4. Summary

The allegation that Murdoch was asleep and drunk at the time of collision is both a serious and shocking statement for any researcher to make. However, even more serious and shocking is the complete lack of evidence to support it. It seems quite certain that Luis Klein was not aboard Titanic and that the Garvey/Blum letter has no credibility or evidence to support it whatsoever. In fact Senan Molony's new evidence is quite conclusive -the Garvey/Blum letter is in his words "poppycock". The allegations that Captain Smith, teetotaller Fifth Officer Lowe and QM Hichens were drinking have also proven to be without any evidence and so we can safely conclude First Officer Murdoch was no different in abiding by White Star Line regulations.

Nilsson's unprovoked attack on Murdoch
has no verifiable evidence to support it.

The most sad aspect of Nilsson's allegations is that in a book designed to rightfully defend the mostly unfair portrayal of her great-grandfather she uses it to launch an unprovoked and unjust attack on First Officer William Murdoch with a far more unfair allegation than was ever made of Hichens. To accuse the officer of the watch of not only being asleep but drunk at the time of collision in a book for commercial release without being able to provide anything further than a letter from someone who heard from someone else a report from Hichens -in a position of authority which was impossible for him to have- is simply intolerable. And further, the circumstantial evidence and simple logic make the premise completely untenable.

Murdoch has been accused of waiting 30 seconds before giving a command to avoid the iceberg (possible), of steering in the wrong direction (highly unlikely), of taking bribes (no evidence), and of shooting passengers and then himself (possible) but one thing we can be sure of - he definitely was not asleep or drunk at the time of collision. While surviving officers Lightoller and Lowe subsequently were labelled heroes for simply doing their duty, they were in fact fast asleep when officer of the watch Murdoch was faced with a mountain of ice to steer a 46,000 tonne steel ship around, the first officer subsequently launching more lifeboats loaded with more people and in less time than Lightoller and Lowe combined. He certainly deserves more respect than what Sally Nilsson is willing to offer. Or at the very least, a chance for a fair portrayal as she wants us to have of her great-grandfather.