enjoyed oysters, filet mignon, Waldorf Pudding and ice cream which was a treat back then. There were no doubt other courses of soup and fish, but survivors remembered these first items. The binoculars were onboard for the lookout, but in a locked cupboard.  The officer with the key transferred at the last minute to another ship. Fortunate man. Without these Frederick Fleet had to peer into the inky blackness of the night. When he suddenly saw a huge grey shape looming ahead, his response was too slow.  He was in shock. This last-minute turn to port, resulted in the entire starboard of the ship scraping along the iceberg.

The ship was going too fast in an ice field. The Titanic captain ignored ice warnings by telegram from other ships. Much of an iceberg is submerged and this hidden bulk is what did the damage to the Titanic. A 300-foot gash opened on the side of the mighty liner. The sea gushed in and quickly flooded the first five compartments.

Titanic is doomed

Watertight compartments did not go all the way to the top so as each compartment filled it flowed over into the next. The doomed ship listed towards the bow and starboard side. Boilermen and mail workers drowned as the sea rushed in. It was 11.40pm, 14 April 1912.  The realisation was slow to sink in both for the crew and passengers. Denial is the first stage of shock.

At 12.05am Captain Smith reluctantly ordered the lifeboat deployment. He knew the boats were only enough for half of the people on board. The passengers did not know. Only after the ship’s motors stopped and the boat developed a lean did they start to worry.

The band played on as Titanic sank

The band kept playing despite the lack of passengers on deck. Many were already in bed or below deck. It was a very cold moonless night. The musicians always wore their blue tuxedo suits with green lapels and White Star badges. At 12.45 am as lifeboats were hauled over the side, the quintet and trio played together. One pianist sat out as there was only one piano in the lounge area. Later they moved outside as that is where passengers were gathering and later panicking. The pianists could not play as the piano was inside. As the night was very cold, the remaining musicians donned their overcoats to play.

As the ship listed the cellists and bass player could not sit to use their instruments. It was the three violinists who continued. Distress signals had reached a few ships. Carpathia was on the way but would take four hours at top speed. Lifeboats left half empty. Women of the Titanic were either fearful of the long drop to the sea or did not want to leave their husbands and sons. Only at 12.30 did anyone consider third class passengers. There were no assigned lifeboats for them. neither could they easily access the first- and second-class boat decks where the boats were being loaded.

By 12.45 am it was obvious to all onboard that the ship was sinking. The water had reached C deck. Yet the band played on.

The band were heroes of the sinking

At 2.05am, the last lifeboat left. Some people had jumped into the sea in a desperate attempt to swim and reach the lifeboats as many had few onboard. The only third-class woman to survive the jump reported still hearing music. Other survivors report hearing music at 2.10 am. By then the deck was steep as the stern rose and bow sank as well as a severe lean to starboard or right side. The selflessness of the band did not go unnoticed. They emerged as heroes of the sinking. None of the band survived to tell their story or set the record right as to their last tune played.

Band played Nearer my God to Thee

Legend has it that it was Nearer my God to Thee, a favourite hymn of Walaace Hartley. Others maintain it was the soothing tune, Autumn. Despite their dedication to duty, some say until the water reached their knees, the band made an attempt to save themselves in the dying moments of the ship. Wallace Hartley strapped his beloved violin to his chest and either jumped or went down with the ship. The cries of the 1500 people without a lifeboat to save them lasted an hour. Only thirteen of them made it into a lifeboat. The rest died not from drowning, but from the cold of the water. Nearly all the bodies had life buoys attached that kept the bodies afloat for the rescue and recovery boats.

The retrieval shipmen recovered Wallace Hartley’s body and returned it via three forms of transport to his grieving family.  Wallace had a hero’s funeral in his hometown and remained a hero of the undying Titanic legend. A memorial fund erected a statue to the bandmaster in his native Colne in Yorkshire. Maria, Wallace’s fiancée, never married. She tended his grave and cherished his violin for the rest of her life.

If you like this post, find more detail in the book, A Hymn for Eternity by Yvonne Carroll.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with five published novels. Three are historical fiction. The first, Whispers through Time is set at the time of the Titanic sinking. Joni also writes a history blog with posts like this. She has written three others on the Titanic sinking.

The Titanic

See more at joniscottauthor.com.

 

All about jigsaw puzzles

All about jigsaw puzzles

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I’m a self-confessed jigsaw addict.

