just for my own info- was there a survivor who had frostbitten leg in which a doctor on carpathia told him he would loose the leg but this man refused to have the leg amputated and walked on leg to increase circulation and eventually became an accomplished tennis professional maybe even in olympics? thanks please send response to: 404 krewson terrace willow grove,pa 19090

-- dana clemons (foo@bar.com), August 29, 1998

Answers

Wasn't it one of the wireless operators, maybe Harold Bride?

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), August 29, 1998.

Yes, I can't remember the name, but it was either during Wimbledon or something this year, when they did a feature story on the guy. I think they said that it was him and another guy that were both on Titanic, but definitely one who's leg was frostbitten...etc.

BOTH went on to be famous tennis players. Like I said, NBC, or whatever did a nice feature on them. Sorry I can't remember the names, but you are correct.

Josephine =)

-- Jodi (jodiscott@msn.com), August 29, 1998.

I think we've got our survivors confused here.

2nd wireless operator Harold Bride did indeed end up on the overturned collapsible B, along with Charles Lightoller, Col. Gracie and about a dozen others, and yes, Bride did indeed have problems with frostbite to his legs and feet -- he had to be carried into the US Senate hearings in New York. But Bride did not become a tennis professional. He left Marconi Marine a few years later and became a salesman. He kept a very low profile and concealed his role in the Titanic to the end of his life.

The survivor you're thinking of is R. Norris Williams, a first class passenger from Geneva, Switzerland, who was traveling with his father. Williams and his father both went into the water when the bridge sank, and he watched his father die when the #1 funnel collapsed and crushed him to death. The wave from the collapsing funnel washed Norris clear, and he made it to collapsible A, which floated off the boat deck. He spent the night in the swamped collapsible and like Bride, suffered frostbite to his legs and feet. A doctor on the Carpathia 'offered' to amputate his legs (some offer), but Williams declined and began an exercise regimen that helped him recover.

He went on to attend Harvard and became a well-known amateur tennis player, winning the US National Amateur Singles championships and US Doubles championships twice each. (Source, Titanic: An Illustrated History, by Don Lynch)

Regards,

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), August 30, 1998.

Kip...I can't believe all the stuff you know regarding Titanic related subjects! You are a wealth of information. :)

-- Gilded Age Junkie (GildedAgeJunkie@yahoo.com), August 30, 1998.

Continuation:

The other tennis player aboard Titanic was Karl Behr, who left in one of the early lifeboats with his soon-to-be fiance, Helen Newsom. Behr played until 1915, and was ranked in the top ten players of the time. He went on to become a successful businessman.

Regards,

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), August 30, 1998.