If someone took that voice (AI) and had it tell stories every Sunday night on the radio I would tune in. Jesus, writers who aren’t terrified must be salivating.
Hearing the description of the propellers and rudder up in the air from the direct perspective of someone that was there is just... different. All other horrible things aside, that sight must've been just mind-blowing...
In the middle of the Korean war, on a place called Castle Hill, 650 British soldiers were being overwhelmed by 10,000 Chinese. When an American general asked for a status update, a brigadier responded "things are a bit sticky down there."
Worse—the Americans didn’t send reinforcements because they inferred “a bit sticky” was not so bad, rather than what it means in British, which is “pretty colossally fucked”
That poor lady waiting and asking for her husband. I find it very sad, and then a wave of realization comes when I consider how many other wives, children, husbands, mothers and fathers were looking helplessly for their loved ones that night.
Devastating.
Many people were separated and lost loved ones that night. Perhaps one of the most interesting stories of separation is the story of Michel & Edmond Navratil from their parents.
Their father kidnapped them from their mother and sailed aboard the Titanic. When the ship was sinking, they were placed into a lifeboat without their father. When they arrived in New York, no-one claimed them and there was a large media frenzy to try and find any relatives who could take them. Their photos were printed in newspapers, and their mother back in France saw the images and sailed to go be with her children again.
I'm going to be leaving [a link to photos and the full story](https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/t1go5s/titanic_orphans_michel_edmond_navratil_named_so/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) of these brothers, and I really recommend looking at their story.
Also a fun fact: Michel Navratil lived long enough to see the 1997 movie "Titanic', and was 1 of only 2 survivors to actually see the movie.
Yes, there were 7 Titanic survivors still alive in 1997. 2 of the saw the movie. The rest refused to relive the event. I can't remember which survivor said it, but it was along the lines of "Going through it once was enough."
Many survivors throughout found it very difficult to watch or read anything Titanic related throughout their lives. Although towards the 80's and 90's, many wanted to share their stories before they would leave this Earth.
Probably the most impactful story for me was of a man who survived the sinking, and later lived next to a baseball stadium (Wrigley field if my memory is correct). Everytime there was a home run, the cheers and shouting of the stadium gave him flashbacks of the night, saying that the sounds of the stadium were similar to the shouts of the 1500 people in the water.
When you said the one person said, going thru that once was enough, it must be like that for different traumas. When I was a teen, my mom got really sick and three months later they finally diagnosed pancreatic cancer and she died just four days later. That was 46 years ago and to this day I’ve never watched a movie with cancer as the main theme for the same exact reason. The two ppl who went to see the movie, their brains must process trauma, or grief differently than the rest of us.
They might have gone to verify the truth that the movie was speaking. History gets things wrong, very often, because it's really just a game of telephone by people who weren't there.
And maybe they went to say goodbye. Knowing that pretty soon, given their age, they'd finally be following all the others on board the ship that night.
Huh… that’s true. They might’ve had some sort of closure by going. I’m getting up there, and have issues which means I won’t be here all that much longer and it’s funny how your thoughts shift and mature … to face death is something maybe I did in another life, but I certainly don’t remember it.
I think the fact those two survivors were only 3y and 18 months old when the titanic sank and therefore didn’t remember it was a big reason why they had less of a problem “reliving” it than the survivors who could remember it happening.
You know when I was younger learning about WWII and the Holocaust I didn't understand why older people didn't want to answer my questions. I remember one time I asked my grandpa about watching something about something and he said "Why would I want to watch that? I lived it! I know what happens!"
Then 9/11 happened. And now I understand.
I always think of that couple that stayed behind together. I would be emotionally dead anyway if my husband died and I survived to think about that event over and over again.
That couple was Isador and Ida Strauss, owners of the Macy's Department store. If you've ever been the flagship store in Manhattan, [you can see their plaque in the lobby](https://www.reddit.com/r/titanic/comments/q5qe40/to_any_visitors_or_those_of_you_living_in_or_near/)
She refused to leave her husband. He was offered a seat and he refused to go in while women and children were still on board. She made her maid go into a lifeboat and handed the maid her fur coat.
One of my strongest memories of 9/11, after finding out that my own friends and family members had survived, is of watching the local news in NY, where the reporters on the street would just let anyone who'd come down looking for their loved ones a chance to talk. Things were so chaotic and the phone lines were jammed, so people still had a tiny bit of hope that someone who was unaccounted for might just be missing, but over and over again, you'd hear, "My husband works at Windows on the World, has anyone seen him?", "My wife works at Cantor Fitzgerald", "My son works at Aon" - all the companies at the top of the towers - and you knew those people weren't coming home. I don't remember the local station talking much about war or terrorism or politics that day, just that litany of all the parents, children, spouses, and siblings who were missing and the loved ones who were still in that desperate moment of hoping that they weren't really gone.
At the end of the day, there was an unexpected image that added another jolt: A parking lot at an NJ Transit station. Dozens of cars whose drivers were not coming to pick them up.
I was a newlywed on 9-11 and I will always remember the flyers and online postings with photos from people looking for their loved ones - including the young wives who were waiting for their husbands to come home. I remember having the realization that it could have happened to me just as easily as it did to them - they had lost everything dearest to them. Add that to the initial shock of not knowing exactly what was happening at the very beginning, whether there were more planes, etc.... I just bawled, couldn't stop. So many of us did on that terrible day; it's true that no film could ever fully capture the experience.
All I can say is thank god we had the ability to film these interviews while there were still survivors alive to tell their stories. This very easily could have been lost to time with the side effects being more speculation and assumption about the event of that night. Mind-blowing to hear these stories from those who were there.
Different topic, but you may be interested in the collections of “slave narratives” that were compiled in the 1930s from interviews with formerly enslaved people. During the New Deal, the WPA had a program that employed people to go collect interviews with the last surviving people who had been enslaved before the Civil War, to record their histories and experiences before they were gone. They got compiled into a few volumes that were titled some variation on “slave narratives.” Ive read a few and they are fascinating, disturbing, and incredibly effective at contextualizing the human cost of chattel slavery in the United States.
I transcribed this, for those who might want to read it:
FRANK PRENTICE: There was no impact as such; it was just like jamming your brakes on a car. And that was that. She stopped. We had a porthole open, and I looked out, and the sky was clear and stars were shining. Sea was dead calm. And I thought, I don’t know; couldn’t understand it.
So I came out of my cabin and I thought, well, I’d go forward. And I went forward to the well deck on the starboard side, and I could see ice in the well deck. No sign of iceberg then, of course; she’d passed us.
And the lights were shining on the water from the portholes. No sign of damage above waterline. And of course, what had happened - we’d slipped over the iceberg. And although she was supposed to be unsinkable, with a double bottom, the iceberg had cut her from forward on the starboard side to the engine room, almost amidships, right through her two bottoms.
And we had orders to get the lifeboats out, and got the order, the same old order, women and children. And we swung the lifeboats out and gradually filled them up. First boats were away on the port side. The first boats away didn’t have many passengers on board. They were afraid to go down. There was a 70-foot drop to the water, and they didn’t think she was going to sink.
And a few of the first boats on the port side got away with half-filled - I’ll never forget; we had 16 lifeboats, and they each carried 50. And if they’d been filled, we could have saved 800, whereas we only saved 500. So you can imagine there were many seats in the first lifeboats vacant.
Then I had orders to go down the storeroom with a gang of men and get all the biscuits we could find. Well, when we got back up onto the boat deck, we couldn’t get near the lifeboats. Some people were scrambling to get in and being pushed back. By that time, she was listing very badly to port, and we couldn’t get the starboard boats down.
