TITANIC

Headlines from the Rochdale Observer, April 17th 1912 -

LOSS OF THE ' TITANIC '

APPALLING DISASTER AT SEA

OVER 1,200 LIVES LOST

WORLD'S GREATEST SHIP SINKS IN MID-OCEAN

A ROCHDALE MAN AMONG THE CREW

The article continues giving passenger numbers and the fact that at least thirty passengers were millionaires. Col. J.J. Astor and Mr. M. Rothschild amongst them.

LAST NIGHT'S TELEGRAM FROM ST. JOHN'S NEWFOUNDLAND

' All hope of any passengers or crew of the Titanic other than those aboard the Carpathia being alive has now been abandoned and this afternoon all steamers which had been cruising in the vicinity of the disaster continued their voyage,'

The Rochdale man was named as Mr. Porteus who for several years had worked as a butcher on the White Star Line. Before this he had his own business at 29, Oldham Road. His parents run Schofield's dining rooms on Butts Avenue. He has four sisters living in Rochdale.

The article ended with a statement from the Carpathia -

' All the Titanic's boats are accounted for and yet only some eight or nine hundred are saved, '

In the Local Studies Collection we have this poem written by Ellen Butterworth of Trafford Street, Rochdale in memory of all who lost their lives :