14. Lawrence Beesley - Second Class Passenger - PART ONE

[@ljpadilla564]

I just found this pod cast a few days ago. I’m almost caught up! Please continue these James! Great work!

[@KoolDog570]

Epic. Absolutely epic. You really were tuning up for something big, and if Mr Beesley needs 3 parts to tell his story, give him all that he needs....thank you James!

[@WitnessTitanic]

Yeah I imagine he will need a part 2 for the sinking and Part 3 for the rescue

[@Feline_Frenzy53]

Lawrence sounds like a person I would have love to have known. Thank you, James.

[@SallyKohorst]

So nice to hear of his book and finding out from a second class passenger what happened that horrible night. I will be here for the next installment. Thanks for this channel.

[@brycetomecek5065]

Oh, this is going to be good. Mr. Beasley is a prominent passenger and notably one of the few men from second class to survive. I knew that going in and it is literally and 8% survival rate.

[@themospolitis5524]

I’ve heard the story of the stoker a bit differently- namely that those seeing him did not know he was a stoker, and was rather a shadowy figure peering overtop the funnel. To your point, and Lawrence’s, im not sure why seeing a figure in that manner would convey a bad omen as opposed to “oh, I didn’t realize people could walk up there.”

[@WitnessTitanic]

My only explanation is that it was creepy? Like a little evil face looking down on them freaked them out? Such a weird omen to create...

[@josephconnor2310]

Fantastic that this podcast is covering Lawrence beesley! Really appreciate it.

[@evilpeep876]

A love story between a famous writer and someone who can't read! I'm sold. 😂 I read a little of Beesley's memoir about the sinking but did not get a chance to finish it. Excited to hear more about this VIP of Titanic history!

[@LambdaCherry]

Hi James! im writing this as i listen this episode in school. Im fairly new to the titanic community, and ocean liner community in its entirety. Ive learned so much about both Titanic, and the people aboard her just from listening to this podcast on my spare time. I always come out of this podcast with more and more questions and fixations. Its so facinating to see all these perspectives of people. Tis podcast also helped me stay level headed while doing work in school or personal projects at home. I thank you for that🎀🎀🎀 Anyways, have a great rest of your day, Mr. Penca PS. The expedition episodes are my personal favorite ones

[@WitnessTitanic]

Thanks so much for the kind comment! So glad you are enjoying the stories. And I'm glad you enjoyed the expedition episodes! I was afraid they would be boring! haha

[@noteduvent2244]

When you say that we don't remember seeing second class passengers, the most famous ones we see and hear are the musicians who were in second class. As for the others, I have to watch the film again to see if we don't see the Reverends, Mr Salomon smoking his cigar, Mr West giving this thermos of hot milk, or others... Thanks for your so interesting podcasts, I'm a little late in hearing the last ones, but still enjoy them.

[@WitnessTitanic]

This is a great point! I shouldn't say ZERO 2nd Class passengers appear in the film as the orchestra technically counts! But outside of this and sweeping shots of Titanic's exteriors, there wont be many!

[@RMSthomasFRANCE]

Good evening James, another brilliant testimony. I completely agree with you on the thought that the second class is the forgotten class. Strangely, we can even say that the breakage of the ship during the sinking also erased it! I also think that if the New York incident had cancelled the voyage and saved lives on April 15, 1912, it is almost certain that a similar accident against an iceberg would have occurred in the years that followed: the too fast navigation, the lack of serious handling of warning messages, the watertightness of the ships, etc. Finally, thank you for addressing Michel Navratil and his two sons, and for specifying as often that we should not judge bad acts too quickly. I am currently reading a book about their story, and this loving father had a broken heart, a strong anger against his ex-wife who made him take this rather cruel decision for their family. I'll add a beautiful and sad story also in second class: the only black passenger on the Titanic, Joseph Laroche, whose detailed book on his short existence was brilliantly told (Sorry, but I think it only exists in French). 😘

[@WitnessTitanic]

Thanks for your thoughts! And you are right, who knows if a much worse disaster would have followed if it weren't for Titanic!

[@maskotep]

Love this series, thanks James!

[@wendlebury8802]

Very interesting this one James Beesley tells things in a very precise way he certainly makes you think he is probably more believable and totally honest than some who testified sure he was affected by all this but did not let that affect his view of what occurred, cool ,calm and collected you might say, thanks James looking forward to pt 2 x

[@SteveHall.Author]

I enjoyed this talk.

