The Life and Mystery of First Officer William Murdoch

About the author


The author and website designer, Dan Parkes, is based in Brighton, United Kingdom. He has been researching the Titanic and especially the ship's officers, since the late 1980s when his interest began with the building of a large scale cardboard model of the ship. Since then he has formed a large collection of books and memorabilia.

After the release of James Cameron's film in 1997 he took a particular interest in the controversy surrounding the portrayal of First Officer William Murdoch and decided to launch an impartial investigation into his life and the mystery surrounding his death. Despite his initial reservations that the shooting and suicide were most likely simply rumour and speculation he was surprised to discover the scope of the testimony and evidence and in reponse to some emotional statements being made by researchers and media alike decided to release his information in the form of a mongraph in the year 2000. This was later made into a simple website that has now been redesigned and updated with the latest information. With the hundreth anniversary in 2012 there has been a surge of information as much of which is being updated and added to the website.

In his day job he is a camera operator/Director of Photography and alternatively can be contacted via his website here now to find out more.

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The author considers this a work in progress and any corrections, additions and general, constructive feedback to help further this research is much appreciated.