Third Officer Hans Erik Petersen, Officer Stuart, and Assorted Misspelled Officers Josef Pelz von Felinau, Titanic. Die Tragödie eines Ozeanriesen (1939)

Cover of my copy of the book

The Origins of Officer Petersen The most interesting fictional addition to the Titanic's crew in Pelz von Felinau's novel is Officer Petersen. While Petersen is known to the English-speaking world almost exclusively 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').1 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 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 seems to have been too tempting for Pelz von Felinau not to use. In the 1930s it was much more difficult to research the Titanic (or anything else for that matter). The internet was something people had not even dreamt about, and the multitude of books that were later written about the Titanic had not been written yet. However, if Pelz von Felinau had done the research he claimed to have done, the documents of the inquiries by the senate and British Board of Trade are listed among his sources, he should have known that Dittmar-Pittmann had not been an officer of the Titanic. But faced with the actual, flesh and blood Dittmar-Pittmann, who said he was the third officer in public and was generally believed, may have swayed to Pelz von Felinau to throw caution in the wind. Perhaps a German officer on the Titanic was also appealing.

Whatever the reason, he included Max Dittmar-Pittmann in his novel about the Titanic. Strangely enough, Pelz von Felinau promotes Dittmar-Pittmann to Second Officer. At some point, Pelz von Felinau must have discovered that he had been had. In the 1943 film, partly based on Pelz von Felinau's novel, Dittmar-Pittmann is replaced by Herr Petersen who is also given an additional promotion to First Officer. After the war, Pelz von Felinau changed the novel itself: The Second Officer is now called 'Lightolder', and the Third Officer is Hans Erik Petersen from Denmark.

Pelz von Felinau's Sources Taking a closer look at the sequence in Pelz von Felinau's novel describing the Titanic's collision with the iceberg, it is highly reminiscent of the depiction in Robert Prechtl's novel: As in Prechtl’s story Murdock is acting as Captain Smith’s substitute at the time. While he 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 Pelz von Felinau's version, but the basic narrative is virtually the same. Whether Pelz von Felinau was basing this description on Prechtl, or whether both were based their version on Dittmar-Pittmann's story is unclear. 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.

There are also a number of other striking similarities between Pelz von 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 Pelz von Felinau) both spot chunks of ice drifting by, both declare that the fact the ice is green means it's 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 lifeboats is accompanied by gunplay, several people are shot dead, and some of the lifeboats sink. The similarity between the two descriptions 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.') Pelz von 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.' (Pelz von 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?

In one instance it is clear that Pelz von Felinau based his story on Dittmar-Pittmann's story. Both place Ismay on the raft that replaces Collapsible B in their tales, while Prechtl puts him in a lifeboat. Most of the time I cannot tell which parts of these parallels are cause by Pelz von Felinau plagiarising Prechtl and which parts are based on a common source, possibly Dittmar-Pittmann's lectures. There are plenty more parallels (in both books the absence of a steam pinnace on the Titanic is criticised as is the lack of red distress rockets, etc …) but the examples given above are more than enough to show that Pelz von Felinau did base his story in parts on Prechtl’s novel, which is also one of the sources listed in the book. But Pelz von Felinau did not solely rely on Prechtl’s novel and Dittmar-Pitmann’s booklet and talks, he did some proper research as well. In between all the weird and wonderful falsehoods, he includes in his novel some parts that are amazingly correct. The description of Lawrence Beesley’s experiencing the immediate aftermath of the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg is very close to the description in Beesley's The Loss of the SS Titanic as is the description of the weird light Beesley saw from the lifeboat at 3 o’clock. Some of it is so similar it seems Pelz von Felinau had Beesley’s book propped open next to him and paraphrased it. While the value of the cargo carried on the Titanic is wildly exaggerated,2 the quantity of provisions is often spot on.3

Officer Petersen The name of the Third Officer in Pelz von Felinau's revised novel, Hans Erik Petersen, can be seen as Pelz von 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 the core of the surname of Prechtl's Third Officer Erikson. Unlike Prechtl’s Officer Erikson, Pelz von Felinau’s Officer Petersen is not the lone voice of reason on the Titanic. It is Lightolder who strongly advices to slow down and take the southern route after the first ice warnings are received. Petersen also is given less of a background as an expert on ice.

A Mystery Tale Pelz von Felinau's Titanic also is less a novel about the actual ship than a mystery tale: The above-mentioned horoscope predicts disaster. As in Prechtl’s novel a cursed Blue Diamond is said to be on board as well. A stoker called Percy says that the Titanic herself had told him already in Belfast that everybody on board should leave and ‘Here is danger!’ Additionally, a mysterious passenger, Lord Canterville, who later cannot be found on any of the passenger lists, is transporting an Egyptian 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 much historic accuracy in this novel, as can 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 Pelz von Felinau places four real camels on the ship.

It is unsurprising that the crew on Pelz von Felinau's Titanic bears little resemblance to the real people who worked 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, as I discuss in The Original Fictional Officers, 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 Petersen may have been the result of Pelz von Felinau's gullibility, the remaining fictional or misspelled crew probably originated from the fact that Pelz von Felinau did not care enough to do the required research or possibly to correct the publisher’s mistakes.

Naturally such things as which officer was on watch when was also of no interest to Pelz von Felinau.

Pelz von 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 Pelz von 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, 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', which implies that he was working on ships for a long time and has extensive experience in seafaring rather than that he just travelled as a passenger frequently. In fact, Pelz von 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 'zur See gefahren'. 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.

1. I am indebted to Susanne Störmer for sending me her research about Josef Pelz von Felinau. It was published in the Titanic Post in 2001. She also discusses the phenomenon in Titanic. Eine Katastrophe zwischen Kitsch, Kult und Legende (Books on Demand GmbH, Elmshorn, 2000). 2. The Dutch diamonds alone are valued at 90 million dollars while according to the Encyclopidia Titanica the entire cargo was worth 420,000 dollars. 3. E.g. the 15,000 bottles of ale, 40 tons of potatoes and 7,000 litres milk (1,500 gallons (UK) of milk = 6,829.13 litre) mentioned in the book agree exactly with the numbers listed on Titanic Facts.

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