{{short description|English businessman (1862–1937)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = J. Bruce Ismay | image = J. Bruce Ismay.jpeg | caption = Ismay in 1896 | birth_name = <!-- use only if different from 'name' --> | birth_date = {{birth date|1862|12|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Crosby, Lancashire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1937|10|17|1862|12|12|df=y}} | death_place = Mayfair, London, England | resting_place = Putney Vale Cemetery | title = {{ubl|Chairman and managing director of the White Star Line (1899–1913)|President of the International Mercantile Marine Company (1904–1913)}} | occupation = {{hlist|Shipowner|Businessman}} | spouse = {{marriage|Julia Florence Schieffelin|1888}} | children = 5 | father = Thomas Henry Ismay | mother = Margaret Bruce | relatives = }}
'''Joseph Bruce Ismay''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|z|m|eɪ}}; 12 December 1862 – 17 October 1937) was an English businessman and shipowner who was the chairman and managing director of the White Star Line, and President of the International Mercantile Marine Company until his retirement in 1913.
Ismay took over the White Star Line after the death of his father Thomas Ismay in 1900. In 1904, he became one of the founders of the International Mercantile Marine Company, a maritime trust financed by J. P. Morgan. Under his direction, the White Star Line shifted their focus to comfort and size rather than speed. He was behind the creation of the Big Four-class, at the time the world's largest liners. After rival company Cunard put out the {{RMS|Lusitania}} and {{RMS|Mauretania}}, the largest and fastest ships in the world, Ismay green-lighted the building of the ''Olympic''-class and ordered the building of three large liners with focus on comfort and safety.
The first of these ships were the {{RMS|Olympic}} and the {{RMS|Titanic}} and Ismay made a point of joining both ships on their maiden voyages as a passenger. Consequently, he was aboard the ''Titanic'' when the ship had its fatal collision with an iceberg. Subsquently, he became the highest-ranking White Star official to survive the ship's sinking, taking his place on one of the last boats to the successfully launched, Collapsible Boat C. Ismay was subsequently criticised by the press for surviving the sinking in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and his reputation never fully recovered during his lifetime.
Contrary to belief, Ismay remained in public life after his retirement from the White Star Line, including numerous business ventures as well as charity work. Towards the end of his life, his health declined. He was diagnosed with diabetes and one of his legs was amputated. Ismay died shortly after suffering from a stroke in October 1937 and is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery in London.
==Early life== Joseph Bruce Ismay was born on 12 December 1862 in Crosby, Lancashire.<ref name="ismaytitanica">{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/j-bruce-ismay.html |title=Mr Joseph Bruce Ismay |website=Encyclopedia Titanica |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref> He was the son of Thomas Henry Ismay (7 January 1837 – 23 November 1899) and Margaret Bruce (13 April 1837 – 9 April 1907), daughter of ship-owner Luke Bruce.<ref name=ismaytitanica/>
Thomas Ismay was the senior partner in Ismay, Imrie and Company and the founder of the White Star Line.{{efn|Oceanic Steam Navigation Company was generally known as White Star Line, which was the name of the company purchased by Thomas Ismay.}}<ref name="WSL">{{cite web |url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/titanic/page66.htm |title=Histoire de la White Star Line |website=Le Site du Titanic |language=French |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref> He played football as a young man and was a member of the Liverpool Ramblers A.F.C. club.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Russell |first1=Jo |title=Researching for 'The Complete History of LRAFC' |url=https://lrafc.org/2020/05/researching-for-the-complete-history-of-lrafc/ |website=Liverpool Ramblers A.F.C. Official Website |date=13 May 2020}}</ref>
