One of the most interesting fictional additions to the Titanic's crew is Officer Petersen. While Petersen is known to the English speaking world only in the guise of First Officer Petersen from the 1943 film Titanic, in Germany he is also widely known as Third Officer Hans Erik Petersen, thanks to the continued popularity of the novel Titanic. Die Tragödie eines Ozeanriesen (The Tragedy of an Ocean Giant) by Josef Pelz von Felinau.*
The genesis of Petersen in itself is quite a fascinating story. In the first version of the novel (1939) he was called Max Dittmar-Pittman. As discussed also in Max Dittmar-Pittmann. Memoirs of an Impostor Dittmar-Pittman was a man who claimed in his memoirs Ein Menschenleben auf dem Meere to have been the Third Officer of the Titanic. Dittmar-Pittmann continued to make a profit from his assumed role by giving lectures around the country .
Josef Pelz von Felinau had been fascinated by the Titanic for many years, he had already published a long poem about the sinking during World War I (the exact dating seems to be uncertain) and had spent some time researching the story of the Titanic in preparation of writing a book about the tragedy.
The appearance of Max Dittmar-Pittmann and his claim to have been an officer of the Titanic, was probably too good an opportunity to miss, too tempting for Felinau: If he had checked the facts more carefully he would have easily detected the deception. But Felinau, consciously or unconsciously ignored any misgivings he may have had and swallowed Max Dittmar-Pittmann's story hook, line and sinker.
Felinau naturally included Max Dittmar-Pittmann in his novel about the Titanic Strangely enough, Felinau promotes Dittmar-Pittman to Second Officer. At some point, Felinau must have discovered that he had been had. In the 1943 film, partly based on Felinau's novel, Dittmar-Pittmann is replaced by Herr Peterson who is given also an additional promotion to First Officer.
After the war, Felinau changed the novel itself: The Second Officer is now called 'Lightolder' and the Third Officer is Hans Erik Petersen from Denmark.
Felinau's Sources
Taking a closer look at the sequence in Felinau's novel describing the Titanic's collision with the iceberg, it is highly reminiscent of the depiction in Robert Prechtl's novel: While Murdock is tinkering around in the chart room, Lightolder is on the bridge. Murdock calls Lightolder to the chart room, even though the Second Officer points out that he is alone on the bridge. Lightolder then positions the ice reported in the warnings on the chart (apparently Murdock had not been able to do this) and literally drags Murdock back on the bridge just seconds before the iceberg is sighted. Just as in Prechtl's novel, Murdock tries to avoid the iceberg, while Lightolder advises to ram it. There are obvious discrepancies between the two versions, e.g. the Second Officer being not as timid or given to breaking into hysterics in Felinau's version, but the basic narrative is virtually the same.
Whether Felinau was basing this description on Prechtl, or whether both were based their version on Dittmar-Pittmann's story is unclear (so far). Naturally, Dittmar-Pittmann must have elaborated his tale on the lecture tours he made, since the very brief description in his book would hardly have satisfied his audience. However, since at least in its present version Prechtl's novel is mentioned among Felinau's sources, it may be Prechtl's elaboration on Dittmar-Pittmann's bare bones story that Felinau used rather than Dittmar-Pittmann's own.
There are also a number of other striking similarities between Felinau's and Prechtl's books: In both novels W. T. Stead swears off his methods of peaceful protest as inefficient, both mention a horoscope that was cast for the Titanic published in the "Occult Review". Erikson (in Prechtl) and Petersen (in Felinau) both spot chunks of ice drifting by, both declare the fact that the ice is green ice as dangerous, Petersen and Erikson both explain that the fog coming in from the North is a sign of ice. Of course, in both novels an attempt is made to win the Blue Ribband. The lowering and loading of life-boats is accompanied by gun-play, several people are shot dead, and some of the lifeboats sink.
