Voices from the Titanic:
Discovering History Through a Poet’s Eyes
Like playing the banjo,
the Titanic disaster
is easy to learn
but tricky to master.
Allan Wolf
This handout is intended for classroom use only.
Allanwolf.com
All page numbers refer to The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices
from the Titanic by Allan Wolf (Candlewick Press); All track numbers refer
to the audio version of the book (Brilliance Audio).
AllanWolf.com
Web Resources
The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic (Candlewick Press) will be our main text
in this session. The book’s back matter contains extensive bibliographical, biographical, and
historical information, as well as a complete Titanic Miscellany.
The websites included below are particularly useful for the classroom teacher.
TITANIC: THE UNSINKABLE SHIP
http://www.britannica.com/titanic
HISTORY ON THE NET
http://www.historyonthenet.com
TITANIC SCIENCE
http://www.TitanicScience.com
DOCS TEACH
http://www.Docsteach.org
Special section of Titanic primary documents
A Note About the Common Core State Standards
While compiling this sample of activities I used the broader College and Career
Readiness Anchor Standards (CCR) for Reading, Writing, and Speaking/Listening.
I have attempted to offer both “literary” and “informational” text, while acknowledging
that many authentic reading samples may not fit neatly into one category or the other.
The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic provides a sampling of mentor
texts for Poetry while simultaneously providing the content and specialized vocabulary
that is the hallmark of “Informational Text.”
Historical Fiction, as its name implies, is a hybrid of Literary and Informational text.
Because of the limitations of time and equipment I was not able to address CCR Anchor
Standards for Speaking/Listening [CCR.SL.5] and Writing [CCR.W.9] that call for
strategic use of digital media and visual displays. To address this I have included links to
examples of student projects generated with a variety of media tools. For those who wish
to explore these popular digital tools I have included the proper links.
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Student Projects Using Media Tools
Drew Fisher (password: hanesms) Padlet
http://padlet.com/wall/drewwatchproject
Emma Glen Padlet
http://padlet.com/wall/b06yemqxav
Raven Miller Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/rmtmmm/titanic-character-map-the-watch-that-ends-the-night/g6kv1usoc2g74bjsr8986ua0
Myers Harbinson Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/myers0123/titanic/g-6kv6dovh90udrb015qpo3a0
Kate Lassiter MixBook
http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/the-watch-that-ends-the-night8831929?vk=mK4wXkUjgU
Hannah Moore Wix (website)
http://hbim1022.wix.com/titanic-new-life
Finn Lester-Niles Padlet
http://padlet.com/wall/xfeuygcjj
Ethan Evans Bitstrips.com
(you must scroll through the comic backwards, but it’s a good project!)
http://bitstrips.com/r/L3P11
Ryan Miller Capzles
http://www.capzles.com/#/28cfd2ab-5ca9-4d88-ae94-b7cbd00251d3
Natalie Kraft Weebly (website)
http://815172007944199167.weebly.com/index.html
Sarah Rice Capzles
http://www.capzles.com/#/d067b226-d10b-43b8-962f-bce7d39c6402
Daniel Winkelman Yola (website)
http://ddwlangartswatch.yolasite.com/
Henry Chen Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/chenryapple12/poster-glog-by-chenryapple12-/g6l0b50tudktm4cvhhp9o7a0
Meghan Doty Padlet
http://padlet.com/wall/Jamila_and_iceberg
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Web Tools to Explore
Here are a few cool web tools that will get you thinking about your project!
Remember: Learn something NEW! There’s so much more to presenting
than just Prezi’s and PowerPoints! (Thanks to Jennifer Flanagan, at Haynes Magnet
School in Winston-Salem, NC.)
www.yola.com – easy to use website templates!
www.xtranormal.com – create your own cartoon! You can create your first one for free –
after that, it costs a little. Doesn’t work well as an individual project; it’s best to embed
xtranormal videos into a bigger project (wallwisher, wix, etc.).
www.ahead.com - Similar to Prezi! Allows you to add high-definition videos, photos,
and other effects.
www.art.com - An art pad that might be helpful to you as you design your project.
www.bitstrips.com - A comic generator that can help your engage your audience as you
present the content of your project.
www.capzles.com - A multimedia timeline! Add photos, videos, etc. as you take us
through the Titanic’s journey.
www.wallwisher.com - A “bulletin board” that allows you to add videos, links, photos,
text - you name it!
www.weebly.com - a cool site FULL of website templates. Similar to www.wix.com.
