In the movie, Murdoch shot himself after killing one of the passengers. Does anyone know if that really happened.

-- gaile (lrc@usit.net), January 13, 1998

Answers

I read that it is one of the few controversial points in the movie and history; you won't be able to get a definitive answer unfortunately.

-- Bob Gregorio (rgregori@pacbell.net), January 13, 1998.

I read that it is one of the many of the rumors that terrible night. Along with Murdoch, Chief Officer Wilde and Captain Smith are also rumored to have shot themselves. Unfortunately, only they would know. The rumor must have circulated quickly after the disaster because I read that 2nd Officer Lightoller dismissed it.

-- Jeff (JTrayner@pacbell.net), January 14, 1998.

According to witness reports, several of them actually, he did shoot himself. Now, wether it was for killing a passenger or not isn't clear. For the record, there were never any bodies found with bullet wounds in them, but then again Murdoch's body wasn't found either. How can anyone really know what was going on? Mosf who survived were huddling on life boats, and the rest were mad with cold.

-- Dave Phillips (Sonitus@USA.net), January 14, 1998.

There is substantial evidence that one of the officers did shoot himself, as well as evidence that one officer, possibly the same one, shot passengers trying to rush a boat. Unfortunately, there's no firm evidence to identify that officer. Walter Lord devotes an entire chapter to this in _The Night Lives On_, and concludes that the most likely candidates for the suicide were First Officer Murdoch and Chief Officer Wilde, but there's no way to know for sure.

-- Andrew W. Hall (tigone@phoenix.net), January 14, 1998.

I have a very old antique book of accounts of the Titanic by the passengers on board the ship. Copyright 1912 by L.T. Myers and edited by Logan Marshall- The entire book is all statements from as many passengers as they could possibly obtain and then the history and aftermath of the Titanic disaster including the fall of Bruce Ismay. Being that this was written so recently after the sinking and so close to the time of the events that took place, I would tend to believe this book, which states that Murdoch did infact shoot himself in the head, as was witnessed by passengers, but not because of shooting anyone, including the fictional Tommy Ryan. What they stated was that he helped fill all the life boats as much as possiblle. Some shots were fired off to keep passengers back, as 5th officer Lowe saw that when he lowered a boat full of 42 women and 4 children, men still onboard the Titanic, look as if they were going to jump off and capsize of overwhelm the life boat #4. Lowe fired a round off in the air to warn them to stay, and they did. When there were no life boats left and no more passenger to save, one officer yelled,"Its everyman for themselves!!" According to witness accounts, when Murdoch decided that this dying & freezing in the water was not the option he most desired, since it may be a slow death, he decided to take the quick way out since he was going to die anyway. He was a first officer, and had no room to man a ship, and the gentlemans rule of the sea thought at that time was that the Captain goes down with his ship. Well Murdoch was #2 in charge. I don't think he wanted to come back looking like the rat Ismay did. His body was never recovered, so no one will ever know for sure, but these accounts and statements were taken right after the incident of the Titanic and the book was published the same year, so I would tend to believe the book, since a lot of time had not elapsed for people to speculate and guess. And really to fictionalize history with their own adlibs.

-- Granny Groza (ajgroza@4dcomm.com), June 22, 1999.

The answer is indefinite..As someone said, there were rumors all over the ship that Murdoch did really shot himself. As you can see, rumors are never trusted, but a book by Walter Lord proved that this rumor was true. Throughout the night, people had came up with their own rumors from their imagination out of confusion. Everyone was too confused by the time to actually investigate the answer to their own questions of curiosity. According to me, however, I believe that Murdoch did really shot himself.

-- Xuyen Bui (wsxxuyen1230@yahoo.com), May 20, 2003.

Lee Merideth, a real expert on these things and the author of "1912 Facts About Titanic" (a great read--he is currently at the LA exhibition signing books each day and says a completely revised edition is coming out in August) and another book on every single passenger aboard Titanic (I think it is called "Titanic Names") says that the evidence is fairly clear that Murdoch indeed shot himself. As an attorney, I would say the circumstantial evidence, especially statements from eyewitnesses taken shortly after the event, seem to confirm it. As a matter of law, if the case was tried in 1913, the evidence would have easily tilted the scales in favor of that conclusion. Ismay should have had the guts to do the same thing.

-- Ted Savas (militarybooks@onemain.com), June 21, 2003.

Lee Merideth, a real expert on these things and the author of "1912 Facts About Titanic" (a great read--he is currently at the LA exhibition signing books each day and says a completely revised edition is coming out in August) and another book on every single passenger aboard Titanic (I think it is called "Titanic Names") says that the evidence is fairly clear that Murdoch indeed shot himself. As an attorney, I would say the circumstantial evidence, especially statements from eyewitnesses taken shortly after the event, seem to confirm it. As a matter of law, if the case was tried in 1913, the evidence would have easily tilted the scales in favor of that conclusion. Ismay should have had the guts to do the same thing. You can contact author Medideth at: historyindex@earthlink.net. He will answer this and other questions.

-- Ted Savas (militarybooks@onemain.com), June 21, 2003.