Alice Cleaver

Alice Catherine Cleaver was born on July 5, 1889 in St. Pancras, London to Joseph Cleaver and Lavina Alice Cleaver. When she became a teenager, she went to work as a made for several English families before becoming the maid/nurse for the wealthy Montreal family, Hudson and Bess Allison and their children, Lorraine and Trevor. In 1912, the Allison family were going back home on the Titanic taking Alice along with them. On April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck ice. Hudson went out to see what was going on. While Mr. Allison was gone, Mrs. Allison broke into hysterics. SHe either left with Trevor and got the servant and cook for the Allison family in 2nd class, or Hudson returned with the rest of the party and they got separated. She then went into Boat No. 11, assuming that the rest of the Allison family would do the same. Unfortunately, they didn't. No one knows what happened next. Either they went looking for Alice and Trevor, or they waited too long to get into a boat. Lorraine was the only child in 1st Class to die on the Titanic. The servant and cook from the Allison family along with Alice didn't realize that the Allison family except for the precious child that she was holding didn't survive, until the next day on the rescue ship Carpathia. Trevor was returned to the Allison family after they arrived in New York. All of them went up to Montreal where they recovered from the disaster, and then the servant, cook, and Alice was returned to England. To avoid the reporters, she went under the name of Jean. She was disgraced later by false reports. There were stories that she murdered her own baby before she met the Allisons, but that was mistaken identity with another woman named Alice Mary Cleaver. It was also said, that she ran away from the Allisons on the sinking ship in hysterics although that can not be proved. Alice returned to England, and married Edward James Williams and had two daughters. She died on November 1, 1984 in Hampshire, England.


In a letter, Alice Cleaver Williams wrote this letter to Titanic author, Walter Lord:

"I was acting as a nurse to the two children of Mr and Mrs Allison. Having taken the position two weeks before we sailed as their own nurse decided not to go at the last moment -Lorraine was 3 years old at the time and Trevor 10 months.There is not much I can tell you in a letter. I had some difficulty in persuading Mr.Allison to get up and go to see what had happened after the crash, which they did not hear at all and thought it was my imagination. Some long time after the engines had stopped he decided to go and find out the trouble.

While he was away I was warned we would have to leave the ship, so prepared the children and Mrs.Allison - but she became hysterical and I had to calm her. About that time an officer came round to close the cabins and advised us to go on deck - here met Mr.Allison outside the cabin but he seemed too dazed to speak. I handed him some brandy and asked him to look after Mrs.Allison and Lorraine and I would keep Baby, the child I managed to get off the ship, some confusion occurred outside as to which deck we should go and that is how he came separated, afterwards I learned from one of the staff that Mrs.Allison was hysterical again and that Mr.Allison had difficulty with her and I can only surmise that is how they lost their lives - as there was plenty of room in the lifeboats because people refused to leave thinking it was safer on the ship."

The Refuge of Few

(Here's an example of what it would have looked like)

Click HERE to see footage from the 1997 video on what happened to Collapsibles A and B

Collapsible A was one of the collapsible lifeboats that was on top of the Officer's Quarters towards the bow just behind the Bridge on the Starboard side. It was in fact, one of the 4 lifeboats that weren't supposed to be there but since it was the outdated rule that a steamer of 10,000 tons and over should carry 16 lifeboats. However, the rule didn't change and the steam ships got bigger. The Titanic was so big, that with the addition of 4 Collapsibles, the was only enough for half. Collapsibles A and B were placed on the roof of the Officer's Quarters to provide more room for the passengers on the Boat Deck. The reason it was called a collapsible lifeboat, was because half of the sides were actual wood while the other half could be raised because it was made of canvas. The Titanic struck an iceberg of April 14, 1912. The damage was so great, that it began to sink. All the lifeboats were lowered and the water was creeping closer to the boat deck. Officers Murdoch and Moody worked and freed Collapsible A from the roof using oars as a ramp (since they were there to ease the passengers and no one thought that they would be taken down). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl50X86kgMU reached the Boat Deck, but the crewmen started to put the lifeboat on the davits. Then, the Titanic surged downward causing Collapsible A to drift off. After a cutting the ropes, it drifted away. The side canvases were not drawn up, so the rushing sea swamped the lifeboat half full of water. Just as Collapsible A clears the Titanic, the forward funnel collapsed and caused the dozen people rough seas. Famed tennis player R. Norris Williams gave his account, of what happened in his experience. He said that he and his father were swimming towards Collapsible A when the forward funnel collapsed, killing his father and narrowly missing him. He was on the side of A for several minutes until he was able to be pulled aboard. The water was 28-29 degrees F, so not many people survived. Out of the dozen men, few survived. It was in fact, the lifeboat with the fewest survivors. One thing that helped R. Norris Williams from dying of exposure like most of his companions, was his now waterlogged fur coat. Later, 5th Officer Lowe picked up those that were left and left three bodies in the boat. It then set out alone, to be picked up a few weeks later by the Oceanic with the bodies still in there. One was identified as Thompson Beatie. The others were unrecognizable and didn't have any identity on them. Nothing is currently known about what happened to Collapsible A nor the other lifeboats after they were returned to England and disappeared.

