Titanic Survivor Accounts

Titanic Survivors: What They Saw

Titanic Survivors: What they Saw 2

(Above is the accounts of Joseph Boxhall, Eva Hart, Ruth Becker, and Edith Haisman)

Ruth Becker account

Marjorie Newell Account

Millvina Dean Story

Survivors on the "A Night To Remember Set"

Above in "A Night To Remember Set", the people seen are Lawrence Beasely, Edith Russell, Edmund Navatril, and Frank Goldsmith. The others, I can't identify.

Survivor's Voices

Edith Russell Account

Survivor Accounts

Charles Lightoller Account

The Colored Family

There was a distinction on the Titanic, and the men and women of color were considered of lower standards during that time in England and France. However, that was not the case with the Laroche Family.

Joseph Phillipe Lemercier Laroche was born on May 26, 1885 in Haiti. His uncle was the president of the country, and that put him in a prominent state. He left in 1901 however, and went to Beauvais, France for school at age 15. Joseph got an engineering degree and married Juliette Lafargue in 1908. Together, they had a daughter named Simmone in 1909, and another daughter named Louise in 1910. Even though Joseph spoke French and English very well and had an engineering degree, his skin color porevented him from getting work. They weren't doing well, and were living in the basement of his father in law, who was a wine seller. Juliette got pregnant again in March of 1912, and decided to return to Haiti rather live on the charity of his father in law. Joseph's mother got them tickets on the LaFrance and paid 50,000 dollars for a parlor suite, but the coal strike made them transfer to the Titanic in 2nd class. Even though they were in 2nd class, they were allowed to eat with the 1st class passengers, and enjoy the 1st class luxuries. You can imagine the racial discrimination about him and his family, and they could have been alone the entire time, not knowing or getting to know anybody. At dinner, Kate Buss said that the children would run about before dinner. She described them as, "like Jap(anese) children". What probably also raised many eyebrows, was the Black man married to the olive colored woman. They enjoyed themselves though. The Titanic struck an iceberg on the evening of April 14, 1912 and was mortally wounded. The family was all all asleep when there came a knock at the door. Mr. Laroche answered the door, and was told that he and his family were to put on their lifejackets and go up on deck. Since this story was told as not to cause panic, they all did as the steward said and didn't worry about a thing. The men were not allowed into the lifeboats, so Joseph stayed behind while Juliette, Simmone, and Louise were put into possibly Boat No. 14. Unfortunately, Joseph died in the sinking. Mrs. Laroche and the children went back to France where she had a boy that she named, Joseph Jr. The family barely were surviving until sometime after WWI, when the White Star Line gave her 150,000 francs for her loses of items and clothing, and also pittance for the loss of her husband. The man that gave them this was Alexandre Millerand, an advocate of the White Star Line, and future president of France. She used some of the money to open a fabric dyeing place, and they did well. They kept in contact with fellow survivor, Edith Russell until her death. Juliette never remarried, and died at the age of 91 on January 10, 1980. Simmone die at the age of 64 on August 8, 1973. Louise later commemorated a plaque in 1995 at Cherbourg, next to the Normadic which the ship that carried them to the Titanic. It is the last White Star Line ship still to exist. Louise died in 1998. The family's story remained forgotten until 2000, when experts were able to piece together what happened. This was due to the family not wanting to talk about the disaster. I can't find out anything about Joseph Jr., but if he's alive, he could technically count as a survivor, although in the womb, he was still on the Titanic. The Laroche grandchildren don't talk about the sinking. Even though they never witnessed it, they don't talk about what their parents or grandparents had said about the disaster.

The Author of a Legend

Walter Lord was born on October 8, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1939, he graduated from Princeton University and tried to get into Yale, but he joined the army after Pearl Harbor. He was made a code clerk in London, and graduated from Yale with a degree in law after WWII ended. Lord wrote 13 bestselling books. They were Day of Infamy, Incredible Victory, A Time to Stand, Peary to the Pole, Good years from 1900 to the First World War, The Past that would not Die, his greatest work A Night to Remember, and The Night Lives On. From what I know, Walter Lord after writing A Time to Stand about The Alamo, he actually discovered the long lost flag from the battle in the Mexican archives. While writing about A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On about the Titanic, he tracked down 63 living survivors in order to get their stories of the sinking and afterward. In 1958, William McQuitty decided to do a movie using A Night to Remember's name and facts. It tells the story minute-by-minute through the eyes of Kenneth More playing 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller, and going through the bravery of Thomas Andrews, Captain Smith, the true story of Ismay, the Strausses, and many others. The sets were built using the original blueprints and designs, and they had survivors including Lawrence Beasely, and Edith Russell. It remains to this day as the most accurate movie today. Walter Lord acted as technical adviser along side with survivor 4th Officer Joseph Boxhall. Walter Lord became known also for is vast collection in things that survivors from the Titanic had given him, and original pictures. Among those things was a musical toy pig from Edith Russell that she played in the lifeboat in order to comfort the children. In 1997, after years of speaking and signing autographs, he helped James Cameron in his movie, Titanic. Walter Lord died on May 19, 2002 at the age of 84 after battling Parkinsons for years. He was buried in a family plot in Green Mountain Cemetery.

Edith Russell

Edith on the set of the A Night to Remember set

Edith Louis Rosenbaum Russell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 12, 1879. She was a fashion writer, consultant, importer, buyer and stylist Edith Louise Rousen began her career abroad as a saleswoman in 1908 for the Maison Cheruit in the Place Vendome in Paris. Soon, she wrote for the magazine, La Derniere Heure a Paris which was published by Wanamaker Department Store’s Paris bureau and became a sketch artist for the Butterick Pattern Service.

