On this day, 111 years ago…
If you preferred a video that summarises this post, go check out my TikTok! (It’s recorded yesterday so part of this post are not covered)
This is also the first post for Titanic Month, hope you guys like it!
Henry Wilde, while ceased to be chief officer of RMS Olympic, was waiting for his next assignment. He was to command SS Cymric, yet unfortunately, the coal strike happened, so he was to be assigned to another ship…
“[…] I am awfully disappointed to find that all the arrangements for my taking command of the “Cymric” this time are altered, due to this coal strike and having to cancel so many of the ships and sailings. […] I am now going to join the “Titanic” for a time until some other ship turns up for me. […]”
Letter to Annie Jones Williams (Henry Wilde’s sister-in-law) on 31st March, 1912; Sincerely Harry by Mike Beatty
According to his letters, as earliest as 30th March, he was aware that he would be on RMS Titanic. He was pretty much ready for captaincy, having been as chief officer[a] since 1906 and briefly commanded the Mersey and SS Zeeland in 1908 and 1910 respectively. At the same time, Olympic’s sister ship, Titanic, was to be in her maiden voyage on 10th April, 1912, and she required around 850 tonnes of coal a day. So, as there was a lack of coal due to the coal strikes, White Star Line has to transfer coal from other ships in the fleet to Titanic in order to have her sail as scheduled. Unfortunately, Cymric, the ship that Wilde was to command was one of the ships that had to be laid up, thus he was assigned to another ship. As for Wilde himself, he was to visit his family in Walton, Liverpool, yet this has somehow thrashed his plans… Now he is in Southampton, waiting for the decision from White Star Line for his next assignment—still at least, he was aware that he was to be onboard the brand new sister ship of Olympic, though things are not confirmed officially yet.
So, was he really a last-minute addition as everyone may believe? Officially, he signed on the Titanic on a day before sailing (9th April). Nevertheless, according to his letters, he was already onboard of the ship as early as the Easter weekend of 1912 to assist everyone:
“[…] I have been kept very busy on board all day on Good Friday and again today Sunday with the crew getting the ship ready. She is very far behind to sail on Wednesday. […]”
Letter to Edith “Edie” Williams and Norah Williams (Henry Wilde’s nieces) on 7th April, 1912 (Easter Sunday); Sincerely Harry by Mike Beatty
Hence, in terms of the date of Wilde signing onto Titanic, it seemed to be a last minute decision. However, Wilde was already aware of being transferred to Olympic’s sister ship since 30th March, and he was even onboard to assist everyone throughout the Easter weekend to make sure that Titanic is sailing as scheduled. So, it seems like White Star Line was making use of the fact that Wilde, himself a very competent officer and probably the most promising of all (like, he is just half a year older than 1st Officer Murdoch who had been stuck on this position for a while), was idle due to the coal strikes and they decided to put him on the maiden voyage of Titanic because maybe they thought it was better than nothing for Wilde (being part of the staff on the maiden voyage seems to be quite a thing—I mean you got a pic taken after this like what they did for Olympic last year). Also, Murdoch, the original chief officer, had not been chief officer before and White Star Line wanted a better choice for Titanic’s maiden voyage just as Olympic’s (Joseph Evans, the chief officer on Olympic’s maiden voyage[b], had been chief officer on another ship for a while—think is one of the Big 4), and it happened that Wilde was idle due to the coal strikes so he’s assigned to Titanic. Of course, these are just my own speculations.
Wilde’s assignment was only for Titanic’s maiden voyage. Nevertheless, the temporary demotion of Murdoch and Lightoller (to 1st Officer and 2nd Officer respectively) has disappointed both.
Did he really have a bad feeling on the ship?
Interestingly, in the same letter that I have just mentioned, we can first see him commenting Titanic being “an improvement on the Olympic in many respect and is a wonderful ship.” He also mentioned similar comments on the ship in later letters which were sent from Cohn (Queenstown). Nevertheless, it is common knowledge that Wilde had written another letter to his sister, Ada, where he said:
“I still don't like this ship... I have a queer feeling about it."
This letter was mentioned and quoted in “The Maiden Voyage” by Geoffrey Marcus who had talked to surviving friends of Wilde in 1950s. While it was true that Wilde himself was disappointed over this appointment (as expressed in his letter to his sister in-law[c]), based on the letters that are available to us, the above quote has a very different tone: in the letters, Wilde was positive about the ship and mentioned Titanic “being an improvement of Olympic” multiple times, nevertheless the quote above was contradictory to that. However, the original letter to his sister is presumably in private collection, had it existed, so we would not know the context of the quote until we have the chance to read it[d].
[a] The Chief Officer was the captain’s second-in-command until the introduction of the Assistant Captain/Staff Captain position after the sinking of Titanic. Both White Star Line and Cunard Line had installed such position, given that Olympic had a cabin for assistant captain after her refit and Lusitania had a staff captain by the time of her sinking.
[b] A lot of people thought this picture below was the officers of Titanic (as tagged under the picture) but it was actually a picture of the officers of Olympic after her maiden voyage. The guy who was wearing the chief officer uniform (3 stripes) was Joseph Evans, who was later replaced by Wilde. The only 3 who were actually on Titanic are: Captain Smith (4 stripes), 1st Officer Murdoch (2 stripes) and Chief Purser McElroy (wearing a different type of collar)
This picture was taken when Wilde was chief officer of Olympic. Captain Smith, 1st Officer Murdoch and Chief Purser McElroy are also seen in this picture. And you see my boi Harry is still looking facking depressed (cries)
[c] See quote from the letter on 31st March, 1912
[d] Although a lot of Wilde’s letters have been auctioned, since its discovery in 2012 (his family did not throw them away, which is great for historical research), only 28 of all his letters are published (in Mike Beatty’s “Sincerely Harry”) as Beatty was only able to acquire 28 of all the letters. Sadly, the letter to his sister was not one of them and is presumably in private collection, had it existed.
Sincerely Harry by Mike Beatty
Encyclopaedia Titanica forum (for the random stuff I gathered)