Flipbook ( www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/guest.php ) - Generate a
multimedia flipbook!
www.voicethread.com - Cool site that allows you to use your voice to enhance
presentations.
www.wikispaces.com - Wikis are kind of like an interactive Word document - worth a
look!
www.museumbox.com - Create a “museum box” of videos, photos, articles, etc.!
www.glogster.com - Very cool interactive multimedia tool!
www.wix.com - Website templates that allow you to plug in your own information
(videos, pictures, links, etc.).
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Exploring Titanic Through a Poet’s Eyes
How it works:
[CCR Anchor Standards are included though they will vary slightly depending on the
Team’s specific topic.]
You will be a member of a “Team.” Teams are formed around some unifying topic: The
Shipbuilder; The Socialite; The Iceberg; The Undertaker. Each team will be given a
variety of sources that might include: Informational Text; Literary text; A/V (audio,
video, photo); primary documents; and hands-on activities. It is the job of each team to:
compare the variety of texts, synthesize the facts; make connections and observations;
draw conclusions; generate questions; and finally summarize its findings to other teams.
Informational Text: (From some other source.) [CCR.RI.1, 2,7, and 9].
Literary Text: (From The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the
Titanic.) [CCR.RL.1-3; CCR.RL.4-6; CCR.RL.7 and 9]
Audio/Visual: From YouTube, audio books, photos, documents, physical
props, etc [CCR.SL.2 and 3]
Activity: A hands-on relevant activity. [CCR.SL.1-3; Reading and Writing will
vary depending on the activity.]
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question: This is where the team
makes sense of the experience as a whole. What are the similar themes?
What are the differences? What new ideas, if any, have been born? What
questions still linger? [CCR.SL. 1-3; CCR.RL.7-9; CCR.RI.7-9]
Gather Words for the Titanic Word Wall
All teams should create a list of specialized vocabulary, relevant
terminology and useful phrases (specific to their Topic). [CCR.SL.5-6;
CCR.W.4-5]
Share Your Discoveries with the Class [CCR.SL.4-6; CCR.W.7-9]
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The Shipbuilder
Informational Text: (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Literary Text from WATCH: Thomas Andrews, The Shipbuilder, page 57;
The Iceberg, page 14.
Documents: Titanic Blue Prints.
Audio/Visual: Photos; Spoken Word--Disc 1, track 14, 1:22
Activity: Explore buoyancy and displacement by designing a ship’s Hull.
Activity Terms
Displacement: When an object pushes water aside (like when you
get in the bathtub).
Archimedes’ Principle: An object will float if it displaces a volume of
water whose weight is the same (or more than) its own. An object
will sink if it weighs more than the volume of water it displaces.
(Titanic’s displacement was 66,000 tons of water.)
Buoyancy: The upward force exerted by a liquid on an immersed or
floating object. The larger the surface area of the object, the greater
the area for the water to push back on.
Activity Description
You will be given six rectangular sheets of aluminum foil. Your task is
to design a boat (from a single sheet of foil) that will stay afloat while
holding as many marbles as possible. Experiment with different hull
shapes and styles.
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question:
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The Shipbuilder
Informational Text
Titanic: Origins and Construction
from Britannica.com/titanic
In the early 1900s the transatlantic passenger trade was highly profitable and competitive,
with ship lines vying to transport wealthy travelers and immigrants. Two of the chief
lines were White Star and Cunard. By the summer of 1907, Cunard seemed poised to
increase its share of the market with the debut of two new ships, the Lusitania and the
Mauretania, which were scheduled to enter service later that year. The two passenger
liners were garnering much attention for their expected speed; both would later set speed
records crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Looking to answer his rival, White Star chairman J.
Bruce Ismay reportedly met with William Pirrie, who controlled the Belfast shipbuilding
firm Harland and Wolff, which constructed most of White Star's vessels. The two men
devised a plan to build a class of large liners that would be known for their comfort
instead of their speed. It was eventually decided that three vessels would be constructed:
the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic.
On March 31, 1909, some three months after work began on the Olympic, the keel was
laid for the Titanic. The two ships were built side by side in a specially constructed
gantry that could accommodate their unprecedented size. The sister ships were largely
designed by Thomas Andrews of Harland and Wolff. In addition to ornate decorations,
the Titanic featured an immense first-class dining saloon, four elevators, and a swimming
pool. Its second-class accommodations were comparable to first-class features on other
ships, and its third-class offerings, although modest, were still noted for their relative
comfort.
