Footsteps in Halifax

World’s Titanic societies come together to mark Titanic’s 95th anniversary

By Charles A. Haas President, Titanic International Society
Some 100 members of seven Titanic societies gathered in Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 13-15, 2007, to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the liner’s loss amid the most poignant and tangible reminders of her passengers and crew.

In late April 1912 the world’s attention had shifted to Nova Scotia’s provincial capital, where 150 of the 339 victims would be laid to rest in the city’s Fairview Lawn, Mount Olivet and Baron deHirsch cemeteries after recovery by the White Star-chartered Mackay-Bennett, Minia, Montmagny, Algerine. Extensive documentation of this saddest part of Titanic’s story is preserved at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia in Halifax.

The convention’s planning began in the spring of 2006, with British Titanic Society officers David Hill and Steve Rigby, and member Mike Cowlard taking charge in selecting the convention hotel, arranging for speakers and activities, and coordinating communication with other Titanic societies, which assisted with contact information, advice and publicity assistance. Titanic International Society’s trustees voted in August 2006 to designate the event as our 2007 convention, and more than 20 members and guests, among the largest of delegations, represented TIS.

Two children of the late Titanic survivor Edith Brown Haisman, David Haisman and Dot Kendle, made the long air journey to Halifax with the European delegations. Cindy Tulloch, whose late husband George had been an important figure in the 1999 TIS Halifax memorial service for Titanic’s children, returned to the city as well.

Many arrived a day or two early or departed late to savor more of the historic city’s sights. Indeed, a common refrain was that there was much to do and so little time to do it. The convention was held at the Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, adjoining the fascinating Halifax waterfront.

Those arriving on Thursday, April 12 found glorious sunshine and warm spring weather. Within 12 hours, on the morning of Friday the 13th, they observed blowing snow squalls from their hotel windows, followed by a cold rain. Once convention events began, however, weather remained remarkably good for April — until departure day, when a nor’easter along the U. S. east coast wreaked havoc with air travel.

I spent several hours on Friday with TIS historian Jack Eaton at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, where researching time always seems to fly. After making some nice “finds” and ordering several photographs, I left by taxi for the Halifax studios of CTV, a Canadian television network, to do a live, nationwide broadcast about the convention. I then squeezed in a quick visit to Dan Conlin, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic’s curator, who proudly showed me its newest Titanic-related artifact, a pair of shoes believed to have belonged to the “Unknown Child.”

At 7 p.m. on Friday, just an hour after the 55 European delegates arrived, all were making new friends, greeting old ones and enjoying drinks at the welcome meeting. Despite an overcrowded, overheated room with no dais and few seats, Garry Shutlak, senior reference archivist for Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, provided an expert’s overview of Halifax’s many Titanic connections, including Hilda Slayter and George Wright, residents lost in the disaster. A dear friend, microbiologist Dr. Henrietta Mann of Halifax’s Dalhousie University, made a surprise visit; it was wonderful to see her after many years.  Dr. Mann has been a key figure in understanding the bacterial colonies behind Titanic’s rusticles; so far she has identified 22 species of bacteria in these ship-destroying features.
Delegates made their own dinner arrangements, aided by the vibrant waterfront’s many enticing restaurants. Others opted for a quick ferry ride across the harbor to Dartmouth, where still more restaurants awaited.

Saturday, April 14 was a filled, fascinating day. Most began the day in the hotel’s sun-drenched dining room overlooking Halifax Harbour. A full buffet breakfast, included in the convention package, provided conviviality and calories. After breakfast, some adjourned to the Halifax Ballroom A, where an interesting Titanic photo display filled much of the room.
Meanwhile, a two-day-long lecture series by an array of international speakers began in Halifax Ballrooms B and C. Lectures were open to delegates and the public alike, although few members of the latter attended. Proceeds from a suggested $10 lecture contribution throughout the weekend raised Cdn. $562 (U.S. $503, or £252) which was donated to the Halifax Regional Municipality government to maintain the Titanic graves.

