Voyage • 5 Voyage exclusive ‘Dear Compie’ Remembering Alexander Taylor Compton, Jr. By Brandon Whited sister, Sara Rebec- Titanic International Society Trustee ca, to the boat. Mr. t 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, Beckwith assumed lifeboat No. 5 was taking on the three Comptons Apassengers in preparation for had boarded No. lowering from Titanic’s starboard side. 5 behind him, and Only the second lifeboat lowered during that in the all-en- the evacuation, the offcers were fnding compassing dark- it diffcult to coerce waiting passengers to ness of an ocean abandon the steady, seemingly safe ocean night he could not giant for the small, open lifeboats. Thus, see them. when No. 5 was lowered away with ap- Mrs. Compton proximately 36 occupants, it contained and her daughter several intact couples and families. indeed were saved, Among those blessed families was that probably in lifeboat of frst-class passenger Richard Beckwith, No. 14. Mrs. Comp- who had entered No. 5 with his wife, Sal- ton had pleaded lie, stepdaughter Helen Newsom, and Hel- with Alexander to en’s persistent suitor, Karl Behr. But upon enter the boat with boarding the rescue ship Carpathia hours them, even assert- later, Mr. Beckwith would fnd that three ing that she would people whom he had thought were in No. 5 rather stay on deck with him were nowhere to be seen. Where with him than go. were the Comptons? As Richard Beckwith “Don’t be foolish, had stepped into the lifeboat with his fam- Mother,” the stoic ily, his friend, Alexander Taylor Compton, young man replied. Jr., was leading his mother, Mary Eliza, and “You and Sister Alexander Taylor Compton, Jr.’s graduation photograph, taken in go ahead. I’ll look 1893, is the only known formal portrait of this exceptional young out for myself.” man, lost on board Titanic. (Courtesy of Mrs. Paula Krimsky and Alexander did not Ms. Jennifer Clement, The Gunnery) survive the night. As he retreated into the crowded shadows church furniture and equipment. Within the of Titanic’s sloped boat deck, he also was catalog were images of several memorial enveloped by the shadows of time. It would plaques the company had recently created, be more than 107 years before a chance dis- visual samples for prospective custom- covery would bring him back into the light. ers. One memorialized Alexander Taylor The coming of the digital age has Compton, Jr., and apparently was commis- changed many things, not the least of sioned by a school he had attended in his which is how those who do historical re- youth called The Gunnery. This appeared search go about discovering new informa- to be a new fnd, as Alexander was known tion. Once-obscure documents, now avail- to be memorialized only with a marker in able at the click of a mouse, may lead to the Compton family plot in Mount Pleasant startling fnds. This recently occurred when Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey. the author was skimming through a digi- Swift detective work by fellow re- tized book from 1914 which, according to searchers and TIS members Mike Findlay the search feature, contained information and Michael Poirier determined that The Boarding Titanic at Cherbourg with her pertaining to Titanic victim Alexander Tay- Gunnery was, at the time Compton was a two children, Mary Eliza Compton was lor Compton, Jr. student there, a private boys’ high school devastated by the loss of her son. The cer- This book was a catalog published by in Washington, Connecticut, and is still in tainty of her identification in this photo- the Gorham Company. Based in New York, operation today, though now co-ed. The graph has not been confirmed. (pinterest. it specialized in memorial plaques and author soon started corresponding with a com) 6 • Voyage very kind and devoted archivist from the year, as part of the annual alumni reunion school, Paula Krimsky, and thus began this weekend. “On Sunday afternoon, the me- remarkable episode of revealing Alexander morial to Mr. Alexander Compton was ded- Taylor Compton, Jr. to the Titanic history icated. He was a Gunnery alumnus, much community. loved and respected, and was lost with the The Comptons always have been elu- ill-fated Titanic.” sive; despite their social prominence, only With the installation of this monument a photo of Sara has been seen by the gen- began a moving annual tribute to one of eral public, and she only in a single grainy The Gunnery’s beloved lost sons. For many newspaper headshot. (A photo of a woman decades each April, at the opening of the identifed as Mary Compton recently sur- school’s baseball season, the team captain faced on the Internet, but there is some would place fowers at the monument, and doubt about the identifcation.) Alexander would then read aloud in its entirety a de- himself had no known photograph, and tailed letter then-Headmaster John Chapin only a basic summary of his life: He was Brinsmade had received in April 1912 de- a