The unsinkable Margaret Brown/Heroes of the Titanic

[Resetting]

I watched Titanic last night with my ds, and realised that coincidentally the sank in the early hours of tonight/tomorrow.

I decided to do some reading about Margaret Brown, and wow was she some kind of woman, I hadn't realised just how amazing she was.

She was enrolled in the National Women’s Suffrage Association and took an interest in politics, pre Titanic.

She helped load lifeboats, and wouldn't get in herself, until what they thought was full capacity on lifeboat 6, was reached.

She taught the other women on her lifeboat how to row, to help them keep warm, and to keep their minds occupied/spirits up.

She attempted to get the lifeboat to turn back, as she realised it could hold a lot more people. The
Quartermaster in charge, thought it was a bad idea, and after several attempts to change his mind, she then threatened to throw him overboard.

When she boarded the Carpathia, she organised a survivor's committee of first class survivor's, to help second and third class passengers.

By the time the Carpathia had docked in New York, Browns committe had already raised $278,817 (in todays money) for desitute survivor's. She organised a thank you letter to the crew of the Carpathia, and would continue her work on the committee long after.

She ran for the senate, before women had the vote, but ended her campaign early, to work with the American Committee for Devastated France.

"Margaret used her new fame as a platform to talk about issues that deeply concerned her: labour rights, women's rights, education and literacy for children, and historic preservation. During World War I, she worked with the American Committee for Devastated France to help rebuild devastated areas behind the front line, and worked with wounded French and American soldiers (the Chateau of Blerancourt, a French-American museum outside of Paris, has a commemorative plaque that bears her name). In 1932 she was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her "overall good citizenship," which included helping organize the Alliance Francais, her ongoing work in raising funds forTitanicvictims and crew, her work with Judge Ben Lindsey on the Juvenile Court of Denver, and her relief efforts during World War I."

title edited by MNHQ at OP's request.

ImaginaryFriends oh that's so sad, I suppose many in that crowd, were unsure in that moment if their friend/loved one had survived or not?

I found this too, someone gathered together all the morse code transmittions they could find, to and from Titanic, from the time of the first CQD message (from 1.40 into the video), and turned them into streaming text.

Lots of the comments are interesting too.

Heartbreaking to think so many ships were racing to help, but were just too far away.

Without these morse code transmissions, God only knows what would have happened to the people on the lifeboats. Apparently the operators worked as long as they could, even after the captain had told them to stop.

There were so many true heroes that night, including those who gave their lives, to ensure the power stayed on as long as possible, to give light to the lifeboats being put off, and allow signals with the most current position, to be sent.

Wow. That was so interesting and sad. These messages

I've also just read that the Carpathia did everything possible, to get there in time. Her top speed was 14 knots, but that night, she managed 17 knots, as they pushed her into the red/danger zone. In the end, the engineers put their caps over the pressure gauges, so they wouldn't see how bad the boilers were getting/let it sway them.

Titanic exhibition in Belfast is excellent. It covers a lot of background about the life and times, and the social context of it being built. It is also very respectful.

*correction, Carpathia pushed to 19 knots, they put her under so much pressure that night, it was thought to have permanently (but not seriously) damaged her.

Wow. I had not known all this

Fascinating thread. We just watched Titanic again since we are in the zone. Reading up about it too.

The body of John George "Jack" Phillips, senior wireless operator wasn't found. Harold Bride, the junior operator, tore him away from the equipment at the last minute, and it's thought he made it up to the deck. Bride was swept into the water, but managed to cling to upturnedlifeboat Collapsible 'B', for hours.

Despite being injured (from his feet being in the water so long), when he boarded the Carpathia, after having his feet tended to, he went straight to the wireless room, to help the operator (a friend of his), transmit survivor lists and personal messages from the ship.

DD (Yr1) has been studying the Titanic this past term. She was very interested & we watched the James Cameron documentary a few weeks ago.
We are distantly related, by marriage, to the former Chairman of the White Star Line, J. Bruce Ismay who approved the reduction of the lifeboats from 48 to 16.