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Originally Posted by bus man
Cameron caught a lot of grief over how he portrayed Mr. Murdoch's fate, but this wasn't a case of Hollywood sensationalism. The noted historian and author Walter Lord, in his book The Night Lives On (written about a decade before Cameron's movie), postulated that it was entirely plausible -- not definite, not even highly likely, but certainly plausible -- that this happened exactly the way Cameron portrayed it. People who were upset about it should take it up with Mr. Lord.
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I would suggest the actual evidence paints a very different picture.
William Murdoch was hailed a hero for his actions, helping fill a reported 10 lifeboats full of passengers, before losing his life during the disaster. James Cameron has openly admitted that his screenwriter side took over when it came to depicting Murdoch’s story.
The reality in terms of Titanic is very different from the Hollywood version although at least Cameron did eventually apology to the outraged people of the Scottish town of Dalbeattie, which was Murdoch's home town, and as well as the apology in Cameron made a donation of £5,000 to the Murdoch Memorial Prize Fund.
In reality there were no locked gates, and the vast majority of the dead were actually British, and of the 908 Crew, some 724 came from the Southampton area of England, with 696 crew dying in the disaster, of which 549 were from the Southampton area of England, and the vast majority of the rest came from other parts of England and the UK.
In terms of the British there were only 45 Britons in first class compared to 212 Americans or over two thirds of the 324 first class passengers, and the other 289 British passengers were in second and third class, along with 94 Americans.
There were a handful Irish among the crew, along with 120 Irish passengers among the 1,317 passengers, however the Irish role is totally over played, as is all that Irish music and dancing is pure nonsense.
In reality of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, approximately 1,500 died, the vast majority were either British crew along with a number of British passengers in the 2nd and 3rd class cabins, with only a relatively few Britons travelling in first class compared to Americans.
In terms of the lifeboats on the Titanic, the number actually exceeded the legal requirement at the time, as lifeboats were expected to be used to ferry passengers from a sinking ship to a rescuing ship, meaning that lifeboats could be reused for multiple passengers. Of course, this wasn’t the case with the Titanic.
As for the narrative of the terrible cruel English and their terrible class system, accompanied by images of the poor Irish playing the fiddle in third class it's all pure and utter total nonsense, whilst William Murdoch was actually hailed as a hero by many, and there is very flimsy evidence to support the narrative presented in the film. It's also worth noting that I seem to recall Murdoch was given a more English accent in the film rather than the broad Scottish brogue he would have actually had, which again points to more Hollywood doctoring of reality.
This type of narrative was popular at the time, and later films such as 'The Patriot' even distorted history to an extent where the British/English were shown burning women and children alive in a Church, which is again pure Hollywood nonsense.
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Originally Posted by William Murdoch – the Titanic’s Scottish scapegoat - Scottish Field (2019)
The story has all the elements for a great movie: drama (a 46,000 ton ship crashing into an iceberg); death aplenty (1,500 people either trapped in the ship or dying of hypothermia); glamour (a luxury liner filled with glitzy people); and romance (there were honeymooners, mistresses, and that old married couple who went down together).
But there’s one thing missing. Guns! What about guns? We need a shooting! Well… There were some accounts in the press of an officer shooting two men and then shooting himself. How many accounts? A few.
What about the 86 witnesses at the US Senate Inquiry and the 95 witnesses at the UK Board of Trade Inquiry, who gave evidence on oath? Did any of them mention a suicide? No. Doesn’t matter, as long as someone said it, we’ll put it in. Now, who did you say shot himself?
This account might seem facetious, but it’s probably not that far off the truth. Because it was surely Hollywood’s love affair with guns that led Cameron to ignore the overwhelming majority of eyewitnesses who do not mention someone shooting themselves, even though they were in the right place at the right time, and to focus instead on a small minority who claim someone did.
Unfortunately, none of the witnesses could agree who the officer in question was, suggesting variously it might be Chief Officer Wilde, First Officer Murdoch, or even Captain Smith himself. No matter. Cameron would decide for them. And Murdoch it was, for no obvious reason except that it must be one of the missing officers from the starboard side of the ship. And dead men don’t complain or sue.
For many of the millions of people who saw the movie, Cameron’s is the only version of the story they know. And so, for the sake of filling Hollywood’s coffers, the final minutes of one of Scotland’s bravest men have been transformed into a ghastly soap opera. The world now remembers Murdoch as the cowardly man who shot two passengers and then turned his gun on himself. And who cares if the story is true when it makes such great cinema?
Murdoch was the officer in charge when the Titanic struck an iceberg. There are varying accounts of his actions, but most agree that he did everything possible to avoid collision.
Once the order was given to abandon ship, Murdoch took charge of the starboard deck and was responsible for filling eight lifeboats, saving 330 lives.
As the last lifeboats were launched, however, several witnesses report hearing gunshots, and some claim to have seen an offi cer shoot two men who were trying to rush the boats and then shoot himself – although none of the firsthand accounts mention Murdoch by name.
Needless to say, the people of Dalbeattie were outraged when the movie was released, and Cameron was eventually forced to issue an apology in the form of a £5,000 donation to the Murdoch Memorial Prize Fund.
Contd....
William Murdoch – the Titanic’s Scottish scapegoat - Scottish Field (2019) |
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