bachelor. He was independently wealthy scribing Compie’s movements aboard the by way of hotel ownership. Golf was a fa- Titanic following the fatal iceberg colli- vorite pastime. sion. Who was the author of this epistle? As I learned from Mrs. Krimsky at his None other than Richard Beckwith. former alma mater, Alexander has always As revealed in The Gunnery’s archives, been far more than another name on Titan- Richard and Compie were not simply ship- ic’s frst-class passenger list. Even his nick- board acquaintances. Rather, their friend- name – “Compie” – is remembered, and he ship dated back over 20 years, when they The only known photo of Sara Rebecca is generally referred to as such. were classmates and teammates at The Compton, sometimes known as “Sadie,” The memorial plaque from the Gorham Gunnery. Photographs of the football and Alex’s older sister. Saved with her mother in Company was mounted on a large stone on baseball teams from 1892 and 1893 show lifeboat 14, Sara never married, and sub- The Gunnery’s baseball feld. It was a ft- these two future Titanic passengers side- sequently lived in New Jersey and Florida. ting spot, given that Compton was a pas- by-side, suggesting a close bond. She died in 1952 at age 80. (San Francisco sionate baseball player and team captain. Though the memorial inscription would Chronicle via Encyclopedia-Titanica.org) The school’s 1913 yearbook noted that suggest Compie graduated from The Gun- the archives as being members of the Class the dedication took place on June 1 of that nery in 1891, he and Beckwith are noted in of 1893. During their time at the school, both boys would also play a role in the founding of the noted Keewaydin Camp in Canada. The originator of this camp, A. S. Gregg Clarke, was a Gunnery alumnus who, while subsequently studying at Har- vard, returned to The Gunnery to recruit boys for canoeing and camping excursions in the wilderness of Maine. They were carrying on a tradition begun by school founder Frederick Gunn, who is credited by the American Camping Association as the founder of recreational camping in the U.S. In 1893, one of Clarke’s frst young recruits – branded the “Filthy Four” – was brave Compie. Richard Beckwith would also accompany some of these early excur- sions. What follows is the entirety of The Gun- nery archive’s current holding of Richard Beckwith’s remarkable letter, written to the headmaster of his alma mater in memory of his lost friend. April 1912 The following is part of a letter A close-up of the memorial tablet for Alexander Compton. The photo was part of a 1914 to Mr. Brinsmade from Richard promotional catalogue issued by the Gorham Manufacturing Company, which had cast Beckwith, one of the two Gun- the plaque. (Brandon Whited Collection) nery alumni who were passengers Voyage • 7 where, through the open door of the mail room, I could see that the water was ten feet deep, from which I knew that there must be not less than forty feet of water in that part of the bow, at least. “I went above and told our people that the water was coming in, but that the bulkheads would now be closed, and that it would get no farther, and this I honestly believed. However, we thought it best to dress; my wife and daugh- ter had already done so, and I had gotten as far as changing my shoes, when the word was passed to put on the life belts and go to the upper deck; this we did at once without hurry or confusion; there were hardly 30 people on the boat deck when we reached there, and “Compie,” top left, stands beside his classmate, Richard Beckwith, in a group photograph none of us thought we would have of The Gunnery’s 1892 baseball team. Both were about 18 years old at the time; twenty to take to the boats. years later, they would be fellow first-class passengers aboard Titanic. (Courtesy of Mrs. “The three Comptons were Paula Krimsky and Ms. Jennifer Clement, The Gunnery) on the deck when we got there, on the ill-starred vessel, the giant least apprehension. and Alex took me aside and said, Titanic: “I went to my stateroom and “Dick, what do you make of this “I know that you will all be glad told Mrs. Beckwith that there situation?” I told him, as I still be- to have a few lines from the last was no cause for alarm, but just lieved, that the ship was unsink- man, as far as is known, who saw then someone in our corridor able, but that it was necessary to and talked with poor Alex Compton who chanced to have been look- take every precaution; also that on the night he went to his death ing out of a porthole, reported we might even be called to “stand in that terrible disaster that has that we had struck an iceberg by” the boats. Just then they be- shocked the whole civilized world. and he had seen it go by, so I told gan to fll the frst boat on our “I ran across him by merest Mrs. B. that I would go on deck side, and I said to Alex that this chance in Paris, a week before we and see it myself, which I did, was a fnal