Titanic Historical Society Commutator 245

THS Commutator No. 245, Spring 2nd Quarter, April to June 2024

Contents

Einar Gervasius Karlsson–– A 3rd Class Titanic Survivor’s Odyssey

Rose Ann Jensen is the daughter of Einar Karlsson (became Carlson when he became an American citizen). Einar Gervasius Karlsson was born in Oskarshamn, Sweden on June 19, 1890. He was the second child born to Frederick and Emilia Karlsson. As he grew up, Einar, like his friend, Johan Asplund, spent time in boats and on the ocean, both as work and pleasure. He was 5’ 5½,” athletic, adept and agile. Besides being resourceful, we believe his army training and athletic ability played an important role in his leaving Titanic the way he did.
By Rose Ann Jensen

Cymric in Boston Shows Excellent Service Vintage Vignettes

The Last Evening in Titanic’s 1st Class Smoking Room

“I sat in the big carved mahogany settee, with deep, wide springy leather upholstering, and toasted my feet at the big coal fire that blazed in a fireplace worthy of a king’s palace. Over the fireplace was a beautiful sea picture by Norman Wilkinson. The settee formed two horns on either side of the fire, and a dozen folk could sit in this settee for comfort. The apartment was a lounge where a couple of hundred guests might rest in cozy chairs. Its walls were paneled with rich, dark wood, exquisitely inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It spoke of wealth, refinement, luxury. It was a place for millionaires of taste and millionaires of beauty.” (Ernest Townley, El Paso Herald, May 20, 1912)
By Stijn Bammens

TITANIC: An Unpublished Autobiography––Extract (Chapter Ten) – The Sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the Reputation of Mr. J. Bruce Ismay

Mr. Bustard was 26 at the time of the Titanic disaster. He began as an apprentice in 1902 with the White Star Line and was promoted to passenger traffic manager. When White Star merged with Cunard in 1934, he left the company. Bustard was in his eighties when he wrote his autobiography. It is an interesting retrospective after many years how one can look back at experiences more clearly. “…and the sole surviving executive of the old White Star Line with which I served for 32 years in close personal contact at all times with both Mr. Ismay and for Harold A. Sanderson.” …This extract of personal correspondence from Lt. Colonel Frank Bustard to John Maxtone-Graham, May 16, 1973, was forwarded to Edward Kamuda
By Lt. Col. Frank Bustard OBE

Great Uncle George Rosenshine: 1st Class Titanic Passenger and His Postcards Recording His Travels

Since 1911-1912, the packet of 45 postcards written by my great uncle, George Rosenshine (né Rosenschein) to his three nieces (his only sister’s daughters) during an around-the-world trip following retirement from business has survived for all these years due to the sentimental and saving nature of my mother, Viola, who had lived with her Uncle George and her grandmother, Dora, from 1905-1910. (Loaning out a child for companionship to a grandmother––a commonplace practice in large families in that era). Viola cached the
cards among other old family letters and mementoes in a large steamer trunk in the attic of my childhood home (32 Carmen Avenue, Cedarhurst, Long Island, New York) and came into my possession upon her death in 1949.
By Janet Ripin

Great Uncle Georges Postcards

All George Rosenshine’s postcards are illustrated here from the beginning of his travels to his final one handwritten and signed by him.

President Harding in Near Collision with Olympic Vintage Vignettes

Covers:
Front: Einar Karlsson as a Corporal in Company A, 314th Ammunition Train in the United States Army 1917-1918.
Back: Einar Karlsson’s letter to the White Star Line requesting compensation for the loss of his belongings. (Rose Ann Jensen/THS
collection