Some passengers were transferred from the laid up I N M ships
Eva Hart and her family were originally booked on the Philadelphia. We were booked in there
Is it full of Philadelphia? And this cold diet came and she didn't sail and we were then offered a birth in the Titanic
which absolutely delighted. My father thought it was wonderful. The whole world was talking about that shit
And my mother had this dreadful premonition. She'd never had one before and she never had one after
But she said no, we, we, we can't do this. It's quite wrong. Something dreadful will happen
And I, I tell you what the sort of woman she was, she's got both feet on the ground and for her to behave like
that was absolutely unbelievable to everyone. But she just had that premonition
I'm a certain, I'd read there was a big ship. It didn't really convey as much to it as it did to my parents
obviously. I mean, I I've never been in a ship at all before
so it didn't convey very much to me, but I, you know, everyone was talking about it
It was inevitable that the Titanic would sink Thomas Andrews. The ship's designer confirmed this
to Captain Smith, but still the passengers were unaware of their imminent peril
And I was in bed of course, and she just came and joined in whatever was happening during the evening and that sort of thing
And my father got very cross because he had every reason to dislike gambling
His father had been a compulsive gambler and had died utterly penniless from being quite a wealthy man
And so everybody was gambling on this Sunday night. They were making books
I think, service and having sweep say as to what time she would get in so many minutes past her
So my father would have nothing to do with it. And so he went to bed quite early for him anyway
And my mother sat down to sew and read and she looked up at him
He was reading. He said he got a very interesting book, but quite quickly that he went to sleep and she got up and took
the book from him and settle down again. And she said at 10 minutes to 12
she felt a slight bump and she said it was just like a train pulling into a station
It just jerked. It was very slight. But she said she knew that it was this dreadful something
And she awakened her father, he wakened me and my father said no
if he wasn't going up on deck again after the night. Before. But she literally pulled him out of bed and made him go up
and she then said, you're going to dress me and I being sleepy and very naughty said I wasn't going to be dressed
Nothing to be dressed for. I'm going back to bed. My father came back very quickly because he could get up to the boat deck
in the left very quickly from where our cabin was. And, um, he came back and he picked me up and wrapped his blanket tightly
around me as if I were a baby. And my mother said nothing to him and I used to say to her sometimes years afterwards
I can't understand why you didn't say to him. What was it? Which she certainly did not say
And she said, I didn't have to say what was it? I didn't know what it was
but I knew it was this dreadful something that I had to live with for months and there was nothing more I could say
So he put his very thick coat on her and put another one on himself and without any words at all
I mean, were entitled Kevin and into the lift and up onto the boat Dick
Now, if we hadn't done that at that time, I pretty much doubt I'd be talking to you today because as you know
there were less than there was accommodation for less than 800 people in the lifeboats and she was carrying 2000
200. So it was a question of who was there in time to get into one of the all too few lifeboats
Well, they weren't launched very quickly because at first no one thought anything was going to happen
But my father went away and spoke to an officer and he said
um, they are going to launch life boats, but we will be back on board for breakfast
There wasn't any panic until the lifeboats left and then there was panic galore
We were down on the ocean. We could hear them running about on the decks and screaming
You can imagine people came up from their cabin, went on to date. No lifeboat tearing around the other side
That's when the panic was there. There wasn't any panic at the time I got in a life boat because weren't enough people up there
and whether there are enough people there to just get into the lifeboat. But after that
then the others started coming up from their cabins and were no boats. Gosh
there was panic. We could hear it definitely. As each lifeboat reached the water
it moved away from the ship for fear of the suction. Should she sink
Some rode towards the lights of a ship which could be seen just a few miles away
But this ship was never identified and never reached. And of course
there are still, um, threats of legal things even these days about whether the ship that was so close to us was the Californian or
not. I mean, I saw that ship terribly close. And the other thing I'm saying is that I didn't see a ship 19 miles away
I saw a ship that was so close and they said at the time it was less than nine miles away
Now, they're trying to say it was 19 and I saw it
you know, it wasn't just lights on the horizon. You could see it was a ship and I saw our rockets being fired
which that shit must have seen. Well, this inquiry says that they did see it but they didn't think it was a port of danger
But I would have thought in the middle of the Atlantic in the middle of the night that rockets must be in trouble
The band now played a solo. Some say autumn, the popular belief says it was nearer My God to thee