As to safety elements, the Titanic had 16 compartments that included doors, which could
be closed from the bridge, so that water could be contained in the event the hull was
breached. Although they were presumed to be watertight, the bulkheads were not capped
at the top. The ship's builders claimed that four of the compartments could be flooded
without endangering the liner's buoyancy. The system led many to claim that the Titanic
was unsinkable.
Following completion of the hull and main superstructure, the Titanic was launched on
May 31, 1911. It then began the fitting-out phase, as machinery was loaded into the ship
and interior work began. After the Olympic's maiden voyage in June 1911, slight changes
were made to the Titanic's design. In early April 1912 the Titanic underwent its sea trials,
after which the ship was declared seaworthy.
As it prepared to embark on its maiden voyage, the Titanic was one of the largest and
most opulent ships in the world. It had a gross registered tonnage (i.e., carrying capacity)
of 46,328 tons, and when fully laden the ship displaced (weighed) more than 52,000 tons.
The Titanic was approximately 882.5 feet (269 meters) long and about 92.5 feet (28.2
meters) wide at its widest point.
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The Socialite
Informational Text (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Literary Text from WATCH: Margaret Brown, The Socialite, p. 112-113.
Audio/Visual: YOU TUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFRekX-LrU
Photo. And Spoken Word--Disc 2, track 11, 4:00.
Activity: Noblesse Oblige. Each member of the Molly Brown team must
greet at least 3 people of lower class (i.e. outside of the Molly Brown team)
and conduct an act of kindness.
Activity: Divide either of the 1st class promenade poems (p.145 or p175)
into speaking parts and present it as readers’ theatre or a fully “staged”
production.
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question:
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The Socialite
Informational Text from Encyclopedia Britannica
Margaret Brown, née Tobin, was born July 18, 1867, Hannibal, Missouri, U.S. died
October 26, 1932, New York, New York She was an American human-rights activist,
philanthropist, and actress who survived the sinking of the Titanic. The real-life Margaret
Tobin Brown, never known in life by the nickname Molly, bears little resemblance to the
legendary Molly Brown, who was created in the 1930s and achieved prominence in the
1960 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown and the 1964 film adaptation starring Debbie
Reynolds.
The daughter of Irish immigrants, Tobin (then known as Maggie) attended a grammar
school run by her aunt in her hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, and as a teenager worked
at Garth's Tobacco Factory. In 1886 she joined her brother Daniel in the mining town of
Leadville, Colorado, where she worked at a mercantile store. She married James Joseph
Brown, and they moved to Stumptown, a small community close to the mines. She
helped establish soup kitchens for miners' families and became involved with the budding
western branch of the woman suffrage movement.
Her husband advanced from day miner to superintendent, and, during the crisis following
the 1893 repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, he devised a method of reaching
gold at the bottom of the Little Jonny Mine. The Browns enjoyed new wealth and in 1894
moved to Denver, where they were welcomed into society. Margaret became a founding
member of the Denver Woman's Club, part of a national network of women's clubs
dedicated to improving conditions for women and children, and worked with Judge Ben
B. Lindsey to establish one of the first juvenile courts in the country.
In 1901 Brown studied language and literature at the Carnegie Institute. Sometime later
she became involved with Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and the Political Equality League.
Between 1909 and 1914—before women had the right to vote—she made several
unsuccessful bids for a seat in Congress. A lifetime interest in drama and the stage led
Brown to study acting in the Sarah Bernhardt tradition in Paris and New York.
In Egypt in 1912, Brown received word of her grandson's illness and traveled to
Cherbourg, France, where she boarded the Titanic to return home. During the ship's
sinking, she helped command a lifeboat and used her fluency in several languages to
assist survivors. She later headed the Survivors' Committee. In 1932 she received the
French Legion of Honour for her efforts during and after the sinking of the Titanic, her
work with children, her work on behalf of miners' rights, and her volunteer work during
World War I.
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The Iceberg
“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.” Henry Adams, The
Education of Henry Adams. Adams, an American journalist, historian, academic and
novelist (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918), was the grandson of John Quincy
Adams. Tradition holds that Adams suffered a stroke brought on by the news of
Titanic’s sinking for which he had purchased return tickets to Europe.
Informational Text (Titanic Science Article)
Literary Text from WATCH:
The Iceberg p. 7. The Iceberg, p.415. The Iceberg, p. 417. The Iceberg,
p.424.
Video, Audio, Photo:
Photos. Spoken Word: Disc 1, track 2, 4:35.
Prop: An anatomically correct heart.
