2012
In This Issue
Here we at 100 for RMS Titanic! This year has been both busy and exciting; there are Titanic centenary commemorations
happening all over the world–Titanic’s story endures. In keeping with the theme, the articles in this issue are all Titanic-related,
some with different twists.
Author Patrick Stenson re-examines the timing in Titanic Meets Iceberg. Did the collision really happen in that way through
those critical moments immediately before the accident? In part it undoubtedly did but a re-evaluation of the evidence after the
passing of a century (during which time it’s always been there for everyone to see) strongly lays claim to one very distinct and
vital difference to shed a significant new light on the circumstances leading up to the instant when the ice was struck.
One of the few first class passengers from the Titanic about whom almost nothing has been written is Gertrude Wayne, later
Mrs. Richard C. Yanke. Don Lynch uncovered much new information. Traveling under the name Thorne she would have been
nearly impossible to track down but for two clues she left behind. It is probably through Ethel Levey and her connection with
the theater that Gertrude first met George Rosenshine. George’s grand-niece, the late Janet S. Ripin, recalled that he and his
brothers were friends of theatrical producer Henry B. Harris. George M. Cohan was a good friend of Harris, and perhaps Harris
and Cohan introduced George and Gertrude. They planned to complete their world tour with another maiden voyage––that of
the Titanic.
With the début of Titanic in 3-D, Barbara Chronowski describes what it was like to be in the Titanic movie in Memoirs of
a Titanic Survivor. 1997––“It’s going to be a James Cameron film!” “They’re looking for people with a classic European look.
Barbara, that’s you!” My friends encouraged me, knowing that I had taken some acting classes, so I was off to the cattle call
at the St. James Hotel in San Diego. In spite of the crowds at the audition, I hung around and finally got in front of the casting
directors who were searching for that certain something that only casting directors know. Photos of actual passengers who really
were on Titanic were in the casting directors’ binders and I noticed they spent extra time lurking around me. I later learned that I
actually resembled someone who was on the Titanic.
Major Arthur Peuchen’s survival is the subject by Michael Dupuis. There is little doubt that among the 48 Canadians who
survived the sinking, the most newsworthy was fifty-two year-old millionaire and first-class passenger, Major Arthur Godfrey
Peuchen of Toronto. During Titanic’s wreck and rescue and the arrival of Carpathia in New York, the Canadian military and
businessman was involved in several controversies. As well, he was the only Canadian to testify before the U.S. Senate inquiry.
The purpose of his article is to examine six controversies involving Peuchen.
Thousands of Olympic’s fittings items were auctioned off by Thomas Ward & Sons and scattered around the world. One
piece from the “Old Reliable” is one of four binnacles on display in the carriage house at the Molly Brown House Museum in
Denver, Colorado. The binnacle is on loan from Deedee Decker of Denver. Her grandfather, Chandler Hovey, of Marblehead,
Massachusetts who skippered and financed J-Class boats in the America’s Cup in the 1930s, had it on display in the entryway
of his home. Deedee remembered seeing it there when she was growing up. Phill Kleppen finds A Link to Titanic in a Denver
Backyard.
Happy reading!
CONTENTS
MEMOIRS OF A TITANIC SURVIVOR
By Barbara Chronowski
TITANIC MEETS ICEBERG, THE EVIDENCE REVISITED
By Patrick Stenson
MAJOR ARTHUR PEUCHEN-TITANIC’S CONTROVERSIAL CANADIAN SURVIVOR
By Michael Dupuis
TITANIC SURVIVOR GERTRUDE WAYNE YANKE
By Don Lynch
A LINK TO TITANIC FOUND IN A DENVER BACKYARD
By Phill Kleppen
TITANIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S 50TH BIRTHDAY
SEA POSTE
Was there a kosher kitchen or supervision onboard Titanic and White Star ships? Titanic Memorials Undiscovered and Rediscovered: St. Peter the Apostle,
Libertytown, Maryland; the Rosenshine Family in Bayside Cemetery, New York and Broken Hill Titanic Memorial, NSW, Australia
BOOK NOTES
Titanic Voyager: The Odyssey of C.H. Lightoller by Patrick Stenson reviewed by Paul Louden-Brown; Transcending the Titanic: Beyond Death’s Door by
Michael Tymm reviewed by George Behe; On a Sea of Glass by Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton and Bill Wormstedt reviewed by Mark Chirnside
FRONT COVER The cold North Atlantic is the background of a memorial wreath design commemorating Titanic’s centennial. Karen Kamuda
BACK COVER A magnificent granite arch is the entrance to the Rosenshine family plot in Bayside Cemetery, Ozone Park, New York. Contrary to popular myth, only family is buried here. Photo: Anthony Pisciotta