Let’s talk all about jigsaw puzzles. Every time I dissemble a completed jig saw puzzle, I tell myself, ‘Well, that was a waste of time’. I could have cleaned the whole house, written five chapters of my novel or completed an aerobic exercise regime. That would be something to show for the time I frittered away playing with tiny pieces of cardboard.

But a few weeks later, there I am again, opening another box, sorting the pieces into straight edges then colours, assembling an image to match the one on the box lid. The problem is, I have over fifty puzzles stacked in a cupboard, friends and family keep giving me more for gifts and also used puzzles are remarkably cheap at op shops. Lately I decided to stack some of my puzzles in decorative piles in the sunroom. I chose the Parisian ones for this and added a picture of Paris above them on the wall. Paris is always a good idea! So Audrey Hepburn said.

Apparently, I am not alone in my hobby if you can call it that. During Covid lockdowns many people discovered the joys of puzzles and maybe books too, as they struggled to fill their days inside. My interest in puzzling goes way back but welcome all you new puzzlers. Your puzzle collection will never be lacking. There is a great variety to choose from.

Jigsaw puzzles come in all shapes and sizes

Jigsaw puzzles come in all shapes, sizes and piece numbers. The most popular is the 1000-piece format but some die hard addicts go for larger piece numbers. Children’s puzzles vary between 100 and 500 and feature bigger pieces. Mind you, when we are older it can be harder to see the detail of the small 1000 puzzle pieces, so this is a bit puzzling in itself.

I think child puzzle piece size is more about stopping kids eating the pieces rather than for their eyesight or dexterity. Once while engaged in a puzzle, a visiting Jack Russel jumped up and ate a bunch of the pieces of my puzzle in progress. He thought they were dog chow. His disappointment was obvious as he spat out a mess of chewed up cardboard. I could not complete the puzzle. It had a few holes where Toby’s mouthfuls should be. So be wary of small canines.

The most popular puzzle shape is the rectangle, but I have square, round, amorphous and even edgeless puzzles. I once had a 3D one of an English village. There are also puzzles with no pictures to guide you. Agatha Christie ones like this teasing aspect.

If you’re looking for a jigsaw puzzle with a difference, a Quordle jigsaw may be for you. The pieces are “different” with curves, and many are shaped in the form of animals and plants. I was fortunate to receive one as a gift so did not have to buy. They are quite expensive due to their hand-crafted wooden pieces.

All about the History of jigsaw puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles originated in 18th-century England as educational devices to teach geography to children. History records that John Spilsbury, a London mapmaker invented the jigsaw puzzle. It was 1760 and John had the bright idea of pasting a paper map onto wood board and then using a fretsaw or jigsaw he cut the map into portions. John gave the wooden pieces to students to reassemble as a great interactive hands-on geography lesson. How clever. I doubt today’s kids would be much good at this. Maps of the world are rarely in classrooms now.

Once this concept seemed a success, manufacturers used dissected pictures covering such subjects as history, the alphabet, botany, and zoology. The use of scenic pictures began in the 1860s and ’70s, in Great Britain and the USA.  Jigsaws became popular in the early 1900s and had a revival in the Great Depression of the 1930s as an inexpensive amusement. By then the whole process of manufacture was automated not by hand.

During WWII wood was in short supply so cardboard took its place. Puzzles of this era usually featured scenes of battles or warships and airplanes. I guess even the guys became involved then. With the advent of movies and cartoons, these became the subject of jigsaws too. Children particularly liked the cartoon scenes. Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety being firm favourites. Jigsaws also featured nursery rhymes, alphabets, poems and even times tables. Being a chemist, I had to buy a puzzle of the Periodic Table of elements. It even has an accompanying quiz, so you get to learn some chemistry while you have fun.

All about jigsaws and Covid

We witnessed another revival of interest in jigsaws during the Covid pandemic when governments limited outdoor amusement and social interaction. I did a few myself during this time. It would have been good to have a few during my lockdown in Italy and France in early 2020. My husband and I became stranded in Europe in March 2020. We travelled for medical reasons to a clinic in Genova Italy. I had severe CRPS at the time and went for a cure.

But Covid erupted while I was in hospital, and we became stuck, landlocked by closed borders. A puzzle or two then would have been excellent to while away the months in lockdown in a foreign country. But the shops closed and deliveries not happening. You know how it was.

