Page 24 - March 2020

PERSPECTIVES
newest ocean liner on her maiden voyage to “the
States” in April 1912, the Royal Mail Ship Titanic
leaving from Southampton. Their household
goods were to accompany them in the hold
as well as their motor car. They themselves,
while not first class, at least had second class
tickets and a spacious cabin, dining room and
amenities available to them. They boarded at
Southampton, perhaps waved goodbye to friends
and father’s co-workers, anticipating their new
life in New York.
You can now guess what transpired next. A
few days of nice weather, then turning to the
traditional North Atlantic route towards Canada
where ice bergs had been sighted by previous
ships. Full speed ahead went Commodore
Edward Smith, captain and master of the Titanic,
to their watery grave as over 1500 passengers
and crew members died on the evening of April
15, 1912. Mary remembers last seeing her father
help her mother and little brother into a lifeboat.
She somehow had become separated from her
24 ONE COMMUNITY
mother in the crush of the crowd, and was placed
in another boat and given to the safety of a crew
member who kept telling her not to worry as the
other boat would be next to them shortly. She
never saw her mother or little brother again. Her
boat was rescued later in the morning, and she
frantically looked for her family among the 720
survivors on the RMS Carpathia. They weren’t
to be found. Landing in America, as an orphan
with no relatives in the U.S., she was returned
to Britain and an aunt was eventually found to
take her in. She slept poorly at night, wouldn’t
go to the seaside for holiday, and hated hearing
the steam whistles of the railway engines as they
reminded her of the Titanic’s mournful cry for
rescue. One morning, she was horrified when
she looked into the mirror and discovered that
her hair had turned pure white during the night.
Forever more, she would bear that mark of her
life radically changed from one of a new hope
in the Americas to horror of the tragedy near
Newfoundland aboard the Titanic.
Grandmother would never
see Mary again after the
completion of that term, but she
would always be remembered
to her as the shy, troubled pale-
haired girl who sat ahead of her
in class and the passing on of
her account to her family and
especially her grandson while
he grew up. And now, fellow
Toastmasters, I bequeath this
tale to you, the legend of “The
Girl with the White Hair.”