The similarity between the two description of the smell coming from coal bunkers strikes me as particularly noticeable. Prechtl writes that it is "ein feiner Duft von Methan und Oxyd, wie ihn lagernde Kohle ausströmt, selbst wenn eine noch so kräftige Ventilation die Gase ablüftet." (Prechtl, p. 213 "A fine smell of methane and oxide that stored coal gives off even when a particular powerful ventilation extracts the gases.") Felinau describes it as: "eine Atmosphäre, in der der feine Duft von Methan und Oxyd beigemischt ist, wie ihn lagernde Kohle selbst bei sorgfältigster Lagerung auszuatmen pflegt." (Felinau, p. 79. "an atmosphere, mixed into it the fine smell of methane and oxide, as stored coal will exhale even with the most careful storage.") Does stored coal really smell of methane? And what kind of 'oxide' are we talking about?
I am not an expert in these things, so I don't know whether green ice actually signifies the vicinity of ice in larger quantities. Equally, I cannot tell which parts of these parallels are cause by Felinau plagiarising Prechtl and which parts are based on a common source, be it Dittmar-Pittmann or other reports current at the time.
The name of the Third Officer in Felinau's revised novel, Hans Erik Petersen, can be seen as Felinau's nod to his sources, Max Dittmar-Pittmann mentions a man called Petersen who alongside Dittmar-Pittmann himself was the only survivor of a shipwreck but died after being rescued, while Petersen's middle name, Erik, is not coincidentally almost identical to the surname of Prechtl's Third Officer Erikson.
A Mystery Tale
Felinau's Titanic also is less a novel about the actual ship than a mystery tale: The above-mentioned horoscope predicts disaster. A cursed Blue Diamond is said to be on board as well. Moreover, a mysterious passenger, Lord Canterville, who later cannot be found on any of the passenger lists, is transporting an Egpytian mummy in his cabin. A young passenger, Eva Stephenson, suffers from nightmares in which she predicts the sinking of the Titanic. The reason for her clairvoyance (though she herself cannot remember her dreams) is explained by the fact that her parents were brother and sister, and that she is the reincarnation of Lord Canterbury's mummy, a priestess who also had been given the gift of prophecy.
Consequently, the reader should not expect historic accuracy in this novel, as can for example be seen clearly in the already mentioned description of the events leading up to and including the Titanic's collision with the iceberg and some of the errors mentioned above. One rather amusing detail is that Felinau places four real camels on the ship.
It is unsurprising that the crew on Felinau's Titanic bears little resemblance to the real people working on the ship. Wilde is the only officer who has made it into the book under his correct name. Spelling the First Officer's name 'Murdock' was a pretty common phenomenon at the time. Then there is the already mentioned Second Officer Lightolder and Officer Loeve. The look-out is called 'Fleeth'. An Officer Stuart is mentioned a few times, and a man called 'Werner' is also present on the bridge when Captain Smith informs the officers about the extent the damage. The ship's doctor is a German-American named Morrell, the Chief Engineer is called Romain and the Purser Jackson. Modey is at one point described as a purser later as a quartermaster.
It seems almost absurd to ask why there are fictional crew members up to and including Hans Erik Petersen formerly known as Max Dittmar-Pittmann on board. The fictional officer was the result of Felinau's gullibility, the remaining fictional or misspelled crew probably originated from the fact that Felinau didn't care.
Felinau Today
Nevertheless, the edition available today, featuring Herrn Petersen, gives no indication, neither in the blurb on the back cover nor in the afterword, that the book is not historically accurate, quite the contrary: The afterword does point out that Felinau had not been present when the events depicted in the book occurred, refuting claims made in the press that he had been a passenger on the Carpathia. Nevertheless, the book is allegedly based on 'authentic material', in particular the British Board of Trade Inquiry and the American Senate Hearing. The (short) list of sources includes Robert Prechtl's novel Titanensturz, as mentioned above, an edition of the British Board of Trade and American Senate hearings by Prentice Mulford and Lawrenz [sic] Beesley, The lost [sic] of the 'Titanic'.
The blurb on the back also stresses the point that the events depicted in the book are 'true to reality'! The author, the reader is informed, 'ist lange zur See gefahren', (translation), which implies that he was part of the crew. In fact, Felinau did like to travel by sea, but as a passenger, which certainly would make him less of an authority on navigational matters than if he had actually 'gone to sea' (or whatever). I find myself again and again studying the blurb and the afterword thinking that there has to be some sort of disclaimer somewhere, that no publishers would get away with such an outrageous claim, but apparently they can.
Read more about Herr Petersen as seen in the 1943 film
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