Instead, I wrote a book, The Last Hotel, about strangers meeting at Nice airport as they tried to scramble home. It was not easy to get a flight, nigh impossible for many, so these strangers, us included, had to wait it out at hotels. But they kept closing too. Hence my book, The Last Hotel, written in lockdown for the lack of jigsaws. What else could a girl do?

My characters however do have jigsaws. They are the strangers who took refuge in the only hotel left open, a pensione. They become a united family of strangers who have to get along until the lockdown order is lifted. A jigsaw or two, yes please. There is a jigsaw scene in this book. Even the young characters in the novel join in to sort the colours, the edges and find the missing pieces. It’s a bonding activity.

Jigsaws involve teamwork, mental gym and they are fun in a very tame way. Amusement for all ages.

Puzzles are good for us

I used the concept of a jigsaw in my first historical novel. A woman from the present puzzles together the bare facts of her Edwardian ancestry. It is a dual timeline novel called Whispers through Time.  Once you start looking, life offers many types of puzzles. Crosswords, Suzuko and Rubik’s Cube are all puzzles. Learning anything can be like doing a puzzle. Languages, mathematics to name a few. You don’t have to be in a nursing home to sit and do puzzles. In fact if you do lots then you won’t end up with dementia in a nursing home.

Long live the jigsaw!

Puzzles live on despite the digital age. You can do all sorts online. There are word puzzles like Wordle, and you can even do a jigsaw online. I’ve never tried as I feel enough of my life is online. I want to escape the computer not embrace it. But I guess if you are stranded without the real thing like I was you could puzzle away via the net. I never thought of this at the time. Internet was a bit dicey anyway.

So, the history of puzzles is not over yet. From the first puzzles invented in ancient Roman and Egyptian times, we have been puzzling away for a long, long time now and still going. Puzzles are good therapy for the mind. They keep you thinking, reasoning and the spatial aspect of puzzles is particularly good. Plus, there is the hand eye co-ordination, a bonus.

Photo by Mikayla Townsend on Unsplash

Joni Scott is an Australian writer. She has four published novels. Two are historical and two contemporary. They are all set in exotic locations so you get to armchair travel as you read and learn stuff. see them on joniscottauthor.com.

 

All about Colour

All about Colour

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Life is all about colour

We are so used to colour in our everyday life that we take it for granted and don’t realise its effects on our choices and our psyche. When we dress, decorate our house, prepare and choose our food, we unconsciously engage with colour choices.

Unlike animals we see in glorious technicolour due to the rods and cones, the light receptors in our eyes. Cones are the ones that detect and interpret colour so we are lucky to have these little guys.

What is Colour?

So now you know how we see colour, but let’s understand exactly what colour is. Here, it gets a bit scientific, but hang in there, the fun bits will come.

We are surrounded by all sorts of invisible waveforms called the electromagnetic spectrum. There are x-rays, infra-red, ultraviolet or UV, lots of different waves that are like, the now ubiquitous wi-fi, which is everywhere. These waves have different wavelengths. The shorter the wavelength, the more intense the wave is and the more damaging to human tissue, eg x rays.

Colour is all about light

Visible light is one such band of waves that varies from violet at 400, to red at 700 nanometres in wavelength. A nanometre is only very small, 1,000,000,000 smaller than a meter. Way back, Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered its ability to break into seven colours as it passes through a refractive glass prism.

After it rains, there are water droplets in the air that act as tiny prisms, splitting the light and creating the beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow. Science after all, is just a confirmation to understand the wonderful natural world.

Science also tells us that we see different coloured objects, due to the wavelength of the light reflected from that object, because all other wavelengths or colours have been absorbed. So, a red apple is red because only the red wavelength is reflected our way into our eyes and processed by our cone receptors. White objects reflect all light wavelengths and black objects absorb them all. This also explains why white is cooler to wear and black warmer.

All about Colour as Therapy

So why do different things reflect different coloured light? Well, that’s a good question and at the same time a mystery. Answers vary from God made it so, to complicated explanations on the matter of various substances. Just be happy with the fact that the trees are green because their leaves reflect only green light which is proven to be a restful colour for us humans.

Blue and green, the colours of nature, are good for us. We feel this when we enter a natural area or sit under trees. Their light, and also emitted oxygen as they photosynthesize, are good for us.

