David Blair (mariner)

Commander David Blair OBE RD RNR
David Blair during his time in the Royal Navy during World War I
Born	(1874-11-11)11 November 1874 Newport, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Died	10 January 1955(1955-01-10) (aged 80) Hendon, Middlesex, England
Other names	Davy
Occupation	Merchant seaman
Spouses	Madeline Temple Mackness ​ ​ (m. 1905; died 1950)​ Vera Mabel Crump ​ (m. 1950)​
Children	1

Commander David Blair OBE RD RNR (11 November 1874 – 10 January 1955) was a British merchant seaman with the White Star Line. Initially assigned as the Second Officer on the RMS Titanic, he was reassigned in a last-minute reshuffle of the officers before her maiden voyage. Blair became best known for taking the key to a storage locker believed to contain the binoculars intended for use by the crow's nest lookouts during his departure from the ship at Southampton, an incident which became a point of investigation at the subsequent inquiries into the ship's sinking.

During the First World War, Blair was involved in another ship's incident where the HMS Oceanic, formerly the RMS Oceanic, was run aground during his watch. He was subsequently court-martialled for the incident.

Blair was originally appointed the second officer of Titanic.^[1] He had been with the ship, following her construction in Belfast, during her trial voyages to test seaworthiness, and the positioning voyage from Belfast to Southampton.

The White Star Line, however, decided that RMS Olympic's Chief Officer, Henry Wilde, should temporarily take that position on Titanic due to his experience on Titanic's sister ship which most of Titanic's officers did not have.^[2] Chief Officer William Murdoch and First Officer Charles Lightoller were consequently each demoted one rank, and Blair was removed from the officer line-up. Blair wrote about the disappointment of losing his position on Titanic in a postcard to his sister-in-law days before the ship left for Southampton,^[3] remarking, "This is a magnificent ship, I feel very disappointed I am not to make her first voyage."

When Blair left Titanic on 9 April 1912, he took with him the key to the crow's nest locker, presumably inadvertently. This is believed to be a reason why there were no binoculars available to the crew during the voyage. According to other versions, the binoculars were not in the locker, but were left behind in his cabin,^[1] or he took them along with him when he left the ship, as they belonged to him.^[4] The possibility of the absence of binoculars being a factor in the sinking of Titanic became a point of investigation in the subsequent inquiries into the sinking.

The lookouts on watch at the time of the collision, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee, maintained during the inquiries that they were informed they were to have no binoculars during the voyage.^[5] However, according to legal expert Gary Slapper, Blair's "forgetfulness wasn't a material reason for the disaster" as there were other intervening causes.^[6]

The key itself survived and was donated by Blair's daughter to the International Sailors Society.^[7] On 22 September 2007, it was sold in a group of items including a postcard Blair wrote on board Titanic via an auction held by Henry Aldridge, including a ticket from Belfast that fetched £32,000 and a postcard sent by a passenger which sold for £17,000.^[8] The key was purchased by Shen Dongjun, the CEO of jewellery retailer TESIRO's Chinese division for £90,000, and was put on display in Nanjing.

On the importance of the key, the auctioneers said that it was a conjecture that the key could have saved Titanic had it not left the ship. They also said that the money from the auction of the key would be used to set up bursaries and scholarships in Blair's name.^[7]

Blair was First Officer on the SS Majestic in 1913 when a coaler jumped overboard; the night before, a fellow crew member had succeeded in drowning himself. While a lifeboat was organized, Blair jumped into the ocean waters and swam toward the man, who was now swimming for the ship. Though the boat reached the man first, Blair was commended for his action in The New York Times and received money from the passengers^[9] and a medal from the Royal Humane Society.^[10]

Both Blair and Charles Lightoller, who had survived the Titanic disaster, were serving aboard HMS Oceanic, a transatlantic liner refitted for war-time use, when she ran aground off the coast of Scotland in 1914. As the navigator at the time of the incident, Blair was blamed for the grounding and found at fault at the subsequent court-martial.^[11]

He captained the SY St George during the expedition to the South Pacific in 1924–25.^[12]

Born in Newport, Isle of Wight, Blair grew up in Scotland and, during his adult life, lived in Broughty Ferry. His father was Lt. Col. John Blair and his mother was Clementina Ross Stewart.^[13]

Blair was married twice. His first marriage was to Madeline Temple Mackness with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth. Madeleine died in 1950 and, soon after, Blair remarried to Vera Mabel Crump. Blair died on 10 January 1955 in Hendon, Middlesex, and was survived by his daughter and second wife.^[14][15]