The younger Ismay was educated at Elstree School and Harrow,{{sfn|Wilson|2012b|pp=72–73}} then tutored in France for a year. He was apprenticed at his father's office for 4 years, after which he toured the world. He then went to New York City as the company representative, eventually rising to the rank of agent.{{sfn|Chirnside|2004|p=144}}
On 4 December 1888, Ismay married Julia Florence Schieffelin (5 March 1867 – 31 December 1963), daughter of George Richard Schieffelin and Julia Matilda Delaplaine of New York, with whom he had five children:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/married-early-december.html |title=Married in early December |newspaper=The New York Times |date=31 October 2003 |via=Encyclopedia Titanica |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref>
* Margaret Bruce Ismay (29 December 1889 – 15 May 1967), who married George Ronald Hamilton Cheape (1881–1957) in 1912 * Henry Bruce Ismay (3 April 1891 – 1 October 1891) * Thomas Bruce Ismay (18 February 1894 – 27 April 1954), who married Jane Margaret Seymour, a daughter of Walter Seymour of Ballymore Castle, County Galway, Ireland, in 1922. * Evelyn Constance Ismay (17 July 1897 – 9 August 1940), who married Basil Sanderson (1894–1971), son of fellow shipowner Harold Sanderson, in 1927 * George Bruce Ismay (6 June 1902 – 30 April 1943), who married Florence Victoria Edrington in 1926.<ref>{{cite web|author=Reading Room Manchester |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2542204 |title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |publisher=Cwgc.org |date=30 April 1943 |access-date=26 February 2012}}</ref>
In 1891, Ismay returned with his family to the United Kingdom and became a partner in his father's firm, Ismay, Imrie and Company. In 1899, Thomas Ismay died, and Bruce Ismay became head of the family business. Ismay had a head for business, and the White Star Line flourished under his leadership. In addition to running his ship business, Ismay also served as a director of several other companies. In 1901, he was approached by Americans who wished to build an international shipping conglomerate – to be known as the International Mercantile Marine Company – to which Ismay agreed to sell his firm.<ref name="WSL" />
== Chairman of the White Star Line == After the death of his father on 23 November 1899,<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://archive.today/20091026043540/http://www.geocities.com/ismayfamily/thismay.htm |title=Thomas Henry Ismay: The man and his background |website=The Ismay Family |date=2004 |access-date=14 August 2009 |archive-date=26 October 2009 |url=http://www.geocities.com/ismayfamily/thismay.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/thomas-henry-ismay-dead.html |title=Thomas Henry Ismay dead |newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 August 2004 |via=Encyclopedia Titanica |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref> Bruce Ismay succeeded him as the chairman of the White Star Line. He decided to build four ocean liners to surpass the {{RMS|Oceanic}} built by his father. The ships were dubbed the Big Four: {{RMS|Celtic}}, {{RMS|Cedric}}, {{RMS|Baltic}}, and {{RMS|Adriatic}}. These vessels were designed more for size and luxury than for speed.{{sfn|Chirnside|2004|p=11}}
In 1902, Ismay oversaw the sale of the White Star Line to J.P. Morgan & Co., which was organising the formation of International Mercantile Marine Company, an Atlantic shipping trust which absorbed several major American and British shipping lines. IMM was a holding company that controlled subsidiary operating corporations. Morgan hoped to dominate transatlantic shipping through interlocking directorates and contractual arrangements with the railroads, but that proved impossible because of the unscheduled nature of sea transport, American antitrust legislation, and an agreement with the British government.<ref>John J. Clark, and Margaret T. Clark, "The International Mercantile Marine Company: A Financial Analysis," ''American Neptune'' 1997 57(2): 137–154.</ref> White Star Line became one of the IMM operating companies and, in February 1904, Ismay became president of the IMM, with the support of Morgan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/griscom-is-no-longer-head-ship-combine.html |title=Griscom is no longer head of the Ship Combine |newspaper=The New York Times |date=24 February 2004 |via=Encyclopedia Titanica |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref>
