On January 23, 1909 RMS Republic, a luxury ocean liner carrying 440 passengers collided with SS Florida, an Italian passenger liner carrying 850 passengers, many of them refugees from a major earthquake which had rocked Italy in late December of 1908. In the aftermath the rescue efforts were guided by Jack Binns, a young radio operator on the Republic, who stood at his post in a shattered and freezing radio cabin for some 36 hours, passing messages both to the shore and to other ships steaming to the rescue. The main rescue vessel was the SS Baltic, with radio operator Henry Tattersall the contact with Binns. Despite heavy fog, the rescue ships arrived in time to ensure the survival of some 1500 passengers and crew, and the only deaths resulted from the immediate impact of the two ships.

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the event, descendants of the survivors are planning a celebration and are looking for information about Henry Tattersall and, if possible, contact with his descendants. The only references I have found are to HJ Tattersall or HG Tattersall, and are directly related to the accident. Does anyone else have further information?

Please forward information through ptatters at zerobyzero.ca

 Followup

We now know that Henry James Tattersall died in Chelmsford, Essex on July 7 1980 at the age of 94. He was born 12 January 1886, and worked for Marconi for his entire working life. Regretfully we still have no contact with any descendants...

With thanks to Simon Lawrence, Nicola Pike, and others.