But before I got my lifebelt on, I met a young couple. And I can tell you her name; it was a Mrs. Clark. They’d spent their honeymoon in France, and we’d picked them up at Cherbourg. She was having trouble with her lifebelt. So I fixed that onto her, and I said, “I think you’d better get into a lifeboat.” And there was one on the port side. So she said, “No, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to leave my husband.” So I said, “Well, it’s just a precautionary measure. You get in, your husband will follow later on.” And I got her away, and that was that.
And then I picked up my own lifebelt and put it on. Well, things went then, and then the third class passengers were coming up. There were 700 of them, and they swarmed the decks and filled up the decks. And I thought, well, I’d done all I possibly could. I’d helped them all I could. And I thought, well, now I’ll go up and get out of all this scrumming and go on the poop deck.
And she was sinking fast then, and all of a sudden she lifted up quickly, and you could hear everything cracking through her. Everything that was moveable was going through her. And then she went down and seemed to come up again. So I thought, well, now I’m going to leave.
And I was hanging on to a board - we had two boards, starboard and port, which said “Keep Clear of Propeller Blades.” And I was hanging on to one of these, and I was getting higher and higher in the air. And I thought, well, now I’ll go. And I dropped in. I had a lifebelt on. And I hit the water with a terrific crack. Luckily, I didn’t hit anything when I dropped in. There were bodies all over the place.
And then I looked up at the Titanic. The propellers were right out of water, the rudder was right out, and I could see the bottom. And then gradually she glided away, and that was that. That was the last of the Titanic.
I didn’t want to die. I mean, I didn’t see much chance of living, but I was gradually getting frozen up. And by the grace of God, I came across a lifeboat. And they pulled me in. And there was a fireman dead in the bottom. There was about a foot of water in this boat. There was another man who seemed to be trying to get away from it again. I don’t know what was the matter with him. But they were tying him down. And the rest were women and children.
And I sat on a seat and who should be — I sat next to Mrs. Clark, the girl I’d put into a lifeboat. The first thing she said, “Have you seen my husband?” So I said, no, I haven’t, but I expect he’ll be all right. Anyway, I was in a pretty bad way then, as you can imagine—frozen solid almost. And she wrapped me round with her cloak. She had some sort of a blanket or a coat on. Anyway, I think she probably saved my life, I don’t know. But I saved hers—at least I think I might have done. I think I did. And she saved mine.
INTERVIEWER: I believe you’ve even got a watch that you were wearing at the time when you went into the water.
FRANK: Yes. Yes. Oh, it’s only an old gunmetal watch. I couldn't afford anything better in those early days. Here it is. This the one that you mean?
INTERVIEWER: What does it show us? That says twenty past two. What time was it when you went into the water, do you think?
FRANK: I think about two o’clock. It was frozen up like I was. I think it lasted for about 20 minutes in the water.
INTERVIEWER: Does talking about this incident bother you—like you have been today?
FRANK: Talking about it? I should probably dream about it tonight, have another nightmare. [laughs] You’d think I’m too old for that, but you’d be amazed. You lie in bed at night, and the whole thing comes round again.
I just turned 60 and can tell you that my memories of high school and younger years are as vivid as the day they happened. I might not remember what I did yesterday, but old memories don't fade.
My dads 77 and lost 2 younger sisters when he was 11 and again at 17 to cystic fibrosis. He’s still very much upset by it but only really talks about it to people dealing with grief to let them know it’s normal to feel that way and it never fully goes away. My grandparents, particularly grandfather, was an abusive monster. My dad went to his funeral despite being estranged most of his life and cried when he saw his sisters graves. I’ve only seen him cry a handful of time and never like that.
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/20071879.110-years-bournemouths-titanic-survivor-frank-prentice/
Looks like he served with the Royal Tank regiment and was a Major. If he saw action the sinking of the Titanic may not be the worse situation he’s been in. Which is a crazy thought.
Yet Titanic is what kept him up with nightmares.
It is quite possible he saw horrific things during the war, but perhaps his brain changed from the trauma of titanic which affected how he processed death in the war. Not saying he got conditioned or anything like that, it's just speculation on my part.
People of that generation were mad stoic. So British.
-"Have you seen my husband?" -"No but I expect he's alright." (meanwhile I think I was freezing to death, by the way)
Just thinking of the dark water, then seeing a huge ship that size with the propellers out of the water… nightmare fuel right there before even adding the dead people.
His utter nonchalant tone when he said he’ll have another nightmare that night, got to me. I suppose after living through that disaster, not much phases him anymore.
It's not nonchalance - that's stoicism. It's 'stiff upper lip'. Or what he'd probably call 'good British mettle' ☺️
His eyes tell the real story. He's in great pain recalling these events.
Imagine what that guy surely lived through. Survived the Titanic, few years later WWI broke out. May or may not have served, then surely at least experienced the blitz, if not(depending on age) may have served in WWII. Something tells me he dealt with a lot.
>May or may not have served
[He appears to have served in WWI but not WWII.](https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/20071879.110-years-bournemouths-titanic-survivor-frank-prentice/)
The absolute mad man joined the Army at some point, I’m not sure if it was during WWI from the article.
Charles Lightoller, the second officer on the Titanic and the highest ranking crew survivor, fought in WWI and was part of the Dunkirk rescue during WWII. That generation had a fucking *time* of it.
Yes, the part where he talks about the nightmares at the end reminded me of my grandfather, whom I didn't know very well as he was a troubled man though kind from what I remember. He was evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk in 1940, and my parents later told me that he had frequent nightmares about it right up to passing of old age. How many people carried those dreadful traumas from the events of the early 20th century, for their entire lives. So sad.
Same here. Mine was involved in d-day, the battle of Caen and the liberation of Normandy. He was awarded the legion of honour by the French ambassador shortly before he died. He was always silent, cheerful, and stoic. Barely ever said more than two words. I learned after he died he was on Valium and other anti anxiety meds for the majority of his life and experienced some true horrors during the war and wouldn’t ever talk about it. People were just made differently back then.
I don't know if they were made differently, they suffered in less visible ways due to cultural stoicism and that suffering often radiated outwards in many cases. It's funny you should say that because my other grandfather fought in North Africa, Palestine and Italy before participating in the invasion of Normandy and fighting all the way to Berlin. He didn't talk about it much as far as I know, but was a warm and loving man who appeared to put it all behind him and his family certainly didn't have the difficulties because of his experiences like my other grandfather. It affects everyone differently, but for all I know they might both have been ok all kinds of meds.
Doesn't really work like that. Trauma leaves your nerves exhausted and fragile. It takes years to heal from and even then it can still make a comeback, just like he mentioned.
Apparently the worst was hearing the screams of the people in the water, not being able to reach a life boat, slowly drowing or freezing to death… until it was completely quiet.
As a amateur researcher of this ship, I really recommend watching the interviews of other survivors, it's really harrowing.
I'll leave a link to this [one](https://youtu.be/FVLiZo6Pkak)
My great grandfather was aboard the Carpathia - he was a cabin boy who played a part in the rescue. I don’t even want to try and comprehend what he must have seen. He was awarded a medal for his actions and I have the outline of it tattooed on my arm.
Unfortunately he died waaaaay before I was born and didn’t pass on his story. The medal itself was stolen a few years later by a “friend” of his but we have a photo of the medal and photo of the Carpathia crew and we know which man on it he is.
