titanic100

In pictures: The aftermath of the Titanic tragedy

Shivering survivors, grief-stricken relatives waiting on the docks and shock in the White Star Line offices: a pictorial record of the world receiving news that the ‘unsinkable’ ship had done the unthinkable.
8.30am, 15 Apr 2012
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THIS DAY 100 years ago, the friends and remaining relatives of those 1,514 people who perished in the Titanic tragedy began to clamour for news of their loved ones.

Had they, by some miracle, survived the terrible sinking? These photographs from that date – and the months immediately after – give a sense of the chaos, shock, grief and recriminations of the time.

In pictures: The aftermath of the Titanic tragedy
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  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Carried ashore in New York with feet crushed and frostbitten Mr Harold Bride, second wireless operator of the Titanic, leaving the RMS Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    In this April 1912 file photo, crowds gather around the bulletin board of the New York American newspaper in New York, where the names of people rescued from the sinking Titanic are displayed. It was a news story that would change the news. From the moment that a brief Associated Press dispatch relayed the wireless distress call _ "Titanic ... reported having struck an iceberg. The steamer said that immediate assistance was required" _ reporters and editors scrambled. In ways that seem familiar today, they adapted a dawning newsgathering technology and organised saturation coverage and managed to cover what one authority calls "the first really, truly international news event where anyone anywhere in the world could pick up a newspaper and read about it." (AP Photo)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    A crowd gathers in front of the White Star Line office on New York City's Broadway, waiting for the latest news about Titanic survivors. (AP Photo)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    One of the seaman survivors, with his mother and three brothers on his arrival at Plymouth, England. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Mystery children for a while - Titanic survivors Lolo and Momon Navratil. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    The homecoming of 167 of the 210 survivors of Titanic's crew, seen here aboard the tender Sir Richard Grenville, awaiting their landing at Plymouth. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Surviving Titanic stewardesses who were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Sleeping accommodation at Plymouth Docks ready for Titanic crew survivors who preferred to go to their homes without delay: dining-tables are visible in the background. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Crew members of Titanic who were detained as possible witnesses - there was a delay in sending the wire to tell them they could leave of their own volition. Here they are looking through closed dock-gates at Plymouth on 4 May 1912. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    An unidentified stewardess from Titanic (on left) with Mrs Slocumbe, who was manageress of the Turkish baths on the ship. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Mr Threlfall, Leading Stoker on the Titanic, (left) later gave evidence that he saw the closing of the water-tight doors, and how Captain Smith, at the last, gave the command "Every man for himself." He said he saw Captain Smith go down with his ship. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Survivors aboard a collapsible life-boat from the Titanic, seen here as the boat rowed slowly towards the RMS Carpathia immediately before the rescue of the passengers. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Male and female survivors of the Titanic crew at dinner in the shed set apart for them in the docks at Plymouth after their rescue. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    The crowd outside St Paul's Cathedral in London on 19 April 1912 after a memorial service for victims of the Titanic tragedy. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Titanic rescue and rescuers' lifeboats. The one in the foreground belongs to the RMS Carpathia - a rope attaches to the Titanic lifeboat behind. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    The scene inside 'Oceanic House', the London headquarters of the White Star Line, as the news emerges that its 'unsinkable ship' Titanic had struck an iceberg and sank. (PA Archive/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    A newspaper boy spreads the news of the sinking of the Titanic on the streets of London. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Titanic survivors on rescue ship, the Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    An uncrowded lifeboat of the Titanic being rowed slowly towards the RMS Carpathia immediately before the rescue of the passengers. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    The funeral procession of Wallace Hartley, at Colne, Lancashire. Hartley was the heroic bandmaster who instructed his musicians to play on to give comfort to those huddled on deck of the Titanic as it began to sink. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    Drawings made by a survivor, on an overturned collapsible boat, as the Titanic was sinking. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    The British method: The Titanic inquiry in the London Scottish Drill Hall, showing a model of the ship to the right in the background. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

