MILLVINA — “PEOPLE THINK I AM THE TITANIC”

For well over a decade I’ve had a fascination with the story of the Titanic.  I had seen the movie when it originally came out and afterwards I sought out countless books about the people who had survived and those who didn’t.  I wanted to know more about their lives and how the sinking of the Titanic had changed so many hopes and dreams.  I had a pen pal in England who shared my interest and sent me fascinating books and articles.  And then a few years ago I learned about the last surviving passenger on the Titanic, Millvina Dean. 

Millvina’s parents, Bertram and Georgette sold their London pub in 1912 and left Southampton, England with their two children to emigrate to Wichita, Kansas, where her father’s cousin owned a tobacco shop and Bertram was to become a co-owner.  Millvina once said, “If it hadn’t been for the ship going down, I’d be an American.”  Ironically, her family was not even supposed to be on the ship.  Because of a coal strike, they were transferred to the Titanic as third class passengers.  Nearly 500 third class passengers boarded at Southampton.  Third class cabins had very high standards on the Titanic.

The Titanic was making its maiden voyage, which was to last seven days.  Many of those on board were very wealthy, famous Americans. The ship was nearly 900 feet long, the same as four city blocks.  Some called it a moving hotel, a floating city. It was the greatest steamship the world had ever known, but as elaborate and elegant and sophisticated as the Titanic was, it did not prove to be unsinkable.  It had a swimming pool and a squash court, but a minimal number of life boats. It was unthinkable that anything could happen to it. Many scientists say that the damage to the ship would not have been so extensive if it had been going slower.  When the collision with the iceberg occurred and quick decisions were needed to save lives, there was a lot of confusion about the orders given. In her later years Millvina agreed with assertions that the crew was ordered to give priority on the lifeboats to first and second class passengers.  And sadly, many of the lifeboats left, being only half full. Some people did not believe the seriousness of the situation on the Titanic and refused to enter the lifeboats. In addition, a lifeboat drill which might have saved many lives had been cancelled. The Titanic sank in less than three hours and more than 1,500 people perished.  Millvina Dean’s father was one of those, but she often spoke glowingly of him and his courage.  She attributed her father’s quick response to saving her and her mother and two-year old brother.  He felt the collision with the iceberg and upon going on deck and sizing up the situation, quickly got his family out of third class and up to where the lifeboats were located.  Millvina, just nine weeks old, was wrapped in a mail sack and lifted into lifeboat number 10.  Her father said goodbye and that he’d be there later.  His family never saw him again. 

Those on lifeboats were eventually rescued by the Carpathia, which had received the initial distress call. It was only when Millvina’s mother Georgette was on board that she discovered that Bertram, her young son who was named after his father, was also on board. The Carpathia’s captain, Arthur Rostron later said, “The rescued came solemnly, dimly out of a shivery shadow.” He was a hero in the Titanic disaster, acting quickly and decisively.  Upon receiving the message that the Titanic had struck an iceberg, the Carpathia turned about and made the 58-mile journey in three and a half hours.  They avoided six icebergs and fired rockets signaling a coming approach.  The captain spotted a massive iceberg which may have been the one that doomed the Titanic.  Overall, according to the book Voyagers of the Titanic, “the human cargo of this mourning boat were dazed by shock and sorrow—and angry, too, that their liner had been driven and equipped so heedlessly.  It had steamed westward as if it were invulnerable, plunging too fast into an ice zone to stop when an iceberg hove in view.  There had been a woeful inadequacy of lifeboats, there had been a shambles loading them, and the crewmen who were put in charge of them often proved blundering or weak nerved.  The ship’s last hours had been a climax of deadly folly.”

As the Carpathia made its way to New York, the captain had a memorial service at the spot presumed to be where the Titanic went down.  When the ship arrived in New York, at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 30,000 people came to see it. Millvina’s mother, now being alone in raising two children, made the difficult decision to return to England after a week.  The people of New York supplied her with numerous items, including a suitcase full of clothes.  The London Daily Mirror reported news about Millvina, barely three months old, on May 12, 1912:  “She was the pet of the liner (the returning Adriatic) during the voyage, and so keen was the rivalry between women to nurse this lovable mite of humanity that one of the officers decreed that first and second class passengers might hold her in turn for no more than ten minutes.”

