CAPTAIN ROSTRON AND THE CARPATHIA
Titanic - the West End Connection

Walk into the quiet of the Old Burial Ground just off West End High Street by the War Memorial and you will come face to face with an unexpected link to a tragedy played out in the icy wastes of the North Atlantic many years ago. Here lies the grave of a man who was widely feted as a hero after his role in rescuing over 700 passengers from the doomed Titanic. She had sailed from nearby Southampton on 10th April 1912, the maiden voyage of the second of a trio of superliners which the White Star Line was putting into service on the North Atlantic route. No need to rehearse the details of her fateful collision with an iceberg four days later, but the recently refurbished gravestone of Sir Arthur Henry Rostron and his wife carries a postscript recording the part he, with his ship Carpathia, played in rescuing that incredible number from the sea's grasp. Arthur Rostron was accorded many honours, including, as his memorial notes, being created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) and well as America awarding him the Congressional Medal of Honour. He went on to rise to the rank of Commodore of the entire Cunard Fleet, moved to Southampton when the company's ships were transferred there, and selected the village of West End as a suitable place of retirement. His burial service took place in 1940 in the nearby Parish Church of St. James.
Our Museum tells the story in detail, illustrated with prints, models, newspaper cuttings and much more. Our Library carries several volumes on these events, and the display includes a rare copy of Rostron's autobiography "Home From The Sea". Specially commissioned plaques commemorate both Sir Arthur and a Titanic crew member from West End, James Jukes, who went down with the ship. (A road in a new housing development in Moorgreen in 2002 is to carry his name Jukes Walk.)
If you are thinking of visiting the grave, remember to make for the Old Burial Ground in the High Street (M27 Junctions 5 or 7 then B3035) at the junction with West End Road, NOT the cemetery in St. James Churchyard!

CAPTAIN RUSTON'S DAUGHTER MRS MARGARET HOWMAN UNVEILING THE ROSTRON/JUKES MEMORIAL IN WEST END MUSEUM 17.4.1999

THE ROSTRON FAMILY GRAVE AT WEST END
OLD BURIAL GROUND

THE MACKAY-BENNETT
The Funeral Ship at the Titanic Disaster

The cable ship Mackay-Bennett was chartered by the White Star agents at Halifax, Nova Scotia, to recover the bodies from the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912. The crew off loaded the cable and went off in boats to gather blocks of ice to place in the hold. The local undertaker gathered about 75-100 pine coffins, embalming fluid, canvas bags and iron grate bars to be used as ballast. Captain Larnder told the crew that the next few days would be gruesome and gave each the chance to sign off. Members of the crew decided to stay for the trip and the Commercial Cable Company put them onto double pay.
From the diary of the ship's engineer Frederick Hamilton we learn some of the feelings from this sad task.
"For nearly an hour the words, 'For as much as it hath pleased.. we commit this body to the deep' are repeated and at each interval there comes splash! As the weighted body plunges into the sea, there to sink to a depth of about 2 miles. Splash, splash, splash."
Engineer Frederick Hamilton's diary
After the grim voyage the ship was known as "the coffin ship" and at times it became difficult to sign on new crew. It was said that the spirit of a young child sobbed for her family.

John G.Avery, a WELHS member, has written about the Mackay-Bennett and her later life at Turnchapel, Plymouth.The booklet is temporarily out of print.A second book in the series 'The Cable Ships of Turnchapel' has a shorter condensed account of the 'Mackay-Bennett' and is currently available from WELHS at the Museum Shop or direct from the author J.G. Avery at 2 Beech Court, Beech Avenue, Southampton, SO18 4TS, Hants, United Kingdom. [UK inc postage and postcard of the 'Mackay-Bennett' £2-75]

JAMES JUKES
The country boy from Moorgreen

Henry James Jukes, known to his family as "Our Jim", lived at Camlens House, in Moorgreen Road, West End. His parents Joseph and Elizabeth ran a market garden/small holding and James (as he was known) was soon to be married. He signed on as a Greaser on the White Star liner Titanic, for its fateful maiden voyage from Southampton. As we all know the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank with great loss of life, the "black crew", that is the Stokers, Greasers, Trimmers as well as the Engineering Department lost an exceptionally high number of crew, including James Jukes. At the age of 35 years James perished in the icy North Atlantic, his body was not identified as being amongst those picked from the sea by the Mackay-Bennett or the Minia or by any of the other numerous search vessels sent out from Nova Scotia. Until recently (1999) he had no grave as there was no body and no memorial - that is until the West End Local History Society commissioned the joint memorial in the West End Local History Museum & Heritage Centre. On the memorial the left hand plaque commemorates Captain Rostron (Master of the rescue ship Carpathia) and the right hand plaque commemorates James Jukes (a.k.a.Henry James Jukes).

These articles have been written by West End Local History Society members Derek Amey, John Avery and Nigel Wood. For those of you interested in delving deeper into the tragedy we suggest you consult Encyclopedia Titanica whose excellent website can be reached at:                   
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org