A HEROIC naval officer’s Scarborough roots have been commemorated exactly 100 years to the day that the doomed Titanic liner struck an iceberg and later sank.

Descendants of James Paul Moody – who was born at 17 Granville Road, South Cliff, in 1887 – unveiled a new blue plaque at his birthplace on Saturday.

Philippa Webster, who now lives in Hovingham, is his great niece and was extremely proud of what he had done. She added: “He gave up his life for other people. We are very proud.”

Kath Saville, who is one of the current residents at the address, said it was “fabulous” that he had been honoured and remembered.

She has lived there for almost seven years and said: “Just after we moved in we found out that he’d been born here. This makes it a bit special – it’s a lovely house anyway but it’s just a bit better now.”

The 24-year-old was the sixth and youngest officer on RMS Titanic, which sank on April 15 1912. He was the man who answered the bridge phone from the lookout and uttered the now famous, yet fateful, words: “Iceberg right ahead”.

The blue plaque was provided by the Friends of HMS Conway – Moody attended the training ship HMS Conway from the age of 14 and later attended King Edward VII Nautical School in London where he passed his Masters Examination in April 1911.

He was last seen by Second Officer Charles Lightoller trying to launch a collapsible boat at about 2.18am and he was the only junior officer to lose his life in the disaster.

His sacrifice has also been marked on a monument in Woodlands Cemetery and another at St-Martin-on-the-Hill Church.

Saturday also saw the launch of a special exhibition to mark the anniversary at Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre in Eastborough. It will run until September and features a wealth of information relating to the disaster.

The centre is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm. And Woodend and The Bookshelf bookshop also have Titanic displays.

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Records show that Moody was on watch when Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40pm on April 14, 1912. It took two hours and 40 minutes for the vessel to sink and during this time Moody is said to have filled three five-ton lifeboats but refused to go in one himself.

Exhibitions of that fateful night

EXHIBITIONS have been mounted in Scarborough to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The display at Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre in Eastborough will run until September and features a wealth of information relating to the disaster.

Designer Michael Knaggs said he was pleased with how the exhibition had come together. He added:“We can’t compete with Southampton and Belfast but we will do our little bit.

“Hopefully, as we get bigger in a few years’ time, we will be able to put on bigger things.”

The centre is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm.

A small display of Titanic memorabilia has been mounted at Woodend, in The Crescent.

The items belong to Woodend director Andrew Clay, including a plastic model of the ship made by his brother John in 2006, and a White Star Line officer’s jacket. There are also three first-edition books on the liner.

The Bookshelf books and antiques shop at the lower end of Victoria Road, Scarborough, has a rare first-edition book by a survivor, a ship’s wheel, a lifebelt with SS Titanic written on it and a few more books.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Monday, April 16, 2012.