Nora Agnes Keane

[Encyclopedia Titanica]

Nora Agnes Keane : Titanic Survivor

Nora confided to her roommate Miss Troutt that she had a terrible foreboding that the ship may sink, which was compounded when she accidentally dropped her Rosary and prayer book into the ocean whilst boarding.

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[David Hoffman]

What is correct date? Did she died on 20 Dec 1944 as it states in Titanic Passenger and Crew Summary . Or did she died on 21 Dec 1945 as it states above. There are many contradictions about some of the passengers age.

 

[Encyclopedia Titanica]

Welcome to the world of Titanic research! Different dates have been submitted. The balance of opinion seems to be December 21, 1944.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

There is an account by second class passenger Nora Agnes Keane (1866-1944) recalled that an officer was ordered out of lifeboat number 10. And while the identity remains vague of this officer it is possible this officer was sixth officer Moody.

As I posted in the other thread, Nora Keane's statement makes no sense. When Wilde or Lightoller gave the order to the crew to prepare Lifeboat #10 for loading, Lowe had already left on Lifeboat #14, Moody had crossed over to join Murdoch on the starboard side and Boxhall was still firing rockets. So, there was no other "officer" who could have been ordered out of Lifeboat #10 by his senior colleague like Keane claimed. Furthermore, if getting away himself was in Moody's mind, he would not have offered Lowe to go in Lifeboat #14 when the latter told Moody that an Officer ought to be in charge. Also, as I already pointed out, Moody was the only officer on the starboard side for a few minutes after Murdoch crossed over to attend to Lifeboat #10; if Moody wanted to save himself, there was no one to stop him from "taking charge" of Lifeboat #15.

There is uncertainty about which actual lifeboat on which Nora Keane herself was rescued, but Lifeboat #10 is a strong candidate. She said that there were over 50 people in her boat and a 'foreigner' had jumped in as it was being lowered and then ordered to row. This fits Lifeboat #10, with Neshan Krekorian being the last moment jumper. Based on that, there are 2 possible explanations to Nora Keane's statement quoted above.

1. As Lifeboat #14 was being lowered and with Lightoller already supervising loading of Lifeboat #12, Moody might have gone momentarily to supervise preparing and then loading Lifeboat #10. It is generally believed that Wilde was supervising the loading and launching of the port aft boats at the time and he might have ordered Moody to leave Lifeboat #10 for the moment and go over to the starboard side to help Murdoch. We have already discussed the probablity that Moody's crossover was in response to an order from a senior officer, most likely Wilde. If Nora Keane had been nearby and saw that incident, she might have wrongly assumed that Wilde was ordering Moody not to go in Lifeboat #10. IMO that is the most likely answer. It also fits in with the belief that either Wilde or Lightoller ordered Evans and Buley to get Lifeboat #10 ready for loading but the senior officers themselves went elsewhere a few minutes later - Wilde to Lifeboat #2 and Lightoller to Lifeboat #4. Therefore, when he gave Moody the order to go across to help Murdoch, it might have also included an addendum that once all the starboard aft boats were organized, one of them should come back to take charge of Lifeboat #10 - which is what Murdoch did.
2. A less likely but simpler explanation is that Nora Keane saw someone being ordered out of Lifeboat #10 and in the darkness mistook him for an 'officer'.