Elizabeth Nye

[SIMON BELMOND]

Hola quisiera saber si esta persona (Elizabeth Ramell Nye) es a quien salvo el el pasajero Manuel Uruchurtu en el Titanic, si tuvieran información sobre la visita que hizo Elizabeth a la familia Uruchurtu.

saludos

 

[Arun Vajpey]

The above post translates as follows:

Hello, I would like to know if this person (Elizabeth Ramell Nye) is the one saved by passenger Manuel Uruchurtu on the Titanic, if they had information about Elizabeth's visit to the Uruchurtu family.

While Manuel Uruchurtu was one of many unfortunate victims of the Titanic disaster, his alleged "heroism" of getting out of Lifeboat #11 to offer his seat to Elizabeth Nye is entirely fictional. It was almost certainly started by his alleged descendant Alejandro Garate and later propagated by Javier Sevilla, whose sole purpose seemed to have been to sell "genuine" photograps of Uruchurtu in his posession at exorbitant prices. No one with any common sense believes in that story now; it been even debunked in Mexico thanks to a local writer and researcher Maria Loaeza-Tovar.

If you read the ET bio of Elizabeth Rammell-Nye, you can see that she gives a fairly detailed account of the circumstances of her survival and does not make any mention of Uruchurtu. Former memer the Late David Bryceson has done extensive research into this alleged encounter between Nye and Uruchurtu and his arguments suggest that nothing like that happened at all. She was not "saved" by Uruchurtu or anyone else except perhaps the crew who might have helped her into the lifeboat.

Dave Bryceson has written an excellent biography about Elizabeth Nye, a product of genuine, hard research rather than wishful thinking. It is rather hard to find these days but a worthwhile purchase.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I just realized that there was yet another massive "plot hole" in the alleged Nye-Uruchurthu incident. The myth that Elizabeth Nye stood weeping near Lifeboat #11 pleading to be allowed inside because she had a husband and child waiting for her in New York makes no sense any more than the myth that Manuel Uruchurtu offered his seat to her.

While Lifeboat #11 completed its loading and was about to be lowered, Lifeboats #13 and #15 were in the early stages of loading just aft on the boat deck. 12 year-old Ruth Becker, just getting back from her cabin with a blanket, was unable to rejoin her mother and little brother in Lifeboat #11 as it had already started to lower. The girl promptly walked to where the crew were loading Lifeboat #13 and was allowed in immediately. Why could Elizabeth Nye not have done that instead of asking (or implying) someone already in #11 should give-up their seat for her?

It does not end there. There is evidence that during loading of Lifeboats #13 and #15, crew "scouts" were sent out to find any women or children stragglers in the vicinity so that they could be shepherded into either lifeboat. If Mrs Nye really had been standing near Lifeboat #11 just as it was about to be lowered, she would certainly have been spotted and ushered into Lifeboat #13.