{"id":195,"date":"2019-05-28T21:37:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T21:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/?post_type=podcast&p=195"},"modified":"2021-01-20T21:36:44","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T21:36:44","slug":"countess-noel-heroine-of-the-titanic","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/podcast\/countess-noel-heroine-of-the-titanic\/","title":{"rendered":"Countess No\u00ebl, Heroine of the Titanic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaker – Joanna Hitchcock<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the 1,300 passengers aboard the Titanic when she steamed out of Southampton Harbor in April 1912 was No\u00ebl, Countess of Rothes. She was traveling to the States to join her husband. This account of No\u00ebl\u2019s experiences on the ship, in the lifeboat, and aboard the rescue ship is told through her own eyes, based on letters she wrote immediately after the sinking to her parents and to her cousin, the speaker\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n

Joanna Hitchcock is the former Director of the University of Texas Press and a past President of the Association of American University Presses. She graduated from Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall) with a B.A. in Modern History. She started her publishing career at Oxford University Press in London. Before coming to Austin in 1992, she was executive editor for the humanities and assistant director at Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaker – Joanna Hitchcock Among the 1,300 passengers aboard the Titanic when she steamed out of Southampton Harbor in April 1912 was No\u00ebl, Countess of Rothes. She was traveling to the States to join her husband. This account of No\u00ebl\u2019s experiences on the ship, in the lifeboat, and aboard the rescue ship is told through […]","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Countess-Noel.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"44.46M","filesize_raw":"46623008","date_recorded":"25-01-2019","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[185,119,40,184,186,183,120],"categories":[],"series":[2],"class_list":{"0":"post-195","1":"podcast","2":"type-podcast","3":"status-publish","5":"tag-185","6":"tag-austin","7":"tag-british-studies-lecture-series","8":"tag-countess-noel","9":"tag-heroine-of-the-titanic","10":"tag-titianic","11":"tag-university-of-texas","12":"series-bsls","13":"entry"},"acf":{"related_episodes":"","hosts":[{"ID":949,"post_author":"10","post_date":"2021-01-20 19:50:06","post_date_gmt":"2021-01-20 19:50:06","post_content":"\n

Wm. Roger Louis is head of the British Studies Lecture Series. He is an American historian and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin<\/a>. Louis is the editor-in-chief of The Oxford History of the British Empire<\/a><\/em>, a former president of the American Historical Association<\/a> (AHA), a former chairman of the U.S. Department of State's Historical Advisory Committee, and a founding director of the AHA's National History Center in Washington, D. C.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Wm. Roger Louis","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"wm-roger-louis","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-01-20 19:50:06","post_modified_gmt":"2021-01-20 19:50:06","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/?post_type=speaker&p=949","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"guests":[{"ID":845,"post_author":"45","post_date":"2020-06-24 15:51:47","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-24 15:51:47","post_content":"\n

Joanna Hitchcock is the former Director of the University of Texas Press and a past President of the Association of American University Presses. She graduated from Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall) with a B.A. in Modern History. She started her publishing career at Oxford University Press in London. Before coming to Austin in 1992, she was executive editor for the humanities and assistant director at Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Joanna Hitchcock","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"joanna-hitchcock","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2020-06-24 15:51:47","post_modified_gmt":"2020-06-24 15:51:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/?post_type=speaker&p=845","menu_order":0,"post_type":"speaker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"transcript":"

I think Jalan is more effective than my method of<\/p>\n

calling people’s attention. Joanna, as<\/p>\n

I believe everyone here knows, as the past director of<\/p>\n

the University of Texas Press, having said that, there is only one other thing<\/p>\n

that I want to say by way of introduction, and that is that The<\/p>\n

First Adventures with Britannia was published by Joanna Hitchcock.<\/p>\n

Little did she know that it was going to go on to half a dozen<\/p>\n

other volumes of effervescent adventures with Britannia.<\/p>\n

We also want to welcome Philip back. Everyone’s very glad to see you. Philip.<\/p>\n

