Matthew Lips
Member
Hi all.
I thought you might be interested in the following article which appeared on the front page of a local (Durban, South Africa) newspaper on Monday 6th August. (The Margate of the story is just down the coast here, NOT the one in England!)
The grand old man of Margate, Mr Herbert "Pops" Johnston, best known as one of the rescuers of the Titanic disaster, has celebrated his 104th birthday.
He is believed to be the only living witness of some of the events of April 15 1912, when the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. The only living survivor of the 2358 passengers and crew on the Titanic is Miss Lavinia Dean, of Southampton. She was nine weeks old when rescued from the ship and obviously remembers nothing.
But memories of the disaster are still fresh in the mind of Johnston, even after 89 years.
He was 15 at the time and serving as a cadet shipwright on the Carpathia, the first vessel to reach the scene of the disaster. "Our radio operator picked up the SOS signal from the Titanic just after midnight and our captain ordered the crew to direct all possible steam to the boilers. Our top speed was supposed to be 14 knots. We made 17 knots that night."
Johnston said at such speed in a sea full of icebergs the Carpathia was lucky not to join the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
"At 3.30am we saw rockets fired from the lifeboats and reached the first survivors at 4am. All the lifeboats then started to make for the Carpathia and we picked up 711 people."
Johnston said the Carpathia had more than 1000 passengers of her own. "So we were terribly overcrowded. All the lounges were turned into hospitals and we had people all over the decks."
He said the Carpathia reached New York at 11pm on April 15. (sic). "It was quite a sight. The New York docks were floodlit and it looked as if the whole of the city was there to meet us. We must have been quite a sight as well, being so overcrowded and having all the Titanic's lifeboats on board."
Johnston can still rattle off lists facts and figures - without hesitation - about the Titanic and various other ships associated with her. He is still remarkably fit, although he is now deaf, and lives with his daughter, Mrs Marge Connolly.
She said Johnston was fiercely independent and usually demanded to look after himself. "He enjoys going out for a meal, and often comes with me when I go out to play bingo."
Johnston went to see the film Titanic, but was not greatly impressed.
Story ends. Sounds like an interesting old fella, doesn't he?
Cheers.
Matthew L.
I thought you might be interested in the following article which appeared on the front page of a local (Durban, South Africa) newspaper on Monday 6th August. (The Margate of the story is just down the coast here, NOT the one in England!)
The grand old man of Margate, Mr Herbert "Pops" Johnston, best known as one of the rescuers of the Titanic disaster, has celebrated his 104th birthday.
He is believed to be the only living witness of some of the events of April 15 1912, when the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. The only living survivor of the 2358 passengers and crew on the Titanic is Miss Lavinia Dean, of Southampton. She was nine weeks old when rescued from the ship and obviously remembers nothing.
But memories of the disaster are still fresh in the mind of Johnston, even after 89 years.
He was 15 at the time and serving as a cadet shipwright on the Carpathia, the first vessel to reach the scene of the disaster. "Our radio operator picked up the SOS signal from the Titanic just after midnight and our captain ordered the crew to direct all possible steam to the boilers. Our top speed was supposed to be 14 knots. We made 17 knots that night."
Johnston said at such speed in a sea full of icebergs the Carpathia was lucky not to join the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
"At 3.30am we saw rockets fired from the lifeboats and reached the first survivors at 4am. All the lifeboats then started to make for the Carpathia and we picked up 711 people."
Johnston said the Carpathia had more than 1000 passengers of her own. "So we were terribly overcrowded. All the lounges were turned into hospitals and we had people all over the decks."
He said the Carpathia reached New York at 11pm on April 15. (sic). "It was quite a sight. The New York docks were floodlit and it looked as if the whole of the city was there to meet us. We must have been quite a sight as well, being so overcrowded and having all the Titanic's lifeboats on board."
Johnston can still rattle off lists facts and figures - without hesitation - about the Titanic and various other ships associated with her. He is still remarkably fit, although he is now deaf, and lives with his daughter, Mrs Marge Connolly.
She said Johnston was fiercely independent and usually demanded to look after himself. "He enjoys going out for a meal, and often comes with me when I go out to play bingo."
Johnston went to see the film Titanic, but was not greatly impressed.
Story ends. Sounds like an interesting old fella, doesn't he?
Cheers.
Matthew L.