In Memory of a Titanic Explorer

Ralph B. White award winning cinematographer and Titanic explorer, died on February 4, 2008. He was with Dr. Robert Ballard when he discovered the wreck in 1985 and he was in the IMAX movie Titanica, where they went down and recovered artifacts. He also went down to the wreck when an expedition was sent by the History Channel to figure out how the Titanic broke in two. In searching for more evidence, he went down to the sister ship Britannic for comparisons (which by the way, Simon Mills owner of the Britannic is making arrangements to open it up for an underwater museum). He has made 35 dives in all to the Titanic. In 1996, he helped with the lighting on the submersibles when James Cameron went down to the wreck for his movie (which led James Cameron to be able to go deeper into the ship than anyone and explore the Reception Room on D Deck). He also did many other things at sea like swim with sharks, dive in the Arctic to a 153 year old wreck, and did a search for the Loch Ness Monster. According to his wishes, Ralph White was cremated and his ashes were taken to space and scattered to all 7 continents.

Know Your Stuff! 5

Q. Who survived the Titanic and 4 other predicaments before dying of Renal Failure?

A. R. Norris Williams

B. Joseph Bruce Ismay

C. Gus Cohen

D. Helen Bishop


Q. What school teacher wrote a famous account of his experiences on the Titanic?

A. Annie Funk

B. William T. Stead

C. Charles Lightoller

D. Lawrence Beesely


Q. What was the first recognizable thing seen that identified the last resting place of the Titanic?

A. Boiler

B. China

C. Bell

D. Railing


Q. What man that died on the Titanic was supposed to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery?

A. John Jacob Astor

B. Archibald Butt

C. Benjamin Guggenheim

D. Isador Strauss


Q. What type of car was on the Titanic?

A. Ford Model T

B. French Renault

C. Hupp-Yeats

D. Mercer

(The answer is in the post, "Titanic Automobile")


Q. Who was the only man that was colored (black) on board the Titanic?

A. Shine

B. Fredrick Douglas

C. Joseph Laroche

D. Martin King


Q. Who wrote the electrifying account of the Titanic in a book called "A Night To Remember"?

A. Archibald Gracie

B. Lawrence Beesely

C. Walter Lord

D. Stanley Lord

(Answer these questions by clicking on the links provided)

Millvina Dean Sells Mail Bag And Receives It Back

The auction in Devizes, Wiltshire, featured memorabilia belonging to 97-year-old Millvina Dean. She was lowered to safety from the deck of the sinking cruise liner as a two-month-old baby. Ms Dean faces monthly bills of £3,000 at her Southampton nursing home and sold a canvas bag from her rescue which raised £1,500. The bag was used to carry her belongings back to England from New York after she, her mother and two-year-old brother were rescued. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told BBC News: "There's a really nice story to this. A young man from London bought it, paid the money and then told us he wanted it returned to Ms Dean." Ms Dean's father perished in the icy waters of the north Atlantic, one of 1,517 to die when the ship sank in 1912. Also included in the sale at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers was a flask another passenger on the ill-fated ship used to give hot milk to his wife and two daughters. This lot sold for £37,500. The provenance states the man shinned down the rope of a rescue boat to hand over the flask, before returning to the deck and perishing as the ship went down. A chunky key to a door on the ship's E deck was sold for just under £60,000 - and was the most expensive item sold. A letter from a Henry Wilde on Titanic notepaper went for £27,000, and another by passenger Adolf Saalfeld, reached almost £28,000. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said the sale had gone well. "We had several hundred people in the sale room and interest in the auction was very good, as is the case with our Titanic auctions. "Overall, we've raised a very substantial sum."

(This article is from BBC News)

(This act of kindness I really like and if the man that did this act is reading this, I say God Bless).

Anne Isham

Anne Elizabeth Isham was born on January 25, 1862 in Cook County, Illinois. Her father was Edward Isham and her mother was Frances Burch Isham. She had two brothers named Pierrepont and Edward Jr. along with a sister, Frances named after her mother. Edward Sr. had a law firm with Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln and major general of General Grant during the Civil War. She was a bashful girl and woman. She began living abroad at the age of 41, and lived her older sister Frances in Paris, France. She was in Cherbourg, France now at the age of 50 when she boarded the Titanic bound for home in America. There is a legend that she brought a Great Dane which she had raised since it was a pup and used for companionship. However, that was started by Marty Crisp when she wrote "White Star: A Dog on the Titanic" and is not true. She knew the Ryersons of Philadelphia, who were returning to America to attend their son's funeral. However, we don't know whether or not they met. Mrs. Ryerson stayed in her cabin most of the voyage and went out only once. Mr. Ryerson died when the Titanic sank, so we can't tell whether or not they met. She also had a cabin (C-49) next to Archibald Gracie although he claimed to have never seen her during the voyage. She died during the sinking, and her body was never recovered. No one knows how she died. It's possible that she was never woken up and locked in when the cabins were locked by the stewards to prevent burglars. There is a memorial erected by her relatives in her honor, in Vermont.

