RMS Lusitania

Why did the Titanic band play on?

Since writing "The Band That Played On," the most frequent question I've been asked is why the Titanic's eight musicians continued to play on the deck even as the ship was going down.

Were they told to do so by the captain? Was it part of their job description? Did they think they would be saved?While researching for my book "The Band That Played On," I found that they were not employees of the White Star Line. They were employed by a Liverpool music agency that was in turn paid by the ship. This arrangement was to impact on the dependents of the musicians who found that they weren't entitled to the compensation due to the relatives of those who signed the ship's articles.As they weren't ship's employees, they would have had the same rights as any passenger to leave the ship by the lifeboats supplied. The captain could have recommended that they play, but he couldn't have ordered them to do so.I believe the band took the courageous decision to play because of the moral character of the...

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