Miss Robertha Josephine "Bertha" Watt

Miss Robertha Josephine Watt, 12, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 11 September 1899, and was with her mother Bessie Watt on Titanic bound for Portland, Oregon where they were to join her architect father.

They were originally booked on the New York, but because of the coal strike were transferred to the Titanic.

Aboard the ship Bertha befriended an English girl, Marjorie Collyer.

They were rescued in lifeboat 9.

Twelve years old at the time, her most vivid memory was that she was roused from her sleep, and told to say her prayers because the Titanic was in trouble. She wrote about the experience as a student in 1917 for the Jefferson High School newspaper in which she claimed

"we heard many pistol shots, and could see people running hopelessly up and down the decks. Some in the lifeboat were crying. One or two were hysterical. There was nothing anyone could do. We just kept on going. We didn't row much, just enough to get far enough away from the suction. Then we puttered. We had just to drift around until dawn, occasionally flicking a gentleman's cigar lighter to let the other boats see where we were. The fellow at the tiller was an Irishman. Paddy had no authority, he was just a deckhand. He was wonderful, telling me about the stars. It was calm. I don't remember sloping around in the boat. There was nothing on the lifeboat but a keg of biscuits. No water, no liquor, no light. I don't know if the first class lifeboats had all the things they needed, but if anyone was sick or collapsed in our boat, there was nothing to revive them with. It showed the disorganization. We didn't find the rudder [sic] until we were out quite away. I had a nightie tucked into a pair of panties, and house slippers. Luckily, I had a fur lined coat. They lined them with squirrel bellies in those days, and it had a fur collar. They asked if anyone could row, and mother said she could. That's how she spent the time. Rowing or standing. A minister appeared out from under a seat. He must have gotten in before the the lifeboat even left the deck. He sat with his chin on his walking stick moaning on about all the years of sermons he lost. One woman all but turned and flew at him - "if you can give me back my husband and my son I'll pay you for your sermons." We didn't get aboard Carpathia until about 9 a.m. There was a rope ladder with a belt. My mother said, "go on, you can climb that. I went up without the belt." The captain roared down, "don't let anyone come up without a belt on."

She also recalled the sinking in an interview with the Vancouver Province, in which she spoke of her mother reassuring her that if this were a nice night on Loch Ness you'd just be out for a row, and telling her, "don't worry honey, you weren't born to be drowned, you were born to be hanged."

In 1923 Bertha Watt married a Vancouver doctor, Leslie Marshall, and moved to British Columbia, where she became a Canadian citizen. She and her husband had two sons, James and Robert.

One of her most valuable possessions was the Titanic's second class passenger list. "A day out or so, passengers were given booklets with the names of those in the same class," she said. "My mother had it in the pocket of her tweed coat. When we were picked up by the Carpathia the officers borrowed it to radio the names of the second class passengers to New York. "

Although she kept the list in a bank vault, it appears to have been stolen from her. It was not among her possessions when she died in Vancouver on 4 March 1993.

Documents
Newark Evening News, 17 April 1912, Two Survivors Were to Visit in Arlington

References
Alan Hustak (1999) Titanic: The Canadian Story. Véhicule Press. ISBN 1 55065 113 7
Vancouver Province, 17 May 1975, Down Went the Titanic, and the lights went out, row by row.
Jefferson High School newspaper

Contributors
Alan Hustak, Canada

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