This sinking of the luxury liner 'Titanic' in 1912 was published full page, in the
newspapers of Ceylon of that time. Even when the ship was sinking the ship's band was playing. This was the origin of the Sinhalese saying –
“Nava gillath ban chune”. This phrase in Sinhalese, can be used to refer to a situation, where there was a celebration going on
when disaster was in the making. It can also mean a dedication to carry on one’s
duty in the face of disaster.
RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912 after the ship struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of modern
history's deadliest peacetime commercial marine disasters. RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the
time she entered service and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners operated
by the White
Star Line. She was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Thomas Andrews, chief naval
architect of the shipyard at the time, died in the disaster.(Wikipedia)
Wallace
Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April 1912) was an English violinist and
bandleader on the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage. He became famous for
leading the eight member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. He died in the
sinking. After the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink, Hartley and his
fellow band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as
the crew loaded the lifeboats. Many of the survivors said that he and the band
continued to play until the very end. None of the band members survived the
sinking, and the story of them playing to the end became a popular legend.
Instagram: meysammarvasti_official
Wallace Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April
1912) was an English violinist and bandleader on the RMS Titanic on its maiden
voyage. He became famous for leading the eight member band as the ship sank on
15 April 1912. He died in the sinking. After the Titanic hit an iceberg and
began to sink, Hartley and his fellow band members started playing music to
help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. Many of the
survivors said that he and the band continued to play until the very end. None
of the band members survived the sinking, and the story of them playing to the
end became a popular legend. One survivor who clambered aboard 'Collapsible A'
claimed to have seen Hartley and his band standing on the boat deck, near the
entrance to the grand staircase, near the base of the second funnel. He went on
to say that he saw three of them washed off while the other five held on to the
railing on top the Grand Staircase's deckhouse, only to be dragged down with
the bow, as Hartley exclaimed, "Gentlemen, I bid you farewell!" A
newspaper at the time reported "the part played by the orchestra on board
the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the
annals of heroism at sea." Though the final song played by the band is
unknown, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" has gained popular acceptance.
Former bandmates claimed that Hartley had said he would play either
"Nearer, My God, to Thee" or "O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
if he were ever on a sinking ship, but Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember
(1955) popularised wireless officer Harold Bride's account of hearing the song
"Autumn". If it were "Nearer, My God, to Thee", it is
uncertain which version Hartley used. His father used the "Propior
Deo" version, by Arthur Sullivan, at church, and his family were certain
that he would have used that version,[4] It is this tune's opening notes that
appear on Hartley's memorial[5] and that were played at his funeral.[4] After
the sinking Edit Hartley's body was recovered by the Mackay–Bennett almost two
weeks after the sinking. Several press reports confirmed that Wallace was found
"fully dressed with his music case strapped to his body".[6] He was
transferred to the Arabic and returned to England. Hartley's father Albion met
the ship at Liverpool and brought his son's body back to his home town of
Colne, Lancashire. The funeral took place on 18 May 1912. One thousand people
attended Hartley's funeral, while an estimated 30,000 - 40,000 lined the route
of his funeral procession.[3] Hartley is buried in the Keighley Road cemetery,
Colne, where a 10 feet (3.0 m) high headstone, containing a carved violin at
its base, was erected in his honour. A memorial to Hartley, topped by his bust,
was erected in 1915 outside what was then the town library. The memorial is
inscribed: Wallace Hartley Bandmaster of the RMS Titanic who perished in the
foundering of that vessel, April 15th 1912. Erected by voluntary contributions
to commemorate the heroism of a native of this town. This was later moved
slightly to make way for the World War One memorial. Hartley's large Victorian
terraced house in West Park Street, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, bears a blue
plaque to remind passers-by that this was the bandleader's home.[3] In 2001,
Hartley's name was still being used when naming new streets and housing in the
town of Colne. In 2008, the pub chain J D Wetherspoon named a newly opened pub,
(the building having been the long-standing King's Head Hotel up until the
mid-1990s),[7] in Colne after the bandleader.[8]
Please click on the web-link below to see a scene from the film 'Titanic'
https://youtu.be/U41txhi2nfY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwLl5nY5WPI
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (or Sally Adams[1]) (1805 – 1848) was an English poet and hymn writer, who composed the words of the hymn "Nearer,
My God, to Thee", at the request of her Pastor, who was
to deliver a sermon, based on the bible text from - Genesis 28:11--12: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there
all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place
and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he
dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to
heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on
it..." This is the story of Jacob’s dream.
The hymn sung by a Mennonite Choir:-
Please click on the web-link below, with your
speakers on :-
