Description

Commutator No. 222, Summer 2nd Quarter
Membership Year 2018

CONTENTS

Edwardian Splendor: Rotterdam IV The Early Years
There was no doubt, Rotterdam IV was one of the most magnificent and luxurious ships that Holland America had ever built and she set a new standard in style and fine accommodations that was soon copied by British and European shipping companies.
By Raymond Lepien
Page 56

Resurrecting Titanic’s Cherub Lamp
Apart from Charles Wilson’s famous clock, there is no other element from Titanic’s 1st-class Grand Staircase as significant as the cherub lamp. This marvelous bronze sculpture graced an elaborately carved quarter-sawn English oak newel post at the bottom of the elegant, Louis Quatorze-style staircase. Here is the background.
By Alan St. George
Page 66

A Bath Steward Aboard Titanic –
Harold Phillimore’s Great Escape
A survivor, Harold went back to sea for many years. He was reunited at the premiere of A Night To Remember in 1958 with Alfred Pugh, a steward, whom he had not seen since the 1920s.
By Don Lynch
Page 76

Book Notes: The Titanic Expeditions
Diving to the Queen of the Deep
By Eugene Nesmeyanov, reviewed by Tad Fitch
Page 79

Sea Poste: THS member Phil Gowan is remembered. THS’s new website and Museum Store is complete.
Page 81

Launching Big Battleships and Ocean Liners
Skill, excitement and emotion are still to be remarked among vast crowds which invariably gather to view the spectacle of some great ship whether an ocean greyhound or a ponderous battleship being boldly transferred from terra firma to the yielding bosom of the deep.
By David Pollock, M.I.N.A.
Page 86

The Titanic Passenger Hardly Anyone Ever Heard Of
Since Holland America was part of the International
Mercantile Marine Co., J. Bruce Ismay made arrangements for a complimentary 1st Class passage (No. 19972) and the ticket was booked through the Cockspur office. Mr. Ismay stated in his letter that he’d find a “nice comfortable room” for the HAL director.
By Ray Lepien
Page 96

Olympic in the First World War: Ferrying Canadian Troops
In her long and adventurous life, the time she spent ferrying Canadian troops is a notable but frequently overlooked part of her career. Canadian troops who sailed aboard her, nicknamed her Old Reliable.
By David R. Gray
Page 100

Front cover: Titanic in Southampton Water, painting by Stephen Card (Stephen Card).
Back cover: A very early postcard of Rotterdam IV before her Promenade Deck was glassed in. (Ray Lepien collection)