== RMS ''Titanic'' == {{main|Sinking of the Titanic}} [[File:19120420 J. Bruce Ismay Testifying at the Senate Inquiry - The New York Times.png|thumb|upright=1.5| Within five days of the sinking, ''The New York Times'' published several columns relating to Ismay's conduct—concerning which "there has been so much comment".<ref name=NYTimes_19120420/> Columns included the statement of passenger Karl Behr indicating Ismay had helped supervise loading of passengers in lifeboats, and of William E. Carter stating that he and Ismay boarded a lifeboat only after there were no more women.<ref name=NYTimes_19120420>{{cite news |title=Ismay's Lifeboat Orders, Made No Distinction Between Men and Women, Says, Behr (and) In the Boat With Ismay, W.E. Carter Says They Got in When No Women Were There |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-apr-20-1912-p-2/ |work=The New York Times |date=20 April 1912 |page=2}}</ref>]]
In 1907, Ismay met Lord Pirrie of the Harland & Wolff shipyard to discuss White Star's answer to the {{RMS|Lusitania}} and {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}},{{efn|The duo themselves were designed to compete with the {{SS|Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse}} and {{SS|Deutschland|1900|6}}, owned respectively by the Norddeutscher Lloyd and the Hamburg America Line, the two top German shipping companies.}} the recently unveiled marvels of their chief competitor, Cunard Line. Ismay's new type of ships would not be as fast as their competitors, but it would have huge steerage capacity and luxury unparalleled in the history of ocean-going steamships. The latter feature was largely meant to attract the wealthy and the prosperous middle class. Three ships of the {{sclass|Olympic|ocean liner|4}} were planned and built. They were in order {{RMS|Olympic}}, {{RMS|Titanic|link=no}} and RMS {{HMHS|Britannic||2}}.<ref name="Lord Night lives On"/>
Ismay occasionally accompanied his ships on their maiden voyages, and this was the case with that of the ''Titanic''.<ref name="WSL" /> Ismay boarded in Southampton. During the voyage, Ismay talked with either (or possibly both) chief engineer Joseph Bell or Captain Edward J. Smith about a possible test of speed if time permitted.{{sfn|Piouffre|2009|pp=111–112}} After the ship collided with an iceberg 370 miles south-southeast of Newfoundland on the night of 14 April 1912, it became clear that it would sink long before any rescue ships could arrive. Ismay stepped aboard Collapsible C, which was launched less than 20 minutes before the ship went down.<ref name="canotc">{{cite web |url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/titanic/page129.htm |title=Composition du Radeau Pliable C |website=Le Site du Titanic |language=French |access-date=14 August 2009}}</ref> He later testified that as the ship was in her final moments, he turned away, unable to watch. Collapsible C was picked up by the {{RMS|Carpathia||2}} about 3–4 hours later.
After being picked up by ''Carpathia'', Ismay was led to the cabin belonging to the ship's doctor, Frank Mcgee. He gave Captain Rostron a message to send to White Star's New York office: {{blockquote|"Deeply regret advise you ''Titanic'' sank this morning fifteenth after collision iceberg, resulting serious loss life further particulars later". Bruce Ismay.|title=|source=}}
Ismay did not leave McGee's cabin for the entire journey, ate nothing solid, and was kept under the influence of opiates.{{sfn|Piouffre|2009|p=207}}{{sfn|Piouffre|2009|p=209}} Another survivor, 17-year-old Jack Thayer, visited Ismay to try to console him, despite having just lost his father in the sinking.
{{blockquote|[Ismay] was staring straight ahead, shaking like a leaf. Even when I spoke to him, he paid absolutely no attention. I have never seen a man so completely wrecked.{{sfn|Wilson|2012b|p=203}}}}
When he arrived in New York, Ismay was hosted by Philip Franklin, vice president of the company. He was summoned by and testified before a Senate committee hearing headed by Republican Senator William Alden Smith the day after the arrival of ''Carpathia'' to New York. Ismay was the first witness to testify. A few weeks later, Ismay also testified at the British Board of Trade inquiry (chaired by Lord Mersey).
