P.W. Fletcher

100 years ago, at 11:40 p.m., April 14^th, the great ship Titanic struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and sank to the bottom of the ocean four hours later, taking with her 1500 souls.

Among those who perished was the Titanic’s bugler, P.W. Fletcher, 26 years old, of Shoaling Hampshire, England, whose body was never recovered or identified. Fletcher was hired as the ship’s bugler, to sound the alarm in case of disaster, as was required by the Board of Trade, which regulated ocean-going vessels. However, because the ship’s owners, The White Star Line, expected no disasters, they also gave him the job of announcing meals to the first class passengers by tapping out the tune, “Roast Beef of Old England,” on his bugle, with the passengers trailing behind him to the dining room as they would the Pied Piper. On the night of the disaster, Fletcher’s bugle calls were never heard, giving rise to speculation that he was at the time sleeping in his berth near the ship’s hull that was ripped open by the iceberg, killing him instantly. Unlike the hapless members of the famous band, who were not crew members but private contractors, Fletcher’s wife was able to collect the insurance taken out on the crew members.

The Titanic has long stood as a symbol of man’s hubris against nature, even God, and the consequences of that relying on that hubris. Although I am sure many of them would have preferred a different outcome, those 1500 hapless souls who went to their deaths in those icy waters off the coast of Canada, probably have done more good for humankind that most other humans who walked the planet.

Here’s a bugle tune to memorialize those souls.  P.W. Fletcher could have done just as well, I’m sure.