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... She made immediate plans to return to America after receiving the bad news. She booked passage on the first ship to America, which happened to be the Titanic (web). She boarded in Cherbourg, France and considered herself lucky and was put in a stateroom on B deck for $ 130.
By Thursday evening Brown was well aquatinted with Colonel Archibald Gracie, who would later throw her into a lifeboat unwittingly. On the night of the collision, Brown had stayed up to finish reading a book as she was an avid reader. When the Titanic struck the iceberg, she was thrown to the ground and went to see what happened (Garrison 137, 141). Once she realized that lifeboats were being loaded, she used her knowledge of other languages to try to get passengers who did not speak English to the boats. At one point she persuaded a Belgian woman to get into a lifeboat instead of going below for her valuables.
As she was walking away to see what was going on elsewhere, she was picked up and dropped four feet into Lifeboat Six. However, there were not enough seamen in the boat so Major Arthur Peuchen joined them. At 1: 30 AM Lifeboat Six began to row away from the doomed Titanic with ten empty seats (Lynch 110). There were four men in boat six: Major Arthur Peuchen, third class passenger Philip Zenni, Lookout Frederick Fleet, who spotted the iceberg, and Quartermaster Robert Hitchens, who was in charge of the boat.
Peuchen was really too old to be of any use; Hitchens was too cowardly to be helpful; Zenni was half frozen and brokenly spoke English, and Fleet was a lookout, not an oarsman. However, over the frightful danger of the situation the spirit of this woman [Brown] soared (Caplan 111). Under the leadership of Brown, the women of the boat wrapped Zenni in a shawl and put him at an oar to warm him, took oars themselves, and began to row away from the doomed ship of dreams. Hitchens was scared and had begun to tell them all how the suction from the ship sinking was going to pull them back down into the sea. He said that if they were lucky enough to survive that they would perish because they had no food, water, maps, or a compass. Brown frankly told him, Keep it to yourself, if you feel that way.
For the sake of these women and children, be a man. We have a smooth sea and a fighting chance. Be a man (Caplan 112). Needless to say, Hitchens did not cause anymore problems (Caplan 110 - 112).
Brown and another of the women saw the Carpithia and forced Hitchens to row to it. Once on the Carpithia, Brown formed a committee to look after the destitute and to thank the crew and members of the Carpithia for their heroic behavior (Caplan 133). Upon leaving the Carpithia in New York, Mrs. Brown was surrounded by reporters and was asked to what she attributed her survival. "Typical Brown luck, " she replied, "We " re unsinkable. " In Denver, her estranged husband, JJ Brown, was heard to comment that she was too mean to sink. The Titanic turned Molly into a crusader for the survivors, and she asked the Denver Women's Club to petition Congress for maritime reform. The unwritten law of the sea, which declared women and children first, was tragically immoral said Molly, pointing to the hundreds of destitute widows and children left behind by the Titanic's sinking.
She pointed out that while their husbands went down to practically painless deaths they were left to suffer living deaths. In 1914 Molly tried unsuccessfully to run for the US Senate. She became a member of the National Women's Party and spoke to President Coolidge seeking his approval of the Equal Rights Amendment and was known as a fervent suffragette. On September 5, 1922, at his daughter's home in Hempstead, New York, JJ Brown died after suffering a series of heart attacks. JJ and Molly had not lived as husband and wife for many years. Unfortunately, JJ died without a will and it took five years of fighting between Molly and her two children to finally settle the estate.
Due to their lavish spending JJ left an estate of only $ 238, 000. Molly received $ 20, 000 in cash and securities, and the interest on a $ 100, 000 trust fund set up in her name. Her children received the rest. From that time until her death, Molly had no contact with her children.
By 1930, Molly's health had begun to deteriorate. She became a lonely woman living in her past glories. On October 26, 1932, Molly suffered a number of strokes and died, alone, in her less than palatial hotel room. She died almost penniless. After a small funeral, Molly was buried, next to JJ in Long Island, New York at the Holy Rood Cemetery.
