Is the Titanic violin plucked from the ocean a hoax?
Curator of Titanic museum dismisses claims that Wallace Hartley's violin has been found.
WILTSHIRE (Web Desk) - Titanic auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son claimed last week they spent seven years proving a violin played by Wallace on board the fatal ship has been found and it is going on display in Belfast at the end of the month.
The instrument was discovered in an attic in 2006 and tests carried out by scientists are said to have verified it was 34 year-old Wallace s violin, whose band famously played on as the ship sank in 1912. The band members were among the 1,500 who died.
The auctioneers, based in Wiltshire, admitted that if proved wrong they would have been victims of an "extremely elaborate hoax up there with the Hitler Diaries."
But no reports at the time mentioned his violin being recovered with Wallace s body according to Nigel Hampson, curator of the Titanic in Lancashire museum, and an expert on the Colne-born musician.
He said: "The historical record does not show that Wallace was recovered with his violin strapped to his body – it actually proves the opposite.
"The inventory of items recovered on Wallace s body makes no mention whatsoever of a violin or music case or anything similar being found with him.
"We are supposed to believe that when the ship sinks and everyone, the band included, are fighting for their lives, Wallace is more concerned with the fate of his instrument than his life?
"We are also supposed to believe that the violin survives almost two weeks in the sea and emerges intact?
"The local press in Colne make no mention of his violin whatsoever. If Wallace had indeed been recovered with his violin after the disaster, they would have been all over the story and given it massive coverage.
"This violin clearly is a Wallace Hartley instrument, but to claim that it is the violin that he had with him on the Titanic is preposterous and is not backed up by the historical record."
Auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son claim a violin played by the bandmaster on board the fatal ship is to go on display in Belfast at the end of the month.
The instrument was discovered in an attic in 2006 and tests carried out by scientists are said to have verified it was Wallace s violin.
Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son, said: "When we first saw the violin we had to keep a lid on our excitement because it was almost as if it was too good to be true.
"The silver fish plate on the violin along with the other items it was with, such as the leather case with Hartley s initials on, his jewellery and covering letter to the owner s late mother, suggested it was either authentic or an extremely elaborate hoax up there with the Hitler Diaries.
"We knew we would have to look into it and it couldn t be rushed. Everything needed to be researched properly and the correct experts had to be commissioned.
"We have spent the last seven years gathering the evidence together and have now reached the stage where we can say that beyond reasonable doubt this was Wallace Hartley s violin on the Titanic.
"We now know that minutes before the end he placed his beloved violin in this hard-wearing travelling case.
"The bag rested on top of his life jacket and would have largely been kept out of the water. A letter from his mother was found in his breast pocket and that suffered hardly any water damage."
The tests were carried out by a range of specialists including the government Forensic Science Service which concluded the "corrosion deposits on it were considered compatible with immersion in seawater".
The Musicians of the RMS Titanic all perished with the ship when it sank. They played music, intending to calm the passengers, for as long as they possibly could and all went down with the ship. All were recognised for their heroism.
The ship s eight-member orchestra boarded at Southampton and travelled as second-class passengers.
They were not on the payroll of the White Star Line, but were contracted to White Star by the Liverpool firm of C.W. & F.N. Black, who placed musicians on almost all British liners.
The eight are all listed on The Titanic Musicians Memorial in Southampton, Hants – they are Georges (OK) Krins, John Hume, Wallace Hartley, Roger Bricoux, Theodore Brailey, Percy Taylor, John Woodward and John Clarke.
Wallace Hartley s body was recovered about 10 days after the doomed liner sank but the violin was not listed among the inventory of items found with him.
