So, my brother, Pete Bullock, and I are wondering why there was nothing, other than the  Foreign Press Association New York post, about our grandfather, who was a key player then, in the centennial news and hoopla about Titanic this past week. Though the article I prepared was not picked up, let's blog it here so others can benefit from W. Fred Bullock's insight into Titanic's losses before the world was informed. Here's the extended version of the FPANY post I'd hoped the papers would've picked up and run:

April 5, 2012

Special to ...

By Alison Bullock Kagamaster, freelance journalist & granddaughter of W. Fred Bullock, former correspondent for London’s Daily Mail and Times under Lord Northcliffe

Lord Northcliffe’s “Crown Prince” Reporter for The Times and The Daily Mail of London Gave England First Details of Lives Lost on Titanic

W. Fred Bullock, circa 1912

There was some confusion as to what really happened when Titanic hit that iceberg a hundred years ago. Though initially news outlets claimed no loss of life, it was a British reporter who showed concern over meager facts he cited as unconfirmed.

New York Correspondent for London’s Daily Mail and The Times, W. Fred Bullock cabled his bosses: The greater part of the news now available consists chiefly of Press reports heard on various sources of information, and in the absence of direct official advices these must be accepted with some reserve.

According to The New York Times, Bullock was uncomfortable with his initial report and probed further until he learned the contents of a revealing private cable from White Star Line’s New York office. Estimated number of passengers rescued: 675. When the local office refused any substantial information, he contacted the Line’s London office for an approximate passenger list with crew:  2, 200. Bullock not only did the math, he considered the Atlantic Ocean’s fields of ice bergs common in spring, number of lifeboats, and unstable conditions on the crowded vessel and cabled a story indicating large fatalities, which alerted New York officials to confirm his story.

Once the rescue boat Carpathia docked, the surviving headcount of some 775 accounted for 80 percent of the maximum capacity of lifesaving appliances.

Capturing the mood in New York over subsequent days, with countless interviews of survivors and their families, from first hand observation Bullock reported on the national grief in progress: Men and women who a few days ago were proudly discussing the qualities of ‘the biggest and finest ship afloat’ today can only speak of the most awful loss of life in the history of ocean travel.

Bullock was one of a sea of reporters who crowded the streets of lower Manhattan for the memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday evening, April 19, 1912. He observed: Nothing impressed me more in the performance of my sad duty last evening when gathering the facts of this incredible disaster from the bereaved and distracted survivors than the admiration expressed by the women for the men who sacrificed their lives in order that the women might escape.

He learned of heroics. Colonel Astor and Mr. Stead were last seen clinging to a piece of wreckage from which, when their limbs were frozen, they slipped to death. These famous men, with President Taft’s aide Major Butt, were among those who only hours earlier had escorted ladies to lifeboats. Even more heroic, if possible, Bullock reported, is the account of Mr. Isador Straus who refused escape as long as a single woman remains on board.

London readers were kept abreast of the intimate minutiae of survivors and Bullock included a dictated statement from one of the wireless operators alerted by Captain Smith at the end: Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin now. It’s every man for himself. You look out for yourselves. I release you; that’s the way of it at this kind of time, every man for himself.

During the evening memorial at St. Paul’s Cathedral of those lost at sea, at 9:30 p.m., Bullock noted: Many people are weeping, and the scene is one of solemnity. Among the crowd are many Red Cross nurses and ambulance doctors. Nurses from local city hospitals were inside and outside of the dock gates and the crowd, orderly, as scores of motorcars arrived within moments of one another, most containing rugs and clothing for the survivors. By 9:50 p.m., as the steamer made her way slowly up the river she was surrounded by boats containing photographers, who were taking frequent flashlight pictures of the rescue ship, the silence being punctuated by the flashlight explosions, which showed the decks black with passengers. It was a period of agonized waiting. The docks at this time were crowded almost to their utmost capacity, yet the crowds were instantly augmented by belated arrivals. At this time there were more than fifty ambulances from every hospital in the city drawn up outside the docks.

Among the crowd emerged a notable group made up of the committee of the New York Stock Exchange, who passed through police lines bearing in a large oblong box 4,000 pounds raised by subscription on the Exchange that morning for survivors.

Throughout the month, Bullock continued to cover human interest stories survivors shared with him for Daily Mail readers. With each revelation, it was clear RMS Titanic was not equipped for worst-case scenario.

As Titanic resurfaces for worldwide 100-year commemorations, its unsinkable stories yet resonate as a warning against complacency and blind security in progress versus common sense. Simply put, had there been more lifeboats, there might’ve been more survivors.