Toronto Man Survived 'Titanic' Sinking, Says TV Version Inaccurate

Victor Francis Sunderland

Third-class passenger

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Victor F. Sunderland of Waverley Rd. hopes to debunk the latest debunker of the legends surrounding the 1912 Titanic disaster.

Mr. Sunderland, a survivor of the tragedy that claimed 1,517 lives, sat at home last night and watched the event re-enacted on his television screen. He did not approve of the dramatization of Walter Lord's book. 1

He claims the book, which Lord maintains took him 30 years to research and write, is full of errors that defy common sense. He has written his own version of what happened the night of April 14, 1912.

Mr. Sunderland took greatest exception to the way in which almost all incidents before and during the time the liner was sinking are given an exact time. "It can't be done. It's impossible," he protested.

He quoted Lord's book as giving the time at which every lifeboat was launched. "How do they know?" he asked. "Who was timing it, who held the flashlight, who made notes? Even if someone did, most of the officers drowned."

Going to Cleveland

Mr. Sunderland explained he was 18 at the time of the disaster and was crossing from his home in London on his way to Cleveland. He was a third-class passengers on E deck, the lowest passenger deck.

He explained that he came from a seafaring family that had warned him to always head for the bridge if a ship gets into trouble. He did, in time to see the captain commit suicide with a gun.

"As the Titanic tilted and began to slide under, the funnels appeared to be falling. I stood there dazed, just waiting for the end. Officer Lightoller jumped off the high left side. I didn't think of jumping because I couldn't swim anyway.

"Lightoller yelled 'Come on kid, jump.' I jumped into the icy water on to what looked like a piece of canvas. I sank – I could feel the suction made by the sinking ship pulling me down. Suddenly I hit something underneath that was rising to the top. I grabbed it and came to the surface clutching the keel of an overturned lifeboat.

"Lightoller grabbed the boat and we picked up a lot of others but by the time we were picked up by the Carpathia the next day there were only 10," he recalled.

Doesn't Think Band Playing

He said the lifeboats were about a mile away when the Titanic actually sank from sight, so that only those left clinging to the overturned boat could have known what happened at the end.

The survivor says he does not believe the band was playing while the ship was sinking. He said no musician would have stayed there with the liner listing, fire belching from the funnels and the noise coming from the deck.

He also disputed Lord's report that the captain of the Californian, the closest vessel to the scene, told his officer to contact the Titanic with the Morse lamp.

"The Morse lamp can only be used when it's a clear night and the ships are close enough to see each other. If the Californian was in sight, they could have seen the flames from the funnels and the rockets and known something was wrong."

Mr. Sunderland also scoffs at the claim that at 1:40 a.m., Officer Wild[e] ordered everyone over to the port side to level the ship.

"Wouldn't the most inexperienced officer know you can't straighten out 45,000 tons that way?"

We would like to thank Wolfric Rogers for contributing this article to the Archive. If you would like to contribute a primary source to Titanic Archive, please contact us.