Rosa Abbott's Survival

[Amanda Ratliff]

Has it ever been established (not counting the new info i'm dying to find out about!!) Rosa's survival method? Was she wearing that long heavy skirt? I'm just curious how she became the only woman to go down with the ship and survive when concievably the skirts becoming soaked with water and clinging to their legs was th downfall for many of the female passengers. (I'm writing a fiction story where a female heroine is being based off of Rosa and was doing a bit of research) This is NOT based anything on jack and rose!! I'm not that shallow! I'm going for historial accuracy Anyway any theories or info would be appriciated!

 

[Brian Meister]

Amanda,

I do not have an independent recollection
of a description of what Mrs Abbott wore that
evening, but will have a look to see.
The fact is, that several women appear to
have made it to Collapsible A shortly after
the liner went down. We know Mrs Elin Lindell
managed to get to the side, only to perish
alongside as no one appeared to have the
energy to pull her in. Mrs Abbott may have
been one of the first arrivals, and while
the boat was swamped, she was not totally
submersed in the water.
Another clue comes from the account of a
crewman on the collapsible who states that
another crewman held "an old lady" in his
arms who was later saved. I don't know about
the old lady part, but perhaps he was differ-
entiating between Mrs Abbott and a younger
girl who reached the boat and that he himself
tried to save. So the possibility of body
warmth as the other crewman held her comes
into play as a possibility.
In any case, Mrs Abbott was definitely
one of the greatest finds to date. Phil Gowan
and I look forward to bringing you their
stories. To me, that's what these past 26
years has been all about.