97 Anniversary

Today is the 97th Anniversary of the Titanic's last day. According to my clock now, it's around 9:00 P.M. By now, some passengers would have retired to bed while the men in 1st class would have gone to the smoking room playing cards, smoking, drinking brandy, and talking about politics. In 2nd class, men would have been doing the same or in their cabins. Lawrence Beasely was reading in his cabin. In 3rd class, there would have been some dancing, music, and men would have played cards while smoking. The women probably would have sat on the benches talking while the children were dancing and playing. There is one account that says that a mouse ran across the floor which caused the women to scream and stand on the benches while the boys tried to catch it. At 11:40 P.M., Fredrick Fleet (a survivor) spotted an iceberg directly in the Titanic's path. He rang the bell and called the bridge. 6th officer James Moody (who perished) answered the phone and relayed the report to 1st officer Murdoch (who also perished), in charge of the bridge during that time. The ship tried to swing towards port and just as it looked like Titanic would clear it, it struck putting holes in the 6 compartments when it could only take damage to 4 compartments. This meant that the weight of the water would drag the Titanic down, spilling into the next compartment. After they realized the ship was doomed, they ordered the boats swung out. All the boats except for two were lowered. The two collapsibles on top of the officer's quarters. The water swept up as the boats came crashing down on the deck. Collapsible B was overturned and A was swamped. These two boats would save around 25-30. Soon after, the 1st funnel fell on men including the richest man on the ship, John Jacob Astor. After that, the heart of the ship, the Grand Staircase flooded. This was at 2:10 A.M. The 2nd funnel disappears underwater later to fall. The stern rose up, and then the lights went out, flickered, and went out for all eternity. The stern detached between the 3rd and 4th funnel and fell back almost even. The bow still a little attached to the stern, pulled the stern under. The stern was almost perpendicular like a finger pointing to heaven. Then, the stern very slowly disappeared from sight at 2:20 A.M. leaving 1,500 people in pitched dark and in the icy 28 degree waters. 705 people were in the lifeboats listening to the horrific cries as people died and only one came back 20 minutes later to save only 4 people.

Molly Brown Mansion

(Let me just say that I've never visited the Brown home, but I want to. All this information is by research in books and from the internet.)

The Brown Home was built in the 1889 by William Lange and commissioned by Isaac and Mary Large when people began moving west. It is in an important area of Denver, at Capitol Hill neighborhood. It is at 1340 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now, please keep in mind that this is in Denver and not Washington D.C. It is Victorian Style, and is 7,500 square feet. As seen above, the house's exterior is composed of stone and wood with wooden Victorian/Gothic style touches and statues of lions. The inside has beautiful features. It has copper ceilings, statues, and grand chandeliers. It had also oak paneling that was very elaborate, hand woven carpets, elegant stained glass windows, gilt on the grand piano, marble fireplaces, a polar bear carpet, even silver dollars cemented in the floor. After she died in 1932, the home was sold to another owner and then, recent owners learned that it was owned by the very famous Molly Brown who survived the Titanic, ran for the U.S. Senate, and did very much for charity. So, they turned it into a museum where it is open today for tours. The house is claimed to be haunted, with Mr. Brown's tobacco being smelt in the living room, a figure being seen in a bedroom, and other mysterious things happening. If you're ever in Denver, Colorado, please visit it.

Rebuild Titanic?

There are plans to rebuild the Titanic, in a non-profit organization to help needy and sick children. It will be called the S.S. Titan. Their goal is to honor those that died on board and to help those today. I support this idea, all the way through. It is at least better than those plans to build a Titanic on dry land in Finland, just to put a hotel, shopping center, and restaurant inside, and doesn't have the slightest pity for the 1500 souls that died. This ship would be a masterpiece, if built. I really hope that it does. So far, all plans to rebuild the Titanic have failed.

Titanic Coins

Here is a 1912 penny. Although there were no commemoration coins from 1912 to the Titanic, they are still placed with pictures and have a sort of connections to the Titanic.


This is a commemorative coin from the Caicos Islands and is worth 20 crowns. It is from 1998 and has Queen Elizabeth II.


This coin was from the Gilbert Islands near Australia. It is minted in 1998, and it is quite beautiful.


This coin is a Canadian Maple Leaf, and is made up of .9999 in silver. It is from 1998 and is worth 5 dollars there. The Titanic is located just beneath the Maple Leaf, and the estimates of coins minted, are about 26,000.


This one is less popular since it just recently came out, in 2005. It is from Liberia, and is to commemorate the 2000 expedition. It is worth 10 dollars there, and has a lion on the back. Inaccurately depicted, is the hole made by the iceberg looking like a gash not realizing that the hole(s) made by the iceberg never came out of the water, and that there were many holes along the side.


The coin above is from Somalia, and is quite collectible. It is made up of .999 silver, and is worth 5 dollars. They were only produced in 1998. Only 200 were produced in silver, and there are more that are made up of gold/bronze and cupro/nickel. The Somalia is the most famous and distributed Titanic coin today.

(Although I wish I do, I don't have any of these coins. I am a coin collector, and thought that this might interest those such as I who like coins and the Titanic. You can buy these on places like ebay.)