Steve Turner Quotes

No praise could be sufficient for those courageous musicians whom we left behind. They were heroes to a man.

The arrival of Wallace Hartley’s body became a focal point of national grief. This young man not only represented all who had died on the Titanic, but also the values that the British feared were in decline.

The ship's orchestra of eight young men were standing knee deep in water playing.

This object of great beauty—even in its stricken condition—went down with a terrifying roar…a sound that survivors later described as the most bloodcurdling they had ever heard.

In the last moments of the great ship’s doom, when all was plainly lost, when braver and hardier men might almost have been excused for doing practically anything to save themselves, they stood responsive to their conductor’s baton and played a recessional tune.

In the whole history of the sea, there is little to equal the wonderful behavior of these humble players.

The band played marching from deck to deck, and as the ship went under I could still hear the music.

The musicians had played on the deck as the ship went down. They had forfeited their lives for the sake of others. They had played the tunes of hymns to induce a spirit of peace and calm. They were heroic.

By the twentieth of April, the story was widely accepted and was viewed as one of the most heartening acts of bravery in the whole tragedy.

[Bandleader Hartley] apparently believed that music could be more powerful that physical force in bringing order to chaos.

I could hear the band playing a cheery sort of music. I don't like jazz music as a rule, but I was glad to hear it that night. I think it helped us all.

There is not in history a more splendid and inspiring example of self-control, of self-sacrifice, of courage and of manliness.

They were brave and splendid, all the men. They died like brave men.

I shall never forget the sight of that beautiful boat as she went down, the orchestra playing to the last, the lights burning until they were extinguished by the waves. It sounds so unreal, like a scene on the stage.

It wasn’t hard for people to see the Titanic as a metaphor for Western civilization’s obsessions with speed, wealth, and conquest at the expense of contemplation, sharing and the well-being of one’s neighbor.