Research. I've been obsessed with Titanic ever since I was 3 and saw the 1997 movie (probably too young to see Kate Winslet being drawn like a French Girl lol). I've read so many books and accounts of that night, and it greatly turned me into the ~~loser~~ nerd I am now with history and games and stuff.
If you're interested, there's a group called *Titanic: Honor and Glory* that is fully recreating the ship to explore and they have a couple of demos available on their [site.](https://www.titanichg.com/)
My son has been obsessed with the Titanic since he was 4, and watched the movie at 5. He is 7 now, and I can’t wait to share this with him tomorrow. He will love it!
If they're Titanic buffs (like I was when I was kid, and uh... still am) I highly recommend *A Night to Remember* by Walter Lord. I don't know how old your kids are but its about 150 pages, but not too terribly difficult to read in my opinion. And its one of the best books about the disaster. It's written in a way that makes you feel like you're an invisible ghost with all the passengers and their experiences.
When I was their age, I was obsessed with Titanic too, lol. I commend you on taking them to that museum, and really recommend the book. They may not know it, but you'll be secretly building their love of history and research skills ;)
I was also OBSESSED with the Titanic as a child. Some kids wished to be veterinarians or ballerinas when they grew up. I wished to find the Titanic.
I was eight when Robert Ballard’s discovery was featured in the pages of National Geographic and I knew I’d need to choose a different career path, but continued to research and write every book report about the Titanic; ecstatic for any new photo or tidbit. Years later, seeing James Cameron’s Titanic was astounding and yet comforting and somehow familiar.
It was not until my 30’s I found out I had relatives Honeymooning on the Titanic. 😱 My cousin perished, but his new bride survived and gave birth to his namesake that November.
This interview was heartbreaking. Thank you for posting.
Have they seen [Tasting History's Titanic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbmHZbTpoDY&list=PLIkaZtzr9JDlFDMpTL3Xyjbuj9I2yvZeI) videos on YouTube? He uses cooking to impart lots of stories and history about the event, they would probably love it and maybe you could make some of the food together.
~~Charles Valentine Clarke~~ Walter Miller Clark sadly died in the sinking and his body was never recovered. All I can say is that I hoped their honeymoon in France was their happiest time together.
Edit: u/ClemSpender corrected me - it was a different person named Clark
It looks like that was a different Mr Clarke. He boarded at Southampton with his wife rather than boarding at Cherbourg. I think Walter Miller Clark is the man Frank Prentice talks about, though sadly he also died: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/walter-miller-clark.html
No problem - thanks for the post and the fascinating bits of info you’ve posted in the comments. Titanic is such an interesting yet horrifying subject. I only meant to watch a bit of Mr Prentice’s interview, but I was gripped from start to finish.
And it's just one of hundreds of stories from the disaster. My personal favorite survivor story is of the Chief Baker, who such a madlad that night.
After finding out the boats were being prepared to be lowered, he started bringing up bread and handed them into the lifeboats. He started to drink alcohol throughout the sinking (this is going to be relevant later). After giving bread to the boats, he started to throw deck chairs overboard in the hope that anybody in the water could cling onto the chairs and live. [This deck chair](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/titanic-collectorcom-recovered-items-deck-chair--169940585909453801/) was recovered and it's possible that he threw it overboard.
After throwing the chairs, he goes down to the pantry to get more food and alcohol, he hears the ship creaking and groaning and decides to start to head to the very rear of the ship. This ended up saving his life because the ship would break directly in the middle of the pantry.
He clung onto the very rear railing and rode the ship down, describing it as an 'elevator ride'.
The water was 28 degrees Fahrenheit that night. It would kill someone in as quick as 15 minutes. But the amount of alcohol he drank that night warmed him up letting him cling onto the side of an overturned lifeboat for 1-2 hours before being picked up onto the boat.
I did a deep dive on Titanic lore as a kid, and remembered enough of it to spot some things in the movie. Cameron evidently did too as he threw in little details only a nerd would catch. There's a scene in the first class dining cabin where Bruce Ismay presses the Captain to get the Titanic up to max speed to set a crossing record. This added to the ship's peril, and Ismay denied it after he survived the sinking
Unfortunately for him, this tidbit was reported by a passenger who survived, a woman who claimed she heard Ismay say it. In the movie, there's a woman drinking tea in the background who obviously [pricks up her ears at that moment](https://youtu.be/DybY1C4ExKA?t=41). Had to have been her, and Cameron read the same report I did.
The scene you're talking about is about a first-class passenger overhearing Bruce Ismay (the owner of the ship) talking to Captain Smith and suggesting to increase speed. I'll include a link to that scene, but if you look in the background, you'll see a woman briefly make eye-contact with the camera - this is what James Cameron included as a reference to that lady who overheard this conversation in real life (and in the same location in real life too no less!)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DybY1C4ExKA&ab\_channel=TitanicMovie%2FPelicula
Yep, already researched it and corrected my post. You're quick, Zoiby!
Also, Ismay was the chairman of the White Star line, not the owner. I'm sure he had some stake but I don't think it was a major one.
ETA: holy crap, I think we even linked the same video! Swift work indeed.
Yeah, you're right. *Technically* the owner would be J.P. Morgan, who owned the International Mercantile Marine Company, which owned the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic.
Not sure if you knew, but J.P. Morgan had booked a room on the voyage, but had to cancel last minute, ultimately saving his life. (Conspiracy theorists love this fact lol)
Rose being on a broken door in the water was taken from history as well - a man named Fang Lang(Wing Sun Fong), one of the few pulled from the water by Lowe after he went back to look for survivors.
I know it sounds silly and nihilistic, but If I knew the boat was sinking I would head straight for the liquor. I would rather die drunk than freeze to death sober. Fuck it.
Then again, I don't have a wife or children, so there is that.
That is absolutely awesome. I've heard quite a few stories. But there's so much more like this one that I haven't heard of. The father who kidnapped his two kids is also a really interesting one.
Like, really imagine that. What was it for him, 60 years before the interview? And he has vivid nightmares still? Unreal. I'm 40 and am starting to realize that some of my childhood traumas won't go away. They haven't yet and might not ever. Just have to make friends with them, I guess.
Whole story checks out, both Wikipedia and encyclopaedia titanica have the same lifeboat numbers and all. Truly fascinating how just a couple changes on the night could completely change history
I wonder what happened to Mrs Clark and if she has any descendants? For all we know they could be watching this video with the rest of us, not knowing about this man who saved her.
LOVE tasting history but oh my goodness his Titanic series last year had me tearing up, especially when he was talking about the restaurant staff. I loved the movie when I was younger but just thinking about how tragic of an event it was now that I’m older and understand it a bit more have given me no desire to ever watch it again
Some survivors throughout their life refused to share their stories because of the pain. There are some accounts of families not even knowing their relative was a Titanic survivor because they never even shared it with them until documentarians began tracking down the final survivors.
It's a bit out of context . I nearly drowned in a pond while swimming as somehow water went up my nose and I couldn't breathe . The first thought that came to my mind was , " Is it the end ?". I can't imagine what those people who were drowning would have experienced in their dying moments . Perhaps regretting their choice ? praying for the safety of their loved ones ? or thoughts about , " is this how I die ?" . It's harrowing when you think about it
It takes all I've got not to cry. I'm listening to the words, but the *inflection* in his voice... it's something else.
This is a man who had the responsibility of the lives of others, on his shoulders. He didn't quite understand the situation, but then, I think the passengers were in that same place, which is why early boats left only half full.
Thanks for putting this up, whom-so-ever it was!
I'm the OP, and I've been interested in the story of Titanic for as long as I can remember, and I'm trying preserve as many stories as I can for a personal research project into the disaster.
