Peter Denis Daly

[Michele Dorsey-Baker]

Mr. Peter Denis Daly was listed as being rescued on Boat 3 according to the info under his name. He is not, however, listed as being rescued on any of the life boats.... This might be my great grandfather so I would like to know. Thank you very much.

Michele Dorsey-Baker
New Jersey

 

[JULIOCESAR GONZALES-DALY MARTINEZ]

ESTOY ORGULLOSO DE SER NIETO DE PETER DENIS DALY SER DECENDIENTE IRLANDES Y QUE VIVA LA REINA

 

[Gabriel Gonzales-Daly Pestana]

I'm family of Peter Dennis Daly Charon he was in cabin E-17 and i want to congratulate the person that take part in the design of this web page.
I'm proud of my great grang parent.

 

[Kathleen Johnson]

Re: Peter Dennis Daly by his grandson
I'm researching this chap who is supposed to be my Great grandfather and I would be interested on finding out more about his life prior to the Titanic going down and afterwards.

 

[Victoria Stewart]

Hello, if possible could someone from the Daly family please get in contact with me thanks.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

The survival of English-Peruvian First Class Titanic passenger Peter Dennis Daly is something of an enigma with somewhat conflicting information from the few sources that mention him. My own copies of A Night to Remember, Dusk to Dawn and On A Sea of Glass are all inaccessible at present and so I am relying on ET, especially the letter from his grandson Albert Daly available here.

I always thought that Peter Daly was rescued on Collapsible A but he is not on that boat's ET list of survivors. On his bio, it merely says that Daly was picked-up from the sea by a "collapsible" but does not specify which one and his name is not on the ET list of survivors on any of the other three collapsible lifeboats either.

I recall reading that just as he was about to jump off the sinking Titanic in the final moments, an "unknown" woman ran up to him and begged him to help her. His grandson Albert Daly claims to have heard about that encounter 20 years before Walter Lord wrote A Night to Remember; but Albert also admits to have received information about his grandfather Peter's Titanic experience through his own father and uncle ie second hand. But if the story is true, I wonder if that woman who sought Peter Daly's help and who presumably spoke English and appeared to be on her own, was Edith Evans? Having said that Edith Evans was a well known character and I would have expected fellow First Class passenger Daly to be familiar with her after 5 days.

Further into his letter Albert Daly says that his grandfather jumped into the cold Atlantic and swam away from the sinking ship, was twice denied a place in lifeboats and was finally picked-up by a (Collapsible?) boat only because a woman already in the boat recognized Peter Daly and talked the others into helping him in. But if Peter Daly was rescued on Collapsible A, the only woman on board, Rhoda Abbott, was a Third Class passenger and would certainly have not known him; also, having just lost 2 teenage sons in the sinking and barely alive herself, Rhoda would have been in shock and not in a position to convince others to rescue someone struggling in the water.

Can anyone throw some light on these inconsistencies?

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

Further into his letter Albert Daly says that his grandfather jumped into the cold Atlantic and swam away from the sinking ship, was twice denied a place in lifeboats and was finally picked-up by a (Collapsible?) boat only because a woman already in the boat recognized Peter Daly and talked the others into helping him in. But if Peter Daly was rescued on Collapsible A, the only woman on board, Rhoda Abbott, was a Third Class passenger and would certainly have not known him; also, having just lost 2 teenage sons in the sinking and barely alive herself, Rhoda would have been in shock and not in a position to convince others to rescue someone struggling in the water.

I am afraid I do not know the letter of Albert Daly.
In 1912 Daly himself mentioned the lady who asked him to help and that he jumped with her. However no mention about it that he try to get into a lifeboat.
Peter Daly mentioned that he was pulled in by R. N. Williams and George Rheims. Rheims wrote later: “I had the pleasure to be able to save a poor man, father of nine children, who asked me to give him a picture of myself with a dedication fit for the Kind of England.”

The person Rheims refers to was Daly.
There is no mention by Rheims or Williams that a woman asked them to take him aboard.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I am afraid I do not know the letter of Albert Daly.