==Criticism and controversy== upright=1.1|thumb|Drawing from the 1912 book ''Wreck and sinking of the Titanic'' criticising Ismay by comparing his survival to a list of notable individuals who perished with ''Titanic'' After the disaster, Ismay was savaged by both the American and the British press for deserting the ship while women and children were still on board. Some papers called him the "Coward of the ''Titanic''{{hsp}}" or "J. Brute Ismay", and suggested that the White Star flag be changed to a yellow liver. Some ran negative cartoons depicting him deserting the ship. The writer Ben Hecht, then a young newspaperman in Chicago, wrote a scathing poem contrasting the actions of Captain Smith and Ismay. The final verse reads: "To hold your place in the ghastly face / of death on the sea at night / is a seaman's job, but to flee with the mob / is an owner's noble right."<ref name="Lord Night lives On"/>
Some maintain Ismay followed the "women and children first" principle, having assisted many women and children himself. Ismay's actions were defended in the official British inquiry, which found "Mr. Ismay, after rendering assistance to many passengers, found 'C' collapsible, the last boat on the starboard side, actually being lowered. No other people were there at the time. There was room for him and he jumped in. Had he not jumped in he would merely have added one more life — namely, his own — to the number of those lost."<ref>"Shipping casualties (loss of the steamship ''Titanic''). Report of a formal investigation into the circumstances attending the foundering on 15th April, 1912, of the British steamship ''Titanic,'' of Liverpool, after striking ice in or near latitude 410 46' N., Longitude 500 14' W., North Atlantic Ocean, whereby loss of life ensued." Cd. 6532, p. 40.</ref><ref name="Lord Night lives On">{{cite book |first=Walter |last=Lord |title=The Night Lives On |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow and Company |year=1986 |pages=216–217 |url=https://archive.org/details/nightliveson0000lord |isbn=978-0-688-04939-3}}</ref>
Ismay announced during the United States Inquiry that all the vessels of the International Mercantile Marine Company would be equipped with lifeboats in sufficient numbers for all passengers.{{sfn|Piouffre|2009|p=257}} Following the inquiry, Ismay and the surviving officers of the ship returned to England aboard {{RMS|Adriatic|1907|6}}.
During the congressional investigations, some passengers testified that during the voyage they heard Ismay pressuring Captain Smith to increase the speed of ''Titanic'' in order to arrive in New York ahead of schedule and generate some free press about the new liner. The book ''The White Star Line: An Illustrated History'' (2000) by Paul Louden-Brown states that this was unlikely, and that Ismay's record does not support the notion that he had any motive to do so.<ref name="THS">{{cite web| url = http://www.titanichistoricalsociety.org/articles/ismay.html| title = Ismay and the Titanic| author = Louden-Brown, Paul| date = 10 January 2001| access-date = 22 March 2017| publisher = Titanic Historical Society| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170515141920/http://www.titanichistoricalsociety.org/articles/ismay.html| archive-date = 15 May 2017| url-status = dead}}</ref>
Ismay was widely vilified in the United States after the sinking of ''Titanic'' due to the hostility shown in the yellow press controlled by William Randolph Hearst, who had fallen out with Ismay.<ref name = "BBC">{{cite web| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17515305| title = Five Titanic myths spread by films| author = Waites, Rosie| date = 5 April 2012| access-date = 8 May 2014| work = BBC News}}</ref>
Lord Mersey, who led the 1912 British inquiry into the sinking of ''Titanic'', concluded that Ismay had helped many other passengers before finding a place for himself on the last lifeboat to leave the starboard side.<ref name = "BBC"/> On 30 June 1913, Ismay resigned as president of International Mercantile Marine and chairman of the White Star Line, to be succeeded by Harold Sanderson.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|pp=214–215}}
== Later life and death == Though cleared of blame by the official British inquiry, Ismay never recovered from the ''Titanic'' disaster. Already emotionally repressed and insecure before his voyage on ''Titanic'',{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|pp=198–202}} the tragedy sent him into a state of deep depression from which he never truly emerged.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|pp=6–7}} He kept a low profile afterwards. He lived part of the year in a large cottage, Costelloe Lodge, in the townland of Derrynea (near Casla) in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland which he bought from Henry Rudolph Laing of Cadogan Gardens, London, in January 1913, less than a year after the sinking.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RYE19150812-01.2.86 |title=BRUCE ISMAY, RECLUSE |date=1915-08-12|access-date=2025-12-24|publisher=The Raymer Enterprise}}</ref> The purchase also included the fishing rights for the river and lake adjoining it. Paul Louden-Brown, in his history of the White Star Line, writes that Ismay continued to be active in business, and that much of his work was for the Liverpool & London Steamship Protection & Indemnity Association Limited, an insurance company founded by his father. According to Louden-Brown:
