We all know the story, and it is impossible to forget: the RMS Titanic embraced its sad fate while on a voyage from Southampton to New York. According to the most widespread theory, the one included in the essays, the high speed at which it was traveling caused it to not be able to turn when an iceberg crossed its path. It was then that the ‘Ship of Dreams’ hit the ice floe and was doomed. Three hours later, at two twenty on April 15, she sank. More than 1,500 people died due to the lack of lifeboats, and just over seven hundred survived.
From there, let the accusing fingers and blame fly, and there was none. Although among the most unknown is the fleeting replacement of David Blair then Second Officer of the Titanic –although with signs of promotion–, by Henry Wilde, Chief Officer of the Olympic. The reason why came to the media in 2016: Blair did not hand over the key to the box in which the ship’s binoculars were kept to the crew, and this would have left the lookouts without their main weapon against icebergs. Although the theory, as always, has its followers and its detractors.
Tension and chaos
The experiences of Henry Wilde were once again illuminated by the spotlight of today when the British auction house ‘Henry Aldridge & Son’ released a letter that this character, aged 39, wrote on March 31, 1912. The text, however, formed part of a collection that he wrote since he began his career as a ship policeman, until he was promoted to Captain Smith’s second on the ‘Ship of Dreams’, and was accompanied by another curious treasure: a key of iron that, according to the researchers of the company in charge of the sale, “could be from the binoculars closet.” The controversy was served.
Wilde’s story is not wasted, as he was the Chief Officer of the Olympic, the sister of the Titanic, until it was decided that he should be sent to the ‘Ship of Dreams’ on its maiden voyage. The goal? Contribute your experience to the crew. This change would not have been a problem if it were not for two reasons. The first, that his appointment caused the until then Chief Officer William Murdoch, who became First Officer, and First Officer Charles Lightoller, who became Second Officer, to be demoted.
In the words of the historical popularizer Hugh Brewster, this exchange caused great tension that was evident in a letter that, in turn, Lightoller sent and that, shortly after, came to light: «The luminaries of the White Star thought that it would be a It was a good idea to transfer the Chief Officer of the Olympic to the Titanic just for that first voyage, so that his experience would be of help on the sister ship. “This dubious policy displaced me and Murdoch and, in addition to the disappointment caused by being demoted, the decision caused some confusion.”
The second problem was that the appointment did not please Wilde one bit either, who was anxiously waiting to be given command of the ship Cymric and who, on the contrary, had to settle for continuing with his position on the Titanic. He made this clear in the letter: “I am terribly disappointed that plans for my command of the Cymric have changed. Now I am going to join the Titanic until another ship appears on which I can be assigned,” the letter reads. His official incorporation took place on April 9, in the middle of this maelstrom of controversies.
On April 14, after the collision, Wilde went up to the bridge to report what had happened. He eventually joined Captain Smith and Thomas Andrew to inspect the damage to the liner. When everyone realized that the ship was going to sink, he was in charge of organizing the even-numbered lifeboats to try to save the lives of the passengers. Like many others, he died in the catastrophe. Knowing whether his appointment caused the binoculars to remain in port is impossible, although, at the very least, it is a possibility.
Eternal debate
The question about binoculars was not strange to the Titanic researchers. The problem with these ‘glasses’, as they were known at the time, was also admitted by George Alfred Hogg. The man who was one of the lookouts on the Titanic, who was in his cabin when the ship hit the iceberg, was asked about the binoculars by the British Shipwreck Commission, and his testimony was one of those raised by the auction house to present your theory. The striking thing is that he revealed that they were kept locked in a cabin, and not in a box:
– Did they give you a pair of glasses?
– Yeah.
– Who gave them to you, do you remember?
– Mr Blair, the acting second officer at the time.
– Mr. Blair, who was acting as second officer at the time?
– Yeah.
-What did you do with those glasses?
– Mr. Blair was at the lookout and gave me his glasses, and told me to lock them up and give him the keys back.
– Who returned the keys?
– I gave them to a man named Weller, I was busy in the forecastle.
– Did they tell you that they should be kept locked in the second officer’s cabin?
– I kept them locked up.
– And they were locked away when the ship left. Were there more at the lookout?
– There were none when we left Southampton.
– Did you ask for them?
– I didn’t ask for them exactly, but my colleagues asked for them at that moment.
Lightoller himself explained in his statement before the commission in charge of investigating the disaster that the “glasses” were “extremely useful” to “distinguish a light more quickly.” Although he did not specify that those from the Titanic were kept under lock and key and stressed that the first weapon in the middle of the Atlantic was always sight: “When it comes to shipwrecks or icebergs, the lookout should not hesitate and, at the first suspicion, Before reaching for the binoculars, you should ring the bell once, two or three times. Then you can do what you want and look for the origin of the light or reflection, but you must first report the suspicion.
These testimonies allowed the auction company to claim in 2016 that, “in his haste to abandon the Titanic, Blair took the key” to the binoculars box “in his pocket and forgot to give it to his replacement, Charles Lightoller.” In his words, if he had had it in his possession, there would probably have been a couple at the observation post.
«It is an assumption, but, in the words of the Fleet lookout himself, they would have seen the iceberg before with binoculars. It’s the key that had the potential to save the Titanic… Blair would have been quick to tidy up his loose ends before then. In his haste he forgot to hand over the key, so the fate of the Titanic was in his hands in an indirect way,” the company explained. However, the company also stressed that there was another pair of glasses on the bridge, and that these were not given to the lookouts either.
The theory, however, hides its doubts. On the one hand, the key that was put up for sale was accompanied by a legend that read ‘Key to the Crow’s Nest’, the name given to the lookout post. Nothing to do with “the cabin” that Hogg referred to. At the same time, it is strange that Lightoller did not find those binoculars, although he was assigned Blair’s room as Second Officer.
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