Document: Map that includes North Atlantic, Canadian and US coast.
Activity: Trace the icebergs path from the west coast of Greenland to the
outer banks where it strikes the iceberg.
Activity: Plot Ice Warnings on Chart using Long and Lat.
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question:
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The Iceberg
Informational Text
From TitanicScience.com (Activity Guide, p. 10)
What Sank the Titanic?
The story of the iceberg that sank Titanic began about 3,000 years ago. Snow fell on the
ice cap of Greenland. The snow never melted. Over the course of the next forty to fifty
years, it was compressed into ice and became part of a glacier--a river of ice. Due to its
enormous weight, the glacier flowed toward the sea at a rate of up to sixty-five feet per
day. Like the snow that formed it, the glacier ice was fresh water ice.
When the glacier reached the sea, huge chunks or slabs were weakened and broken off by
the action of rising and falling tides. One of these became Titanic’s iceberg. The iceberg
slowly made its way down the coast of Greenland through Baffin Bay and the Davis
Strait into the Atlantic Ocean. Most icebergs melt long before reaching the ocean. One
estimate is that of the 15,000 to 30,000 icebergs produced yearly by the glaciers of
Greenland, only one percent (150 to 300) makes it to the Atlantic Ocean. Once an
iceberg reaches the “warm” water (32-40° F) of the Atlantic, it usually lasts only a few
months. Very few icebergs are found south of the line of 48° North latitude. Titanic’s
iceberg collision took place at approximately 41° 56’ degrees North latitude and 50° 14’
degrees West longitude.
About 7/8ths (87%) of an iceberg is below the water line. No one is exactly sure how
large Titanic’s iceberg was, but according to eyewitness reports it was approximately 50
to 100 feet high and 200 to 400 feet ling. It was tall enough to leave ice chunks on one of
Titanic’s upper decks.
ICEBERG STATISTICS
Icebergs come in a range of sizes and shapes.
Growlers: Less than 3 feet high and 16 feet long
Bergy Bits: 3-13 feet high and 15-46 feet long
Small: 14-50 feet high and 47-200 feet long
Medium: 51-150 feet high and 201-400 feet long
Large: 151-240 feet high and 401-670 feet long
Very Large: Over 2240 feet high and 670 feet long
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The Words
Informational Text (Why A Verse Novel by Allan Wolf)
Literary Text from WATCH: The Iceberg p. 7; Lolo, The Tailor’s Son, p. 180;
Thomas Andrews, The Shipbuilder, pp. 358-359; The Ship Rat, p. 23 and p.
181. And, pp. 368-9.
Audio/Visual: Photos, Spoken Word: Ship Rat--Disc 3, track 2,
Activity: Write your own personae poem (in voice of the ship, or another
character of your choice.
Activity: Script the Ship Rat piece (p. 23 or your choice) into speaking parts
and present it as readers’ theatre. Act it out for bonus points.
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question:
What are the similar themes? How do they differ?
How does each poem’s form reflect the poem’s content?
Extra Credit: Note the Iceberg’s melting from p.415 to p. 417 to p.424.
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The Words
Informational Text
Why a verse novel?
by Allan Wolf
To me publishing a book is one of the most personally
gratifying of human achievements. But even more gratifying
is publishing a book that someone else actually reads. So
thanks.
Although New Found Land has been recognized by many as
poetry, I usually take care to use the term “verse.” In fact
those savvy folks in the publishing world have even coined a
name for this popular genre, calling it the “verse novel.”
Members of the book sales and marketing field may snidely (if
correctly) note that a book with “A Novel” written after the
title will automatically sell better than a book with “A
Collection of Poems” written after the title. “Poetry,” they
say, “is a hard sell.” True or not, a verse novel is not simply
a collection of poems called “a novel.”
As a poet I am drawn to this form for the same reasons that as
a child I was drawn to poetry. I like how the snippets of the
narrative emerge and fall into place as if I am reading a jigsaw
puzzle. And I have an innate love of how lines of verse turn.
Their shape is not mandated by the dimensions of the book’s page. Their shape is determined by
something more mysterious, some sort of magic that comes from the words themselves. These line breaks
are a constant graphic reminder that the words have been worked by the hands of man, like taking in the
sight of a freshly ploughed field. The intentional furrows are a testimony to human ingenuity.