That is on ET itself: Peter Dennis Daly by his grandson

Does anyone know if Peter Daly was a really big man? The reason I ask is the following statement by steward Edward Brown at the British inquiry who cut the falls of Collapsible A and almost certainly was rescued on it himself.

10570. Did you get on to that collapsible boat?
- I did.

10571. Did you remain on it?
- I remained on it.

10572. Did you pick anybody up in that boat?
- When I was there I saw them pick two up, a woman and a gentleman - a very big gentleman.

The only woman survivor on Collapsible A was Rhoda Abbot and since she was pulled out of the water, she must be the one that Brown was referring to in that statement. IF the "big gentleman" in Brown's statement was Peter Daly and he was rescued alongside Mrs Abbott, that might partly explain the contents of Albert Daly's letter. He got the information second hand from his father and uncle and so facts might have become twisted a bit and the grandson wrongly assumed that Peter Daly was rescued because of Rhoda Abbott's intervention.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

The big man stated by Brown might have indeed be Daly.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

In 1912 Daly himself mentioned the lady who asked him to help and that he jumped with her. However no mention about it that he try to get into a lifeboat.
Peter Daly mentioned that he was pulled in by R. N. Williams and George Rheims. Rheims wrote later: “I had the pleasure to be able to save a poor man, father of nine children, who asked me to give him a picture of myself with a dedication fit for the Kind of England.”

The person Rheims refers to was Daly.
There is no mention by Rheims or Williams that a woman asked them to take him aboard.

Thanks. It looks like Peter Daly indeed jumped into the ocean with the same woman who had requested his help moments earlier but they must have become separated in the water. My feeling that the woman could have been Edith Evans comes from the George Rheims angle. As you say, Rheims and Williams pulled Peter Daly out of the water into the lifeboat and this was very likely witnessed by Edward Brown. George Rheims also said that Edith Evans managed to swim and reach Collapsible A but did not have the strength to pull herself on board and Rheims himself could not pull her in.

But Edward Brown specifically said in his testimony that the "big gentleman", whom we think was Peter Daly - was rescued along with a woman and she could only be Rhoda Abbot. Rescuing those two and probably trying help others hanging onto the lifeboat must have exhausted Rheims and the rest and that could be the reason they were unable to help Edith Evans later, if - as Rheims claimed - she had managed to swim and reach Collapsible A.

 

[fontantic]

bonjour
i am antic dealer in Biarritz France.
i have in my possession a frame with the photo of peter Daly seated in a armchair.
down on the photo he wrote and signe this :
"to my dear friend Georges Rheins who save my life on the night of the disaster of the titanic
avril 15 1912. Lima Peru 21 june 1912 p Daly"
this photo comes from the Georges Rheins family who had a house in Biarritz
[email protected]

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Thank you for that post with its picture and letter Fontantic. I have an interest in Collapsible A and had seen statements which supported that Peter Daly was helped by George Rheims and Richard Norris Williams when he managed to swim to the lifeboat. Rheims himself had arrived a few minutes earlier and reportedly only allowed to board with some reluctance; he must have understood what it was like swimming in the icy water even for a few minutes and so helped Daly to climb in. Considering that Peter Daly was a large man, it would not have been easy for the already exhausted Rheims and Williams to drag him on board.

Things on board Collapsible A were really difficult. It was waterlogged because the canvas sides could not be pulled up and the plug had not been fastened properly, at least not to start with. There were several people hanging on to the sides of the lifeboat without the strength to drag themselves on board. Those already inside managed to haul in a few - Edvard Lindell, Thomson Beattie, Arthur O'Keefe and perhaps 3 or 4 others but they soon died due to hypothermia. After a while the occupants had no strength left to help anyone else and the remaining hangers on gradulally drifted away to their deaths.

 

[Ggonzalesdaly]

Re: Peter Dennis Daly by his grandson
I'm researching this chap who is supposed to be my Great grandfather and I would be interested on finding out more about his life prior to the Titanic going down and afterwards.

There’s a book about his life wrote by one of his great grandsons. Try to find it in Peru.