{{blockquote|Hundreds of thousands of pounds were paid out in insurance claims to the relatives of ''Titanic''{{'s}} victims; the misery created by the disaster and its aftermath dealt with by Ismay and his directors with great fortitude, this, despite the fact that he could easily have shirked his responsibilities and resigned from the board. He stuck with the difficult task and during his twenty-five-year chairmanship hardly a page of the company's minutes does not contain some mention of the ''Titanic'' disaster.<ref name="THS"/>}}
Ismay maintained an interest in maritime affairs. He inaugurated a cadet ship called ''Mersey'' used to train officers for Britain's Merchant Navy, donated £11,000 to start a fund for lost seamen, and in 1919 gave £25,000 (approximately equivalent to £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|25000|1919|r=-5}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK-GDP}}){{Inflation-fn|UK-GDP|df=y}} to set up a fund to recognise the contribution of merchant mariners in the First World War.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.titanictown.plus.com/titanictown/titanic.htm |title=Titanic 15 April 1912 |website=titanictown.plus.com |access-date=8 July 2010}}</ref>
After the tragedy, Ismay's wife Florence ensured the subject of ''Titanic'' was never again discussed within the family. His granddaughter, historian and author Pauline Matarasso, likened her grandfather to a "corpse" in his later years:
{{blockquote|Having had the misfortune (one might say the misjudgement) to survive – a fact he recognised despairingly within hours – he withdrew into a silence in which his wife made herself complicit – imposing it on the family circle and thus ensuring that the subject of the ''Titanic'' was as effectively frozen as the bodies recovered from the sea.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=7}}}}
In his personal life, Ismay became a man of solitary habits, spending his summers at his Connemara cottage and indulging in a love of trout and salmon fishing. When in Liverpool, he would attend concerts by himself at St George's Hall or visit a cinema, at other times wandering through the Liverpool parks and engaging transients in conversation.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|pp=215–216}} A family friend observed that the spectre of ''Titanic'' was never far from Ismay's thoughts, saying that he continually "tormented himself with useless speculation as to how the disaster could possibly have been avoided."{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=216}} At a Christmas time family gathering in 1936, less than a year before Ismay's death, one of his grandsons by his daughter Evelyn, who had learned Ismay had been involved in maritime shipping, enquired if his grandfather had ever been shipwrecked. Ismay finally broke his quarter-century silence on the tragedy that had blighted his life, replying: "Yes, I was once in a ship which was believed to be unsinkable."{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=216}}
[[File:Bruce Ismay grave Putney Vale 2014.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15| alt=A fenced patch of grass in a cemetery with four headstones of different shapes| Ismay's family grave at Putney Vale Cemetery, London (2014)
'''''Gravestone inscriptions:''''' <br />They that go down to the sea <br />in ships and occupy their <br />business in great waters <br />These men see the works of the <br />Lord and His wonders in the deep <br /> <br />To the glory of God and in memory of <br />Bruce Ismay died October 17, 1937 <br />his wife Julia Florence Ismay <br />died December 31, 1963 ]] Ismay's health declined in the 1930s, following a diagnosis of diabetes,<ref name="belfasttelegraph.co.uk">{{cite web |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/did-joseph-bruce-ismay-dress-as-a-woman-to-flee-titanic-28603354.html |title=Did Joseph Bruce Ismay dress as a woman to flee Titanic? |work=Belfast Telegraph |last=Stewart |first=Linda |date=5 April 2011 |access-date=10 February 2021}}</ref> which worsened in early 1936 when the illness resulted in the amputation of his right leg below the knee. He subsequently usually used a wheelchair.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=218}} On the morning of 14 October 1937, he collapsed in his bedroom at his residence in Mayfair, London, after suffering a massive stroke, which left him unconscious, blind and mute.{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=218}} Three days later, on 17 October, Ismay died at the age of 74.<ref name="NYT obit">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B00EFDC133EE03ABC4152DFB667838C629EDE&legacy=true|title=J. Bruce Ismay, 74, Titanic Survivor. Ex-Head of White Star Line Who Retired After Sea Tragedy Dies in London|date=19 October 1937|quote=Joseph Bruce Ismay, former chairman of the White Star Line and a survivor of the Titanic disaster in 1912, died here last night. He was 74 years old.|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=6 April 2008}}</ref>
