Titanic Talk

Geoff Watts gave a wide ranging, and fully illustrated, talk at the Old Cemetery looking at the story of how the arrival, and subsequent loss, of RMS Titanic had such major effects on the town of Southampton in 1912. On Sunday morning of the 12th April. Those attending were able to visit many locations without leaving their seats! As well as looking at what can be seen today, Geoff added in three stories of memorials that had been suggested at the time but never came to fruition. The talk, like our other talks is available to local groups.

The pictures attached include a contemporary line drawing of the Sailors’ Home in Oxford Street, the facade of which can still be seen today. The late Vicky Green of Southampton Local Studies Library contributed important  Titanic research, adding to the local knowledge relating to the tragedy. One of her contributions was to look at the town from a street, and houses within each street, perspective,  identifying who, on the Titanic, gave which address as theirs in Southampton. She showed who had been lost and who had survived. For the Sailors’ Home, she identified 27 men, only 9 of whom survived. 

Geoff’s  grateful thanks to those who came for the talk despite a possibly adverse weather forecast! He is very grateful to FoSOC’s Secretary, Val Ferguson, who kindly operated the digital equipment for him. Val is to be thanked for all the work she put into  organising the weekend events and her personal involvement over the two days.