This brings us to the subject of colour therapy or chromotherapy, using colour to heal or motivate. ‘Chromo’ refers to colour, so chromotherapy is therapy using colour to heal physical, mental, and spiritual issues. Dating back to ancient times, colour therapy is one of the most holistic and simplest therapies involving immersion of the human body with light of assorted colours.

All light forms have varying wavelengths and frequencies so light is a vibrational energy. Different colours affect our body cells in different ways. Chromotherapy uses this concept to adjust our creativity, energy, and mood, clearing stress and inducing restfulness and balance.

 

Your personal colour palette

Finding your own therapeutic and beautifying colour palette is fun. I had mine done years ago and used this experience to explain it in my latest book, Colour comes to Tangles. I include an excerpt here as it is self-explanatory and saves me reinventing the colour wheel, so to speak.

Vidisha the colour therapist character treats her client, Tanya to the ‘colour me beautiful’ ‘discovery process.

Excerpt from Colour Comes to Tangles by Joni Scott

“Vidisha draped a brilliant piece of pink cloth around my shoulders. ‘Now, there, that is better. Notice how your skin glows and your eyes shine?’

She removed and then replaced the large silk scarf. Yes, there was a difference, and it was not just the covering of my embarrassingly stained shirt. I definitely looked better in pink. My eyes seemed greener and my skin glowed.

Then the pink disappeared, and Vidisha draped me with a shimmering turquoise. ‘Oh, that is beautiful!’ I exclaimed. ‘And now you look beautiful, Tanya. This colour is lovely on you.’

I blushed. Beautiful? How could I be beautiful when my reflection seemed so plain compared to Vidisha’s exotic appearance? There seemed no comparison.

‘Tanya, you are, I believe, a spring personality. Adventurous, brave, and fun-loving.’

‘I am?’

‘Yes. But to confirm this, we will drape you in a few wrong colours. Red and navy blue, even black.’

She drew away my beautiful cape of turquoise and draped me with red, then navy and lastly black. None of these colours liked me. I looked drab and dull, as if the sun had gone behind a cloud.

‘Oh,’ is all I could say.

‘Yes, oh. Now some magic again!’ A soft, lemon yellow appeared around my shoulders and again softened my face and I glowed again.

‘There we go. Now your homework, Tanya, is to go home to your cupboard and take out the right colours for you according to this chart. I want you to only wear these until our next session and let us see how you feel. If you don’t have any of these colours, then you may need to buy a few shirts or drape yourself in a scarf. Your skirt or pants can be a different colour but nothing too different. No red, navy or black. Denim is acceptable though.”

 

Suggested reading (as well as my book!) is The Little Book of Colour by Karen Haller. Karen is a world renowned colour expert and her book is not only fascinating reading but beautifully colourful as well.

They may be able to point you to happiness so you can skip along the yellow brick road like Dorothy. Don’t forget to take Toto, though, animals are great therapy too. A topic for another day. Joni Scott is an Australian writer with four published novels. Her website is joniscottauthor.com.

 

Sisters as Rivals

Sisters as Rivals

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Sisters as rivals explores the relationship of sisters. Recently, I have posted about the Romanov grand duchesses. This proved to be a very popular post, so I thought to expand on the subject of sisters. The Romanov sisters were also royalty and suffered a terrible fate because of their status. Read about these beautiful young grand duchesses in my recent posts on the Russian royal family and these tragic sisters. They seemed to get along well but Anastasia the youngest may have been a bit of a brat. She was the naughtiest of the mostly very well behaved and family orientated sisters.

Writing sisters 

The arts abounds with famous sisters as rivals. The Bronte sisters, Anne, Charlotte and Emily shared a love of writing. maybe they shared a sense of rivalry as to who could write the best story? I know it was Agatha Christie’s big sister Madge who challenged Agatha to write a crime novel. She did well, didn’t she. Writing over 80 novels and stories as well as plays, Agatha Christie became the most read and published novelist of all time.

I love the fictional sisters of Little Women and how they mostly got along just fine for four girls with different temperaments. There are hints at jealousy and competitiveness but nothing too savage happens, maybe because it is fiction. But not all sisters have happy relationships. No one can be more annoying than a little sister trying to take the limelight or steal your boyfriend. Jealousy is a big issue that often ignites a lifetime of rivalry.

Movie Star sisters as rivals

In the case of movie star sisters, Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, the enmity was fierce. They competed at star level and never softened their fierce jealousy of each other.

