“It will be worthy of a free, enlightened and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence”
– George Washington

“America, an immense territory, favour’d by nature with all advantages of climate, soil, great navigable rivers and lakes, etc, was destined to become a great country, populous and mighty; and would in a less time than was generally conceive’d be able to shake off any shackles that might be impos’d on her, and perhaps place them on the imposters”
– Benjamin Franklin

“If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is, that we should have nothing to do with conquest”
– Thomas Jefferson

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
– John Adams

“They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great Confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate”
James Madison

“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”
– Benjamin Franklin

“It seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force”
– Alexander Hamilton

“We have it in our power to begin the world over again”
– Thomas Paine

“Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people… it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”
– John Quincy Adams

“Without virtue there can be no liberty”
– Benjamin Rush

“Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a free man, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth”
– George Washington

“We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in”
– Thomas Paine

The 250th anniversary of American Independence, 4th July 2026

The stoker who survived the Titanic

THE tragic sinking of the Titanic is one of the best-known stories in maritime history – but how much do we know about the people who survived from the lower decks? A remarkable one-man play, coming to Dorchester Arts at the Corn Exchange on Tuesday 14th July at 7.30pm, tells the story of a stoker who survived the horror of the heat and freezing Atlantic waters below deck.

Charlie Sheepshanks plays Frederick Barrett in Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story, written and directed by Tom Foreman, based on the evidence and testimonies Barrett gave to the official inquiries immediately following the disaster. This harrowing true account pays tribute to the working men who sacrificed their lives to keep the ship’s lights and pumps running.

Frederick Barrett was the lead fireman stationed in Boiler Room Six. On the evening of 14th April, 1912, as the Titanic struck the iceberg, his boiler room suddenly ripped open, causing the freezing Atlantic water to come crashing through. He and his crew fought in 50-degree heat to shovel coal, keep the boilers running and manage the steam to power the ship’s electrical dynamos. Their efforts ensured the ship’s distress signals were sent and delayed the sinking, allowing hundreds of passengers to escape.

Barrett eventually managed to escape the flooding below decks, reached the upper decks, and was placed in charge of Lifeboat No. 13, surviving a terrifying launch.