Two Fingers of Blame

Previously published September 22, 2010

The legend of the Titanic gained two new insights into the maritime disaster with the disclosure from an ancestor of ocean liner's second officer that the ship had been doomed by a steering error by the helmsman. The panicked mistake was overruled by the first officer according to his fellow officer too late to avoid the fatal collision, however even more damning was the chairman of the White Star Line arguing for the ship to remain under steam, causing the Titanic to sink faster.

My grandfather, Frank Arthur Smith, had a schoolmate died in the tragedy. Richard Frazer White was returning to America after a tour of Europe with his family. They traveled first-class from Southampton. My grandfather recovered the body in New Brunswick and transported the body to Massachusetts for burial. His father and brother were surrendered to the sea on that fateful April evening.

Richard Frazer White was mourned the students and teachers of Bowdoin College.

1912.

Almost 100 years ago.

Gone but never forgotten.

Friend and Family

My paternal grandfather had qualified to represent the USA in the pole vault for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, unfortunately Frank Arthur Smith I broke his leg at an exhibition in Portland and he was replaced by the alternate jumper. Harry Babcock of the USA won the event topping the height of 3.95 meters. My grandfather remains the only person in my family to have achieve the distinction of an Olympic athlete. In 1979 my friend Lisa from Palm Beach had qualified for the USA women's field hockey team. Her arduous training for the Moscow Games was for naught, for President Jimmie Carter pulled out of those Olympics in protest of the USSR's 1979 Afghan invasion. A confirmed progressive she speaks badly of Carter as the president who ruined her chances to win a gold medal. No one else I know has come close to competing in the Games. I could have attended this year's games in London. I had a place to stay on Moscow Road. Instead I'm sitting on a porch on the edge of Thailand' Western Forest, where there is no live coverage on TV, since the household is addicted to Thai soap operas and nothing can cure them of that addiction.