Ismay's funeral was held at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, on 21 October 1937,{{sfn|Wilson|2012a|p=219}} and he is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery, London.<ref name="Kerrigan 1998 p285">{{cite book|title=Who Lies Where – A guide to famous graves|last=Kerrigan|first=Michael|publisher=Fourth Estate Limited|year=1998|isbn=978-1-85702-258-2|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/wholieswhereguid00kerr/page/285 285]|url=https://archive.org/details/wholieswhereguid00kerr/page/285}}</ref> He left a very considerable personal estate, which, excluding property, was valued at £693,305 (approximately equivalent to £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|693305|1937|r=-6}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK-GDP}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK-GDP|df=y}} In March 1939, his wife Florence conveyed the property in Connemara unto their son George Bruce Ismay (including the fishery rights extending from the sea to the Lake of Glenicmurrin via the River Casla).{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}} After his death, Florence renounced her British subject status in order to restore her American citizenship on 14 November 1949.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Mary Alice |date=July 2012 |title=Bruce Ismay's Unforgettable Night |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1019054611 |journal=Sea Classics |volume=45 |issue=7 |pages=30 |issn=0048-9867 |id={{ProQuest|1019054611}} }}</ref>
Julia Florence Ismay, ''née'' Schieffelin, died 31 December 1963, aged 96, in Kensington, London.<ref name=":0" />
== Portrayals == Following from the Hearst press depiction of Ismay, various subsequent films about ''Titanic'' have depicted Ismay either in an unfavorable light or almost as a villain,<ref name="seaofglass">''On a Sea of Glass: the life and loss of the RMS Titanic''. by Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton & Bill Wormstedt. Amberley Books, March 2012. pp 359</ref> starting with the 1943 Nazi propaganda film ''Titanic'' where he is depicted as a corrupt British businessman who forces Captain Smith to sail ''Titanic'' recklessly at full speed into ice-infested waters in order to set a transatlantic speed record. A similar portrayal followed in the 1996 miniseries ''Titanic''.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}} Additionally, Julian Fellowes' 2012 miniseries ''Titanic'' depicts Ismay as a bigot who orders a group of non-British crew members locked below to drown during the sinking. A ''Titanic''-themed episode of the science fiction television series ''Voyagers!'' depicted Ismay dressing as a woman in order to sneak into a lifeboat.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}
James Cameron's 1997 film ''Titanic'' depicts the inclusion of a scene based on the eyewitness account of First Class passenger Elizabeth Lines, who after the sinking stated in a deposition that she overheard Ismay urging Captain Smith to arrive in New York ahead of schedule in order to beat the transatlantic crossing time of ''Titanic''{{'s}} sister, {{RMS|Olympic}}.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/spring/titanic.html | title=They Said It Couldn't Sink | date=15 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.titanicinquiry.org/lol/depositions/lines1.php | title=TIP | Limitation of Liability Hearings | Deposition of Elizabeth L. Lines }}</ref> The scene takes place in the exact location, day, and time that Lines recalled overhearing Ismay and Smith's alleged conversation, with the character of Elizabeth Lines seen in the background, visibly taking note of their discussion, but does not specify it is ''Olympic''{{'s}} crossing time that Ismay is hoping to beat.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newsweek.com/titanic-easter-egg-bruce-ismay-tiktok-video-1611392 | title=Titanic Superfan Points Out Amazing Unnoticed Historical Easter Egg in Film | website=Newsweek | date=20 July 2021 }}</ref> Over the years, Lines's account has been questioned by historians, with some expressing doubt that it occurred. Louden-Brown, one of several consultants to the Cameron film, has stated that he thought the antagonistic characterization of Ismay was unfair, and he tried to challenge this, but regardless of Louden-Brown's opinions, it was included in the film. Louden-Brown said, "Apart from being told, 'under no circumstances are we prepared to adjust the script', one thing they also said is 'this is what the public expect to see'."<ref name="BBC" />
