Hi everyone. I'm Rob, The Country Traveller. I'm not out in the countryside today, I'm in the city,
in the city of Southampton. In 1912 the liner Titanic set sail on her ill-fated maiden voyage
from the dock behind me. There were 2 435 passengers on board and 908 crew members.
Over 1500 of those people lost their lives
when the Titanic hit an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic. 685 of the deaths were crew members.
Almost all of the crew came from Southampton so the city was absolutely devastated
when news of the sinking came through. Our walk today looks at the places in the city
that are linked to the Titanic and also the various memorials to those who died.
The RMS Titanic, to give the ship its official name,
was built in Belfast and was to be the flagship of the White Star Line based here in Southampton.
At the time the cruise liners were the only way to cross the Atlantic.
In 1912, commercial flights across the Atlantic were another 27 years in the future.
The Titanic set sail on the 10th of April 1912, called in at Cherbourg and at Queenstown in
Southern Ireland and then headed off across the Atlantic towards New York.
Coincidentally, on the day that I filmed this, the Queen Mary 2 was in dock in Southampton.
This is the liner that now regularly makes the Atlantic crossing. If you take this trip
you'll pass over, or very close to, the place where the Titanic hit the iceberg and sank.
The captain will make an announcement and when you look out across the expanse of grey sea,
you can get just a small appreciation of how those Titanic passengers must have felt.
This is the entrance to what was then births 43 and 44, from where the Titanic set sail.
There's a plaque here which commemorates the passengers who died
If we walk eastwards along the road we'll come to South Western House.
This is the building in front of us and was an Edwardian luxury hotel
where many of the first class passengers would have stayed before boarding the
ship. If we continue along the road we'll come to Canute Chambers.
In 1912 this was the local offices of the White Star Line.
Following the sinking, this street was packed with relatives desperate to see if their loved ones had
survived the tragedy. For days the steps of Canute Chambers were besieged by hundreds of people,
eagerly awaiting any news that would trickle out. Sadly, most of them would be disappointed.
We'll retrace our footsteps and walk up the side of South Western House.
In 1912 this was the Southampton terminus rail station,
the place where many of the passengers would have arrived in Southampton. It's now a casino.
Opposite us is Oxford Street. This is now a road of bars and restaurants.
Some of the pubs that were here in 1912 are still here, amongst them being The Grapes.
Three brothers - Bertram, Tom and Alfred Slade - were members of Titanic's crew.
They spent slightly too long 'enjoying' themselves in The Grapes before the Titanic sailed and they
were too late to board the ship. Imagine how they felt when news of the sinking came through!
As we continue down Oxford Street we'll come to another Titanic related pub, The White Star Line.
We're walking along beside the old city walls now.
I'll be coming back to make a video on Medieval Southampton soon so look out for that.
So we're heading up now to St Joseph's catholic church. At the time of the Titanic the church
played a prominent role in the catholic community. The Italian community in Southampton commissioned
a memorial in memory of their countrymen who died on the Titanic. These were mainly waiters
who worked in the most expensive restaurant on the ship - the Ritz. Unfortunately the church
is currently closed due to Covid so we can't go in, but here's a stock image of the memorial.
We'll continue our walk up past The Tudor House which you can see coming up on the left.
We're heading for Holyrood Church.
The church was destroyed during the bombing of the city in 1940. It was never rebuilt
but the ruins were made safe and it's now a memorial to Southampton's merchant seamen.
Holyrood Church then, is a fitting place to find the Titanic memorial
which is dedicated to the firemen, stewards and crew from Southampton.
It was paid for by the families and friends of the crew. It was originally intended to be a
commemorative drinking fountain until the memorial committee realised that might not be appropriate!
There are various memorials throughout the church -
it's a very calm and serene space in the middle of the city.
Leaving Holyrood Church we'll walk up to the Bargate.
This was one of the original entrances to the city in the Middle Ages.
Major building work going on here to the right.
This area is called Below Bar and looked very different before the bombs dropped.
The remainder of our walk is through the other side of the Bargate known as Above Bar
The buildings that you can see coming up in front of us now are the cultural center of the city
including the guildhall and the civic centre. The Titanic museum is also here. We need to
cross a busy road here - what's this sign on the traffic lights? Oh, the guildhall is being used
as a Covid test centre. I'd better put my mask on while I'm around here. That feels better!
We'll walk around the side here and come back to the museum later.
There is a lot of green space in the city centre, which is great.
It's well populated with wildlife too.
The War Memorial is up ahead. There's some activity going on, let's see what's happening.
The mayor is here with other dignitaries, a priest,
some services people and a film crew. I suspect this is a dress rehearsal for Remembrance Sunday.
The War Memorial is behind us now, we're walking up to probably the most famous
of the Titanic memorials in Southampton. This is the Titanic Engineers Memorial.
The man mowing the grass is kindly moving to one side to let me take
some photographs - thank you sir! Built of granite and bronze, this
memorial was erected in 1914. It pays tribute to the men who kept the ship's power going
until the final moments before the plunge into the icy waters of the Atlantic.
The Engineers Memorial is under those trees.
We've crossed the road to find another important memorial.
Just along here we'll find the memorial to the band,
who famously continue to play as a ship sank to keep up people's spirits.
The band members were all men of course and it was women and children first to
get onto the lifeboats. Sadly, all of the brave band members perished.
Back towards the civic centre now across the park. It's Autumn - this is a real boy's toy!
He'll be kept busy for the next few weeks with all these trees around here!
Before we go to the museum there's one more memorial to see.
That's the Covid test centre in front of us, so i'll put my mask back on.
Behind the door in front of us is the memorial to the postal workers onboard the Titanic
who died trying to save the mail. The RMS that comes before Titanic's name
stands for Royal Mail Ship. Remember there were no transatlantic flights in 1912,
so the liners were the fastest method to move mail between continents.
Along with its passengers, the Titanic was contracted to carry 3,064 mailbags to New York.
The door is locked because of Covid so we can't go in unfortunately. Here's a stock
image of the memorial plaque to the five brave poster workers who died trying to save the mail.
We'll go around the side of the building to the museum. This is an excellent interactive
experience. I'm just going to show you a few images from the exhibition.
This is a section of the wall showing all of the
crew members of the Titanic - the ones in red lived in Southampton.
This is a mock-up of a section of one of the boiler rooms.
Imagine how hot it would be working there stoking the boilers.
This is a street map of Southampton at the time of the Titanic.
Every red dot shows where a dead crew member lived.
Imagine the grief of the people who lived here when the Titanic sank in April 1912
with the loss of 685 crew members, most of whom lived in these streets.
The museum includes an excellent recreation of the Inquiry which took place into the disaster.
At least lessons were learned!
I hope you've enjoyed this walk around the memorials in Southampton to those who died on the
RMS Titanic. Please give us a thumbs up and it'll be really good if you subscribe to our channel!
Thanks very much for watching ...