Great questions, alas, I think I know the answer to #4 and have a guess as to #5, the rest I'm in the dark :(.

Annette

No guesses from me yet - but I'll be back. Cursed to work - no wait, that's a good thing!!

Nancy.

I know 1, 2, and 5 but no idea on 3 and 4. There has been lots of info about the Titanic in our paper and on TV and I have been watching and reading most of them.

It is a beautiful day, sunny and mid-70s, so I am working outside before the rain comes tonight. We have had very little rainfall earlier and could use a good soaker.

Hope you get your rain, Bobbie. I am watering already this year. I don't usually need to do that until July and we don't have any forecast of rain until at least Wednesday and even that is not expected to be much. :(

Let's see...clues?

I always try to teach my students that primary sources are their best source of information about an event.

What a difference 100 years makes! How many young people collect books these days?

Would it help to know that William Stead wrote many stories? His interest in spiritualism and psychical research might lead one to wonder if indeed he had that gift...

Hard to believe that at the time of the disaster many of the third class passengers would have been unfamiliar with indoor plumbing.

Cynthia-just realized I left the r out of architect-oops-it seems to have migrated to thought in the beginning of the post. Hmmm...no excuses-just careless this morning apparently.

Oh gosh - I am woefully ignorant on this!!

1. Maybe they said all lost??

2. I'll say b., as you remarked about collecting books...

3. Hmmm...as a psychic, ya gotta wonder that he didn't see it coming! He may have been one of the people who wrote a novel about a maritime disaster - I seem to recall that 2 or three novels were written, one about a ship named the Titan, oddly or presciently enough.

4. Possibly that it was the first ship with flush toilets - is that too easy??

5. I'm going with $30. My maternal grandmother and her parents and sisters came to Canada later that year on the 1st Empress of Britain. She was 18-years-old at the time. I always wonder how scared/worried they were... Their shipboard credit was noted as $12. Pure guess, again.

We had a very little bit of rain earlier this week. The local paper noted that our aquifers and lakes are lower than August levels, right now. Yikes. What will we do in August??

Nancy.

1. The Atlantic Bulletin was the newspaper published on the Titantic. Were they publishing as the ship was sinking? Eyewitness news indeed.

2. B

3. From the clue I will say that he wrote a book about a boat sinking after hitting an iceberg, maybe a survivor's account.

4. Maybe it was unusual for flush toilets in third class since many of the poorer families did not have flush toilets in their homes ship builders had not put flush toilets in that part of the ship previously?

5. $30

No rain yet and it is very dry. If it doesn't rain tonight I will water tomorrow.

Well here are my two...
#4 I think I read somewhere the immigrants were used to outhouses not flush toilets so the toilets in third class flushed automatically whereas the toilets in first and second class didn't.
#5 I'll go with $30 too. #1, #2, #3, I have no idea.

Annette

Oooh, I just had a thought, after reading Bobbie's remark that it was the on-board newspaper - I wonder if that's where the quote, A Night to Remember came from? I read some articles this week in our paper about the Titanic. Not on these subjects - 8( - but they talked about the 'yellow' journalism inspired by some of the survivors stories, especially the men. Lot's of restaurants recreating the 'last' first class meal. A group of friends and I did that many years ago, as a book with the menus had just come out - great fun, if you ever have the chance!!

Just posted my question, for those who are with us. Have a great day - can't wait for the real answers, Cyn!!

Nancy.

You all did pretty well since I didn't get back with clues! Hope it was fun anyway.

So, here goes:

Nancy=**** **** **** for #2, 3, and 5
Bobbie=** **** ** **** half point for 1 and 4, and full points for 2 and 5
Annette= **** **** for 4 and 5

#1 The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was indeed the shipboard newspaper. This was sort of a trick question because it carried no coverage of the disaster.

#2 Harry Widener was memorialized by his mother when she donated the funds (and presumably some books) to build the Widener Library to Harvard in her son's memory.

3. Stead did publish two books on maritime disasters on the Atlantic. On 22 March 1886, he published an article named How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor where a steamer collides with another ship, with high loss of life due to lack of lifeboats. Stead had added "This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea short of boats". In 1892, Stead published a story called From the Old World to the Newin which a vessel, the Majestic, rescues survivors of another ship that collided with an iceberg. As Nancy mentioned, there was another similar book written in 1898 by Morgan Robertson entitled Futility which also has a supposedly unsinkable ship sinking with great loss of life because it was without enough lifeboats. Didn't choose that one because I did think it interesting that Stead ended up losing his life on the Titanic. His body was never recovered and one survivor recalled seeing him and John J. Astor clinging to a capsized lifeboat before they both lost their grip and drowned. It was also reported that Stead, when he realized there would not be space in a lifeboat for him, went to one of the lounges and was observed to be sitting calmly reading.

4. Yes, the automatic flush toilets were put in the third class area because it was feared that unfamiliarity with indoor plumbing could result in passengers not remembering or knowing that they needed to flush.

5. Everyone knew that $30 was the correct answer here. Not such a bargain.

I am linking to more facts-the first is the one Nancy mentioned about the Titan!

I still remember reading the book and seeing the old B&W movie, A Night to Remember when I was in elementary school, 4th grade maybe?. I still think that is one of the best fictionalized accounts of the tragedy.

Thanks for playing. I am off to see today's question and then out to the yard. I am debating whether to attempt planting in the back at the risk of having the dogs once again trample or dig up everything. I just hate looking out at all that dirt! It is supposed to hit 82 degrees F. today. Maybe I would feel better about it if I said 28 degrees C. Seems to early to be so hot, especially after temps in the 30s two days ago! ;)

Have a wonderful day and thanks for playing everyone!

Cynthia

Here is a link that might be useful: A few more interesting facts

That is a great set of facts!!

Nancy.

Thanks for the partial stars, Cynthia. I thought it would be odd that an on board newspaper would be publishing during the ordeal. Though others stayed at their jobs expecting that they would not survive so who knows what someone might do.

Somehow I missed the automatic part as was focused on the idea of flush toilets. That was a good idea by someone in the planning department.

I watched a PBS show on Titanic last night which said that the crew were all fired on the same night as the ship sank and those who were rescued had no help from the ship's company for food or clothing. Woolworth's in NYC helped some of the crew solicit help from the public in their stores. Later the families of the crew members who died received some compensation from the ship's company. Most of the surviving crew dealt with survivor's guilt and public scorn for not going down with the ship and taking space in the lifeboats that could have been filled with passengers.

Thanks for the questions/facts which were enlightening as not the commonly known ones.

The White Star line actually charged surviving crew members for their lost uniforms!

They behaved very badly.

Nancy.