Great article, Shell. I read a similar story a short time ago about Rev. Harper, and was curious to know just who the "survivor" was. None of the men who survived from the water describe such an incident in the accounts I've read. Regardless, the article was moving and truly memorializes the life and ministry of Rev. Harper.
His daughter, Nan Harper Pont, lived in Scotland until her death in April of 1986. She was such a sweet lady who enjoyed corresponding with Titanic researchers and had the deepest Scootish brogue one could imagine. She prided herself on being the only survivor from Scotland and even kept in regular contact with Eva Hart. Eva remembered playing with Nan during the voyage as both girls were close in age (Nan was 6 and Eva 7).
Nan fell and broke her shoulder in September of 1985, but in her last letter to me three months later, she wrote that she still remembered sitting on her aunt Jessie Leitch's lap in the lifeboat. From her vantage point, she wrote "I saw the Titanic slowly sink away....all the lights quickly going out as the cries spread out over the water. I didn't think of my father at that moment because I believed he was going to be meeting us shortly but trust the Lord took him quickly....."
Nan's mother died at her birth in 1905, and her father's death on the Titanic in 1912 left her an orphan. She went to live with her father's brothers and wasn't allowed to speak about that terrible night. As the years passed, her deep religious convictions carried her through, and she never felt her experience was something she needed to hide. When the Titanic was discovered in 1985, she wrote "that I never thought I'd live to see the day..."
Her letters were always bright and cheery, and I think she would have been such a delight to know personally.
Thanks again, Shell.
Mike
