Titanic: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Greatest Shipwreck by National Geographic

Author:National Geographic [Sweeney, Michael S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, History
ISBN: 9781426209796
Publisher: National Geographic
Published: 2012-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

The coal strike that changed Andrew’s life also brought Third Class passenger Marion Meanwell to Titanic. Her manifest, recovered from the wreck, has the ship name Majestic crossed out. Like Andrew, she got rerouted.

She found Titanic’s Third Class magnificent. “Nothing but a pleasant voyage is anticipated,” she wrote.

Indeed, Third Class rooms were clean and comfortable. For some of the poorer families, dinners of mutton, fish, and boiled potatoes eclipsed anything they had eaten.

The 712 Third Class passengers boarded at E Deck. They hailed from not only from Britain and America, but also Italy, Germany, the Middle East, and other founts of immigration. Single men and married couples and families had berths in the forward section, while single women lived aft. Married couples and families had their own rooms. Single men and women in groups of three to five shared common rooms. One amenity was decidedly lacking: Third Class had only two bathtubs, both in the stern. It was not an oversight; many low-income people viewed bathing as unhealthy, an attitude that only reinforced the upper classes’ desire for maintaining their strict physical separation.

Like many in Third Class, Marion Meanwell sought a new life in America. She passed herself off as a widow. In fact, she had a husband and children but could not afford a divorce. Nor did she desire one, as Victorian society deemed it a sign of moral failure. Calling herself a widow avoided awkward questions. When her son-in-law in America died, Meanwell, a hatmaker, decided at age 63 to leave England to help her daughter raise Meanwell’s grandchildren.

Meanwell did not survive. RMS Titanic, Inc. discovered her alligator bag in 2000. Among its contents were family papers, a tin box, a baggage insurance certificate indicating she had checked two trunks, a boarding card with her name, and a landlord’s letter confirming she had been a good tenant.

Fourteen of Titanic’s Third Class passengers came from Addergoole Parish, a lovely corner of Ireland marked by pasture, heath, and bog. Most were young women, and all knew each other. Author Pauline Barrett, a relative of one of the 14, published their history in The Addergoole Titanic Story in 2010.

Eleven of the 14 died when Titanic sank, likely causing their parish to suffer greater loss, proportionately, than any other place. The dead included newlyweds John and Catherine Bourke, and John’s sister Mary. They had planned to visit Catherine’s sister in Chicago.

Stewards roused aft Third Class passengers after the collision, but when Annie Kate Kelly of Addergoole investigated she found no danger.

A jerk of the ship and a siren reawakened concern. Passengers were told to dress but not told why.

John Bourke and Kelly’s cousin, Patrick Canavan, began rounding up steerage passengers and moving toward the Boat Deck. A steward guided a frightened Kelly to Lifeboat No. 16. There, Catherine Bourke refused to leave her husband’s side to enter, allowing Kelly to take her seat. Once in the lifeboat, Kelly looked up to see Canavan at the rail, blessing her with his rosary.

Addergoole’s Kelly, Annie McGowan, and Delia McDermott survived.

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