It was not unheard of for some of the 209 surviving members of Titanic’s crew to carry on working at sea. For example Titanic’s second officer Charles Lightoller served until after second World War before retiring. But a lucky group of Titanic’s crew who continued to serve at sea were faced with disaster after disaster and somehow, still survived. One member of Titanic’s unsinkable crew, a man by the name of Tonner has become another of Titanic’s many unsolved mysteries.
On the 10th May, 1915 the Daily Mirror reported an article on ‘The Man Who Cannot Be Drowned’. In the article the man is reported under the name Tonner, his profession was a stoker. The newspaper stated that the stoker had survived the sinking of the Titanic, Empress of Ireland and Lusitania, which had only sunk the week prior to the article.
Tonner has become somewhat of a Titanic mystery. However, many revisionist historians have concluded that his name was Towers, due to the fact his nickname appears in multiple history books as the ‘Lucky Towers’. According to the book The Crew of the RMS Titanic by Brian J. Ticehurst. The stoker appears under the name Frank Towers; his description follows: Frank Towers has proved to be an imposter. He was never on the Titanic or Lusitania. The information exposing Towers was given by Peter Enberg. Although Enberg dismissed Tower as a myth and claimed he never appeared on the crew list for any of the three vessels Towers had supposedly survived. As there is no address under the name Frank Towers it could be suggested that a false address was given. If so, Towers was not first man to give a false name and address. 18-year-old Alfred White had given his name as Albert Morrell White. Many dismiss Towers as a titanic fable however another man had an almost identical life to Frank. A man by the name of William Clark who could perhaps be the lucky stoker.
William Clark
William Clark lived at number 30 Page Street, Chapel, Southampton. William Clark can be found to have been of Irish descent and temporarily lived in Bootle, similarly, so had Frank Towers. Clark’s name can be found in nearly all the Titanic crew lists available. Clark survived Titanic’s foundering and was saved in lifeboat 15. Like the fabled Frank Towers, Clark had indeed survived the Empress of Ireland disaster as his name appears of the survivors list. To further support that Clark is the unsinkable stoker is that his name appears on the crew of the Lusitania in May ,1915 and does appear on the list of survivors. The only potential difference between the two men is the profession. Tonner was a stoker whereas Clark had worked as a fireman on all three vessels. Perhaps the press had mis printed Clark’s profession, this wasn’t uncommon at all. Malmesbury Road resident James Addison Toshack’s identity was also misprinted as his name appears as James Yoshack, who supposedly worked as Saloon Steward. However, Toshack had worked like Clark as a fireman.
In conclusion, it is undoubtable that the unsinkable crew member of the Titanic had indeed been alive and survived three terrible maritime tragedies. So, it would be impossible to dismiss him as a myth.
As always, I’ll leave a few external links on the mysterious ‘lucky Towers’, feel free to ask any questions or get in touch
Have a Titanic week!
- Millie
Lucky Towers on Encyclopaedia Titanica: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lucky-tower.html
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