TITANIC'S REAL DAWSON
In James Cameron's new film TITANIC. We are introduced to a fictional character named Jack Dawson. Little did Cameron know when he created his main character, that there was infact a man by the name of Dawson who sailed aboard the doomed ship, though not as a passenger. The man signed his name as simply J. Dawson on the crew sign on sheets. James Dawson was a 23 year old Trimmer aboard the ship (trimmers kept the coal in a ship's bunker level so it didn't upset the ship's trim; in addition they wheeled heaps of coal from the bunkers over to the firemen). James Dawson died in the sinking, his body was recovered a week later by the ship Mackey-Bennett. The ship had been contracted by White Star to recover the remains of the Titanic victims. As each body was brought aboard a description of the person and an inventory of their clothing and possessions were written down. James Dawson's entry appears as:

• NO. 227 MALE.
• ESTIMATED AGE, 30.
• HAIR LIGHT, AND MUSTACHE.
• CLOTHING -Dungaree coat and pants; grey shirt.
• NO MARKS ON BODY OR CLOTHING.
• EFFECTS - N.S.& F. Union 35638. FIREMAN.
• NAME - J. DAWSON.
• 17 Briton St., Southampton.

Mr. Dawson's remains were taken to Halifax, Novia Scotia, were along with the other bodies brought back, it lay in state awaiting for family to make arrangements to transport him home. But Mr. Dawson's family, like many other families of the crew, most likely didn't have the money to pay for shipping the body back to England. Dawson was buried in Fareview Cemetery in Halifax on May 8th, 1912, beside other victims of the sinking. In 1996 when James Cameron was filming the Keldysh scenes off the coast of Nova Scotia, he and others from the production stopped by Fareview Cemetery and paid their respects to James Dawson and the other Titanic victims interred there.