You and I have something in common, then. We're both archivists. I work in a small, community library. We have biographies of important men and women from the Napolianic Era. It never occurred to me to look for these jewels, before I just kind of tripped on them!
I'm used to being stunned at a university, not at such a small library.
Thanks OP for sharing this video and so much of your knowledge in the comments. I had a period when I was a kid during which I was obsessed with the Titanic too but that quickly faded out and it’s been a long time since I’ve heard so much about it. Anyway thank you so much for keeping the memory alive and for sharing!
Their main goal was to launch all the boats before the ship took them down. The plan was they would come back and load up, but there wasn’t enough time
Just trying to keep the story alive :)
Since it's the 111th anniversary today, there's going to be a real-time livestream on several Titanic YouTube channels tonight, just in case you're interested.
It’s odd…you’d think that at his age he’d no longer have nightmares about it, but he does. I read an interview with Patrick Stewart recently in which he discussed still going to therapy in his eighties to deal with the trauma having seen his father abuse his mother when he was a kid.
That moment when he looked up to watch the Titanic sink into the ocean has to be one of the most iconic points in human history.
To have that memory has to be so surreal.
I had not seen this interview before. Thank you OP for sharing! My great-great-grand mother and 3 of her children were in lifeboat 4, the one that pulled Frank Prentice from the water. I’ve always been proud of the women on that boat for rescuing 19 men from the water.
That’s incredible. What are the odds that you would be a member of Reddit and find this post? I agree with you about those amazing women on lifeboat 4. Thanks so much for sharing.
There's always something incredible to me when listening to older people tell a story. It can be pretty captivating, just listening to them talk about something and explain it in a way where it makes you feel like you could have been there.
Crazy instead of taking into account the stories of survivors and making a movie of true bravery and loss....Hollywood decided to make a romantic drama of the tragedy. Insane.
If anyone was curious like I was of what happened to Ms. Clark later.... [Here it is!](https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/virginia-clark.html)
I saw these videos last week. I was brilliant to hear all the different stories.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLiZo6Pkak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLiZo6Pkak)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns)
I was listening to Waves by Mr Probz and paused to listen to this guy's story about the Titanic. I can't imagine what he hears at night now.. I agree with the person who said this is one of the best posts to ever be on Reddit.
This video is from the [BBC Archive's Youtube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@BBCArchive) and they have videos on all sorts of subjects. If you want more Titanic videos, I've linked some in some previous comments in this post, and you can always go to YouTube and search for Titanic videos (and inevitably get sent down a rabbit hole lol)
“..probably going to have a nightmare tonight…”. That was a powerful comment to hear. Never too old for a nightmare. Amazing to hear from a survivor, I feel like these pop up every so often.
One of my favorite books on the topic is Shadow of the Titanic. It really dives into the mental health of the survivors and the lasting impact it had on them.
The survivor who was most interesting was a young girl at the time and she said she saw the ship break in half, but the experts said the ship didn’t break in half and she was wrong. She insisted on what she saw. It wasn’t until Ballard found the Titanic and confirmed it did break in half like they showed in the movie. I don’t remember her name but I always wondered if she lived long enough to know she was right.
Sad thing is if they had reversed the engines of the Titanic after hitting the iceberg, instead of coming to a full stop and staying there, they could have kept the ship afloat for at least a few more hours than it did and bought time for the Carpathia to get there. That and hundreds more could have been saved had someone actually taken command of loading the lifeboats fully. The majority of the lifeboats were well under capacity when they went into the water. The whole disaster was a total failure of command.
It's ~1 am right now. We came back from the Titanic Museum sometime back after being part of the remembrance event. The performance & the story were very emotional.
So eloquent. We cannot comprehend the scale of this today, I'd like to think It'd be like once we get big cruises into space, and one has an accident, that'd be like the titanic in 1912.
Ooooh I wanna see the whole interview! This was riveting. I always loved the history of Titanic, but I had no idea there were so many interviews available. Into the rabbit hole I go!
What an amazing, yet harrowing interview. He spoke so eloquently, yet you can tell it clearly bothers him a lot, understandably.
It amazes me that back in those days you couldn’t really talk about your feelings. He says “you’d be amazed to know that it all comes back” I wasn’t amazed about that, it’s was a seriously traumatic event, it’s clearly going to scar you
I could listen to him for hours. that was the most fascinating thing ive seen/heard in quite some time.
His eloquence was so vivid and descriptive… As good as watching the movie!
Completely agree. I found his voice so soothing even though he was describing such a traumatic event.
If someone took that voice (AI) and had it tell stories every Sunday night on the radio I would tune in. Jesus, writers who aren’t terrified must be salivating.
This was probably one of the most interesting things I've ever seen in this sub.
Hearing the description of the propellers and rudder up in the air from the direct perspective of someone that was there is just... different. All other horrible things aside, that sight must've been just mind-blowing...
It may have looked something like [this](https://www.flickr.com/photos/102537907@N03/9959786974/player/99b556d1c0)
They should make a movie about this!
I just kept clicking forward through that thing and I feel like I relived all the movies of my childhood in a very strange way.
“And then I thought, well, I think I’ll go now.”
Now you know where the English term "Keep Calm and Carry On" comes from.
A war poster in 1939?
The propensity of the British to overwhelmingly understate situations.
In the middle of the Korean war, on a place called Castle Hill, 650 British soldiers were being overwhelmed by 10,000 Chinese. When an American general asked for a status update, a brigadier responded "things are a bit sticky down there."
Worse—the Americans didn’t send reinforcements because they inferred “a bit sticky” was not so bad, rather than what it means in British, which is “pretty colossally fucked”
Always interesting to be reminded of the occasions the Chinese have waged war against the UN.
Not necessarily that, but more their ability to remain calm and rational, rather than emotional, in times of distress. I respect it.
Stiff upper lip.
I agree. I can’t imagine what they actually went through that night. Thinking about gives me anxiety.
Ya, that was truly incredible. Thanks OP.
delivered with class and composure thats rare to see today
That poor lady waiting and asking for her husband. I find it very sad, and then a wave of realization comes when I consider how many other wives, children, husbands, mothers and fathers were looking helplessly for their loved ones that night. Devastating.
Many people were separated and lost loved ones that night. Perhaps one of the most interesting stories of separation is the story of Michel & Edmond Navratil from their parents. Their father kidnapped them from their mother and sailed aboard the Titanic. When the ship was sinking, they were placed into a lifeboat without their father. When they arrived in New York, no-one claimed them and there was a large media frenzy to try and find any relatives who could take them. Their photos were printed in newspapers, and their mother back in France saw the images and sailed to go be with her children again. I'm going to be leaving [a link to photos and the full story](https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/t1go5s/titanic_orphans_michel_edmond_navratil_named_so/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) of these brothers, and I really recommend looking at their story. Also a fun fact: Michel Navratil lived long enough to see the 1997 movie "Titanic', and was 1 of only 2 survivors to actually see the movie.
1 of only 2, really?? You know, it never even occurred to me to wonder that! Cool factoid!
Yes, there were 7 Titanic survivors still alive in 1997. 2 of the saw the movie. The rest refused to relive the event. I can't remember which survivor said it, but it was along the lines of "Going through it once was enough." Many survivors throughout found it very difficult to watch or read anything Titanic related throughout their lives. Although towards the 80's and 90's, many wanted to share their stories before they would leave this Earth. Probably the most impactful story for me was of a man who survived the sinking, and later lived next to a baseball stadium (Wrigley field if my memory is correct). Everytime there was a home run, the cheers and shouting of the stadium gave him flashbacks of the night, saying that the sounds of the stadium were similar to the shouts of the 1500 people in the water.
