Greyson Taylor
M12 Track:
​
Officer Murdoch *TW Suicide
Bassist John Clarke
-
William McMaster Murdoch
-
Born on February 28th, 1873 at “Sunnyside”, Dalbeattie, Demfries, Scotland, the fourth of seven children of Captain Samuel Murdoch
-
His family had been seafarers for many generations but of Captain Samuel Murdoch’s three sons only William chose the sea for his career
-
William served an apprenticeship in sailing, moving up to the rank of 2nd mate in 1892
-
In 1893 he began sailing as 2nd mate on Iquique under his father’s control, this was the first and last time he sailed with his father
-
In the following years, he worked on various sailing ships as 2nd mate and later 1st mate
-
In 1899 Murdoch began working on steamships instead of sailing ships, employed by White Star Line as the e4th officer on the Medic
-
Slowly he moved up the ranks to 3rd and 2nd officer on various ships, often working aside Lightoller (played by Noah Van Ess) and under Captain Edward John Smith (played by Carlwell Redmon)
-
Originally, Murdoch was set to be Chief Officer on the Titanic but Henry Tingle Wilde ended up put in for the role, bringing Murdoch back to first officer and Lightoller down to 2nd officer.
-
It was during Murdoch’s evening watch on the bridge that Titanic struck the iceberg.
-
He gave orders to turn the ship attempting to clear the ice before impact, this would later face scrutiny from those who believed a head-on impact would have made the ship sink slower.
-
Murdoch was in charge of the boats on the starboard side and interpreted the rule as Women and Children FIRST, this action allowed for multiple men to survive in lifeboats that would have been otherwise underfilled
-
He died in the sinking, many have speculated that Murdoch committed suicide by gun during the sinking based on shots heard during the night and him having access to revolvers on the boat.
-
Some fellow officers who survived stated during their testimony at the inquiries that they believed he died an honorable death, which may have been an attempt to cover up any possible suicide.
-
Pages
-
John Frederick Preston Clarke
-
Born on July 28th, 1883 in Chorlton, Manchester, Lancashire, England, the eldest son of a clerk and dressmaker
-
He came from a musical family and played in various orchestras and bands
-
He traveled his first gig at sea on the Titanic as one of the eight people orchestra, the only bassist.
-
He traveled as a second-class passenger and died in the disaster. His body was recovered (#202) and buried in Halifax in May 1912.
-
Pages
