A Survivor

 On 15th April it was the 111th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic - a massive ship that its maker claimed was unsinkable.

Today's blog is about a man who survived the sinking and made his home in Australia.

WILLIAM JOHN MURDOCK(H) 

William was born in Great Clifton, Cumberland, England in September 1874, the eldest of eight children to Nathaniel Murdoch, ironworker, and his wife, Annie who originated from Northern Ireland. By the time of his thirteenth birthday the family had returned to Belfast. 

William became a fireman and went on to marry Catherine Robson, also from Belfast, in February 1901. They had four children but tragically the youngest born in 1907 only lived for a few short months. 

At the 1911 census, the family were residing at the Belfast address of Catherine's widowed mother, Margaret, and he was described as a labourer.

Murdock first signed on to the Titanic on 29th March 1912 for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. William obviously liked the short trip in the luxurious vessel as he signed on again on 6th April. He gave his previous ship as the Brayhead, and his current address as the Sailors' Home, Southampton. He declared his year of birth as 1878 no doubt in order to lower his age and therefore be considered younger and more able to tackle the physically taxing work he would be undertaking as one of over 160 firemen/stokers. Even though the monthly wage of £6 would have been very attractive, the work of a fireman/stoker was gruelling ensuring the fires were kept burning on the Titanic and men often worked stripped to the waist in order to endure the heat. William was not alone in his employment as his neighbour from Belfast, John Hagan, was also serving on board as a stoker.


Titanic - Wikipedia

On the night of 14th April 1912, most of the passengers were unaware that there was anything wrong with the vessel even after it hit the iceberg, until the slight vibrations from the coal being stoked into the engines had stopped.

William claimed to have survived the sinking by jumping into the water and being "picked up" by the collapsible boat he helped in lowering, lifeboat D. His account could have been true as some survivors were rescued from the icy waters. Murdock was actually assigned boat 16 and may have been in that boat as he would later claim that he was in boat 6 with Mrs. Molly Brown. This may have been true as there is an account of one fireman being transferred from boat 16 to boat 6. We will never know for sure with no strong evidence, but we do know he survived when over 70% of his crew members perished, including his neighbour John Hagan. We know this as fact as he was one of the survivors who disembarked from the Carpathia in New York on 18 April 1912.


Titanic lifeboat - Wikipedia


Gantry where Carpathia docked at New York harbour in 1912 taken from High Line - author's own 

Murdock was not called to give evidence to either the British or American Inquiries into the sinking, so his actual account of survival was never officially recorded.


Lifeboats from Titanic empty of their living cargo in New York - Wikipedia

After the ordeal, William returned to Belfast and continued working at sea into the 1920's. Within the next decade he and his family emigrated to Sydney, Australia where he continued working onboard coastal ships plying their trade between Sydney and Newcastle.


Grainy photo of William Murdock - Encyclopedia Titanic with thanks

William died in Sydney in July 1941 and lies peacefully in the Independent area of Rookwood near the St Anthanasios Chapel with his wife, Catherine who joined him in 1965.


William and Catherine Murdock's hard to read headstone - author's own

It appears that his surname was Murdock as per baptismal and census records but altered somewhere along the line and is incorrectly listed on his headstone, albeit very hard to see, as Murdoch. 

I have used references from Ancestry.com, Encyclopaedia Titanica, Wikipedia and other source for today's blog with the greatest respect.

I'm sure William battled hard with survivor's guilt over the years with the constant stories of the Titanic, but now lies in peace.

If you have any comments about this blog please enter them here or go to the group Facebook page which you can find by searching 

rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries

or simply email me at 

lorainepunch@gmail.com


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