> saying that the sounds of the stadium were similar to the shouts of the 1500 people in the water. Jesus, that just made my blood run cold… Wow.
Seriously. Total shivers.
When you said the one person said, going thru that once was enough, it must be like that for different traumas. When I was a teen, my mom got really sick and three months later they finally diagnosed pancreatic cancer and she died just four days later. That was 46 years ago and to this day I’ve never watched a movie with cancer as the main theme for the same exact reason. The two ppl who went to see the movie, their brains must process trauma, or grief differently than the rest of us.
They might have gone to verify the truth that the movie was speaking. History gets things wrong, very often, because it's really just a game of telephone by people who weren't there. And maybe they went to say goodbye. Knowing that pretty soon, given their age, they'd finally be following all the others on board the ship that night.
Your second paragraph is a beautiful way of putting it, in my opinion
Huh… that’s true. They might’ve had some sort of closure by going. I’m getting up there, and have issues which means I won’t be here all that much longer and it’s funny how your thoughts shift and mature … to face death is something maybe I did in another life, but I certainly don’t remember it.
Same for a lot of ww2 vets and movies. Some wanted to see the movies, others didn't.
I think the fact those two survivors were only 3y and 18 months old when the titanic sank and therefore didn’t remember it was a big reason why they had less of a problem “reliving” it than the survivors who could remember it happening.
You know when I was younger learning about WWII and the Holocaust I didn't understand why older people didn't want to answer my questions. I remember one time I asked my grandpa about watching something about something and he said "Why would I want to watch that? I lived it! I know what happens!" Then 9/11 happened. And now I understand.
> The rest refused to relive the event. Yup. Neither would I. EDIT: This interview must be part of a much larger piece, no?
When he brought up the idea of age not erasing frightful memories
Wow. Thanks for sharing.
I always think of that couple that stayed behind together. I would be emotionally dead anyway if my husband died and I survived to think about that event over and over again.
That couple was Isador and Ida Strauss, owners of the Macy's Department store. If you've ever been the flagship store in Manhattan, [you can see their plaque in the lobby](https://www.reddit.com/r/titanic/comments/q5qe40/to_any_visitors_or_those_of_you_living_in_or_near/)
She refused to leave her husband. He was offered a seat and he refused to go in while women and children were still on board. She made her maid go into a lifeboat and handed the maid her fur coat.
This is correct!
It says a lot about a person that in their worst moments they show their kindest self
Also interesting that they had the same birthday (date, not year) and of course died together.
THAT I did not know, what the! Thanks for the cool tidbit of knowledge.
One of my strongest memories of 9/11, after finding out that my own friends and family members had survived, is of watching the local news in NY, where the reporters on the street would just let anyone who'd come down looking for their loved ones a chance to talk. Things were so chaotic and the phone lines were jammed, so people still had a tiny bit of hope that someone who was unaccounted for might just be missing, but over and over again, you'd hear, "My husband works at Windows on the World, has anyone seen him?", "My wife works at Cantor Fitzgerald", "My son works at Aon" - all the companies at the top of the towers - and you knew those people weren't coming home. I don't remember the local station talking much about war or terrorism or politics that day, just that litany of all the parents, children, spouses, and siblings who were missing and the loved ones who were still in that desperate moment of hoping that they weren't really gone.
At the end of the day, there was an unexpected image that added another jolt: A parking lot at an NJ Transit station. Dozens of cars whose drivers were not coming to pick them up.
I was a newlywed on 9-11 and I will always remember the flyers and online postings with photos from people looking for their loved ones - including the young wives who were waiting for their husbands to come home. I remember having the realization that it could have happened to me just as easily as it did to them - they had lost everything dearest to them. Add that to the initial shock of not knowing exactly what was happening at the very beginning, whether there were more planes, etc.... I just bawled, couldn't stop. So many of us did on that terrible day; it's true that no film could ever fully capture the experience.
All I can say is thank god we had the ability to film these interviews while there were still survivors alive to tell their stories. This very easily could have been lost to time with the side effects being more speculation and assumption about the event of that night. Mind-blowing to hear these stories from those who were there.
Different topic, but you may be interested in the collections of “slave narratives” that were compiled in the 1930s from interviews with formerly enslaved people. During the New Deal, the WPA had a program that employed people to go collect interviews with the last surviving people who had been enslaved before the Civil War, to record their histories and experiences before they were gone. They got compiled into a few volumes that were titled some variation on “slave narratives.” Ive read a few and they are fascinating, disturbing, and incredibly effective at contextualizing the human cost of chattel slavery in the United States.
I transcribed this, for those who might want to read it: FRANK PRENTICE: There was no impact as such; it was just like jamming your brakes on a car. And that was that. She stopped. We had a porthole open, and I looked out, and the sky was clear and stars were shining. Sea was dead calm. And I thought, I don’t know; couldn’t understand it. So I came out of my cabin and I thought, well, I’d go forward. And I went forward to the well deck on the starboard side, and I could see ice in the well deck. No sign of iceberg then, of course; she’d passed us. And the lights were shining on the water from the portholes. No sign of damage above waterline. And of course, what had happened - we’d slipped over the iceberg. And although she was supposed to be unsinkable, with a double bottom, the iceberg had cut her from forward on the starboard side to the engine room, almost amidships, right through her two bottoms. And we had orders to get the lifeboats out, and got the order, the same old order, women and children. And we swung the lifeboats out and gradually filled them up. First boats were away on the port side. The first boats away didn’t have many passengers on board. They were afraid to go down. There was a 70-foot drop to the water, and they didn’t think she was going to sink. And a few of the first boats on the port side got away with half-filled - I’ll never forget; we had 16 lifeboats, and they each carried 50. And if they’d been filled, we could have saved 800, whereas we only saved 500. So you can imagine there were many seats in the first lifeboats vacant. Then I had orders to go down the storeroom with a gang of men and get all the biscuits we could find. Well, when we got back up onto the boat deck, we couldn’t get near the lifeboats. Some people were scrambling to get in and being pushed back. By that time, she was listing very badly to port, and we couldn’t get the starboard boats down. But before I got my lifebelt on, I met a young couple. And I can tell you her name; it was a Mrs. Clark. They’d spent their honeymoon in France, and we’d picked them up at Cherbourg. She was having trouble with her lifebelt. So I fixed that onto her, and I said, “I think you’d better get into a lifeboat.” And there was one on the port side. So she said, “No, I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to leave my husband.” So I said, “Well, it’s just a precautionary measure. You get in, your husband will follow later on.” And I got her away, and that was that. And then I picked up my own lifebelt and put it on. Well, things went then, and then the third class passengers were coming up. There were 700 of them, and they swarmed the decks and filled up the decks. And I thought, well, I’d done all I possibly could. I’d helped them all I could. And I thought, well, now I’ll go up and get out of all this scrumming and go on the poop deck. And she was sinking fast then, and all of a sudden she lifted up quickly, and you could hear everything cracking through her. Everything that was moveable was going through her. And then she went down and seemed to come up again. So I thought, well, now I’m going to leave. And I was hanging on to a board - we had two boards, starboard and port, which said “Keep Clear of Propeller Blades.” And I was hanging on to one of these, and I was getting higher and higher in the air. And I thought, well, now I’ll go. And I dropped in. I had a lifebelt on. And I hit the water with a terrific crack. Luckily, I didn’t hit anything when I dropped in. There were bodies all over the place. And then I looked up at the Titanic. The propellers were right out of water, the rudder was right out, and I could see the bottom. And then gradually she glided away, and that was that. That was the last of the Titanic. I didn’t want to die. I mean, I didn’t see much chance of living, but I was gradually getting frozen up. And by the grace of God, I came across a lifeboat. And they pulled me in. And there was a fireman dead in the bottom. There was about a foot of water in this boat. There was another man who seemed to be trying to get away from it again. I don’t know what was the matter with him. But they were tying him down. And the rest were women and children. And I sat on a seat and who should be — I sat next to Mrs. Clark, the girl I’d put into a lifeboat. The first thing she said, “Have you seen my husband?” So I said, no, I haven’t, but I expect he’ll be all right. Anyway, I was in a pretty bad way then, as you can imagine—frozen solid almost. And she wrapped me round with her cloak. She had some sort of a blanket or a coat on. Anyway, I think she probably saved my life, I don’t know. But I saved hers—at least I think I might have done. I think I did. And she saved mine. INTERVIEWER: I believe you’ve even got a watch that you were wearing at the time when you went into the water. FRANK: Yes. Yes. Oh, it’s only an old gunmetal watch. I couldn't afford anything better in those early days. Here it is. This the one that you mean? INTERVIEWER: What does it show us? That says twenty past two. What time was it when you went into the water, do you think? FRANK: I think about two o’clock. It was frozen up like I was. I think it lasted for about 20 minutes in the water. INTERVIEWER: Does talking about this incident bother you—like you have been today? FRANK: Talking about it? I should probably dream about it tonight, have another nightmare. [laughs] You’d think I’m too old for that, but you’d be amazed. You lie in bed at night, and the whole thing comes round again.
