Jesuit’s amateur photography helps posterity glimpse Titanic

April 12, 2012: Commemorations of the Titanic’s infamous voyage 100 years ago began on 10^th April and will put the spotlight on a young Irish Jesuit priest whose photographs are the only surviving images of life onboard the liner.

A collection of his photographs, "Father Browne's Titanic Album" has been reprinted to mark the centenary of the demise of the massive liner, believed to be unsinkable. More than 1,500 people died when it sank April 15, 1912.

The new edition of the book is edited by Jesuit Fr. Edward O'Donnell, and the foreword is written by Robert Ballard, who first located the ship's wreckage in September 1985. In the same month as a chance finding of 42,000 of Father Browne's photographs in the basement of the Jesuits' headquarters in Dublin.

Fr Browne, who was born in 1880, lived an eventful 80 years. As a novice he met Pope Pius X in 1909 when he accompanied his uncle, Bishop Robert Browne of Cloyne, to a private audience at the Vatican.
Father Frank Browne became a prominent documentary photographer and a much-decorated chaplain in the British army in World War I.

In 1912, the Jesuit was still three years from ordination. Because of a gift from his uncle, he was able to experience the Titanic's luxurious accommodation on its maiden voyage. While onboard, the self-taught photographer managed to obtain pictures of the first-class accommodation and dining rooms.

He also captured the gymnasium, the library and passengers enjoying a stroll on the promenade, as well as many passengers in third class, recording some of those who would later perish in the freezing waters of the Atlantic. He took the last image of the Titanic's captain, Edward Smith.

Fr. Browne's images of the ship's accommodation and passengers have been pored over by maritime historians, engineers and filmmakers seeking answers to a tragedy that still grips the public's imagination. Hollywood film director James Cameron used his photographs to re-create sets for his blockbuster movie.

The young Jesuit photographed the Titanic leaving port for the last time as it left Queenstown, in County Cork, for New York. He could have been onboard. From the Titanic, he sent a telegram to his provincial in Dublin to request permission. However, a frosty telegram awaited him in Queenstown: "Get off that ship."

When news of the Titanic's disastrous fate reached Fr. Browne, he folded the telegram and put it into his wallet and kept it there for the rest of his life.
He later said it was the only time holy obedience had saved a life.