There were only 705 survivors. Few of them, of course, are still alive today. But amongst them is Major Frank Prentice from Bournemouth. Now, major, you worked in the purser's office of the ship.
You were only 18 at the time, and you were in your cabin here in the midships of the Titanic when the collision occurred. Now, what was the first you knew of the disaster?
"Well, we came to a sudden stop. That's the first I knew about it, and was just like jamming your brakes on the car. There was no impact. No great impact. You couldn't feel it. Just a bit of a shudder.
And she stopped. Now, when people realized the ship was actually sinking, were there scenes of great panic?
"At the end there was... it was chaotic at the end."
What was happening?
"Well, everybody was crying, praying, trying to get into the few lifeboats that were left. No, it was pretty sad at the end."
You met a woman, didn't you? and you gave her some advice.
"Yes. Well, Mrs. Clarke and I got into a lifeboat. She was having trouble getting a life jacket on, so we fixed that for her and told her... and she didn't want to leave her husband. That was the trouble. Half the women didn't want to leave their husbands. But anyway, we got her... I got into a lifeboat as a precautionary measure
and she said can my husband come with me? I said. No, he'll follow on later on."
Well, now, how did you get off yourself?
"Well, I dropped off the stern just before she sank."
You went right up to the stern.
"Yeah, it was quiet up there."
Presumably, the stern was a long way out of the water.
"Well, she was almost vertical when I left her, I was lying... I was hanging onto the board
that says 'keep clear of propeller blades', but at the very end, I was lying on it. And then I let go, and I just missed the propellers on the way down."
How big was the drop?
"I don't know. Well, over 100ft."
I believe you've still got the watch you had at the time?
"Yes I have. "
Can we have a look at that?
"Yes."
What time did the ship actually sink?
"I think she went down about quarter past two."
All right, well, here's the watch and the watch says 2:20. So the watch kept going after you hit the water, which I presume it was freezing.
"Yeah, absolutely. Full of ice and bits of ice floes and bergs all around us.
Now, eventually, you managed to get into a lifeboat.
"Yes."
Did you meet Mrs. Clarke again?
"Yes, I met her and I sat next to her, and she wrapped a blanket round me and tried to keep me a bit warm, and what [?] ... nearly frozen solid."
And what about her husband?
"Her husband was drowned."
What are the myths of the Titanic? Was the band playing Nearer My God to Thee?
"Yes. Yes."
Did you hear that?
"I heard that. I heard that when I went for'ard the second time to put some stewardesses into a lifeboat, and that I found... they didn't know where to go, or what to do, and on the way back, I found I heard the band playing near my go to thee, and them singing."
What about this theory that some of the men dressed up as women to get into the lifeboats?
"I don't know. I didn't see any of that. I know there were a lot of men saved. There were 80 firemen, I think there were about 70-odd stewards and a lot of men saved. I don't know how they got away. So they didn't swim because there were only seven picked up, that lived."
Who do you blame for this catastrophe?
"I blame the bridge. I think a lot of the blame was on Bruce Ismay the chairman. He was the chairman of the shipping line and I'm very much afraid he influenced Captain Smith so much that we went straight for the ice. There was no question about it,
it was thrown away. That ship was thrown away."
Why though?
"Why? For the sake of speed, we shouldn't have been anywhere near there. Because we had warnings that there was ice and it was ice all over the place. We had it from ships, and shore and we went straight ahead as if there was nothing there in our way."
Does the memory of that might still haunt you now?
"Well, tonight I shall think a lot about it. You can't help it, can you?"
Did you think at any stage you were going to die?
"I didn't give it a thought when I was on the ship and I didn't give it a thought when I dropped from the water, but I gave it a long thought when I was on my own, and everybody else seemed to be dead round me, and then I thought I was going to die. But I had a life jacket on, and I had another one tucked under me and a cushion, and I was just paddling towards where I saw the lifeboats. When I... we sent up rockets from the bridge and I could see where the lifeboats were. I was on the poop and I had a very good view."
What a dreadful scene that must have been. Major Prentice, thank you very much for joining us.
"Thank you."