Well, there's no question about the fact that they played and there's no question about the fact that after we were down on the water
and they were playing, they played one um version of the hymn near My God of which there were three
I had this out so many times and the one they played was the one that was played in church
Some months after when I was my grandmother and I was so frightened, I came out of church
I ran out, I knew the tune. So well, but they won't have it. The Americans won't have it
People say no, no, it's not. It was just right time and it was the visible part of the ship apparently settled back slightly before
it too disappeared beneath the sea. It was this settling that indicated the ship had broken into and
we rode away uh from the ship as fast as we could because one has to do that because I believe the suction when a
vessel goes down is absolutely enormous. And we rode away and I didn't close my eyes at all
I saw that ship sink and I saw that ship break in half
And for so many years, people have argued with me about that. But now at last
it has been proven beyond all doubt that she did break in half. I know she did
I saw her and the four part went down nose first and the other
the star of that ship stood up in the water for quite a long time or it seemed a long time to me and then
keeled over and we heard the dreadful sound of people drowning, which was uh
unbelievable. And then because our life boat was so full, so over full
the office called all the boats together and transship some of us one in that boat and two in that and three in that
and I got separated from my mother. And, uh, that was the most terrifying thing to happen
To a child. But the most dreadful sound of all is the sound of people drowning the screams
Absolutely ghastly. My mother used to say sometimes she couldn't get me to talk about it for years
But if ever I did, anyone did talk to me and I said that she used to say yes
But do you remember the silence that followed it? And that's quite right
It says the whole world stood still that night. Once the lights had gone
the ship had gone, the sound had gone. That was ok. Now there was nothing to do but wait for rescue
Among those standing on the upturned boat was Harold Bride, the wireless operator who confirmed to his companions that the Carpathia was on her
way at 3 30 AM, she was sighted on the horizon firing rockets and at 4 30 she was on the sequel
Athe arrived with the dog by 8 30 had taken on board 705 survivors and 14 lifeboats
The rest being set adrift. And uh we were picked up as you know
in the morning by this little ship. The and the rescue uh of people from life boats in mid ocean is
quite a terrifying thing. These little boats shall we say, draw up alongside for want of a better expression to what looks like an enormous
vessel. She was quite a small vessel, but she looked big from that
And then how do you get on board? You don't have a gang plank like you do when you're a shot
And so they opened up, uh, I sort of, I don't know whether the word is right
A hatch in the side of the ship where the luggage used to be laid. And um
they threw down wrote letters and people like my mother and now the grown ups had to climb up in mid ocean after a swaying
rope ladder, rope ladder, which she said was the most terrifying thing
a sailor behind sort of holding on. And then what can the Children do
We couldn't climb up a road. So they got these big luggage nets and the mesh is very wide apart
It's quite a big mesh. Children would have slipped through small Children anyway
our legs and feet would have gone through. So each child was put in a sack and I remember being petrified when I was put
in that sack and it was tied around and the sack full of these Children were put into these huge nets and quite safely
of course, hauled aboard. But that really was quite terrifying. And then having got on board
of course, I couldn't find my mother and I didn't find her for hours
but eventually I found her and I'm quite sure one of the most pathetic things must have been the whole of the next day how
these poor women such as my mother, my mother roamed about the ship looking to see if they could see the husband they left behind
but no one found anyone. A silver memorial plaque has been left on the rape as a mark of respect and
to honor her as an official grave to the hundreds who perished with her
And as a tribute to a disaster which should never have happened
I entirely agree with my dear doctor Bell Oz was, he said the whole thing was a tribute to man's arrogance
And I agree with that, the man can be so arrogant as to build something and claim that it is Troy
If you like, it's, it's the most arrogant thing to say true
If the Titanic had struck rocks or a tempest and storm and sunk
that would be one thing. But this was a ship that needn't have had any loss of lives that I think is the most dreadful
part of it. And as I say, all these years later, this interest is profound and it's because there was no need for anyone
to die. No one should have died. Had she had enough lifeboats for 2.5 hours and then very smooth sea
Nobody would have died and one life is worth more than the whole ship
Surely. That is what I saw. That is what I remember. And there are hardly any of us now to share this memory
Of course, I'm the only living survivor now that can remember it and um get about so to speak
but I don't think there's anyone that can really tell the whole story of it except himself