She was 65 at the time of her death (web). Lawrence Beesley was a thirty-four year old science teacher at Dulwich College in London. He was on vacation and boarded the Titanic in Southampton. He stated that there was not much excitement on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but that did not mean the days were filled with boredom (Garrison 45, 54). He said that: "Each night the sun sank right in our eyes along the sea, making an undulating glittering pathway, a golden track charted on the surface of the ocean which our ship followed unswervingly until the sun dipped below the edge of the horizon, and the pathway ran ahead of us faster than we could steam and slipped over the edge of the skyline - as if the sun had been a golden ball and had wound up its thread of gold too quickly for us to follow" (web On Sunday evening about one hundred people gathered in the second class dining salon for hymns and singing led by Reverend Carter. Ironically enough, many of the hymns dealt with the danger of the sea (Lynch 77).
Beesley then went to his room to read and felt two jars at about 11: 15 PM. He emerged but found that nothing looked serious so he went back to his room to continue reading. A little later he heard people outside his room and went out again to see what was happening. He noticed a downward list from the stern to the bow and went to put on warmer clothes. He heard a call for all men to step back and ladies to go to B deck so they could begin to load boats. He was on the port side and a rumor ran among the men that the starboard side was letting men into boats.
Many of the men left and went to the starboard side but Beesley stayed where he was. Below him a sailor called for any more ladies and when he got no response he told Beesley to jump in the boat. He hopped over the rail and into Lifeboat Thirteen. While they were being lowered, there was a mix-up and Lifeboat Fourteen almost came down on top of them. Luckily, one of the stokers was able to cut the ropes and at about 1 AM Lifeboat Thirteen floated away as Lifeboat Fourteen landed where it had been ten seconds earlier. From the open sea they looked on as the Titanic sank deeper into the ocean and was finally engulfed by the icy water (Caplan 175 - 183).
It was not until the next morning at 8: 30 AM that the last survivors had been brought onto the Carpithia. Once aboard the Carpithia, those rescued were given blankets and hot food (Garrison 179). There was not much extra room aboard so the first few nights Beesley had to sleep on towels and was eventually moved to an actual bed. Meanwhile, rumors were running rapid about ice warnings.
Beesley asked one of the officers if Titanic had received ice warnings. When the officer told him it was true, Beesley said he felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness to learn that the collision had been avoidable (Lynch 163). After his rescue, Beesley wrote a successful book about his experience, The Loss of the Titanic. He died on February 14, 1967, at the age of 89 (web 1. html). White Star Line officials repeatedly stated that no distinction was made between first, second, and third class passengers when it came to loading the lifeboats.
However, the class-conscious, Anglo-Saxon racism that persisted in society at the time had its own effect. The social concepts of wealth with privilege still existed in all layers of society. The Titanic represented a small part of what was taking place in society. If one were graced with wealth, along with that came the "right of privilege. " The poor and lower classes were shut out from the advantages that the rest of society enjoyed (http: //www.
exempt. com/~reva / html 3 c 5. htm). For this reason, there is not much information on Anna McGowan.
She was a fifteen year old native of County Mayo, Ireland. McGowan was traveling to Chicago with her aunt, Katherine McGowan, to meet Katherine's sister. They boarded in Queenstown as third class passengers. While aboard the ship, McGowan became friends with Anna Kate Kelly, who had been visiting County Mayo and was also going to Chicago.
McGowan and Kelley survived but Katherine was lost. When they reached New York, McGowan and Kelly spent several days at St. Vincent's Hospital. The two survivors then left in nightgowns, old shoes, and second hand coats for Chicago.
Once in Chicago, the city helped raise money to help them get on their feet (web co. uk / educed /sites / phone /). There was a great deal of ineptitude on behalf of the crew when it came to dealing with the Third Class and how they were going to ascend to the upper decks. Those passengers who did not speak English were left to fend for themselves as the ship started to sink.
Another major problem for the third class was the lack of, or the non-existence of, communication from the Bridge. Titanic did not have a public address system or phones throughout the ship. The crew in third class were expected to handle whatever came up on their own. No lifeboat drill had been given to them. Needless to say, confusion reigned. Some gates were open and others were not.