  • Titanic tragedy - the aftermath

    On the other side: Titanic disaster survivors in New York sit before Senator William A Smith in the earlier stages of a senatorial inquiry in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. Marked on photograph are: No 1. Mr Cottam, wireless operator of the RMS Carpathia; No 2. Signor Marconi; No 3. Representative Hughes; No 4. White Line chairman Mr Bruce Ismay; No 5. Senator Smith; No 6. a Mr Franklin. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Carried ashore in New York with feet crushed and frostbitten Mr Harold Bride, second wireless operator of the Titanic, leaving the RMS Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • In this April 1912 file photo, crowds gather around the bulletin board of the New York American newspaper in New York, where the names of people rescued from the sinking Titanic are displayed. It was a news story that would change the news. From the moment that a brief Associated Press dispatch relayed the wireless distress call _
  • A crowd gathers in front of the White Star Line office on New York City's Broadway, waiting for the latest news about Titanic survivors. (AP Photo)
  • One of the seaman survivors, with his mother and three brothers on his arrival at Plymouth, England. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Mystery children for a while - Titanic survivors Lolo and Momon Navratil. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • The homecoming of 167 of the 210 survivors of Titanic's crew, seen here aboard the tender Sir Richard Grenville, awaiting their landing at Plymouth. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Surviving Titanic stewardesses who were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Sleeping accommodation at Plymouth Docks ready for Titanic crew survivors who preferred to go to their homes without delay: dining-tables are visible in the background. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Crew members of Titanic who were detained as possible witnesses - there was a delay in sending the wire to tell them they could leave of their own volition. Here they are looking through closed dock-gates at Plymouth on 4 May 1912. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • An unidentified stewardess from Titanic (on left) with Mrs Slocumbe, who was manageress of the Turkish baths on the ship. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Mr Threlfall, Leading Stoker on the Titanic, (left) later gave evidence that he saw the closing of the water-tight doors, and how Captain Smith, at the last, gave the command
  • Survivors aboard a collapsible life-boat from the Titanic, seen here as the boat rowed slowly towards the RMS Carpathia immediately before the rescue of the passengers. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Male and female survivors of the Titanic crew at dinner in the shed set apart for them in the docks at Plymouth after their rescue. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • The crowd outside St Paul's Cathedral in London on 19 April 1912 after a memorial service for victims of the Titanic tragedy. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Titanic rescue and rescuers' lifeboats. The one in the foreground belongs to the RMS Carpathia - a rope attaches to the Titanic lifeboat behind. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • The scene inside 'Oceanic House', the London headquarters of the White Star Line, as the news emerges that its 'unsinkable ship' Titanic had struck an iceberg and sank. (PA Archive/PA Images)
  • A newspaper boy spreads the news of the sinking of the Titanic on the streets of London. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Titanic survivors on rescue ship, the Carpathia. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • An uncrowded lifeboat of the Titanic being rowed slowly towards the RMS Carpathia immediately before the rescue of the passengers. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • The funeral procession of Wallace Hartley, at Colne, Lancashire. Hartley was the heroic bandmaster who instructed his musicians to play on to give comfort to those huddled on deck of the Titanic as it began to sink. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • Drawings made by a survivor, on an overturned collapsible boat, as the Titanic was sinking. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • The British method: The Titanic inquiry in the London Scottish Drill Hall, showing a model of the ship to the right in the background. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)
  • On the other side: Titanic disaster survivors in New York sit before Senator William A Smith in the earlier stages of a senatorial inquiry in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. Marked on photograph are: No 1. Mr Cottam, wireless operator of the RMS Carpathia; No 2. Signor Marconi; No 3. Representative Hughes; No 4. White Line chairman Mr Bruce Ismay; No 5. Senator Smith; No 6. a Mr Franklin. (Topham/Topham Picturepoint/PA Images)

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