I thought I might bring up one of the famous questions of that night:

What did the band play before the ship sank?

Was it "Nearer my God to Thee", "Autumn", the "Waltz of Autumn", or something else.

I have heard (I cannot remember where) that band leader Wallice Hartley once stated that if he was going to die at sea, he would have played "Nearer my God to Thee". That has always stood in my mind as being good support to that particular song if that information was indeed true.

However, Harold Bride remembered hearing a song called "Autumn" being played as the forward boatdeck was submerging.

Walter Lord stated that it would be good to rely on Bride's story, because, being a marconi operator and listining to morse code, he would be trained to hear details.

Was his hearing more reliable when dealing with the final music question?

What does everyone else think?

I have always liked the "Nearer my God to thee" theory. In times of pain people often get comfort from gospel songs. It would have been a song most people would know. It's possible Bride was right..but He may have heard it earlier and it stuck in his head. If I was fighting for my life I would tune out most everything..

Ema here,

Below is the Nearer my god to thee song in note form and in word form:

Attached file:   Nearer, my God, to Thee--Note form.gif (11.58 KB)

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what i would have thought was Nearer My God to Thee. it seems more appropriate for the time. but there was so much going on, i meen the ship was sinking and there were people screaming, i think it might have been hard to even hear the music unless you were close by. thats just my opinion.

A problem with this is that there was a 4-piece set playing and a 3 piece set playing separately. So there very well could have been two songs playing at once. Nearer My God to Thee is what some survivors have said. Bride did claim it to be Autumn, which was a popular waltz tune of the day.

I also wanted to say that Wallace Hartley, the band master wanted Nearer My God to Thee played at his funeral. Which also makes that believable to have been the final song of the night.

I have heard that about Hartley, but I always wanted to know if that was really documented that he said that (maybe from a friend or relative).

Also, Walter Lord I think raised the question (speaking of two sets of band) of "what did the piano player do that night?".

Good question man. I don't think we'll ever know now. As I'm sure you know all the band members perished. The only thing we can go by are those who in the mitts of chaos thought they last heard. Both "A Night to Remember" and "Titanic" have Wallace playing Nearer My God to Thee in the final piece. Perhaps they had more evidence to support it. Again, pick up the book "A Night to Remember" it's amazing.

Also I would take Bride's words closely. Reason being the band could certainly not have played till the Very end due to the slant of the ship. I believe he and Phillips left the wireless room at 2:05am when they heard water rushing into top deck. Probably the time a final tune was to be played...

You know, one thing I do remember from reading either A Night to Remember or The Night Lives On, is that Harold Bride might be a credible witness to hearing the last tune of "autumn", in that his hearing was trained to hear details because he made his living doing that!

On the other hand, I have also heared that "Nearer My God to Thee" would not only be more appropriate for the time setting, but in fact, more simple to play, especially when the superstructure is increasingly tilting forward and one has to think about balance.