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Wallace Hartley: Bandmaster of the Titanic |
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Nearer My God to Thee?
The debate over what Hartley and his band played immediately prior to the sinking of Titanic reveals much about the mood of the British public in the wake of the tragedy. If the raft of commemorative postcards, editions of sheet music, newspaper testimonials and Hartley’s own grave are to be believed, the band played the hymn, ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’ when Titanic took her final plunge. 
Hartley's funeral procession
© Courtesy of Colne Library |
This popular, well-known hymn about death and the afterlife was the perfect song for Hartley to conduct in the last moments of his life. However, perhaps this song fits the Titanic setting a little too perfectly, and suggests that Hartley’s legend was subject to editorialising?
The first reports from Titanic survivors appeared in the New York press seven days after the disaster. They identified the last song played by the band as the popular, jolly dance-hall waltz: ‘Autumn’ and not the sombre hymn ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’. This song was named by British Marconi operator Bride in an interview printed on April 19th 1912. Bride was in the near unique position of being on board the ship immediately prior to her end; he survived by chance after grabbing hold of an overturned life boat which freed itself just before Titanic sank. Gibbs’ commemorative piece in the British press, ‘The Deathless Story of the Titanic’, also quoted from Bride, and identified a jolly rag-time tune, Song d’Automme, as the last song played by the band. Where, then, did the claim that the band played ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’ originate?
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