The president of the Scandinavian Titanic Society, TIS member Claes-Göran Wetterholm from Sweden, led off the series with Titanic and Emigration, a program about third class emigration in the early 20th Century, with special emphasis on Titanic’s steerage passengers. It was splendidly illustrated with rare 1912-era postcards, photographs and maritime memorabilia. Claes-Göran fielded many questions from an appreciative audience.
The British Titanic Society’s Geoff Robinson traced the doomed liner’s story in Titanic: From Concept to Catastrophe. Geoff skilfully dealt with persistent Titanic myths through stirring words and a riveting delivery style. (Some readers may know that Geoff was among the first to find the surviving  Titanic crew’s service records and photographs at Britain’s Public Record Office, now the National Archives.)

Following lunch at area restaurants, delegates returned to hear the unusual presentation of Canadians Rabia Crease Wilcox and her sister Dini Zuest Wilcox, entitled, Clifford Crease and Mackay-Bennett’s Sad Voyage. Both women are deeply involved in the paranormal, spiritualism and clairvoyance, and their presentation related how their grandfather, Clifford Crease, was an engineer aboard the recovery vessel Mackay-Bennett during the gruelling recovery efforts in late April 1912. The late Mr. Crease’s diary forms the basis of Rabia’s new book, Under the Titanic, which, the sisters say, they were asked to write by Mr. Crease himself during several clairvoyant/spiritual encounters with their late grandfather. (Photos of Mr. Crease and some details of the book appeared in Voyage 59.)

Ralph White, an American undersea photographer, used slides to illustrate his presentation, Titanic1912-2005: A Voyage in Time, which recounted his involvement in the 1985 Ballard expedition, the 1987 Titanic Ventures expedition, and the 1991 IMAX expedition. Mr. White indicated he had dived more than 30 times to Titanic’s wreck. A spirited question-and-answer session — with audience members questioning some of Mr. White’s assertions — ensued.
Halifax resident and Titanic expert Alan Ruffman brought the Saturday lecture series to a poignant and powerful conclusion in his talk, entitled Of DNA and Dental Discord. Alan has spent years researching every aspect of Titanic’s Halifax connections, and has been responsible, with Dr. Ryan Parr of Lakehead University in Ontario, for efforts to identify three Titanic victims in Fairview Lawn Cemetery, among them the “Unknown Child,” through mitochondrial DNA analysis.

The room fell silent as Alan cogently and sensitively explained to a lay audience the project’s planning, implementation and analysis phases. He described the challenges in locating and gaining approvals from all families involved, and setbacks as the project team discovered high groundwater levels and circulation had removed all organic material in the side-by-side graves of bodies 281 and 240 in the lower part of the Titanic plot.  Again and again, the audience was struck by the meticulous protocols demanded by science, and the insistence of Alan, Ryan Parr and the Halifax authorities on constant dignity and respect for the cemetery grounds, for the Titanic victims, and for their living descendants.

On November 6, 2002, Alan and Ryan Parr had “announced that the remains of the ‘Unknown Child’ had finally been identified through DNA analysis. Blood samples provided by direct maternal descendents of a child from Finland named Eino Panula matched the DNA extracted from the tiny bone fragment recovered from Fairview Lawn Cemetery,” according to the PBS website, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/ case_titanic/clues.html#breakingnews.
During his Halifax presentation, however, Alan told his rapt audience there was more to the story.

The three teeth recovered from the much shallower and drier grave of the Unknown Child were examined by three dental experts, including the team from the University of Toronto, which had recognized the presence of undegraded dentin in one tooth. The dentin eventually yielded much better mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) than did the bone fragment. The dental experts all said that the teeth were from a very young child — “the younger the better.” When Dr. Parr got an mtDNA match with the 13-month-old Panula child in October 2002 the dental experts’ unanimous opinion easily led Alan and Ryan to feel that they “were on firm ground” — none of the other children still considered possibilities fit the dental experts’ opinion of “the younger the better.”

Ryan Parr is the father of six children and he had doubts as to how the men on board the Mackay-Bennett could have described the Unknown Child as a two-year-old when, in fact, the mtDNA was saying that he was the 13-month-old Panula child.

