In the movie Rose states that there were 6 people found alive in the water after the boat sank. Is this fact?

-- Rochelle Connery (mooshybear@webtv.net), December 05, 1998

Answers

Response to 6 found alive

Very close. By the time fifth officer Lowe got things organized and took several boats back, the icy cold water had killed off most of the people that were still on the ship when it went down. The numbers vary a little from account to account, but something like 5-10 were all that Lowe and his boats were able to save.

Interestingly enough, one person saved was a young woman who survived by lying on top of a large piece of wood panelling until Lowe found her shivering and half dead. Sound like anything anyone's heard of?

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), December 05, 1998.

Response to 6 found alive

Gee, I don't know. Sounds familiar, but I just can't pinpoint it. Hmmm..

I remember reading a while back that only one woman survived. She wrote some sort of an account ot what happened, and like most who survived, said the ride down the stern was like an elevator. She had her two sons with her, aged 9 and 11. She said as they went under they were ripped from her arms in the water, and she never saw them again. What an aweful way to die, and to her, what an aweful experience. I know I would be too traumatized to go on, losing your only sons. I think her husband died, too. I'm not sure. We're pretty damn lucky to be alive. Pardon the language, but it pretty much sums it up. All those people died because one man wanted to break a record. That's just horrible, so aweful to have gone through. :-( I've made myself sad. Darnnit.

-- Kelly (foo@bar.com), December 06, 1998.

Response to 6 found alive

The survivor you're referring to is Rosa Abbott, a third class passenger from Rhode Island who was returning to the US with her two teenaged sons (her husband was not aboard). Mrs. Abbott and her two sons jumped from the stern moments before it sank. She made it to collapsible A (which, in Cameron's film, is the boat Cal rode off on) and survived. Sadly, her two sons were swept away and lost.

Regards,

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), December 07, 1998.

Response to 6 found alive

Hi Kip,

Glad to know you're still here once in a while! :-)

O.K., so Lowe didn't get her; collapsible A did? Still, I wonder if that provided any inspiration for Cameron.

-- Thomas Shoebotham (cathytom@ix.netcom.com), December 08, 1998.

Response to 6 found alive

Hi Tom!

Actually, Lowe testified in the US Senate hearings that he rescued a Japanese or Chinese passenger, who was clinging to a door.

Best wishes,

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), December 08, 1998.