Ill-fated trip

Mention in The Courier recently of the ill-fated transatlantic liner Titanic caught the attention of a regular reader in Montrose. He emails to say: “My wife’s mother and her parents were on the north Atlantic the night the Titanic went down.

“She was only two years old at the time, but her father kept a day-to-day handwritten record, the contents of which still survive. The family had sailed from Glasgow on board the cargo liner Saturnia, planning to start a new life in the developing Dominion.

“The following are excerpts from the diary which give a description of the events as they unfolded:

‘ Sister ship to this one Cassandra passed us homeward bound during the night and reported ice ahead (by wireless). Our skipper will know how to avoid the ice having been given the position by the other captain.

“We met a cargo boat going past and we ran all afternoon alongside the Montrose going to the same port as ourselves.

“This boat was on a track about four miles further north. Seems to travel at the same speed as this boat. It will be remembered the Montrose was the boat in which Crippin the notorious murderer tried to escape to the United States.’

“The diarist continued: ‘On Saturday April 13 in the afternoon we passed a lot of ice. This I take it would be the ice that the Cassandra warned us of. The nearest bergs were only 1½ to 2 miles away and through the glasses we had a good look at them.’

“He went on: ‘The main body consisted of a flow (sic) one to two miles long and I counted nine icebergs. These bergs were of all shapes. One looked like two sailing yachts of large size and a small yacht behind.

“On Monday April 15 at 2pm, the

diary read: ‘ Have just heard that Titanic (White Star liner and the largest ship afloat) has ran into the ice that we saw on Saturday. The funny thing about the business is that the Olympic (sister ship to the damaged one) is standing bye (sic) to take off passengers if need be. I got the information from the Marconi operator and we would be about the first to have heard of the event.’

“The Saturnia was launched in 1910 by Chas Connell & Co Ltd at Glasgow and managed by Donaldson Bros. She was completed that year and joined her ‘sisters’ on the Glasgow-canada service.

“In August 1911, she was in collision with an iceberg near Belle Isle but completed the voyage safely. The

Saturnia sailed on until 1928, when she was sold to Italian shipbreakers and demolished at Gent.”

Dave Gibson has sent in this photograph and says: “I found this old postcard of a football team. It was taken by David Proctor who was a professional photographer in Dundee in the 1890s until 1913. He had a studio in King Street and later at 31 Wellgate. The team must have had a successful time but I’ve been unable to trace them and wondered if any readers might be able to identify the club.”

“This lovely wee long-tailed tit was at Morton Lochs,” says Eric Niven, who took the photograph.