The Olsen twins, Mary Kate and Ashley made their acting debut while babies. They share an even more special sister bond, that of twins. Venus and Serena Williams are sisters at a unique competitive level, that of gold medals. They mostly leave their rivalry on the courts. Then there’s the Kardashian sisters competing for the best curves.

Have you heard of Zsa Zsa  and Eva Gabor? They were two sisters out of a trio of Hungarian born sisters. Magda is lesser known though she married actor, George Sanders, her little sister’s cast-off husband. Zsa Zsa, the middle sister competed with Eva for men, money and beauty. Though the sisters married multiple times, Zsa Zsa was the only one to have a child. The Gabor sister act was an act to follow in the 1940’s and 50’s. They were always in the news, a bit like the Kardashians of today.

In the 1930s, The Andrews Sisters, Patty, Maxene and Laverne were another sister trio, a singing group famous for ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ and other swing hits during WWII. They rated as the best-selling of all female vocal groups. Despite singing beautifully together and selling 75 million records, they started a fight in 1937 though they stayed as an act until 1967 when Laverne died.

Birth order and rivalry of sisters

Birth order does seem to have an effect on how sisters get along. The order of birth also is said to determine the personality of a child. First born children are usually more sensible, calm and conservative compared to their younger sisters. This is because their parents often spend more time on the discipline side of parenting. Later children meet laxer parenting as the parents run out of puff with a larger brood to control. Little sisters often get to do things their older sisters could not at the same age. this explains the claim that little sisters are spoilt.

As a a younger sister, I can see this. My sister claims I was spoilt and she had a tougher time. However, I have always looked up to her and listened to her advice. I even wrote her into my first book as a character! Whispers Through Time also tells the story of two sisters, my grandmother and great aunt who emigrated to Australia in 1912. They had a special bond through life though their lives took different directions. One married an itinerant worker and the other a rich doctor, but they stayed connected through their shared ordeals during World War One and Two.

Novels about sisters

In the third book in this series, Last Time Forever, a sense of rivalry that must always have been there, rises to the fore. The sisters have a falling out later in life. Watch out for this last book in the sister trilogy. It’s at the publishers now. But meanwhile if you like stories of sisters and historical fiction, read the others, Whispers through Time and Time, heal my Heart. 

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published novels: Whispers through Time, The Last Hotel,  Colour Comes to Tangles and her latest historical WWI drama, Time Heal my Heart. Joni has her own website; https://joniscottauthor.com.

Fashionable Discomfit of Women

Fashionable Discomfit of Women

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For many centuries women lived in a state of fashionable discomfit. Restricted physically as well as socially, women wore strangling whalebone corsets (see bunnycorset.com.)

The feminine corset became popular for women in the French court of the 1500s but originated in Italy. Catherine de Medici is credited as the designer. The idea was to fine tune a woman’s attractiveness by making her waist as small as possible and flatten her stomach.

These undergarments choked their waists into tiny unnatural measurements to achieve the desired hourglass figure and fashionable discomfit.

For centuries, a woman walked in beauty but also in pain, just like the Japanese women who for centuries had bound feet so they would look dainty. Never mind that walking was torture. Hence the shuffled gait of traditional Japanese women. Victorian corsets were the Western equivalent of this Eastern fashionable discomfit.

The corset evolves as fashionable discomfit

From the 16th century to the 19th, the corset became firmer in its vice like grip on the female form. Whale bones hardened the original firm fabric sleeve encasing the midriff. Corsets forced ribs down and compressed stomachs. Another word for a corset became ‘stays’ as the middle of a woman’s body was not allowed to move.

Gradually by Edwardian times, the corset became more of a support for the bust and was a shorter version of its predecessors. By then steel as well as whalebone provided the support of the corset fabric.

Layers of Fashionable Discomfit

In the Edwardian years of the early 1900s, a British woman needed time to dress. She had to plan the event and needed a maid to help. First there were layers of undergarments, a petticoat, chemise, and drawers or pantaloons.

Then the dreaded corset that would cinch her middle in its whalebone vice-like grip. Countless whales gave their lives so women worldwide could achieve a 55 cm or 21-inch waist measurement. The corset did not just clamp a woman’s middle section as it was laced but propelled the bust forward to balance the bunched bustle of the dress over the buttocks.

This bustle padded out the derriere to a shapely but large bump, something akin to the present Kardashian penchant for a large bottom.