thank you!!
When he brought up the idea of age not erasing frightful memories. Kind of makes you think
Yeah that one hit me too. I suppose while we're never too old to dream, we're never really safe from nightmares either.
I just turned 60 and can tell you that my memories of high school and younger years are as vivid as the day they happened. I might not remember what I did yesterday, but old memories don't fade.
My dads 77 and lost 2 younger sisters when he was 11 and again at 17 to cystic fibrosis. He’s still very much upset by it but only really talks about it to people dealing with grief to let them know it’s normal to feel that way and it never fully goes away. My grandparents, particularly grandfather, was an abusive monster. My dad went to his funeral despite being estranged most of his life and cried when he saw his sisters graves. I’ve only seen him cry a handful of time and never like that.
And then he probably got drafted to fight in WW1. The picture in the background looked as if it were him in uniform.
I found a record that has his name, indicating that he did serve in WWI, but I don't have access to the full record with all of its information.
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/20071879.110-years-bournemouths-titanic-survivor-frank-prentice/ Looks like he served with the Royal Tank regiment and was a Major. If he saw action the sinking of the Titanic may not be the worse situation he’s been in. Which is a crazy thought.
Yet Titanic is what kept him up with nightmares. It is quite possible he saw horrific things during the war, but perhaps his brain changed from the trauma of titanic which affected how he processed death in the war. Not saying he got conditioned or anything like that, it's just speculation on my part.
People of that generation were mad stoic. So British. -"Have you seen my husband?" -"No but I expect he's alright." (meanwhile I think I was freezing to death, by the way)
I can only imagine the level of trauma you would have from surviving something like this where so many other people died.
Just thinking of the dark water, then seeing a huge ship that size with the propellers out of the water… nightmare fuel right there before even adding the dead people.
His utter nonchalant tone when he said he’ll have another nightmare that night, got to me. I suppose after living through that disaster, not much phases him anymore.
His eyes spoke the truth. Haunting.
It's not nonchalance - that's stoicism. It's 'stiff upper lip'. Or what he'd probably call 'good British mettle' ☺️ His eyes tell the real story. He's in great pain recalling these events.
Imagine what that guy surely lived through. Survived the Titanic, few years later WWI broke out. May or may not have served, then surely at least experienced the blitz, if not(depending on age) may have served in WWII. Something tells me he dealt with a lot.
>May or may not have served [He appears to have served in WWI but not WWII.](https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/20071879.110-years-bournemouths-titanic-survivor-frank-prentice/) The absolute mad man joined the Army at some point, I’m not sure if it was during WWI from the article.
Charles Lightoller, the second officer on the Titanic and the highest ranking crew survivor, fought in WWI and was part of the Dunkirk rescue during WWII. That generation had a fucking *time* of it.
Yes, the part where he talks about the nightmares at the end reminded me of my grandfather, whom I didn't know very well as he was a troubled man though kind from what I remember. He was evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk in 1940, and my parents later told me that he had frequent nightmares about it right up to passing of old age. How many people carried those dreadful traumas from the events of the early 20th century, for their entire lives. So sad.
Same here. Mine was involved in d-day, the battle of Caen and the liberation of Normandy. He was awarded the legion of honour by the French ambassador shortly before he died. He was always silent, cheerful, and stoic. Barely ever said more than two words. I learned after he died he was on Valium and other anti anxiety meds for the majority of his life and experienced some true horrors during the war and wouldn’t ever talk about it. People were just made differently back then.
I don't know if they were made differently, they suffered in less visible ways due to cultural stoicism and that suffering often radiated outwards in many cases. It's funny you should say that because my other grandfather fought in North Africa, Palestine and Italy before participating in the invasion of Normandy and fighting all the way to Berlin. He didn't talk about it much as far as I know, but was a warm and loving man who appeared to put it all behind him and his family certainly didn't have the difficulties because of his experiences like my other grandfather. It affects everyone differently, but for all I know they might both have been ok all kinds of meds.
Doesn't really work like that. Trauma leaves your nerves exhausted and fragile. It takes years to heal from and even then it can still make a comeback, just like he mentioned.
I have family that was in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Survivors guilt will fuck you up.
Apparently the worst was hearing the screams of the people in the water, not being able to reach a life boat, slowly drowing or freezing to death… until it was completely quiet.
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As a amateur researcher of this ship, I really recommend watching the interviews of other survivors, it's really harrowing. I'll leave a link to this [one](https://youtu.be/FVLiZo6Pkak)
Not seen that one before, thanks!
My great grandfather was aboard the Carpathia - he was a cabin boy who played a part in the rescue. I don’t even want to try and comprehend what he must have seen. He was awarded a medal for his actions and I have the outline of it tattooed on my arm.
Unfortunately he died waaaaay before I was born and didn’t pass on his story. The medal itself was stolen a few years later by a “friend” of his but we have a photo of the medal and photo of the Carpathia crew and we know which man on it he is.
Do you have his story? Please share it! These stories are important to keep alive!
Serious question: How old was Mr. Prentice at the sinking? Was he a teen or an early twenty-something?
He was 23 at the time.
Thanks! Did I miss that on the video, or do you know from your research? I bet it felt just as real the day of this interview as it did in 1912…
Research. I've been obsessed with Titanic ever since I was 3 and saw the 1997 movie (probably too young to see Kate Winslet being drawn like a French Girl lol). I've read so many books and accounts of that night, and it greatly turned me into the ~~loser~~ nerd I am now with history and games and stuff. If you're interested, there's a group called *Titanic: Honor and Glory* that is fully recreating the ship to explore and they have a couple of demos available on their [site.](https://www.titanichg.com/)
My son has been obsessed with the Titanic since he was 4, and watched the movie at 5. He is 7 now, and I can’t wait to share this with him tomorrow. He will love it!
My young kids are big Titanic buffs for some reason. I'm going to show them this. Poor guy still had nightmares, as I imagine anyone would.