When Millvina returned to England with her mother and brother, she spent her early years on a farm, which her grandfather owned. Money from various charity organizations helped educate her and other Titanic survivors.   When she turned eight, her mother was about to re-marry and it was then that Millvina learned what happened on the Titanic. 

Millvina did not share with people until many years later that she had been a passenger on the Titanic.  She thought of herself as an ordinary person and was surprised that people were interested in her.  During World War II she worked for the British government drawing maps.  She became more interested in the Titanic when Robert Ballard discovered the wreckage in waters more than two miles deep in 1985.  It was then she was found and interviewed. She was in her 70’s and took part in many conventions and exhibitions and documentaries, as well as television and radio interviews.  She enjoyed the attention, but didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about.

In 1997 the movie Titanic came out and won 11 Academy awards, including best picture.  James Cameron, the director, upon accepting his award asked the audience for a moment of silence to honor the 1,500 people aboard the Titanic who perished.  Millvina Dean never saw the movie, saying that she didn’t want to be reminded of what happened to her father.  “It would have made me think, did he jump overboard or did he go down with the ship?  I would have been very emotional.”

In 1987 Millvina attended the memorial service for the Titanic at a London church, marking the 75th anniversary.  She also visited Belfast, where the ship was built.  She crossed the Atlantic for the second time in 1997 on the Queen Elizabeth II and visited the Kansas house where she and her family were to live. 

    She once said, “People think I am the Titanic.” 

In 2008 I read an article about her in the New York Times, telling readers that the last survivor of the Titanic, Millvina Dean, age 96 was now needing to sell numerous family possessions so she could pay for medical expenses relating to a recent broken hip.  She was residing in a nursing home and had no way to cover expenses.  She had to sell a suitcase, which was given to her and her mother in New York after the ship sank.  I couldn’t believe that she was forced to do that.  The sale of different items raised about $50,000 and some of the items were returned to her by the buyer.  The story attracted a lot of readers’ attention, including James Cameron and the stars of the Titanic movie, Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio.  Together these three donated $30,000 to the Millvina fund so she would never have to worry about medical expenses again.  I couldn’t get my mind off her story and decided to write to her at the nursing home where she was living.  I did a little research and discovered the address.  I wrote a short letter in the fall of 2008 and never expected an answer; I just wanted her to know that I had read the story and was thinking of her.  About three months later I received a postcard of the Titanic from her with best wishes and her signature.  I couldn’t believe it.  I framed it and now have it hanging on a wall in my room next to another larger photograph of the Titanic.  That picture was sent to me by my English pen pal and has the signature of many survivors, including Millvina Dean. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have these two memories of the Titanic.

Millvina died of pneumonia not long after, on May 31, 2009, at the age of 97.  Her ashes were scattered in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.  The day she died was the 98th anniversary of the Titanic launching.  There were many tributes to Millvina Dean when her death was reported.  I’ve included a few of them.

Anthony Keyes, who published several poems about the Titanic and got to know Millvina, said, “Millvina’s life changed for the better after Sept. 1, 1985, the day that the Titanic was re-discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard after being lost for 73 years.”  He asked her how she felt about it.  Her reply was, “It was with utter disbelief—my thoughts went immediately to my father Bertram who went down with the ship.”  Anthony called her “a remarkable optimist.  She was always looking forward, although her strong, affectionate bond with her lost father remained.”  Anthony Keyes’ book Poetic Realms offered a picture of Millvina at her home. He said, “Millvina wanted me to tell her story and wrote a short poem herself, which went:

        “When this you see, remember me, the baby saved from the sea.”

The president of the Titanic International Society, upon Millvina’s death, called her “the last living link to the Titanic and a dear friend.  While she never sought the limelight, she enjoyed its results in meeting people and traveling the world.  Her story inspires us as a story of hope and adversity and teaches that a full and rewarding life can follow personal tragedy and loss.  We will miss her very much, but never forget her or the other 2,200 aboard the Titanic.”

A few final thoughts about Millvina—She shared what she learned from her mother about the Titanic and did a great deal of research about it.  She had a wonderful sense of humor and loved talking to children about the Titanic.  She was a fascinating person and lived a long life and I’m glad that I met her in some small way.