Week 11 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Lucky

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Prompt - Lucky

Postcard Photo of S.S. Birma

 My great grandparents immigrated from Warenburg, Privalnjoe, Samara, Russia to Canada through New York Ellis Island. Andreas Krikau (20 JAN 1879 - 29 DEC 1946) and Maria Krikau, nee Kraft ( 27 AUG 1879 - 2 JULY 1954) and their 4 children, one being my grandmother Mary McLaughlin, boarded the SS Birma on October 3 1911 and landed in New York October 17, 1911. According to family folk lore Great-Grandfather Krikau had considered taking the famous Titanic in spring of 1912 however decided on the more practical and direct root from Libau, Russia. What a lucky decision for me and all of his descendants.

I often wondered what that voyage was like for grandma. She was just 7 years old. Through the website of New York Ellis Island I was able to obtain much information. They even had a picture of the ship. I wanted to know a little bit more about the S.S. Birma and of course googled it. The ship was built in Glasgow in 1894 and originally named the “Arundel Castle”. It was 415 feet in length with 4 masts and a top speed of 13 knots. In 1905 it was sold to the East Asiatic Steamship Co. And renamed S.S. Birma. In 1908 it was sold to a subsidiary known as Russian East Asiatic Steamship Co. (Russian American Line) and its first sailing to New York from Libau was December 8, 1908 under the Captain of Ludwig Stulping.

Looking for this information I stumbled upon a very intriguing story of the SS Birma and the Titanic. The Birma was one of several ships who received the SOS from the Titanic and respond to it. The story has been the target of speculation and dissection by many writers. It has been a story for a thesis student. Several newspapers have published it. The British Inquiry ignored it and the United States Senate Subcommittees hearings only briefly touched on. And it was once again brought to the forefront when the Titanic was discovered in the 1985.

The Birma and her Captain, Ludwig Stulping had been sailing this route for nearly 3 1/2 years before that fateful night in the Atlantic. The Birma left New York Thursday afternoon April 11, 1912 heading for Rotterdam and then Libau. There was a newly qualified wire operator, Joseph L.Cannon on board on his own maiden voyage. He was a key tapper in the wireless realm of the United Wireless company of America ( De Forrest system). This company was one of three companies that steam ships used at this time. The other two were Marconi and The Telefunken System.

Every evening the wireless operator received news from Cape Cod which was then turned into a paper the next morning for the first and second classes. On Sunday April 14^th, Cannon said his evening press report was interrupted by a distress call at 11:45 PM.

Apparently the Birma was among the first to receive the S.O.S. By morning these coordinates would be proven to be wrong. The wire operator then woke his other more experienced wire operator and he sent the message “MGY What is the matter? SBA” Reply “OK we have struck iceberg and sinking. Please tell captain to come MGY.” Upon this call the wireless operators went to Captain Stulping with the news and he took charge of the situation, figuring he was only 100 miles out and altering his course, adding additional men to stoke the fire to get to maximum 14 knots. Stulping had no idea who MGY was because those call letters were not in their call book. The captain sent the following message; We are 100 miles from you, steaming 14 knots, be with you by 6.30. Our position Lat 40° 48 N, Long 52° 13 W SBA. The Titanic responded with OK OM which would be a cordial way of saying OK old man knowing full well that 6:30 would not rescue them. Soon other ships were responding to the mayday. It was through one of the other ships that Stulping found out that the distressed ship was the new White Star Liner the Titanic. The next SOS came stating its same coordinates but added sinking head down. The last message the Birma received was; CQ to all stations - "Women and children in boats. Cannot last much longer – MGY.

By 4AM Captain Stulping called his crew to start making the ship ready for passengers from the Titanic. At 7:30 Captain Stulping arrived at the coordinates given to find that it was not the right place. Several other ships also arrived at this wrong position. Stulping took nearly five hours to get around the iceberg to the easterly side where he saw ships probably recovering the survivors.

Stulping noted he passed The Carpathian going west at full speed. They crossed paths at which time the Birma wire operators were asked to call and ask whether all were saved and could they assist in any manor. The Birma was told to Stand down. Sometime later he again asked if he could be of assistance. The reply to them was “Shut up”.

The captain of Birma seeing that they could be no further assistance continued easterly on its original course. However Captain Stulping was furious over his treatment despite all his crew had done to be of assistance. He made an unplanned stop in Dover to register his complaint to the media. On board was a journalist who had made arrangements with The Daily Telegraph for the interview and it appeared April 25, 1912.

Since the Birma was not a Marconi wireless system, those who were such as the Carpathian would not share information over the wireless. As Stulping thought this may have made commercial sense but did not make sense during a distress call and recovery. For several days the Birma tried to get information but was asked if they were Marconi system and were denied information because they were not.

For many years after this tragic and very unlucky sinking of the Titanic the events of that night would be dissected. Did The Birma have the right coordinates? Did The Birma write its times correctly? Did it gets its speed up to the 14 knots and if so how did it make it to the site in 7 or so hours? Were they snubbed because they were not a Marconi set wireless instillation? Did a ship ( The Californian) stand by and refuse to go to its aid despite being 15 or 22 miles away? Which ship saw who and at what time was never agreed upon. Why was it that The Carpathian, the ship that rescued all the Titanic survivors, was silent and not heard from during the entire night of distress calls and responses?

Somewhere in all of this story is the strange coincidence between the ship my great grandparents came to Canada on and the Titanic. A mere 6 months after they disembarked from the Birma, the ship was called to duty of the distress call of The Titanic.

Wendy

Captain Ludwig Stulping