The image of the plough is important to my point. The word “verse” derives from the Latin versus which
literally means “having turned.” Poet Robert Wallace goes on to explain that “As a noun [versus] came to
mean the turning of the plough, hence furrow, and ultimately row or line. Thus, the English word verse
refers to the deliberate turning from line to line that distinguishes verse from prose.” †
To read a verse novel is to watch the words of the story turned into furrows, the lines emerging in the wake
of a tiny invisible plough. What better medium could there be to relate the story of Lewis and Clark’s
Herculean struggle to inch their way across the continent and back?
† Writing Poems by Robert Wallace (Little, Brown and Company, 1982), page 8. I cut my teeth on this
great book in graduate school. It’s a must for any serious poet.
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The Undertaker
Informational Text (From Encyclopedia Titanica).
Literary Text from WATCH
John Snow, The Undertaker, pp.44-45.
Documents: Record of Effects; Affidavit
Audio/Visual: Various Photos; Spoken Word--Disc 2, Track 7
Activity: FIRST read the following pieces: Jock Hume, The Second Violin, pp.
354-355; John Jacob Astor, The Millionaire, pp. 10-11; Oscar Woody, The
Postman, pp.83-84; Frankie’s Gang, pp. 155-156. THEN attempt to place a
name to each body described in each Record of Effects.
Compare, Connect, Synthesize, Comment, Question:
What are the similar themes? How do they differ?
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The Undertaker
Informational Text
Classified in Death: Recovering Titanic’s Dead (Excerpt)
by Brian Ticehurst
AFTER the Titanic sank in the early hours of the 15th April, 1912 the sea around the site
was littered with the flotsam and jetsam of the liner. Among the broken decking, furniture
and fittings were hundreds of bodies floating around. Each of these had a cork lifejacket
on which would keep them afloat for weeks.
After the RMS Carpathia left the scene with her survivors she asked the RMS
Californian, which had belatedly arrived to search for more survivors and bodies.
Another of the unanswered mysteries is the fact that the Californian claimed not to have
seen any at all. The Californian must have made a very cursory search of the area and not
allowed for the fact that the wind, drift, and current would have already scattered the
wreckage and bodies over a very wide area.
The officials of the White Star Line were not convinced that everything had disappeared
and they set to and chartered several ships to go and search the area and recover any
bodies that they could.
The SS Mackay-Bennett was the first to be made ready, she was a cable laying ship under
the command of Captain F. H. Lardner. She hurriedly loaded over 100 coffins and as
much embalming fluid as could be found at short notice and also loaded 12 tons of grate
iron (the purpose of which will be seen later).
The Mackay-Bennett recovered some 306 bodies, 116 were buried at sea and 190 taken to
Halifax, Nova Scotia. To help in the recovery the cable ship SS Mina was also sent, she
had 150 coffins, 20 tons of ice and 10 tons of grate iron, she was under the command of
Captain W. E. S. Decarteret. She picked up 15 bodies, of these two were buried at sea and
the rest returned to Halifax.
Also sent was the Marine and Fisheries vessel the SS Montmagny under the command of
Captain Peter Johnson and they recovered just four bodies, one of which was buried at
sea and the other three returned to Halifax.
The last ship was the Bowring brothers of St. Johns, the SS Algerine, she along with the
Montmagny searched for as long as there was any possible chance of finding any bodies,
they searched to the edge of the Gulf Stream. She picked up just the one body, that of
James McGrady a Saloon Steward whose body was transshipped to the SS Florizel and
the body was finally transported to Halifax where it arrived on the 11th June and was
interred on the 12th June nearly two months after the disaster.
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The Mackay-Bennett was the first vessel to return to Halifax and there were some
harrowing scenes on her arrival.
The following is an extract from the Nova Scotian Evening Mail dated 31st April 1912:
‘’The first bodies taken ashore were those of the crew. These bodies had not been
embalmed or even sewn up in canvas (they had been kept in the ice filled hold) and
presented a gruesome sight that it would be impossible to picture. The bodies were
carried on stretchers by members of the Mackay-Bennett crew and at times as many
as 30-40 bodies were in a heap on the deck where they had been taken from the icefilled hold. (It is reported that to get the bodies on to the stretchers and later into the
coffins many of the frozen limbs had to be broken). The bodies of the Second Class
passengers and steerage were sewn up in canvas bags, and these were brought
ashore next. The bodies of the First Class passengers were all in coffins on the poop
deck and were the last to be brought ashore.’’
To sum up the above:
Crew members: put in the ice filled hold
Steerage (Third Class) passengers: sewn in canvas bags
Second Class passengers: sewn in canvas bags
First Class passengers: placed in coffins
Truly they were Classified in Death
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