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.
