RMS Titanic - Steamer Deck Chair

RMS Titanic - the Nantucket Steamer Deck Chair. Titanic deck or steamer chairs are one the rarest types of Titanic collectable and the Nantucket Titanic is one of only a handful of fully provenanced and documented examples in existence. Since Titanic deck chairs were actually a collection of chairs taken from other White Star steamers, they bore no characteristic design attributable exclusively to the Titanic. Some bore the distinctive White Star Line Company star carved into their headrests while others did not. Significant variations in the design were evident as well. Nevertheless, known examples of Titanic deck chairs did exhibit certain aesthetic similarities. For instance, all the chairs showed a comparable overall structural style. They all had seats which were caned and seat frames which were interchangeable in the event of the seats becoming damaged. Chairs from the wreck site were recovered in a distressed condition, usually with heavy salt deposits in the wood. The seats were broken with the cane sometimes absent, the seats were replaced or repaired with other cane or, as with this example, more resilient slats. While the original manufacturer(s) of White Star Line's deck chairs is not clear post-Titanic disaster, some can be traced to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the last port of call for Titanics dead and for the souvenirs gathered by the cable ship crews who participated in the body recovery missions. Deck chairs were nevertheless spotted by other steamers such as the Graf Waldersee en route to Halifax from Hamburg. Sightings were also made by the body recovery ships. There are documented accounts of both the Mackay-Bennett and the Minia, another cable vessel chartered by White Star, actually retrieving deck chairs from the wreck site (recovery ships Mackay-Bennett, Minia, the Canadian Government vessel Montmagny and the Algerine, a private vessel out of Newfoundland, all picked up floating wreckage from the area). The Mackay Bennett's log confirms that the crew not only picked up deck chairs but that the ship's carpenter spent time repairing some of them. In addition there are contemporary reports of deck chairs being retrieved by Mackay-Bennett, another one of which comes from the diary of a Mackay-Bennett crewman, Frederick Hamilton, who recorded the recovery of a deck chair bearing a carved star. In the 100 years since its recovery, that chair has not been traced to any public exhibition or known private collection. In short, although its recovery had been documented, its whereabouts remain uncertain. The Nantucket deck chair was owned originally by Julien Lemarteleur, a French cable ship captain working in Halifax at the time of the disaster, who had told his friend, Captain N. Robin Lee, to whom he later gave the chair, that it had come from the deck of Titanic. Captain Lemarteleur had been in command of the cable ship Contre Amiral Caubet, one of at last two cable repair vessels of the French company Compagnie Francaise Des Cables Telegraphiques (CFCT), operating in Halifax. This is significant because it placed the person to whom oral provenance attributed the chair (ie Captain Lemarteleur) in Halifax in 1912 working on a cable ship. It was also confirmed through the records of CFCT, that Captain Lemarteleur's own vessel had been out of commission in 1912 and that his company had contracted with the Commercial Cable Company for the use of their cable ship, Mackay-Bennett, to do the work of the Amiral Caubet. Company documents showed as late as 3 April 1912, just 11 days before the Titanic struck the iceberg, Captain Lemarteleur was on the Mackay-Bennett completing some of the Amiral Caubet's cable repair work for a break on the Brest, France to St Pierre, Newfoundland cable. CFCT Company minutes confirm that the Mackay-Bennett would soon be temporarily released from its contract with CFCT to Recherche Corps De Naufrage (recover the bodies of the shipwrecked). Repair logs show that even after the disaster, the Mackay-Bennett continued to perform cable repairs on behalf of the CFCT. This proves that Captain Larnder of the Mackay-Bennett would have been well acquainted with Captain Lemarteleur of the Amiral Caubet. Further research in Canada led the owners of the chair to Captain Lemarteleur's former housekeeper and friend, Margarette Pennington (nee Buchholtz), who was still living in Nova Scotia. Mrs Pennington confirmed how the Captain told her of the chair's Titanic origins together with that of a piece of cork from a Titanic life jacket (which Henry Aldridge and Son sold in the same auction as the deckchair in 2001), which he had also obtained. Mrs Pennington confirmed that the deck chair had been given to Captain Lemarteleur's friend and fellow cable ship Captain N. Robin Lee of Halifax upon Captain Lemarteleur's death in 1973 as the sole heir to his estate. She also confirmed that the deck chair in question was the very same one she had seen in the home of her former employer and friend. Mr Craig Sopin, one of the world's leading Titanic experts, spoke with Mrs Pennington at length and she executed her own sworn statement consistent with the information she related concerning the identity, acquisition and origin of the chair and cork. This is part of the provenance package that accompanies the deck chair together with reports from Craig Sopin and Steve Santini, a world authority on Titanic recovered wreck wood. The chair was likely given to Lemarteleur by a crew member of the Mackay-Bennett or its captain, along with the piece of cork, which is consistent with a longstanding maritime tradition. Notably, it was Captain Lemarteleur's company likely with his recommendation, which had agreed to release the Commercial Cable Company from its contractual obligations to repair CFCT's cables so that the Mackay-Bennett could instead take the contract with White Star to recover the bodies. The crew of the Minia similarly gave a Titanic deck chair they recovered to Rev Henry Cunningham in appreciation for his work on board their vessel. In corroboration with Mrs Pennington's statement, we know that in 1912 Captain Lemarteleur's own cable ship was out of service and that in April 1912 he was using the Mackay-Bennett to do the work of his own ship; and that he had been personally present on that ship and obviously acquainted with its crew and captain. We know of the crewman's account of the Mackay-Bennett recovery of at least one Titanic deck chair from the wreck site containing a star in its headrest. We learned from Mrs Pennington that Captain Lemarteleur collected maritime souvenirs and literally hundreds of them including the deck chair and the piece of cork in his collection. The chain of custody of the deckchair can be confirmed from Captain Lemarteleur in 1912 through to the present day. the Nantucket deck chair was sold by Henry Aldridge and Son in September 2001 and has remained with the purchaser since that time. Due to its fragile condition when auctioned in 2001, it has been professionally conserved, which should protect it for future generations to enjoy

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