Irish Aboard Titanic (32 page)

(Westmeath Independent,
27 April 1912)

Miss Bertha Mulvihill of Coosan, Athlone, one of the survivors of the
Titanic
, has sent a letter to her sister, written on board the
Carpathia
, in the course of which she relates her experiences and how she was saved: ‘I had a prayer-book, a watch and a little money in my pocket,' she says. ‘But all the rest went down. I never saw such a sight as when the
Titanic
struck the iceberg.

‘She broke in two. The scene was awful. The picture I had of Robert Emmet has gone down with the ship … I had an oar in the small boat and it warmed me and kept me from sticking to the ship.'

Miss Mulvihill intends coming back to Ireland in the autumn.

(
The Cork Examiner
, 4 May 1912)

Grim humour: another survivor and her patriot picture

It went down and she said ‘good-bye Robert'

Miss Bertha Mulvehill [
sic
], one of the survivors of the
Titanic
disaster, has written to her sister at Coosan. Her letter – written on board the
Carpathia
– betrays the grimmest of humour. The text of the letter is as follows:

On board the Cunard RMS
Carpathia

Dear Maud

Experience is great … I am fine and dandy – never better. What time did you hear of the dreadful disaster?

I AM SO GLAD I WAS IN IT. I shall never forget it. We are just in New York. Having a jolly time. Don't worry. How is father? Nothing like a bit of life. Don't worry for me. I am O.K. We lost 2,472 passengers and saved 710. I was a hero to the last. We were picked up after eight hours by a ship bound for Naples, everyone was very good to us, and then transferred to the
Carpathia
. The passengers on the
Carpathia
gave us clothes. I had a prayer-book, a watch and a little money in my pocket. All the rest lost. I never saw such a sight as when the dear old
Titanic
sank. She broke in two pieces. The scene was awful … Don't think me mad for being so happy to witness the sight … I am with a jolly crowd in this old ship [the
Carpathia
] … I am awfully happy – like the night I was born – never felt happier in my life. I have nothing to worry … I can imagine, mother dear, that when you heard the news you felt for your lost daughter, but she is the safest one you have got. I shall be a millionaire when I arrive in New York. I shall go back this summer, it may be on my honeymoon, but let's keep that quiet. My watch was saved, but a picture I had of Robert Emmet has gone down. ‘Good-bye Robert', said I as the ship went down. Poor lad, he was drowned. Sarah Curran, I am sure, felt terribly sorry at being left alone … Pray for me, I am so happy; console all my friends. There is no place like the sea … I am writing this in a hurry, for I want my supper … The little Summerhill girl went down, unless she is picked up by another ship that we don't know of … we struck the iceberg at ten minutes to twelve and the ship sank at two. We were launched in small boats at one … I am a d--il or an angel – I don't know which … Tell Pat I had his pen in my petticoats, and that it gave me fifty sticks in my legs …

(
Westmeath Independent
, 4 May 1912)

Bertha undoubtedly appears to be in clinical shock and trauma from the above letter, even confabulating a double transfer to a Naples ship and then onto the
Carpathia
. In fact, the
Carpathia
was bound for Naples.

Report of the American Red Cross (Titanic Disaster) 191
3:

No. 322. (Irish.) Girl, 22 years of age, returning from a visit to relatives, suffered very severely from shock and exposure, and it is feared, may be permanently disabled. She lost clothing and jewellery valued at $665 and $140 in cash. Relatives are unable to give financial assistance. ($950)

Niece Maura Fox, who was born on 1 December 1911, to Bertha's sister Kitty, maintained that Bertha's trip home to Ireland was to tell her parents that she intended to marry Henry Noon. Maura adds that Bertha chose to return on the
Titanic
having heard about the maiden voyage of such an impressive ship:

She just had to be on that ship. She was very adventurous. She jumped onto a lifeboat and landed awkwardly and then someone jumped on her back. In latter years Bertha suffered from back pain because of the injury picked up on that night.

She jumped off the ship wearing an old frieze coat over her nightdress and with a sock on her head. She also clung to a tattered damp bible which she had recently been given by my father.