[@gustavobarletto9156]

Always perfect, James. You should do the same kind of Interview with Edith Russel... Using her 1913 account. And your wife could voice her 😊

[@WitnessTitanic]

Thats a great idea!

[@aidanbowe3866]

I love Lawrence Beesleys detailed description. He makes mention in his book of seeing an engineer in the library excitedly discussing a new patent he had for an automobile part and was on his way to the US to show it to over there. That engineer was called Denzil Jarvis and he was from my home town of Leicester, England. A memorial cross is dedicated to him and stands in a churchyard at the bottom of my road.

[@WitnessTitanic]

Incredible! No Titanic passengers or crew from my home town but a lot of people with final destinations in neighboring areas.

[@aidanbowe3866]

@@WitnessTitanicI forgot to say also just how much I'm enjoying these podcasts. The witness interviews really breathe new life into their testimony and their voices still speak to us so movingly 112 years on. The two people from the sinking that have always resonated with me have been Charlotte Collyer and her daughter Marjorie. There is a photo of both of them taken on a front porch after their rescue with their knees covered in a WSL blanket that is absolutely haunting. The grief of losing her husband is etched on Charlotte's face who looks utterly broken, and little Marjorie looks lost and bewildered. Interestingly I've often thought how contemporary Marjorie looks in this photo to our modern day eyes. She could be a young girl from our own time.

[@user-cy4fz7mo7v]

@@aidanbowe3866 I’ve just taken a look At said photograph and it’s quite remarkable that the young daughter does look so much like a modern day young lady. Also the pain etched on her mother’s face is so sad I can’t begin to describe how much terror these poor people must have felt . God bless all who sailed on titanic on that fateful night those who survived and those that perished.

[@stuartcross5663]

The book is fantastic. In fact so descriptive if you have demo 401 you can literally walk around and find his cabin and go up on deck and look at what he’s seeing! So cool. Or nerdy lol.

[@WitnessTitanic]

Or both!

[@beckybest1515]

Excellent! I don't know that I've read Beesley's book. Heading off now to see if I can find it. And, yes, if it takes three (or four) sessions - by all means, do them. Somewhat off topic question for you - what day was the last time Titanic saw land - 11th or 12th?

[@WitnessTitanic]

The entire book is here! www.gutenberg.org/files/6675/6675-h/6675-h.htm And Titanic would have seen land for the last time on the 11th.

[@beckybest1515]

@@WitnessTitanic Thank you and thank you! I had a HUGE "disruption" with a cousin a few years ago because he insisted it was the 12th. Recently, I thought I saw something that confirmed that but I KNEW I was right (that's important, you know) because my birthday is April 11!!!

[@Thedanyeager623]

This was my favorite one so far!!

[@WitnessTitanic]

Oh good! I'm always worried the newest one isn't as good as the ones before it.

[@Thedanyeager623]

@@WitnessTitanic i’ve enjoyed all of them so far, but this one, Larry B. feels like a real person… probably because you’re using a novel he wrote and he was second class so if I was alive then, I could have seen him on the street that I walked down

[@cherylbremner7829]

Very interesting as usual! Derbyshire is pronounced DARbyshire and Dulwich is like DULLICH as the w is silent 🙂

[@jpenca09]

Thank you! I’ll mention this in part two!

[@stuartcross5663]

Haha that’s correct. And in fact. For a lot of us in England, we don’t pronounce it “shire” either, we say “sheer”, so in fact Derbyshire would sound like Darbysheer

[@cherylbremner7829]

@@stuartcross5663 aye, I'm in Scotland and we say shrr for Aberdeenshire sometimes.

[@wendlebury8802]

We'd say Darbysha up here in Yorkshire (yorksha)

[@WitnessTitanic]

Once had to attempt a Yorkshire accent for a play... hardest accent for an American to copy...

[@LtCmdrGordon]

I think I will print off the book in reader format. Curious to see if anything was taken when writing ‘on a sea of glass’

[@brycetomecek5065]

Came back to say this is also the first we are hearing of the *New York* incident.

[@WitnessTitanic]

haha Thanks! I needed the reminder :)

[@brycetomecek5065]

@@WitnessTitanichappy to help. This is a great podcast.