Encyclopedia Titanica

WOMEN REVEALED AS HEROINES BY WRECK (1)

New York Times

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COUNTESS ROTHES BRAVE
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Took Charge in Her Boat-Mrs. Cornell Among Those Who Worked at the Oars
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COUNTESS IN CHARGE OF BOAT
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Sat at Tiller Five Hours--Survivors Sang "Pull for the Shore"
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One ablebodied seaman who shipped aboard the Titanic when she left Southampton is tired and a little listless and subdued from the things he lived through last Monday, but his eyes light up and his speech becomes animated when you ask him what part the women played in the trying hours after the Titanic sank.

"There was a woman in my boat as was a woman," he said yesterday, straightening up in her honor. "She was the Countess of Rothes, and let me tell you about her. I was one of those who was ordered to man the boats, and my place was in No. 8. There were thirty-five of us in that boat, mostly women, but there were some men along.

"I was in command, but I had to row, and I wanted some one at the tiller. And I saw the way she was carrying herself, and I heard the quiet, determined way she spoke to the others, and I knew she was more of a man than any we had on board. And I put her in command. I put her at the tiller, and she was at the tiller when the Carpathia came along five hours later.

"And there was another woman on board who was strong in the work we had to do. She was at the oar with me, and, though I never learned her name, she was helping every minute. It was she who suggested that we should sing. 'Sing, you say?' I should think we did. To keep up our spirits, I guess. We sang as we rowed, all of us, starting out with 'Pull for the Shore,' and we were still singing when we saw the lights of the Carpathia. Then we stopped singing and prayed."

[Note: This is one of four articles that appeared under this general headline. The other three relate to (1) Margaret Brown, (2) Malvina Cornell, Charlotte Appleton, Caroline Brown, Edith Evans and the Fortune Family, and (3) the Graham family, and can be found through those passengers' summary pages

Related Ships

Carpathia

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Mark Baber, USA

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Encyclopedia Titanica (2004) WOMEN REVEALED AS HEROINES BY WRECK (1) (New York Times, Saturday 20th April 1912, ref: #3301, published 29 July 2004, generated 1st July 2024 12:24:19 AM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/women-revealed-as-heroines-wreck-2.html