It also appears the picture of Robert Emmet had been acquired having seen a play about the dashing Irish rebel during her trip home, performed by an amateur cast that included many family friends of the Mulvihills.

Bertha filed the following schedule of losses as part of a class action in the US District Court:

One trunk, new – $15; One suit case, new – $12; One leather hand bag and one mesh bag – $30; One case of photographs and portraits – $30; Two costumes, tailor made suits – $70; Four dresses – $65; Two hats – $45; Eight sets of underwear, crocheted and embroidered – $100; Sundries, shoes, stockings, gloves, umbrellas, hatpins – $150; Jewellery, diamond pin, lockets, bracelets, two rings, brooches – $200; Two toilet sets – $35; One manicure set, sterling silver – $70; Baskets and linen – $150; Sofa pillow – $40; Table linen – $25; Books – $15; Albums – $10; Cut glass, butter dishes, fruit dishes, etc. – $100; Silver ware – $75; Four suit lengths – $65; Souvenirs – $100; Weather guide, barometer – $5; Crocheted collars – $45; Irish linen waists – $50; Pieces of hand embroidery – $100; Money in hand bag $140; Two brass candlesticks – $12; Amethyst Rosary beads – $10; Other small articles, valuable papers and receipts. Total $1,774.

Bertha married her sweetheart, Henry Noon, a master welder with Brown & Sharpe, a short time after the tragedy. They had a daughter, Helen, who died four days before Christmas 1928 at the age of just nine. Four other children lived to adulthood.

Interviewed in 1956 on the forty-fourth anniversary of the sinking Bertha declared: ‘I don't know where they get all that women and children first business. I never saw it! I'll tell you what I saw. I saw a mother and her five children standing there on that ship. When the ship split in half, I saw the mother and five children drown.'

In 1958, she refused an all-expenses-paid trip to England offered by the production unit of the movie
A Night to Remember
, pleading that her memories were too painful.

Bertha died from cancer at the age of 73 in North Providence on 15 October 1959. The following obituary appeared two days later:

Mrs Noon, formerly of 28 Windham Ave, lost her trousseau when the
Titanic
hit an iceberg and sank in 1912.

A resident of the Mt Pleasant section most of the last 33 years, she came to this country from Ireland at an early age and later became engaged to Henry F. Noon of Providence. Before the marriage, she returned aboard the Lusitania to County Athlone [
sic
] for a last visit with her parents and relatives. During the nine months' visit, she collected hand-stitched Irish linens and laces for the trousseau, and a chiffon gown for the wedding, and carefully packed them for the return voyage.

When the ship hit the iceberg, the girl, a steerage passenger, rushed up on deck and never gave a thought to the trousseau. She managed to get in one of the last lifeboats with 75 other survivors, and suffered several broken ribs in the crush. She wore shoes on bare feet, a coat over her nightgown and, as she waited for rescue, used her prayer book. The only other article she saved was a watch, a gift of her fiancé, which she had pinned to her nightgown.

Mrs Noon died Thursday at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital after a short illness. Mr Noon died about thirteen years ago.

Margaret Murphy (24) Saved

Kate Murphy (17) Saved

Joint ticket number 367230. Paid £15 10s.

Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.

From: Fostragh, County Longford.

Destination: 2238 Fairhill Street, Philadelphia.

Maggie Jane and Kate were sisters who ran away from home to join the
Titanic
. Margaret told of an emotional last kiss with her male companion, who pledged he would see her soon.

Locked in steerage: Irish girl's terrible story

A terrible story of women and children locked in the steerage of the sinking
Titanic
is told by Miss Margaret J. Murphy of Foster [
sic
], County Longford, who, with her sister, Miss Katherine Murphy, was saved from the wreck.

Interviewed by a representative of the New York American at the residence of their sister, Miss J. Toomey, the Bronx, Miss Murphy stated –

‘Before all the steerage passengers had even a chance of their lives, the
Titanic
's sailors fastened the doors and companionways leading up from the Third-Class section. That meant certain death to all who remained below.

