April 12, 2012: Commemorations of the Titanic’s infamous voyage 100 years ago began
on 10th 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.