Ryan Parr, Alan and the producers of the television documentary Secrets of the Dead: Titanic’s Ghosts made the worldwide announcement of the child’s identity based solely upon a match to Eino Panula in the hypervariable segment 1 (HVS1) of the mitochondrial DNA molecule. Three months after the announcement, on February 14, 2003, Alan and Ryan found that HVS1 matched both Eino Panula and Sidney Leslie Goodwin. Indeed, according to Ryan’s and Alan’s understanding of the evolving field of mtDNA, the HVS1 results potentially would match many thousands of Caucasian people across northern Europe, from Scandinavia to the British Isles, all descended from a progenitor mother a thousand or more years ago. This fact was just emerging and was not widely known in late 2002. Thus while a mismatch in the HVS1 mtDNA could rule out a candidate child, as it did remove Gösta Pålsson — long believed to be the unknown Child — in early 2002, a match in HVS1 mtDNA was not sufficient for an absolute identification.

Upon learning this, and shortly thereafter of the existence of the “Northover” shoes [now on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and attributed to the Unknown Child], which appeared to be far too large for a 13-month-old child, this “played an important part in creating a ‘doubting Thomases’ syndrome and really spurred the [HVS2] molecular work forward.” The project’s investigators began processing the mitochondrial DNA for hypervariable segment 2 (HVS2). The results of these analyses, completed only in the past year have conclusively ruled out Eino Panula and confirmed that the “Unknown Child” is 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin.

Alan’s announcement surprised the audience, though the primary reaction seemed to be one of gladness that the Unknown Child’s identification was now established with certainty. Alan added that a full review of all results would occur via the “peer-review process” that will be carried out before the results can be published in a “learned” DNA journal. At that time, having passed that test, a wider public announcement of the revised identification would be made, and he said he and everyone involved with the project would continue their work in full consultation with, and respect for, the Panula and Goodwin families and their feelings, dignity and privacy. [Editor’s note: See Alan Ruffman’s statement, page XX in this issue.]
It was a dramatic way to end the day’s lectures, and left many in deep thought. It was a dramatic way to end the day’s lectures, and left many in deep thought.
The gala dinner was held in the cavernous Nova Scotia Ballroom, and more than 120 delegates, community members and dignitaries attended, including Councilor Patrick Murphy, whose district includes the three Titanic cemeteries. He offered warm greetings on behalf of the Halifax city government.

Curiously, tables were almost bereft of decorations. My White Star Line commodore’s burgee, carefully hung on the wall by the hotel’s staff, provided one of the only bits of color, and a fine four-foot Titanic model lent by Dr. Henrietta Mann graced the dais.
Before everyone sat down to dinner, the national anthems of the seven countries represented among the delegates — Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and host country Canada were played. Many seemed to appreciate this gesture, long a tradition at TIS convention dinners, as it made people feel at home while acknowledging the convention’s true international nature.
Dinner featured tomato fennel bisque with tarragon cream, lemon-scented roasted chicken with chive-whipped potatoes and steamed vegetables, double chocolate terrine, and some very pleasant conversation among friends at the various tables. Some found the portions a bit small, but delicious.

Most had anticipated an after-dinner speaker, but none appeared. Jack and I were asked whether we’d be willing to do a question-and-answer session to regale the assemblage. After readily agreeing, we heard nothing further, and delegates drifted off in conversation (or to the nearby casino), coming back about two hours later at 11:40 p.m. for the memorial service. Members later commented that the gala dinner seemed somewhat lackluster.
The memorial service was held in the Halifax Ballrooms A and B, with their more intimate dimensions and better acoustics. It began at 11:40 p.m. Atlantic time, 95 years (nearly to the minute) from when Titanic’s tragedy began. TIS member Rev. David O. Jones from Ontario led the service. Over the years, David has made so many services at past TIS functions so memorable, and tonight was no exception. David Hill of the BTS had designed the service to reflect history, ecumenicalism and our international “congregation,” with David Jones’ assistance.

The hymns we sang, with the piano accompaniment of Sean Whynott, all had direct connections to Titanic. They included “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” “Abide with Me,” and the “Propior Deo” tune of “Nearer, My God to Thee,” which many had not heard before.

David Hill read thoughtfully from Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Convergence of the Twain,” setting the mood for all that followed. I read from St. Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. Then representatives of each of the seven nations present offered prayers. Jack Eaton represented the U. S., and TIS members Claes-Göran Wetterholm, Senan Molony, Günter Bäbler and Stephen Frazee represented Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland and Canada, respectively. I was very proud that our members played such a significant role in the service. A portion of the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, recalled the Jews whom fate had brought to Halifax’s Baron de Hirsch cemetery, as well as those buried at sea.
As always, David Jones’ address provided much food for thought, and transported all who heard it to the harrowing scenes that had been played out in the North Atlantic 95 years ago. The Lord’s Prayer (also with Titanic connections) and a full minute’s silence provided further thoughtful moments.