‘And while the sailors were beating back the steerage passengers, lifeboats were putting away, some of them not half-filled.'

A Brave Irish Youth

Having related how a brave young Irishman, John Kiernan, who was lost, gave her his lifebelt, she said –

‘A crowd of men were trying to get up to a higher deck and were fighting the sailors; all striking and scuffling and swearing. Women and some children were there praying and crying.

‘Then the sailors fastened down the hatchways leading to the Third-Class section. They said they wanted to keep the air down there so the vessel would stay up longer. It meant all hope was gone for those still down there.'

John Kiernan, she said, helped her into the boat and said ‘Good-bye' – as he had said it a hundred times before at the door of her father's store. She knew he did not intend to get in himself, but the sailors drove him away. She added –

‘Just as the davits were being swung outward, a Chinaman pushed a woman out of the boat and took her place. Sailors grabbed him and handed him back to the deck. Then someone shot him and his body tumbled into the water. It was terrible.'

(Irish Independent
,
9 May 1912)

This report, with its ‘Brave Irish Youth' headline was raised during the British inquiry by counsel for the Third-Class passengers. But inquiry chairman Lord Mersey ruled it out of order.

The Murphy sisters are reported to have saved the life of their fellow Longford passenger Thomas McCormack after their boat had been lowered and he swam to its side to beg to be taken aboard. This is his tribute:

Girls saved youth

Thomas McCormick [
sic
], nineteen years old, of No. 36 West Twentieth Street, Bayonne, N.J., who was a passenger on the
Titanic
, and is a patient in St Vincent's Hospital, this city, suffering from exposure, says that his life was saved by two sisters, Kate and Mary Murphy, who picked him up from the water, dragging him into a lifeboat and sitting on him after sailors manning the boat had struck him on the head and tried to drive him from clinging to the sides of the boat.

(
New York Herald,
22 April 1912)

A week later, the same newspaper reported on the Murphy links with the Kiernans:

Eloping girl tells story

Perhaps the most interesting story was that told by Miss Margaret Murphy, a pretty girl with rosy cheeks and Irish blue eyes, who left her home in Fostra, County Longford, unknown to her parents and relatives, with the intention of marrying here John Kiernan, a neighbour, who was in her party.

When the critical moment on shipboard came, Kiernan gave up his life for her when he surrendered his lifebelt to her and saw her safely into a lifeboat. She said:

‘The night before the little group in our village was to leave to go aboard the
Titanic,
together with several other young women and men, I slipped away from my home, carrying all the clothes that I could, and went to the Kiernan home, where a farewell party was being held. At that time, I had promised to wait at home until Mr Kiernan would come to this country and make a place. Then I was going to join him. But the thought of being separated from him was too much for me and I decided to run away from home.

‘At the Kiernan house I was received kindly, as we were all neighbours. At the first opportunity I told Mr Kiernan of my purpose. He reluctantly agreed. He was twenty-five years old and I am nineteen.

‘When we heard the
Titanic
was doomed, we left our berths and rushed on deck. I saw boat after boat being loaded with passengers while I stood trembling at the side of Mr Kiernan. He tried to cheer me, and the truth of the matter is that I never thought for a moment that the steamship was going down.

‘When both of us realized it was sinking, Mr Kiernan took a lifebelt off himself for me and assisted me in one of the last lifeboats. We kissed each other goodbye and he promised to see me soon.'

Miss Murphy could not restrain herself longer and she told this story and broke into tears. When she regained her composure she said:

‘I saw the poor fellow go down with the
Titanic
soon afterward, and I felt mighty mean to know that I had a lifebelt around me which might have saved poor John.'

Miss Murphy is here at the home of her sister at No. 3649 Olinville Avenue, the Bronx.

From
The Irish Post
, 11 May 1912:

Longford girls' experiences: interview with their mother

Letters describing the disaster

The house where the Murphys were born is a thatched farm house approached by a narrow lane from the main road, leading to Aughnacliffe and about a mile and a half from the village. Mrs Murphy, the mother of the girls, a comparatively young woman, with hair turning grey, produced the letters written by her daughters, to our representative.