The health effect of corsets

Long-term wearing of a corset deformed the ribs and misaligned the spine. All in order to have a more ‘civilized form’. The constriction also led women to have breathing issues, causing a woman to feel faint or swoon. Certainly, she could not overexert herself while wearing one as the ribs could not move to inflate her lungs for a deep breath. Such enforced shallow breathing can affect all organs and their supply of oxygen. An imprint of the corset could be found on the liver and kidneys on autopsy of females of that time period.

One woman jokingly wrote, “It is important to note, that pregnancy has a similar effect on displacing a woman’s internal organs.” Women loosened their corset during later pregnancy but this apart from sleeping was the only time in a fashionable woman’s lifetime. Even when corsetry went out of fashion during the Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age, most older women retained them as an essential undergarment.

But that was not the end of the fashionable discomfit. There’s more to come.

Garters and Hatpins Complete Fashionable Discomfit

Elastic garters burnt into a woman’s thigh to keep stockings in place. Tight high-heeled boots, often laced, encased her feet making walking painful. Just to add to the long process of dressing. Then ladies added a large wide-brimmed hat with lots of fluffy feathers, flowers or artificial fruit and a deadly hat pin to keep the decorations or accompanying veil and scarf in place.

Now, hat pins were dangerous, a hazard to passing pedestrians. Often people in crowds scored a hatpin when least expecting an aerial attack. A device called an acorn became fashionable to have on the end of the point of the pin to protect other people.

For fashionable ladies, readymade clothes were not available to buy in the shops. Most women ordered their outfits from dressmakers who required 18 personal body measurements, plus height and weight to fashion an outfit.

Handbags and Hankies

And what about handbags you might ask? Where did a woman keep her small change and hanky? Apparently, men kept coins in their watches which popped open at the back and women wore a muff chain that fastened around their neck. This chain extended through a furry sleeve or glove, called a muff into which the wearer could insert both hands. Inside was a small pocket where such items as coins and hankies could lodge. Mystery solved.

But I just have to share this fascinating snippet about the origins of the hanky or handkerchief. Bobby Pin Blog at Vintage Hairstyling.com cites Marie Antoinette as the inventor of the lady’s hanky. Marie, an Austrian princess was so upset on the long trip from her homeland to France to marry Louis XVI, that she tore a strip of lacy petticoat to dab her tears. And oh, poor Marie how, years later, did she stem her tears as she climbed the scaffold of the guillotine in 1793, as a victim of the French Revolution?

However, the vintage style blogger though, as rapt as me in this story, does admit that upon further research the hanky dates to Roman times when it was a multi-functional piece of rag to dab not just tears but sweat and well, whatever. Say no more. But apparently Marie’s royal husband decreed that hankies should be square, as wide as they are long, probably the most useful shape. Can’t imagine round or triangular ones.

Liberation from fashionable discomfit

The change in women’s corsetry reflects the changing status of women in society, so fashion is a part of our history. During WWI metal was in short supply. The steel casing of corsets was part of the drive for metal meltdown to make much needed weapons. The corset of the post WWI era evolved again to cater for the straight form fashion of the Jazz Age flappers. Suddenly a small waist was not desirable, nor a shapely bosom. However, corsets were stiff still to flatten a woman’s natural curves. Then due to women’s involvement in the workforce and fighting of WWII, such garments became less and less a staple of women’s undergarment fashion. Eventually, the corset evolved into the brassiere and a woman’s waist was finally freed.

But according to bunnycorset.com corsets are still fashionable for occasional wear. Brides like to wear one under their wedding gown or later as a tantalizing bedroom outfit. They certainly are sexy and accentuate a woman’s shape. Without the tight lacing at the back, they can even be comfortable.

 

Do you like Victorian or Edwardian history? Stories about real women? Then try my historical novel series about two sisters based on a true story. Whispers Through Time, Time Heal my Heart and Last Time Forever tell the story of the lives and loves of Francesca and Winnie in the era of The Titanic sinking, World War One and Two and beyond to 1950. Set in Sydney, Australia and Europe.

Before a woman could have a voice, she had to free her body. Every woman deserves a voice, and each voice is unique. Find your voice and use it for good. Many women through century have defied a man’s world to add their voice for changes to patriarchal society. I feature some on this blog. See website link below.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published novels; Whispers through Time, Time Heal my Heart, Colour comes to Tangles and The Last Hotel. See website https://joniscottauthor.com.

 

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