Steve Turner quotes

They were brave and splendid, all the men. They died like brave men. (Steve Turner)
[Bandleader Hartley] apparently believed that music could be more powerful that physical force in bringing order to chaos. View quote
Steve Turner
"If any glory at all attaches to the awful tragedy of the sea about which the world is still talking, it circles round the heads of these heroic bandsmen who played the mighty vessel to its doom. View quote
Steve Turner
No praise could be sufficient for those courageous musicians whom we left behind. They were heroes to a man. View quote
Steve Turner
By the twentieth of April, the story was widely accepted and was viewed as one of the most heartening acts of bravery in the whole tragedy. View quote
Steve Turner
The ship's orchestra of eight young men were standing knee deep in water playing. View quote
Steve Turner
Not only had they behaved dutifully and without apparent concern for their own safety, but they also offered the hope that not all of the younger male generation were venial, lazy, proud, irreligious, inconsiderate, self-indulgent, weak-willed, and timorous. View quote
Steve Turner
When everything on the ship was being turned upside down, the music remained the same. In the midst of mind-jarring abnormality, it was the one thing that retained its familiarity. View quote
Steve Turner
Despite the awfulness of what was happening, the backdrop was a scene of beauty: a clear sky, a bright moon, clearly visible stars, flat undisturbed water, and an immense liner blazing with pinholes of light. View quote
Steve Turner
There is not in history a more splendid and inspiring example of self-control, of self-sacrifice, of courage and of manliness. View quote
Steve Turner
The arrival of Wallace Hartley's body became a focal point of national grief. This young man not only represented all who had died on the Titanic, but also the values that the British feared were in decline. (Steve Turner)
The band played marching from deck to deck, and as the ship went under I could still hear the music. View quote
Steve Turner
The final dive of the ship, as the bow lay submerged and the stern rose out of the water, was truly horrendous for all who witnessed it. View quote
Steve Turner
This object of great beauty-even in its stricken condition-went down with a terrifying roar...a sound that survivors later described as the most bloodcurdling they had ever heard. View quote
Steve Turner
The story of their gallantry came to epitomize a spirit of courage, duty and self-sacrifice. View quote
Steve Turner
Wallace Hartley: "I've always felt that, when men are called to face death suddenly, music is are more effective in cheering them on than all the firearms in creation.”. View quote
Steve Turner
The notes of this music were the last thing I heard before I went off the poop and felt myself going headlong into the icy water with the engines and machinery buzzing in my ears. View quote
Steve Turner
In the last moments of the great ship's doom, when all was plainly lost, when braver and hardier men might almost have been excused for doing practically anything to save themselves, they stood responsive to their conductor's baton and played a recessional tune. View quote
Steve Turner
The musicians had played on the deck as the ship went down. They had forfeited their lives for the sake of others. They had played the tunes of hymns to induce a spirit of peace and calm. They were heroic. View quote
Steve Turner
Shipwreck was an ever-present possibility in 1912. View quote
Steve Turner
It was 11:45 at night according to ship's time when the Titanic grazed along the iceberg that would send it to the ocean bed. (Steve Turner)
They kept it up until the very end. Only the engulfing ocean had power to drown them into silence. View quote
Steve Turner
I could hear the band playing a cheery sort of music. I don't like jazz music as a rule, but I was glad to hear it that night. I think it helped us all. View quote
Steve Turner
The image of the lighted ship sliding under the waves, while the band carried on regardless, captured the public's imagination. View quote
Steve Turner
As the screams in the water multiplied, another sound was heard, strong and clear at first, then fainter in the distance. It was the melody of the hymn "Nearer, My God, To Thee,” played by the string orchestra in the dining saloon. View quote
Steve Turner