Bertha Herring

[Colleen Raymond]

Hello, my name is Colleen, and I am trying to find out if someone was actually a passenger on the Titanic.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much background. The person in question was a neighbor when I was a child. Her (married) name was Bertha Herring. I really didn't know her at all, but my father knew her slightly, so I asked him what he remembered about the Titanic story.

Naturally, he had never actually interrogated her about it, but knew second-hand that she was (supposedly) a Titanic survivor. He recalled that he had read an article in the local newspaper in the 70s or so making reference to her survival of the disaster, but that really is no guarantee of truth.

According to him, she was about 3 years old when the Titanic sunk, and "no one knew who she was" immediately following the sinking. I believe she was English. My father also thought at one point she was an Atlantic City beauty queen. When we knew her (aprroximately 1975-1990s), she lived in Key West, Florida; I think she must have lived there for at least 20 years or so. She had a son named Charlie. I assume she has passed away by now, or I would say she's definitely not a survivor, since I don't recognize her at all of the very few remaining alive. At any rate she is no longer my father's neighbor in Key West.

I have been perusing the passenger list, but haven't found any Berthas who fit this description. Some of the passengers' information is very limited, so I was wondering if there might be anyone on these boards who recognizes any of this as a survivor's story. I know the information I have is sparse, so I'm not expecting much. This site just got me curious as to whether her story was actually true. I did read somewhere, maybe here, that if everyone who claimed to be on the Titanic actually was, the ship would've sunk at the harbor. So, I got to doubting her story. This seems to be the best place to inquire about it.

Sincerely,
Colleen Raymond

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Your doubts are probably very well founded. The names of the passengers and crew are pretty well established, even to the point of aliases being used by professional gamblers and people out for little romps with people of the opposite gender without the benefit of a marraige certificate.

Unfortunately, bogus Titanic passengers and crew are as thick as fleas. As it stands, if the individual is not listed s/he wasn't there.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Dave Gittins]

I think the Herring story sounds fishy!

 

[Denzor66]

Colleen,
I lived across the street from Bertha Herring in Key West. I got to know her pretty well and i can say she was a passenger on the Titanic. She and my mother were good friends, Bertha once showed my mom her ticket from the voyage as well as a tea/coffee cup that she had been given from the lady who held her that night when she was passed off. She was just a baby and did not have any recolection of the night the Titanic went down. She was taken to New York and somehow got adopted and given the name Bertha Herring from her adoptive parents. No one knew her real name, only that she did have family in America and they didn't want to have anything to do with her, so they put her up for adoption. I wish i knew more, but i told you everything i know. She was a sweet lady who kept to herself quite a bit. She had an area on the back side of her house where she tended to flowers. I heard she passed away in the mid 1990's. I never got to meet her son Charlie, but i knew he existed. I hope this helps you out and if there is anything else i can maybe answer, please E-mail me and i will tell you what i can.
Sincerely yours,
David Enzor

Hello, my name is Colleen, and I am trying to find out if someone was actually a passenger on the Titanic.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much background. The person in question was a neighbor when I was a child. Her (married) name was Bertha Herring. I really didn't know her at all, but my father knew her slightly, so I asked him what he remembered about the Titanic story.

Naturally, he had never actually interrogated her about it, but knew second-hand that she was (supposedly) a Titanic survivor. He recalled that he had read an article in the local newspaper in the 70s or so making reference to her survival of the disaster, but that really is no guarantee of truth.

According to him, she was about 3 years old when the Titanic sunk, and "no one knew who she was" immediately following the sinking. I believe she was English. My father also thought at one point she was an Atlantic City beauty queen. When we knew her (aprroximately 1975-1990s), she lived in Key West, Florida; I think she must have lived there for at least 20 years or so. She had a son named Charlie. I assume she has passed away by now, or I would say she's definitely not a survivor, since I don't recognize her at all of the very few remaining alive. At any rate she is no longer my father's neighbor in Key West.