In contrast to these negative depictions, the 1979 film ''S.O.S. Titanic'' portrays Ismay in a sympathetic light.{{citation needed|date=February 2026}}
* Ernst Fritz Fürbringer (1943) (''Titanic'') * Lowell Gilmore (1955) (''You Are There: The Sinking of the Titanic'') (TV episode, 22 May 1955) * Frank Lawton (1958) (''A Night to Remember'') * Ian Holm (1979) (''S.O.S. Titanic'') (TV film) * Sam Chew Jr. (1982) (''Voyagers!'') (''Voyagers of the Titanic'') * Volkert Kraeft (1984) (''Titanic - Nachspiel einer Katastrophe'') (German TV film) * Roger Rees (1996) (''Titanic'') (TV miniseries/2 parts) * Jonathan Hyde (1997) (''Titanic'') (film) * David Garrison (1997) (''Titanic'') (Broadway musical) * Lou Slaughter (1998) (''Titanic: Secrets Revealed'') (TV documentary) * Eric Braeden (1999) (''The Titanic Chronicles'') (TV documentary) * David Haines (2006) (''Titanic'') (Broadway musical – Canadian premiere) * Ken Marschall (2003) (''Ghosts of the Abyss'') (documentary) * Christopher Wright (2005) (''Titanic: Birth of a Legend'') (TV documentary) * Mark Tandy (2008) (''The Unsinkable Titanic'') (TV documentary) * Christopher Villiers (2011) (''Curiosity: What Sank Titanic?'') (TV series) * James Wilby (2012) (''Titanic'') (TV series/4 episodes) * Gray O'Brien (2012) (''Titanic: Blood and Steel'') (TV series/8 episodes/Episodes 1, 4, 5 & 7–11) * Julien Ball (2012) (''Iceberg – Right Ahead!'') (London stage play) * Michael Maloney (2012) (''Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Perfidious Mariner'') (audio play) * Ben Bailey Smith (2016) - ''Drunk History (British TV series)'': Season 2: Episode 2: ''Scott of the Antarctic/Sinking of the Titanic'' * Derek Mahon ("After the Titanic") (poem) * Sam Turich (2024) (''Unsinkable'') (film) * Patrick Buchanan (2025) (''Titanic Sinks Tonight'') (TV documentary)
==See also== * Passengers of the RMS ''Titanic''
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite book | last = Chirnside | first = Mark | year = 2004 | title = The Olympic-Class Ships | publisher = Tempus | location = Stroud, England | isbn = 978-0-7524-2868-0 }} * {{cite book | last = Piouffre | first = Gérard | year = 2009 | language = fr | title = Le Titanic ne répond plus | publisher = Larousse | isbn = 978-2-263-02799-4 }} * {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Andrew |title=Shadow of the Titanic: the extraordinary stories of those who survived |publisher=Atria Books |year=2012a |isbn=978-1451671568 |url=https://archive.org/details/shadowoftitanice0000wils }} * {{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Frances |title=How to Survive the Titanic, or the Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=2012b |isbn=978-0062094551 |url=https://archive.org/details/howtosurvivetita0000wils_k8e4 |url-access=registration}}
== Further reading == * {{cite journal | last = Oldham | first = Wilton J. | title = The Ismay Line: The White Star Line, and the Ismay family story | journal = The Journal of Commerce | location = Liverpool | year = 1961 }} * Fitch, Tad; Layton, J. Kent; Wormstedt, Bill (2012). ''On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of the R.M.S. Titanic''. Amberley Books. {{ISBN|978-1-84868-927-5}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/j-bruce-ismay.html J. Bruce Ismay] at Encyclopedia Titanica * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050604083440/http://www.titanichistoricalsociety.org/articles/ismay.asp Article on Ismay and the Titanic]
{{RMS Titanic}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismay, J. Bruce}} Category:1862 births Category:1937 deaths Category:19th-century English businesspeople Category:19th-century English sportsmen Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:20th-century English sportsmen Category:Burials at Putney Vale Cemetery Category:Businesspeople from Liverpool Category:Deaths from diabetes in England Category:Directors of the London and North Western Railway Category:English amputees Category:English businesspeople in shipping Category:English men's footballers Category:English racehorse owners and breeders Category:Footballers from Liverpool Category:Liverpool Ramblers A.F.C. players Category:Men's association football players not categorized by position Category:People educated at Elstree School Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:People from Crosby, Merseyside Category:People from Lancashire (before 1974) Category:RMS Titanic survivors Category:Passengers of the Titanic Category:White Star Line personnel