NationStates Jolt Archive


Family finds body of Titanic survivor 93 years on

Nadkor
29-10-2005, 00:59
Not really any political intrigue behind this, so I expect this thread to sink rather like the ship in the title. I just think it's a nice story.

The final resting place of a Titanic crewman has been discovered by his family 93 years after the sinking of the ill-fated liner.

Ship's stoker William McQuillan was believed to have been lost at sea when the Titanic sank on 15 April 1912.

But a film about BBC Northern Ireland's Mike McKimm's dive to the ship led his family to locate his grave.

Mr McQuillan did drown in the disaster, but his body was found and brought ashore at Halifax in Nova Scotia.

Ninety-three years ago, back in the ship's home city of Belfast, his grieving family could only believe what they saw in the papers.

The Belfast Telegraph of 4 May 1912 revealed Mr McQuillan was not one of the survivors and that the bodies of the missing Belfast firemen who stoked the Titanic's engines "lay in a sailor's grave, two miles beneath the ocean".


The next morning, I went down to mum and she was amazed too because all she and the relatives knew was he had been lost at sea
Marjorie Wilson

In a cruel twist of fate, just two days later, William McQuillan's body was buried in grave 183 in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Canada.

Until last week, his family assumed he was just one of about 1,000 people lost at sea in the disaster.

Marjorie Wilson is William McQuillan's granddaughter. Her husband Victor was watching BBC Newsline's Journey to Remember documentary about the dive to Titanic in August.

It showed William McQuillan's grave in Canada. Marjorie Wilson was shocked when her husband told her what he had just seen.

"He mentioned William McQuillan, Seaview Street. I said: 'That's my grandda'.

"He said they had found his grave. I never knew about it. The next morning, I went down to mum and she was amazed too because all she and the relatives knew was he had been lost at sea.

William's children all went to their graves assuming that he was one of the missing.

As Marjorie sat staring at the photograph of his gravestone, she related how she first discovered her grandfather died in the tragedy.

"I was 12-years-old and a friend and I were up in the town (Belfast) and there was a drinking fountain at the City Hall.

"As I was taking a drink my friend said: 'Look, there's a name the same as yours'.

"I went home and said to mum: 'On a statue it has McQuillan on it', and mum said: 'That's your grandfather. He went down in the Titanic'."

Marjorie said her grandfather should not have been on the Titanic.

But a friend due to sail on the ship wanted to remain on shore to take care of his wife who was expecting their first child, so William volunteered to take his place - a generous gesture that cost him his life.

His house at 79 Seaview Street in north Belfast has long since gone.

A solitary photograph of William McQuillan is still in the family's possession. Until last week it was all they had to remember their sad connection with Titanic.

Clicky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4379580.stm)
Armorvia
29-10-2005, 04:14
Fare thee well, sailor. I hoist one in your memory tonight.
Ataroa
29-10-2005, 04:22
Wow. Simply wow.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
29-10-2005, 04:31
When I read the title I had the mental image of a small family looking behind the couch, and one of them yelling out:
"So that's where we put him! He was behind the couch the whole time."
To which the mother responds: "I told you that we'd find him eventually if we just retraced our steps."
Lacadaemon
29-10-2005, 04:37
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm does bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Savior, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amid the rage did sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who did brood
Upon the waters dark and rude,
And bid their angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and pow'r,
Your children shiled in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, firs, and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Feel bad for him though.
Armorvia
29-10-2005, 17:11
Navy Hymn - beautiful song. Have a copy done by the Naval Choir.
[NS]Simonist
29-10-2005, 20:58
When I read the title I had the mental image of a small family looking behind the couch, and one of them yelling out:
"So that's where we put him! He was behind the couch the whole time."
To which the mother responds: "I told you that we'd find him eventually if we just retraced our steps."
I actually was somewhat hoping it would be the case of a little girl playing on the beach, and her slightly-older brother says something about the dead seal down the beach and all. So they go to see it, y'know, maybe poke it with something. Titanic crewman. /morbid

By the way, I hate to get into semantics here, but seeing as how the article clearly states McQuillan DIED in the sinking, doesn't that mean he's not a "Titanic survivor" after all?
Nadkor
29-10-2005, 21:01
Simonist']By the way, I hate to get into semantics here, but seeing as how the article clearly states McQuillan DIED in the sinking, doesn't that mean he's not a "Titanic survivor" after all?
That's a very, very good point.

I can only blame the alcohol I had drunk when posting this :p
[NS]Simonist
29-10-2005, 21:15
That's a very, very good point.

I can only blame the alcohol I had drunk when posting this :p
Lay off the sauce, Nad :rolleyes:
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
29-10-2005, 21:45
Simonist']Lay off the sauce, Nad :rolleyes:
Totalistarian Prohibitionist Scum, female, and a Grammar Nazi! I think I have found my commander for the Imperial Death Army of Misery!
Welcome aboard Simonist!
Now all I need are Commanders for the Imperial Death Armies of Angst, Derision, Despair, Moral Atrophy and Constipation.
Nadkor
29-10-2005, 21:49
Simonist']Lay off the sauce, Nad :rolleyes:
I haven't touched a drop today. :)
[NS]Simonist
29-10-2005, 21:51
Totalistarian Prohibitionist Scum, female, and a Grammar Nazi! I think I have found my commander for the Imperial Death Army of Misery!
Welcome aboard Simonist!
Now all I need are Commanders for the Imperial Death Armies of Angst, Derision, Despair, Moral Atrophy and Constipation.
.....Well that was unintentionally awesome.....