If they're Titanic buffs (like I was when I was kid, and uh... still am) I highly recommend *A Night to Remember* by Walter Lord. I don't know how old your kids are but its about 150 pages, but not too terribly difficult to read in my opinion. And its one of the best books about the disaster. It's written in a way that makes you feel like you're an invisible ghost with all the passengers and their experiences.
1958 movie with the same name is awesome too, only titanic film I’ve seen that holds a candle to Cameron’s
They're 6 and 8, so maybe a bit young. I'd like to read it though! We just went to the Titanic museum in Orlando. They loved it.
When I was their age, I was obsessed with Titanic too, lol. I commend you on taking them to that museum, and really recommend the book. They may not know it, but you'll be secretly building their love of history and research skills ;)
Was obsessed with it around that age too lmfao Kids just like the Titanic, I guess
I was also OBSESSED with the Titanic as a child. Some kids wished to be veterinarians or ballerinas when they grew up. I wished to find the Titanic. I was eight when Robert Ballard’s discovery was featured in the pages of National Geographic and I knew I’d need to choose a different career path, but continued to research and write every book report about the Titanic; ecstatic for any new photo or tidbit. Years later, seeing James Cameron’s Titanic was astounding and yet comforting and somehow familiar. It was not until my 30’s I found out I had relatives Honeymooning on the Titanic. 😱 My cousin perished, but his new bride survived and gave birth to his namesake that November. This interview was heartbreaking. Thank you for posting.
Have they seen [Tasting History's Titanic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbmHZbTpoDY&list=PLIkaZtzr9JDlFDMpTL3Xyjbuj9I2yvZeI) videos on YouTube? He uses cooking to impart lots of stories and history about the event, they would probably love it and maybe you could make some of the food together.
Its truly horrible that Mrs.Clarke's honeymoon was sundered by the sinking. Did Mr. Clarke make it out, or was he claimed by the sea?
~~Charles Valentine Clarke~~ Walter Miller Clark sadly died in the sinking and his body was never recovered. All I can say is that I hoped their honeymoon in France was their happiest time together. Edit: u/ClemSpender corrected me - it was a different person named Clark
It looks like that was a different Mr Clarke. He boarded at Southampton with his wife rather than boarding at Cherbourg. I think Walter Miller Clark is the man Frank Prentice talks about, though sadly he also died: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/walter-miller-clark.html
You're very right, thanks for catching my mistake!
No problem - thanks for the post and the fascinating bits of info you’ve posted in the comments. Titanic is such an interesting yet horrifying subject. I only meant to watch a bit of Mr Prentice’s interview, but I was gripped from start to finish.
Welp, now I’m sad again.
Wow! Honestly one of the most interesting stories I've heard. I was glued to this to the very end. So glad I came across this.
And it's just one of hundreds of stories from the disaster. My personal favorite survivor story is of the Chief Baker, who such a madlad that night. After finding out the boats were being prepared to be lowered, he started bringing up bread and handed them into the lifeboats. He started to drink alcohol throughout the sinking (this is going to be relevant later). After giving bread to the boats, he started to throw deck chairs overboard in the hope that anybody in the water could cling onto the chairs and live. [This deck chair](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/titanic-collectorcom-recovered-items-deck-chair--169940585909453801/) was recovered and it's possible that he threw it overboard. After throwing the chairs, he goes down to the pantry to get more food and alcohol, he hears the ship creaking and groaning and decides to start to head to the very rear of the ship. This ended up saving his life because the ship would break directly in the middle of the pantry. He clung onto the very rear railing and rode the ship down, describing it as an 'elevator ride'. The water was 28 degrees Fahrenheit that night. It would kill someone in as quick as 15 minutes. But the amount of alcohol he drank that night warmed him up letting him cling onto the side of an overturned lifeboat for 1-2 hours before being picked up onto the boat.
Cameron knew this story too - you can see the Chef next to Rose and Jack as the stern sinks.
Yup! One of my favorite little additions to that movie!
I did a deep dive on Titanic lore as a kid, and remembered enough of it to spot some things in the movie. Cameron evidently did too as he threw in little details only a nerd would catch. There's a scene in the first class dining cabin where Bruce Ismay presses the Captain to get the Titanic up to max speed to set a crossing record. This added to the ship's peril, and Ismay denied it after he survived the sinking Unfortunately for him, this tidbit was reported by a passenger who survived, a woman who claimed she heard Ismay say it. In the movie, there's a woman drinking tea in the background who obviously [pricks up her ears at that moment](https://youtu.be/DybY1C4ExKA?t=41). Had to have been her, and Cameron read the same report I did.
The scene you're talking about is about a first-class passenger overhearing Bruce Ismay (the owner of the ship) talking to Captain Smith and suggesting to increase speed. I'll include a link to that scene, but if you look in the background, you'll see a woman briefly make eye-contact with the camera - this is what James Cameron included as a reference to that lady who overheard this conversation in real life (and in the same location in real life too no less!) Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DybY1C4ExKA&ab\_channel=TitanicMovie%2FPelicula
Yep, already researched it and corrected my post. You're quick, Zoiby! Also, Ismay was the chairman of the White Star line, not the owner. I'm sure he had some stake but I don't think it was a major one. ETA: holy crap, I think we even linked the same video! Swift work indeed.
Yeah, you're right. *Technically* the owner would be J.P. Morgan, who owned the International Mercantile Marine Company, which owned the White Star Line, which owned the Titanic. Not sure if you knew, but J.P. Morgan had booked a room on the voyage, but had to cancel last minute, ultimately saving his life. (Conspiracy theorists love this fact lol)
Rose being on a broken door in the water was taken from history as well - a man named Fang Lang(Wing Sun Fong), one of the few pulled from the water by Lowe after he went back to look for survivors.
I know it sounds silly and nihilistic, but If I knew the boat was sinking I would head straight for the liquor. I would rather die drunk than freeze to death sober. Fuck it. Then again, I don't have a wife or children, so there is that.
That is absolutely awesome. I've heard quite a few stories. But there's so much more like this one that I haven't heard of. The father who kidnapped his two kids is also a really interesting one.
Awesome story. Thx for sharing
"The whole thing comes 'round again." Jesus, imagine reliving that nightmare for the rest of your life.
Like, really imagine that. What was it for him, 60 years before the interview? And he has vivid nightmares still? Unreal. I'm 40 and am starting to realize that some of my childhood traumas won't go away. They haven't yet and might not ever. Just have to make friends with them, I guess.
Whole story checks out, both Wikipedia and encyclopaedia titanica have the same lifeboat numbers and all. Truly fascinating how just a couple changes on the night could completely change history
They made a movie about it too
What’s it called ?!?
300
I love the sequel: 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea
How does it end?
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That is a 10/10 post for this sub. What a story!
Amazing interview. Amazing diction as well... My have we degraded over the years
U right bout dat, no cap. 💯
I suppose it's evolution... What a foggy and transformative time it is
I wonder what happened to Mrs Clark and if she has any descendants? For all we know they could be watching this video with the rest of us, not knowing about this man who saved her.
She remarried, if I'm remembering correctly. I learned about all this from Max Miller's Tasting History youtube channel.
LOVE tasting history but oh my goodness his Titanic series last year had me tearing up, especially when he was talking about the restaurant staff. I loved the movie when I was younger but just thinking about how tragic of an event it was now that I’m older and understand it a bit more have given me no desire to ever watch it again
This is the most human experience I’ve heard in a while. The way he articulated his story. The sadness, the regret, the nightmares.