I have been perusing the passenger list, but haven't found any Berthas who fit this description. Some of the passengers' information is very limited, so I was wondering if there might be anyone on these boards who recognizes any of this as a survivor's story. I know the information I have is sparse, so I'm not expecting much. This site just got me curious as to whether her story was actually true. I did read somewhere, maybe here, that if everyone who claimed to be on the Titanic actually was, the ship would've sunk at the harbor. So, I got to doubting her story. This seems to be the best place to inquire about it.

Sincerely,
Colleen Raymond[/QUOTE]

 

[Dave Gittins]

Was she related to Captain Haddock of Olympic?

 

[Denzor66]

Not that i am aware of.

 

[Paula Dion]

Howdy i knew Bertha Herring and met her when I was younger, back in the mid 80s. She worked many years as the Chapte rManager of the American Red Cross in Key West Florida. She was a very nice lady. She gave much of her time ot the Red Cross. She did tell me her story regarding the fact that she was a Titanic Survivor. Knowing her and listening to her story, i do know it was authentic and she was indeed a survivor.

My question is simply this: Did the survivor list include a 3 year old girl that got rescued? The name would not show... but certainly some how it would be know that a little 3 year old girl was loose without parents on the Carpathia...Did for some reason the survivor list at that time only include adults?

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I lived across the street from Bertha Herring in Key West. I got to know her pretty well and i can say she was a passenger on the Titanic. She and my mother were good friends, Bertha once showed my mom her ticket from the voyage as well as a tea/coffee cup that she had been given from the lady who held her that night when she was passed off.

Howdy i knew Bertha Herring and met her when I was younger, back in the mid 80s. She worked many years as the Chapte rManager of the American Red Cross in Key West Florida. She was a very nice lady. She gave much of her time ot the Red Cross. She did tell me her story regarding the fact that she was a Titanic Survivor. Knowing her and listening to her story, i do know it was authentic and she was indeed a survivor.

These two accounts do have a "ring of probable truth" about them but we must be careful about how to analyze this. As far as I could find out, there was no 3 year-old (or thereabouts) girl survivor named Bertha on the Titanic.

There were 5 passengers named (or went by the name of) Bertha on the Titanic and all of them survived.

1. Bertha Ilett - 2nd Class passenger aged 18 years at the time.
2. Bridget "Bertha" Moran - 3rd Class passenger aged 28 years
3. Bertha Lehmann - 2nd Class passenger aged 17 years
4. Bertha Chambers - 1st Class passenger aged 32 years (Norman Campbell Chambers' wife)
5. Robertha "Bertha" Watt - 2nd class passenger aged 12 years, the youngest of the lot.

Having said that, it is possible that this Bertha Herring was using her middle name for regular use (many did) or changed her name after settling in America. If she really had been a Titanic survivor aged 3 years or less, it is unlikely that she would have had anything more than vague, sketchy recollection of the tragedy and so it follows that someone must have told her. In that case, it allows room for a made-up story but Denzor66 claims that his mother saw her ticket, which could be suggestive.

It is unlikely that she was an "orphan child" of the Titanic because she would then have been famous like the Navratil brothers. So, IF this Bertha really had survived the Titanic, an adult must have also survived with her. This "lady who held her" story sounds unconvincing.

Perhaps a look at all child girl survivors aged beteen 2 and 6 years at the time might give a clue either way. Since this Bertha Herring later lived in Key West, research might be easier than it seems.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Perhaps a look at all child girl survivors aged beteen 2 and 6 years at the time might give a clue either way. Since this Bertha Herring later lived in Key West, research might be easier than it seems.

Sorry to quote myself, but I checked the list of child survivors of the Titanic dsiaster. While there are a few girls in the likely age group, no one remotely matches the so-called survivor Bertha Herring. Unfortunately therefore, her story must be yet another hoax.

Mind you, she is very likely not the original perpetrator of the hoax. Someone might have told her that she was a Titanic survivor and since research was difficult in those days, neither she nor anyone else could follow it up. As for the alleged "ticket" we all know how easy it was to obtain a false document like that especially if it was not going to be checked officially.