On this day: ‘Fearless’ Elgin Titanic engineer drowns 112 years ago
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A “FEARLESS” Moray engineer, aboard the Titanic during its catastrophic sinking, drowned on this day 112 years ago.
The Northern Scot on April 20, 1912, paid tribute to Elgin-born James Muil Smith, who died aged 39, in the wake of the disaster in the early hours of April 15, 1912.
His body was either never found or never identified after the infamous sinking, but his name remains a visible part of a Smith family tribute in Elgin Cemetery.
The large Celtic cross bears a simple message, stating that he was “lost at sea on the Titanic, April 15, 1912”.
Mr Smith’s 1912 obituary said the engineer had been “naturally proud of his promotion to such a ship as the Titanic”, which hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
His new job was the peak of a “rapid rise”, the article added, which began after his apprenticeship at Elgin firm Messers G and J.S. Souter, and subsequent stints on other cruise lines.
The Elgin man “was well known and a great favourite in Elgin” and learned his trade with “the greatest zeal and success”.
During his career, the tribute added: “He served on some of the largest vessels afloat, sailing to all parts of the world.”
Details of Mr Smith’s life, documented by website Encyclopedia Titanica, record the Junior Fourth Engineer as supporting his family on a monthly wage of £13, 10s.
He married wife Hannah Davidson Smith on July 8, 1908 at Southampton, where he moved to pursue his career on the seas.
Together they had son Ian James, who was born in 1910 — sadly just two years before the tragic sinking.
Less than four months before the catastrophe that claimed his life, Mr Smith returned to Moray with his wife and son to spend Christmas in his hometown.
His obituary ends: “Mr Smith was very fond of his native town and enjoyed nothing better than a holiday in his old home.
“He was a most likeable fellow, and seemed "cut out” for the life of the sea.
“He was a tireless worker, fearless in the discharge of most difficult duties, and brimming over with high spirit.
“The news of his tragic fate has been received with feelings of the most genuine sorrow in Elgin, and the sincerest sympathy is felt for his mother and father and other relatives.”
Mr Smith is named on his wife’s headstone in a cemetery in Southampton, along with Titanic memorials in Glasgow, London, Liverpool and Southampton.
His family received support from the Titanic Relief Fund after the disaster but, in a devastating turn, his son Ian passed away at the age of nine five years after his father.
Mrs Smith, who never remarried, died in hospital on October 19, 1953.
The Northern Scot — Covering the ‘terrible catastrophe’ of the Titanic
Along with paying tribute to Mr Smith, The Northern Scot also informed the local community about the Titanic’s sinking.
The paper includes the eyewitness account of a survivor, reports from New York following the arrival of rescue ship Carpathia, and a scathing judgement of the boat’s “inadequate safeguards”.
The Titanic, according to the reports, was licensed to carry 3500 passengers but authorities only required it to have lifeboat capacity for 950 passengers.
In another story, survivors of the disaster called for an urgent international conference to improve safety rules for vessels.
At the time of publication, the newspaper estimated the death toll to be 1000 - a total that would later rise to more than 1500.
The main article said: “The terrible catastrophe to the Titanic, the awful loss of life, and the anticipated horrors of the disaster, now partially revealed, have over shadowed everything else during the week.
“Yesterday the appalling news, in a reliable form, deepened the gloom.
“The truth was far worse than the wildest imaginings.”
The story reported that the iceberg impact happened at 11.36pm, on April 14.
And more than an hour later, at 12.45am, women and children escaped on lifeboats before the ship sank at 2am.
Those who secured a place on a lifeboat had to wait more than six hours for rescue ship the Carpathia.
“The sufferings were indescribable,” it said.
“When the Titanic struck the iceberg great blocks of ice fell on deck, causing considerable loss of life.”
A survivor’s account
The Northern Scot also carried an extended report from Titanic survivor Mr Lawrence Beesley.
It described in detail his experience of the sinking, which began with him feeling a “slight jar” while in his cabin.
Then, shortly after, Mr Beesley recounted feeling “a second shock” prompting him to go onto the deck in his dressing gown to investigate.
Despite seeing that the Titanic was at an “unmistakable” downwards slant, he returned to his cabin to “put on some warmer clothing”.
However, while he getting dress he heard shouts from crew members telling passengers to go to the deck with lifejackets on.
And once passengers gathered, Mr Beesley added: “Presently we heard the order: ‘All men stand away from the boats. All ladies retire to the deck below’, which was the smoking room on B deck.
“The men all stood away, and waited in absolute silence, some were leaning against the end railings of the deck, others pacing slowly up and down.”
After lifeboats were lowered to where women and children were assembled, he said that some women had to be “torn from their husbands and pushed onto the boats”.
He added: “But in many instances they were allowed to remain. There was no one to insist that they should go.
“All this time there was no trace of any disorder.
“There was no panic or rush to the boats, and there were no scenes of women sobbing hysterically as one generally pictures happening at such times.
“Everyone seemed to realise so slowly that there was imminent danger.”
After women and children were set on their way, his account claimed, a crew member told him jump from the deck into a lifeboat as it was being lowered into the Atlantic.
However, due to the the weight of the “60 or 70” people aboard his boat and the fact it was still tethered to the ship, it was pulled “directly under” another lifeboat, which “threatened to submerge our boat”.
The crew in charge of the lifeboat, he said, were “mostly cooks” still in their white jackets, though they successfully piloted the boat away from danger.
Mr Beesley’s said that, nearly two hours after clambering aboard his lifeboat, the Titanic “slowly tilted on end, with the stern vertically upward”.
And that the lights went out, flickered once, and then turned off permanently.
He added: ”At the same time the machinery roared down through the vessel with a groaning rattle that could have been heard for miles.
“It was the weirdest sound surely that could have been heard in the middle of the ocean.
“It was not yet quite the end.
“To our amazement, she remained in that upright position for a time, which I estimate at five minutes.
“It was certainly for some minutes that we watched at least 150 feet of the Titanic towering up above the level of the sea, looming black against the the sky.
“Then with a quiet slanting dive she disappeared beneath the waters. Our eyes had looked for the last time on the gigantic vessel in which we set out from Southampton.”
This was before he heard “the most appalling noise that a human being has ever heard - the cries of hundreds of our fellow-beings struggling in the icy water”.
And, he said: “We longed to return to pick up some of those who were swimming, but this would have meant the swamping of our boat and the loss of all of us.”
The Northern Scot also quotes another survivor, Mr George A. Broden, who claimed to have spotted Captain Edward Smith, in charge of the Titanic, going down with the ship.
“I saw Captain Smith while I was in the water,” Mr Broden said.
“He was standing on the deck all alone.
“He was swept down by a wave, but managed to get to his feet again.
“Then as the boat sank he was again knocked down by a wave, and then disappeared from view.”
’Utter inadequacy’ of lifeboats
In an editorial representing the paper’s view, a writer condemned the “utter inadequacy of boat accommodation” aboard the Titanic and urged tougher safety rules.
The article drew on an appeal issued by 26 survivors of the catastrophe, who argued that an international conference should be convened to agree rules requiring ships to have enough lifeboats to save the lives of all on board.
This call was successful, leading to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) being agreed in 1914.
The Northern Scot’s editorial concluded: “It is needless to dwell on the magnitude of the disaster; no tongue can tell of its horrors or pen fittingly describe its fearful details.
“The world has been overshadowed by its awfulness, but from the wreck and ruin and groans and tears ultimate good may come.
“The sacrifice has been great, may the ultimate result be commensurate.”
