Survivors of the Titanic

By | November 1, 2018

RMS Titanic Of The White Star Line Sinking-Around 2:20am, April 15, 1912-After Hitting An Iceberg In The North Atlantic

The RMS Titanic sank early in the morning of April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg only four days into their voyage. Only 710 passengers out of 2,224 people on board survived. Here are just a few of their stories.

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(Photo by:Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

One of the worst disasters in history, and probably could have been avoided if better precautions had been in place.  At the top of the list was spending too much money on the luxuries for the boat and neglecting to provide enough lifeboats and life jackets for the passengers. When people began to panic, there was pandemonium, instead of any kind of order. That is why the lifeboats that they had were not even full. Even though many lower class passengers died because they were left last to be rescued, many wealthy people died as well, because their wealth could not save them. Tragedy is no respecter of persons. Those who did survive, such as men who were cowards, had to live with their conscious. 

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Survivor – Maude Louise Slocombe

One of the survivors of the Titanic, Maude Slocombe was one of the Turkish Bath Stewardesses and was interviewed in 1957 about her experience. Her residence was given as living in London at the time and had a son as well as a husband, who was a bookbinder. In her interview, she said she was lying in bed at the time the ship hit the iceberg, and she heard a loud thud. Proceeding to get up and out into the passageway, she ran into the Second-in-command, who told her to get dressed and go up on deck. When she asked why he said he didn’t know. When she got to the upper deck, she said the crew appeared to be calm and “cheerful.” As she made an attempt to go back for her personal items, she came to a stop because of rising water and had to turn around and go back up. She later said that she was in the last lifeboat to leave, but it is believed that she was actually in lifeboat 11 that was filled with 72 people. Maude described the final moments of the sinking of the ship and said she heard the band play “Nearer My God to Thee.” The next morning, she said she saw lots of icebergs all around and told how some of the survivors were expressing disgust that “common” crew were rescued, while their husbands were lost. Maude passed away in 1967, one day before her 86th birthday.