A HULL SURVIVOR of the Titanic disaster has died at the age of 86. He was Irish-born Mr Edmond Ryan, formerly of Welwyn Park-road, Hull, who died in Kingston Old People's Home, Pearson Park. He leaves a daughter and a son.

At the time of the Titanic disaster in 1912, he was on his way to the United States to continue his career as an engineer. He lost his luggage and £300 when the "unsinkable" ship sank in the icy Atlantic. But he was one of 65 saved put of 454 men travelling third class.

Mr Ryan recalled in Hull many years later that, on the night of April 14, 1912, two other men in his cabin had gone to bed and were fast asleep.
But he was still up, trying to free up his clogged pipe. "I was looking for a piece of wire, but could not find any," he said.
"At this moment the ship struck the iceberg."

He roused his companions and told them that the giant liner had hit something. They took no notice and he never saw them again.

SCARED STIFF

Mr Ryan escaped from the stricken Titanic by sliding down a rope into a lifeboat near the stern. He then found he still had his pipe in his pocket and "scraped round" for tobacco dust in his trouser linings. He was able to light up "But this seemed to offend a first-class passenger in the boat,"

Mr Ryan went on. "She asked me not to smoke. Possibly she thought I was acting too unconcernedly.

"The truth was that I was scared stiff-and so was every other man and woman aboard."

Mr Ryan and his fellow passengers were picked up by another liner, the Carpathia, after rowing all night. They were landed at New York where Mr Ryan lived for three years.

He then returned to Britain and in 1916 moved to Hull. He worked for Rose. Down and Thompson. Ltd., as the engineering firm was then known and later for Ideal Standard, Ltd.