Titanic Centennial Countdown: April 28, 1911: Editor William Stead Used His Voice to Fight Religious Intolerance Aimed at Mormon Faith

On this day 100 years ago, Pall Mall Gazette Editor William T. Stead rose to the defense of Mormons who found themselves increasingly persecuted by British newspapers and the British population at large. Writing in his newspaper's April 28, 1911 edition, Stead declared that "The attack upon the Mormons is almost entirely based upon the lie that their propaganda in this country is a propaganda in favor of polygamy, and that the chief object of the Mormon missionaries is to allure innocent and unsuspecting English girls into polygamous marriages."

"I have called this a lie because it is a demonstrably false statement, which is repeated again and again after it has been proved to be false. Not one of the anti-Mormon crusaders has ever been able to produce any evidence that at any time, in any place within the King’s dominions, has any Mormon apostle, elder, or missionary ever appealed, publicly or privately, to any one of the King’s subjects, male or female, to enter into polygamous relations with anyone here or in Utah. . . ."

"The falsehood that thousands of English girls are being shipped to Utah every year is sheer, unmitigated rot."

When, less than a year later, Stead died on the Titanic, Mormons on both sides of the Atlantic mourned his loss. Rudger Clawson wrote that “surely every Latter-day Saint whose eyes rest upon the writings of Mr. Stead . . . , will ever hold [him] in honorable remembrance.”

Titanic Centennial Countdown: April 27, 1911:Tender Traffic Launched

The tender Traffic is launched at the Harland & Wolff Shipyward in Belfast, Ireland. The 639-ton tender will carry third class passengers to and from the Olympic and Titanic and the shore of Cherbourg, France.

Cherbourg harbor, like that in Queenstown, Ireland, was too shallow to accomodate the immense Olympic-class liners. In fact, all harbors required changes before Olympic first sailed. The White Star pier in New York City had to be extended several feet, and Ocean Dock in Southampton, England, had to be dredged to a greater depth.

Traffic served her line well. At the outbreak of World War I, she, like her sister tender the Nomadic, was called to service as a troop transport. After the war, Traffic was sold to a French company and returned to her previous career as a tender.

In 1929 she collided with White Star's liner Homeric. After repairs, Traffic met with another calamity - this time a collision with the S.S. Minnewaska IV.

She saw service as a troop ship again - this time for the French - in World War II. The French Navy deliberately sank her in Cherbourg harbor in an attempt to prevent the German Navy from entering the harbor.

The German Navy later raised Traffic and put her to use as an armed convoy escort. She was re-named Ingenieur Riebell. It was under that name that she met her end when she was sunk by the British Royal Navy on Jan. 17, 1941.

Titanic Centennial Countdown: April 25, 1911:Tender Nomadic Launched

April 25, 1911.
The tender Nomadic is launched from the Harland & Wolff Shipyard's Hamilton Dock. She is one of two tenders built specifically to transfer passengers, cargo and mail to and from the Olympic-class liners from the port of Cherbourg, France.

Nomadic was the more luxurious of the ferries as she was designed to carry first and second class passengers to and from Olympic and Titanic while the Traffic would carry the third class passengers.

In World War I she was called to serve as a troop carrier. After the war she was sold to French interests. When World War II broke out she was once again converted to use as a troop carrier. Following the war she returned to her former life as a tender, serving Cunard liners until Nov. 1968, when she was retired.

Nomadic was purchased in 1974 and docked along the Seine in Paris, where she was converted into a restaurant. When that venture closed, the ship remained unoccupied until she was towed to Le Havre in 2006 and purchased, in January, by Northern Ireland's Department for Social Development.

Nomadic is now being restored to her original working condition in light of her special place in history as the last White Star liner still afloat. For more information, visit the Nomadic Preservation Society website.