precaution, but that we sailed, and he told me that he and and remained there for fully ff- would be back on board again in his family had just decided to go on teen minutes, talking with about the Titanic. a dozen men who had likewise “I went to London the next day, come up. sailing from Southampton, and the “Finally, as most of us were Comptons came aboard at Cher- in evening dress, without coats, bourg. we decided that there was no use “Compie and I were together of us catching cold, where I met almost constantly, and on the night most of us in our corridor talk- we were wrecked, we had been sit- ing the matter over, and assured ting together in the smoke room them, as I frmly believed, that for more than an hour when, about there was not the slightest dan- 11:35 I suggested that we go below ger, and advised them all to go before the lights went out and we back to bed; this some of them parted in the corridor. started to do. “I was just going into the lavato- “Just then, my room steward ry when I felt a sort of scraping jar whispered to me that the mail on the starboard side, just as if we room almost right under us, just had barely touched a piece of foat- two decks down, was fooded John Chapin Brinsmade, Head of School ing wreckage, and the ship stag- and that the mails and baggage at The Gunnery, received Richard Beck- gered the least bit but not enough were all gone. I went down one with’s letter detailing “Compie’s” final to unbalance me or to cause me the deck and looked down one deck, hours aboard Titanic. (Gunnery.org). 8 • Voyage few people on that deck when our to prevent the loss of more lives. boat was sent away, and so far as “As soon as we had pulled a I know not a passenger was left safe distance from the ship, I told at that point at that moment. Our Mrs. Beckwith that I would try boat, as we afterwards found by and get the Comptons to a place actual count contained just forty- beside us and I called his name; four people, and in that calm sea I called several times only to fnd ffty could have been taken eas- that none of them were in the ily (one boat came through safely boat, and I don’t think we will with more than sixty). ever know just why, for both his “Before we were lowered mother and sister were in such a away, Ismay held it for a period state of mental and physical col- varying from one to three minutes lapse that they seem to have no (according to different versions; clear recollection of just what one, as I remember it) and called did happen, but I surmise that at least twice “Are there any more Alex, always deliberate and slow women for this boat?” There posi- to start, and also unwilling to put tively was not a passenger, man or his old mother in an open boat woman, in sight when the fnal or- until the last moment, must have Alex Compton in his football team’s uni- der to lower away was given, and hesitated after staring toward the form. (Courtesy of Mrs. Paula Krimsky I was certain the Comptons were lifeboat, and drawn back into the and Ms. Jennifer Clement, The Gunnery) in the boat. shadow of the deckhouse, where “There was much confu- we would not have seen him from an hour, and remarked further that sion before we reached the wa- our position in the boat, and that we would all have good colds as ter (about 68 feet below the boat later, when he realized the fnal a result. deck) as it was discovered that the moment had come, there was no “I mention all this conversa- plug was not in the drain hole but room for him in the boats, for at tion to illustrate the fact that, even fortunately the one able seaman the end, all that came late must then, none of the passengers real- in our boat thought of it in time, have rushed together, and then it ized the gravity of the situation, and the hole was plugged in time was “women and children frst,” but the men most especially, and I, for one even after we were out on the ocean in the lifeboat, kept looking back for half-an-hour, and wondered if my steward had done as I said and locked the stateroom door, so that there would be no pilfering until we should return. “Mr. Ismay himself directed the flling and launching of the frst boat, which was done in per- fect order and without confusion; he then moved to the second boat, at which point my wife insisted that we wait no longer, but take our places with the rest, so our party moved forward, and as we did so I turned and motioned for Compie to follow. He nodded his head and I saw him take his moth- er’s arm and, with his sister start after us. That is the last time I saw him, alive or dead. I cannot under- stand what happened nor why they were all not saved in our boat. Of Sallie Newsom married Richard Beckwith in 1903. Sallie; her daughter from her first course, there was very little light marriage, Helen; and Richard boarded Titanic at Southampton. All three were saved in on the deck, and it was impos- boat 5, perhaps encouraged to enter it by Bruce Ismay. A year after