By 12:30 a.m., the service was over. Some returned to their rooms to pack for early departures; others stayed up and enjoyed more conversations with friends in the hotel or in adjacent restaurants and pubs.

On Sunday, after another fine breakfast, two buses provided transport to Fairview Lawn Cemetery where delegates were encouraged to engage in their own private contemplations. There was no formal ceremony here, and that was best. Many were lost in thought.

Anticipating large crowds, the Halifax authorities had paved a blacktop walkway from Fairview’s central avenue down the slope to the left side of the Titanic grave area. Foot traffic around the “Unknown Child’s” marker stone has been so heavy that grass seed and sod cannot grow in the area. A presumably temporary wooden walkway spanned that row of gravestones, but people encountering “traffic jams” on the wooden walkway just stepped off and went around.

Cindy Tulloch, the bus’s tour guide and I scrambled up the hillside at the back of Baron deHirsch Cemetery, where Cindy and I placed flowers on Michel Navratil’s grave. It was unfortunate that Baron deHirsch Cemetery’s gate could not have been opened so all could visit, and that narrow neighborhood streets didn’t permit the bus’s stopping at Mount Olivet Cemetery, though we did pass it slowly as people snapped pictures out the windows. Two television crews, one from CBC and one from French Canadian television, were filming people going from stone to stone, some leaving flowers here and there. I enjoyed watching David Haisman and Dot Kendle kindly giving an interview to the latter group, and subsequently learned that TIS member Sharon Rutman had given a fine interview to CBC while at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

I found it a bit surreal to have to unbutton my shirt in the cemetery so the French Canadian television crew could place their microphone for my interview.
 Following lunch, some delegates made their own ways to the First Baptist Church of Halifax for a public concert which included hymns and popular songs of Titanic’s era, together with dramatic readings of eyewitness accounts by Archibald Gracie, Charles Lightoller and Lawrence Beesley.

Jack and I were asked to postpone the start of our own presentation, Titanic: The Latest Chapters, so those who had gone on the Peggy’s Cove tour could attend. It was fortunate that we did so, for we found the ballroom dark, locked and lacking a projection screen. It took considerable time to find hotel staff to put things right. This was our “maiden voyage” with a Powerpoint slide show, and it seemed to go well overall, once I remembered that two cables, not one, connected computer to projector. We had many questions afterwards from the audience, always a good sign.

Many European delegates slipped away to finish packing, and as always, there was too little time to visit with so many friends. As their bus departed the hotel for the airport, several of us waved good-bye from the hotel driveway. It seemed the right thing to do.
Cindy Tulloch had made dinner reservations at the nearby Bluenose II restaurant, and Jack, Bob Bracken, Cindy, Jim Miller, Mary Litwhiler, Dave Thompson, Steve Frazee, David Jones and I enjoyed a quiet, pleasant dinner, and kept the place open long past closing time regaling its friendly young owner and our server with Titanic tales.
All too soon it was time for Bob Bracken, Jack and I to head for the airport on Monday morning. A major storm was coming up the U. S. east coast, flooding the New York-New Jersey area. After a three-hour delay at the airport, our flight took off minus Cindy Tulloch, who opted to stay an extra day.

Looking back on it all, the weekend was filled with many happy memories, learning, camaraderie, good food, long hours and, yes, some disappointments. I have asked TIS members who attended the convention to respond to a survey, and will be forwarding these and some additional comments to the convention organizers for review.
This weekend marked the first time so many groups came together for their “official” convention. Inevitably such efforts have teething problems, but many worked hard to pull it together, and almost everyone seemed to be having a good time. I would be remiss if I were not to thank Bob Bracken for his taking pictures whenever I was occupied, and Jack Eaton for being a fine “roomie,” as always. To the organizing committee — David Hill, Steve Rigby and Mike Cowlard — thanks for planning a memorable weekend. To Haligonians Henrietta Mann, Garry Shutlak and Alan Ruffman, thanks for sharing your remarkable knowledge with us and your gracious hospitality.

To members who could not attend, I hope you will be a part of the next convocation of Titanic organizations. You missed a fine weekend.