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Jim R. Osborne Dear Mr. Osborne, When the Titanic sank I was single and about 27 years old. I was a second class passenger, but I was not originally planning to sail the 'Titanic'. I had booked passage on the 'Oceanic', which was scheduled to leave on April 13, 1912. However, some people I knew said that sailing on the 13th was unlucky for me so I got transferred to the 'Titanic', which was about to set sail on her maiden voyage. She was a splendid ship for her time - the largest in the world. My cabin was quite nice, but the focal point of the 'Titanic' was the Grand Staircase. Some of the ships today, particularly those under the Danish flag, are just as nice as the 'Titanic', but none are as large. I've sailed the Atlantic 10 times since the 'Titanic' and I'm going on another cruise next month. In any event, I sailed on the Titanic on the 10th of April, 1912, instead of the 13th on the Oceanic, but the coincidence is that I was saved on lifeboat 13! I think the entire trouble with the Titanic was problems with the lifeboats and the fact you could not convince the passengers that the ship was going to sink. All of them truly believed that it was an unsinkable boat. Also, the collision could hardly be felt because the ship was so huge. I know in my cabin I did not feel or hear the collision... what woke me up was the sudden stopping of the engine vibration... the engines had stopped. My cabin mate, a Miss Keene, was convinced from the first that the ship would never reached New York and she ranted and raved about it everyday. I always tried to quiet her alarm, but she would never believe me about the safety of the 'Titanic'. She was very upset when the engines stopped and I went out into the passageway and stopped a steward and asked him what had happened. He said, "Nothing to worry about Mum, we've only grazed an iceberg and we''ll be underway again very soon." I ran back to the cabin to assure Miss Keene but she said, "Girl, have you ever seen an iceberg? Do you know how huge they are?" and on and on and on. Shortly after they announced that we should all get on life preservers and ready for a lifeboat drill, that nothing was wrong, but they were taking precautions. It took a while to calm Miss Keene and get her ready for the lifeboat, but I somehow managed. By the time I was heading for my lifeboat, I noticed a priest with people gathered around him and he was giving them Absolution. And my heart sank and I knew then that something really and truly was wrong with the ship. As I was thinking that, a boy came up and said, "You had best hurry along and get into a lifeboat" so I hurried to the deck. Once I got on deck I was shocked to see that most of the lifeboats had already gone. Passengers on deck were crowding around the remaining boats, and as I approached lifeboat 13, one of the officers was yelling, "Stand back for the ladies - stand back - stand back!" The man next to me said, "It's alright, I don't want to be saved, but who will save this baby?" And I heard myself saying, "Well, I'll save the baby." As I said it, a woman next to me said, "Oh you're foolish." So I turned to the officer and said, "What will become of the baby?" He replied, "Oh Mum, don't worry, the White Star Line will take care of you both." I had to jump in the lifeboat and then the baby was dropped into my arms. The lifeboat, you see, was lower than the deck extended out on the davits so you had to jump down and out to avoid falling into the sea between the lifeboats and the ship. Nowadays they have ramps so you can walk into the lifeboats, but then we had to jump. I often wondered what happened to that baby. When we were taken aboard the 'Carpathia' I was informed the mother was saved and was in the ship's hospital. The baby was taken into its mother and I never did get around to visiting her, so I never heard another word about her or the baby. The officer gave the order to lower the boat and as we were being lowered the Master of Arms, a Mr. Bailey, got us to start singing, "Pull for the shore sailors, pull for the shore." We had a terrible time getting the lifeboat to touch water - the davits were frozen, but we did not lose a single passenger on (lifeboat) 13. I remember the ships band playing 'Autumn' and as I was boarding the lifeboat they were playing a lovely little waltz, which I can still hum, though I am not much of a songstress. It is a myth that they played "Nearer My God To Thee" - they mainly played popular tunes of the day. After we touched water we saw a light in the far distance and became convinced that it was a ship sent to our rescue. The officer gave the order to row and the men rowed and rowed for about an hour but never did reach the light. They finally refused to row further so we drifted and drifted. We still refer to that light as "The Mysterious Light." Drifting... drifting... drifting. It seems like we did that for an eternity. The night was so cold that I still get a shiver recalling it. Well, we drifted and drifted some more, and when daybreak came we could see the iceberg - way in the distance - looming over the place where the Titanic sank. And then the lights of a ship approached and it was 'Carpathia'. But getting back to the lifeboat, everything was quiet and serious. The passengers knew that this might be the last time they would see a loved one. There was no panic or alarm, just a quite determination to do what had to be done. It is difficult for me to want to remember how the Titanic dies for I shall remember it the rest of my days. I can never forget what I call "The Scream of Death" which happened the moment Titanic gave up life and 1,500 people hit the icy water at the same moment. And their screams and cries and the sound of 'Titanic' herself as she sank was a sound so horrible and terrible that you can never forget it. It just tears me up to hear someone scream - even now - for when I hear a scream I relive that terrible moment. The screaming only lasted a few moments because everyone who hit the water were quickly in a state of shock and frozen or drowned. Although it didn't last very long, I shall never forget that scream echoing through the cold, dark night and the bitterness of the chill that penetrated me. As I recall, we must have been about two or three miles from the Titanic when she sank. It went down about two or three in the morning and it was one of the clearest and blackest nights I have ever seen. There was no wind - everything was deadly still. And off in the distance you could see this huge 1000 foot ocean liner with all its lights ablaze, piercing the clear atmosphere. At one point they were firing rockets - and that is a sight and sound I never hope to hear or see again. And then the sinking and "The Scream of Death" echoing off the waters until it seemed magnified. And then nothing. No sound. No lights. Just blackness and the hope and prayer that our little boat would be spotted and saved. I met a man - a Mr. Thompson - who is planning to go down and attempt to photograph the Titanic in a year or so if he can raise the necessary funds. I hope he does photograph it - it would be a deep water scientific achievement of considerable importance and I would be very interested in seeing the pictures. I'll soon be 95 and I still drive my own automobile. As I told you earlier, I am planning to take a cruise and I also hope to travel down to Florida in the spring to visit some friends. For many, many years no one knew that I was even on the 'Titanic'. Several years after the sinking I was talking about my experience at my job with two ladies who were customers. As they were leaving I heard one lady say to the other, "She was never on the Titanic!" So after that I never told another living soul until the 1950s. I never kept in touch with any of the survivors, but just last year I visited a lady in England who was a survivor and a child at the time and she, in turn, came to see me in California. The Titanic Historical Society holds an anniversary celebration every year on April 15th, and I try to attend - we try to get all 20 living survivors to attend but we never seem to get more than just two or three. We just found two more survivors - one lady lives in Santa Monica and the second lady lives in Beverly Hills. Both were about four or five years of age at the time - can you believe it - neither of them even remember being on the ship! I think that is so incredible - to go through all that and not even remember it!
Mrs. Edwina
McKenzie
Editor's Note: Lifeboat 13 was seventh from starboard and was launched at 1:35 AM carrying 64 people. It was designed to hold 65 passengers. When launched Lifeboat 13 was nearly swamped by a large stream of water from the engine condenser and then it narrowly escaped being crushed by Lifeboat 15, which was almost lowered onto it. Less than one hour after the launching of Lifeboat 13, the Titanic sank. |
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Mrs. Edwina McKenzie celebrating her 100th birthday, a few months before her death in December, 1984 |