the disaster, Helen sible to distinguish faces more married fellow survivor Karl Behr, despite Sallie’s opposition to the marriage. Sallie died than ten feet away, but there were in 1955 at age 89. (Encyclopedia-Titanica.org) Voyage • 9 and we all know that Alex was not the man to save his life at the ex- pense of a woman’s. “I questioned almost every man that was saved, and many women, but I was unable to fnd anyone that remembered seeing him after his mother and sister were put in their boat. “I believe that, together with many others, he went down with the ship, silent and uncomplain- ing, his duty done, and that, dressed as he was in a long ulster [overcoat], he had no chance in the icy water, and so he died, just as he lived, like a man. “As for the rest of our own experiences, it is soon told. We suffered, of course, but more in mind than in body, and before we really had time to realize that our ship was gone and we were shipwrecked, the Carpathia was In a 2004 ceremony, members of the then-current Gunnery baseball team remembered sighted, and two hours later we “Compie” during a brief service of remembrance at his memorial plaque, located at the were on board, those of us that are school’s baseball field. The tradition continued until 2012, four years after the faculty left, and on our way to New York. member spearheading the service retired. (Courtesy of Mrs. Paula Krimsky and Ms. Jen- “Mrs. Beckwith and her nifer Clement, The Gunnery) daughter came through in good holding in affectionate remembrance the today beneath the feld’s scoreboard, al- shape and showed splendid cour- lovable qualities of his character, his loy- though the tradition of placing fowers age, but now the reaction has set alty to The Gunnery and his devotion to his there each April has not been maintained in, and they are suffering from friends, hereby record in the minute book continuously. Anecdotal and photographic a slight attack of “nerves.” I am of this Association our sorrow for the loss evidence suggests the ceremony was car- really ashamed to tell how well we suffered when ‘Allie’ went down on the ried on intermittently through the decades, I am myself after all the suffer- Titanic April 15th, 1912; and that we further until as recently as 2012, and one faculty ing I have seen, but there is one record our admiration for and pride in this member sought to keep Compton’s mem- thing I will never forget, and that Gunnery boy whose consideration for oth- ory alive by reading Beckwith’s letter to is the terrible cries of those thou- ers resulted in the sacrifce of his own life; the entire school each April through his 27- sand poor wretches who were left and that we extend to his bereaved mother year tenure. He retired in 2008. The author struggling in the water when the and sister our heartfelt sympathy in their could wish for nothing greater than to have giant ship made her fnal plunge. I grief and affiction, and we direct that a this article go some way toward getting think that my hair turned a shade copy of this resolution be sent to his fam- this beautiful tradition reinstated. Prior to grayer that night: several people ily.” this article’s publication, it was learned that say so. And thus emerges a more complete por- some at the school would look favorably Richard L. Beckwith” trait of who Alexander Taylor Compton, Jr. upon such a request. It is truly moving just how greatly the was as a person. We can at last place a face Acknowledgements loss of Alexander Taylor Compton, Jr. was with his name. Compie is a reminder that The author wishes to express his deep- felt by his school, as has been their un- none of the 2,208 people who sailed on Ti- est gratitude to Mrs. Paula Krimsky, retired common devotion to ensuring he is never tanic’s maiden voyage were simply names Associate Director of Communications and forgotten, though more than a century has on a passenger list. They all had stories, School Archivist at The Gunnery. Despite passed since his untimely death. An archi- people who loved them, achievements, her retirement, Mrs. Krimsky took it upon val note from The Gunnery Alumni Asso- quirks of character…the same as each one herself to go to the school and obtain copies ciation, “Resolution on the Death of Alex- of us. of the amazing photographs and documents ander T. Compton,” illustrates the grief the It seems a safe assumption that “dear seen in this article. Also of great assistance school experienced: “RESOLVED – That Compie” never will be forgotten by The was Jennifer Clement, of the school’s Mar- we, the members of The Gunnery Alumni Gunnery. His memorial has remained a keting and Communications Department, Association, assembled at reunion, where steady presence on the school’s baseball who corroborated the material Mrs. Krim- for so many years we have met our beloved feld throughout the years, and still stands sky sent to ensure historical accuracy. associate, Alexander T. Compton, and