As a classical pianist who gave recitals on cruise ships for many years, I couldn’t pass the anniversary of RMS Titanic’s sinking without any comment. The great ship sank beneath the icy waves of the North Atlantic Sea on April 15th 2012. I, like many others, have crossed that area of the Atlantic numerous times and can confirm that it is a most hostile environment and must have been terrifying for all those involved.

I loved my job giving classical recitals for passengers on ships but I did have a few ‘near misses’ as well as many extremely rocky, uncomfortable trips; two particular incidents happened in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and the third, across the Bay of Biscay. All three ‘events’ are firmly planted in my memory, but such incidents are rare and mostly occurred on small ships.

On the first occasion, the ship literally nearly tipped over. I was playing concerts with a violinist and we were instructed to go up to the top deck with our life jackets on. Even though we were close to impending disaster and all the windows on the Bridge smashed, it never occurred to me to stop cruising. On the second occasion, we traversed a hurricane and I still had to perform despite feeling terrible. It was the first time I had worked for this cruise line, and rather embarrassingly, I was sick over the keyboard before I started playing the concert and was never invited to work for that company again! On the third occasion, I was giving a solo recital on one of my favourite cruise ships and the piano literally moved across the stage, away from me as I was playing; it slid to the side of the stage but luckily didn’t hurt anyone. This event happened a long time ago and pianos are now firmly anchored to the floor on most ships.

According to survivor reports, Titanic’s musicians played on right until the ship sank, which is incredible. This is something that I could never have done, so I have the utmost respect for those band members. A newspaper at the time reported ‘the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea.’

Band leader, Wallace Hartley and his fellow band members, eight in total, played in the first class lounge to help the passengers keep calm during the lifeboat evacuation. They later moved to the forward half of the boat deck, where they continued to play until the ship plunged into the sea according to many survivors. Reports suggest that the final work they played was ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee’. This hymn has since been forever associated with RMS Titanic. Whether this is true is unclear but former band mates have claimed that Hartley said if he was ever on a sinking ship he would either play ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee or “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”.

The memorial pictured above is dedicated to these musicians and it resides in Southampton, UK: Wallace Hartley (bandmaster and violin), Roger Marie Bricoux (‘cello), Theodore Ronald Brailey (piano), John Wesley Woodward (cello), John Frederick Preston Clarke (string bass and viola), John Law Hume (violin), Percy Cornelius Taylor (piano) and Georges Alexandré Krins (violin), who all lost their lives on the Titanic.

Read more about my life on cruise ships by clicking here.