In 1910, Edith was chief foreign correspondent to Women's Wear Daily, sending out weekly fashion marketing reports and occasional collection news to New York from the publication's Paris branch.

In 1912, Edith was operating a successful buying and consulting service based in Paris and designing her own popular retail line of clothes, called ”Elrose,” for Lord & Taylor in New York.

Meanwhile, Edith had created a name for herself as the first professional fashion stylist. The people she did largely entertainment celebrities included Broadway comedienne Ina Claire, Folies Bergere showgirl Mistinguett, and opera diva Geraldine Farrar.

Apart from her eventful public career, Edith had a notable and private life. In 1911 she was seriously injured in an automobile accident in France while driving with friends to attend the races at Deauville. The crash proved fatal for her fiance Ludwig Loewe, a wealthy German gun manufacturer.

Edith boarded the TITANIC to return to America. She was a bit on edge and didn't allow anyone to enter her room.

Edith later said this in an interview about the night of April 14:
"...In the library. The steward has just called out 11.30 'Lights out' so I gave him a few letters to post in the morning, told him I'd pay for the stamps, picked up a book and walked forward to my stateroom, which was on the same deck, A11.
As I got in my stateroom I switched on the electric light and I noticed a slight jar followed immediately by a second one and a third one which was quite strong enough to make me hold on to the bed post.
The boat came to a full stop. I walked forward to my window and saw a greyish white mass drifting by, was very much surprised and decided to take my fur coat and go out on deck to see what was all about. Well, I got out on deck I noticed a gentleman standing by the rail and several people and again, this greyish mass. I said "What on earth is that?" "That? Well, madam, thats an iceberg." "iceberg? I've always wanted to see one of those things since I was a child." "Well you're seeing a corker now. Theres 1/8th above the water and 7/8ths below and believe me, that's some iceberg." So, after that, we picked up bits of ice, played snowballs for a little while. It was very very cold, I asked one of the officers if there was any danger, he said "no" and I went back to bed."
Before she left, she locked all 19 trunks and then double checked. She got to the Boat Deck but then returned to her cabin to get her lucky pig which she had acquired in Paris. She got into Boat No. 6. After the TITANIC sank, she wound the pig's tail and it played music to drown out the cries of those in the water. It was used as entertainment for the children while awaiting rescue. Edith later filed two of the largest damage claims against the ship's owners, the first for financial loss of her merchandise importations and the other for personal injury.

Edith was American press attache to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Francaise between 1914 and 1919. She also served as war correspondent for the “New York Herald” in 1916-17. In 1918 she changed her name to Russell owing to the French fashion industry's boycotting of German-name merchants and other people like that.

In 1923 Russell received a meritorious service award from the Associated Dress Industries of America and in 1925 was recognized for her work during World War I by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

Throughout the 1920s Edith Russell contributed fashion and society news to such magazines as “Cassell’s” in London and “Moda“ in Rome. Though semi-retired from her import business by 1934, she continued traveling, lecturing, and writing.

Her adventures during the next several years included dancing with Mussolini at a dinner party and breeding dogs for Maurice Chevalier. She also made life-long friends with the young British actor Peter Lawford and his parents and spent much time with them at their home in Palm Beach. She was later a godmother to Lawford’s children with the former Patricia Kennedy.

By the mid-1940s Edith Russell, whom had lived in New York and in Paris’ Champs Elysees, made her permanent home in London at Claridge’s and later at the Embassy House Hotel.

In 1953 Edith Russell was invited by Twentieth Century Fox Studios to attend the New York premiere of the film "TITANIC," starring Barbara Stanwyk, Clifton Webb, and Robert Wagner. She was interviewed by “Life” magazine during her stay in America and also met with historian Walter Lord who included her story in his best-selling book “A Night to Remember,” published in 1956.

Russell afterwards served as a technical adviser to producer William MacQuitty on his 1958 film adaptation of Lord’s book. She was portrayed in the movie as well and attended the premiere as MacQuitty‘s guest of honor.

She made the rounds of the press during the later 1950s and throughout the 60s, telling her account of the TITANIC sinking in numerous interviews in newspapers and magazines and on television and radio. The majority of her TV and radio appearances were with the BBC. She generally brought along her legendary musical pig which she played for audiences. She was made an honorary member of the Titanic Historical Society in 1963.

Until the mid 1960s Russell traveled frequently from London to Florence, Italy where she visited her long-time friend, Jeanne Sacerdote, formerly known as the couturiere "Jenny."

Despite her advanced age and physical frailty, Russell remained active and outspoken in her last years. She attended fund-raisers, gave luncheons and teas for visiting friends, tried unsuccessfully to interest publishers in her memoirs, and continued to be interviewed by reporters about the “Titanic.”

On 4 April 1975 Edith Russell died at the Mary Abbott Hospital in London, following a ten day illness. She was 96. (Some excerpts are from Encyclopedia Titanica).

In a dedication to Edith from her husband, he said this:

To Edith
Dedication of Autobiography

Through the long years
I sought peace
I found ecstasy, I found anguish,
I found madness,
I found loneliness,
I found the solitary pain
that gnaws the heart,
But peace I did not find.

Now, old & near my end,
I have known you,
And, knowing you,
I have found both ecstasy & peace
I know rest
After so many lonely years.
I know what life & love may be.
Now, if I sleep
I shall sleep fulfilled.

Bertrand Russell