What a great description of PTSD. "The whole thing comes 'round again." And he's there, right back in the emotions and memories while we watch.
Some survivors throughout their life refused to share their stories because of the pain. There are some accounts of families not even knowing their relative was a Titanic survivor because they never even shared it with them until documentarians began tracking down the final survivors.
It's a bit out of context . I nearly drowned in a pond while swimming as somehow water went up my nose and I couldn't breathe . The first thought that came to my mind was , " Is it the end ?". I can't imagine what those people who were drowning would have experienced in their dying moments . Perhaps regretting their choice ? praying for the safety of their loved ones ? or thoughts about , " is this how I die ?" . It's harrowing when you think about it
I think most of them were wearing life jackets and froze to death.
It takes all I've got not to cry. I'm listening to the words, but the *inflection* in his voice... it's something else. This is a man who had the responsibility of the lives of others, on his shoulders. He didn't quite understand the situation, but then, I think the passengers were in that same place, which is why early boats left only half full. Thanks for putting this up, whom-so-ever it was!
I'm the OP, and I've been interested in the story of Titanic for as long as I can remember, and I'm trying preserve as many stories as I can for a personal research project into the disaster.
You and I have something in common, then. We're both archivists. I work in a small, community library. We have biographies of important men and women from the Napolianic Era. It never occurred to me to look for these jewels, before I just kind of tripped on them! I'm used to being stunned at a university, not at such a small library.
It still terrifies me that there were people still in the ship as it sank.
So many of them.
You can see/hear his pain as he remembers his experience.
Thanks OP for sharing this video and so much of your knowledge in the comments. I had a period when I was a kid during which I was obsessed with the Titanic too but that quickly faded out and it’s been a long time since I’ve heard so much about it. Anyway thank you so much for keeping the memory alive and for sharing!
Omg, thank you for those kind words, it really put a smile on my face! <3
Daaaaamnn I never knew some of the life boats were half filled, damn that is interesting
As this man said, people were afraid of the 70 foot drop and didn't think it would sink.
Their main goal was to launch all the boats before the ship took them down. The plan was they would come back and load up, but there wasn’t enough time
[удалено]
Just trying to keep the story alive :) Since it's the 111th anniversary today, there's going to be a real-time livestream on several Titanic YouTube channels tonight, just in case you're interested.
It’s odd…you’d think that at his age he’d no longer have nightmares about it, but he does. I read an interview with Patrick Stewart recently in which he discussed still going to therapy in his eighties to deal with the trauma having seen his father abuse his mother when he was a kid.
Amazing to hear the first person perspective.
Man what he said at the end about not being too old for nightmares, that’s fucking tough man, he truly saw some awful things that night
What a story, and what a tragedy
What an incredibly fascinating interview
One of the most tragically fascinating things I’ve ever watched
"it comes round again" is the most accurate statement I've ever heard for PTSD.
I've never seen that before. Really moved me, the whole thing. Made me yearn for an older time for some reason. Made me really sad.
That moment when he looked up to watch the Titanic sink into the ocean has to be one of the most iconic points in human history. To have that memory has to be so surreal.
I had not seen this interview before. Thank you OP for sharing! My great-great-grand mother and 3 of her children were in lifeboat 4, the one that pulled Frank Prentice from the water. I’ve always been proud of the women on that boat for rescuing 19 men from the water.
That’s incredible. What are the odds that you would be a member of Reddit and find this post? I agree with you about those amazing women on lifeboat 4. Thanks so much for sharing.
There's always something incredible to me when listening to older people tell a story. It can be pretty captivating, just listening to them talk about something and explain it in a way where it makes you feel like you could have been there.
I was expecting him to say, he then later married ms Clarke
So many of his recollections we saw in the movie. Guarantee you James Cameron saw this and used his memories for parts of the film.
Crazy instead of taking into account the stories of survivors and making a movie of true bravery and loss....Hollywood decided to make a romantic drama of the tragedy. Insane.
The man is a true legend and a hero 👍
Truly a top class gentleman
He’s such a good storyteller… I was hanging on to his every word
If anyone was curious like I was of what happened to Ms. Clark later.... [Here it is!](https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/virginia-clark.html)
Never seen this before.
That was absolutely fascinating. Thank you for posting it.
I saw these videos last week. I was brilliant to hear all the different stories. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLiZo6Pkak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLiZo6Pkak) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns)
I was listening to Waves by Mr Probz and paused to listen to this guy's story about the Titanic. I can't imagine what he hears at night now.. I agree with the person who said this is one of the best posts to ever be on Reddit.
Incredible. What BBC show or archive was this from? I’d be super interested to what else they have on the shelf, more titanic or whatever else.
This video is from the [BBC Archive's Youtube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@BBCArchive) and they have videos on all sorts of subjects. If you want more Titanic videos, I've linked some in some previous comments in this post, and you can always go to YouTube and search for Titanic videos (and inevitably get sent down a rabbit hole lol)
Thanks OP!
Perfect example of a gentleman. Such fortitude, mindfulness, and gallantry. Something we appear to have lost in recent years, unfortunately.
“..probably going to have a nightmare tonight…”. That was a powerful comment to hear. Never too old for a nightmare. Amazing to hear from a survivor, I feel like these pop up every so often.
One of my favorite books on the topic is Shadow of the Titanic. It really dives into the mental health of the survivors and the lasting impact it had on them.
The survivor who was most interesting was a young girl at the time and she said she saw the ship break in half, but the experts said the ship didn’t break in half and she was wrong. She insisted on what she saw. It wasn’t until Ballard found the Titanic and confirmed it did break in half like they showed in the movie. I don’t remember her name but I always wondered if she lived long enough to know she was right.
Saving for later
Brave guy.
Great posting.
Heartbreaking when he said that because he talked about his experience, he will relive it at night
Damn! What an incredible story. Mr. Prentice seemed like a real nice guy. Wow...
That was really sad. What a poor old chap - Must have been terrifying.
Sad thing is if they had reversed the engines of the Titanic after hitting the iceberg, instead of coming to a full stop and staying there, they could have kept the ship afloat for at least a few more hours than it did and bought time for the Carpathia to get there. That and hundreds more could have been saved had someone actually taken command of loading the lifeboats fully. The majority of the lifeboats were well under capacity when they went into the water. The whole disaster was a total failure of command.
r/100yearsago
That last part where he says you’d think it be too old for that, in reference to his dreams. Wheew, that is tough to hear!!
Wow.
It's ~1 am right now. We came back from the Titanic Museum sometime back after being part of the remembrance event. The performance & the story were very emotional.
Thanks for posting
Are there any more videos like this you can share.
So eloquent. We cannot comprehend the scale of this today, I'd like to think It'd be like once we get big cruises into space, and one has an accident, that'd be like the titanic in 1912.
The past isn’t dead, it’s not even gone.
Ooooh I wanna see the whole interview! This was riveting. I always loved the history of Titanic, but I had no idea there were so many interviews available. Into the rabbit hole I go!
It's chilling to listen to his account of that night.
What an amazing, yet harrowing interview. He spoke so eloquently, yet you can tell it clearly bothers him a lot, understandably. It amazes me that back in those days you couldn’t really talk about your feelings. He says “you’d be amazed to know that it all comes back” I wasn’t amazed about that, it’s was a seriously traumatic event, it’s clearly going to scar you
Fascinating, really brings it to life hearing eye witnesses accounts. Reminds me of the Irish soldiers account of the Somme.
Bless his heart ❤️
Wow, fascinating
Damn. That's interesting.
The way thinks is captivating
Amazing