Even if steerage did get to the next deck they were not assured of getting through to the next passage. Some passengers were sent back by White Star employees to the last area they had just left. Some crew members allowed only the women and children through while at other areas no one was admitted. Some staunch, by-the-book White Star crew members were waiting for directions from the Bridge before allowing third class passengers admittance to the upper decks. It never came.
The orders, if they came at all, were sent down to the lower decks after most of the lifeboats with less than capacity had left. By that time the fate of these people was sealed. They were basically left to fend for themselves. Some managed to save themselves, but most just milled around helplessly in their quarters-ignored, neglected, forgotten. In his book, Colonel Archibald Gracie recalled his surprise and outrage when he saw scores of women and children surging up from below, just before the end. Until that moment Gracie was sure the women and children were all off-they were so hard to find when the last boats were loading.
Neither the chance to be chivalrous nor the fruits of chivalry seemed to go with a third class passage. Near the end, some third class passengers were seen kneeling and praying while clutching their children in horror while in another area of third class a lone woman sat at the piano in the Steerage Dining Room, holding her two small children to her breast, singing an Irish lullaby as the water began to swirl around them. The White Star Line came up with numerous reasons as to why these statistics went against third class passengers. One official claimed they just did not want to leave the ship, and another stated that they stayed in their rooms and refused to come out. At the British inquiry, crew member after crew member stated that there was no discrimination against third class passengers. However, no third class passengers were asked to testify.
If the White Star Line was indifferent to the steerage, so was everybody else. No one seemed to care about third class-neither the Press, the official Inquiries nor even the third class passengers themselves. The U. S. Congress only had three witnesses who were third class passengers. Two of these people testified that they were kept from going to the boat deck until most, if not all, of the lifeboats had left.
However, no action was taken regarding these claims. They fell on deaf ears. Again, the facts do not suggest any deliberate conspiracy against third class passengers it was just that no one was interested in what they had to say. Their comments, opinions and concerns had no value. Even the third class passengers themselves, accustomed to being treated as inferiors, were not bothered. They expected class distinction as a part of life.
Thus on the Titanic it seemed normal to many of them to wait until the first class passengers had gotten into their lifeboats. Many were satisfied just to be able to come up to the boat deck. It was not until they realized that there were no boats for most of them that anger and panic occurred (web ~reva / html 3 c 5. htm). The world did change that night of April 15 th.
Never would it seem as safe, never would the rich have it so good. Human-kind would never be so sure of themselves or assume that God could be outwitted. The sea still ruled; nature could still take control, and the world would be reminded once again that we are all one. Titanic was a warning. A warning to not push the limits of natural law to the breaking point. For when natural law is pushed too far, disaster happens, and 1, 500 people, all innocent and defenseless, ended their lives involuntarily floating in the North Atlantic, lifeless, frozen, and dead.
Even innocence could not save Titanic's passengers and crew. However, their deaths did not go unnoticed. Society still remembers them over eighty-five years later. It is the blood of the innocent that wake a man to action. May we never have to awaken to the plight of our world in such a horrifying way again. Bibliography: Bibliography Caplan, Bruce M.
Ed. The Sinking of the Titanic. Seattle: Hara Publishing, 1996. Encyclopedia Titanic 14 July 1998... Garrison, Webb. A Treasury of Titanic Tales.
Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998. Hyslop, Forsyth, et al. Titanic Voices. New York: St. Martins Press, 1997. Kuntz, Tom.
The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation. New York: Pocket Books, 1998. Lynch, Donald. Titanic: An Illustrated History. New York: Madison Press Books, 1992. Molly Brown House Museum 20 June 1998.
Denver Online Development... Sad, Jim. Jims Titanic Site. 31 Dec. 1998 Spignesi, Stephen. The Complete Titanic: From the Ships Earliest Blueprints to the Epic Film. Seacaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1998. Wangemann, Garth W.
Titanic: The Search for Answers. 15 Jan. 1999. Wilson, Nic. Home Page. 14 Jan. 1999.
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