And Joanna, I think the report from calling people’s attention to the<\/p>\n

sheets to go through a lot of information that will simply turn it over you to talk<\/p>\n

about the Titanic on<\/p>\n

April the 10th, 1912. The white star liner<\/p>\n

R M S Titanic steamed out of Southampton Harbor,<\/p>\n

bound for New York on her maiden voyage. Among the roughly thirteen<\/p>\n

hundred passengers aboard were my cousin Noel Hamade,<\/p>\n

Roberto, my only, and her husband’s cousin, Gladys Cherry.<\/p>\n

Her parents accompanied them as far as Cherbourg on their way to their chateau<\/p>\n

in Normandy. Lucy No. Martha was born in 1878<\/p>\n

on Christmas Day. That’s why she was called Noel. She was the only child<\/p>\n

of Thomas Dyer Edwards, a wealthy business man, and his wife, Clementina<\/p>\n

Georgina. Lucy Drummond Villiers, a descendant of the Dukes of Perth and<\/p>\n

Melford. My father used to refer to Noah’s parents as Ankie<\/p>\n

Punky and aunt. No<\/p>\n

divided her childhood between their three residences. There<\/p>\n

she is. Privilage Abbey, their country<\/p>\n

house in the Cotswolds, a former medieval monastery. The French<\/p>\n

chateau I just mentioned, and a townhouse near my grandmother’s family in<\/p>\n

Kensington. She and my grandmother were first cousins. She<\/p>\n

and my grandmother were first cousins. But they grew up together like sisters, both being only children.<\/p>\n

My father, Noel’s godson, was named for her<\/p>\n

in nineteen hundred. Noel married Norman. Evelyn, Leslie, 19th<\/p>\n

of Wrath is. Who at 22, is head of one of the oldest<\/p>\n

peerages in Scotland and in 1960 was elected one of the representative powers<\/p>\n

for Scotland in the House of Lords in Westminster in nineteen four.<\/p>\n

They moved to Leslie House on the 10000 acre estate<\/p>\n

in Fife, which had been in his family since the 17th century.<\/p>\n

They shared a wide range of sporting interests from horseback<\/p>\n

riding and hunting to cricket and boating. And were popular figures<\/p>\n

both at home and in London society frequently attracting attention in the gossip<\/p>\n

press in the UN war, Edwardian aristocracy where marriage and love<\/p>\n

were often unrelated. The Earl and Countess were referred to as<\/p>\n

the most unfashionably devoted couple.<\/p>\n

There are very few young couples in Scottish society more admired<\/p>\n

than the handsome Nordin Lady Roth is observed. A reporter for New York World<\/p>\n

described as, quote, small, blue eyed and very gentle and appealing and<\/p>\n

manner. Noel was known for her bright personality, her graceful dancing,<\/p>\n

and the diligence with which she helped organize lavish entertainments patronized by English<\/p>\n

royalty and members of the aristocracy. She was actively engaged in<\/p>\n

philanthropic work throughout the United Kingdom, most notably in assisting<\/p>\n

the Red Cross with fundraising. And she also trained as a nurse.<\/p>\n

Before the Titanic left Southhampton, no all told a reporter that she was<\/p>\n

going to the United States to join her husband, who is thinking of buying an orange<\/p>\n

grove on the West Coast. Asked how she felt about, quote, leaving<\/p>\n

London Society for a California fruit farm. No, replied,<\/p>\n

I am full of joyful expectation.<\/p>\n

By the fourth day at sea, Noel and her husband’s cousin Gladius had settled into<\/p>\n

a happy routine of walking briskly round the boat. Both deck<\/p>\n

taking tea in the veranda caf\u00e9, listening to the band in the lounge,<\/p>\n

mingling with the other first class passengers, and dining and dancing in the Palm<\/p>\n

Court in the evenings. The Titanic was steaming<\/p>\n

across is still dark sea at 22 and a half knots. On Sunday,<\/p>\n

April the 14th, when at 11:40 p.m., the lookout suddenly saw a large<\/p>\n

dark object ahead. It was, quote, calm, clear and<\/p>\n

bitterly cold. In the words of Walter Lord, whose 1936 book<\/p>\n

A Night to Remember, remains the classic account of the final hours of the Titanic.<\/p>\n

There was no moon, but the cloudless sky blazed with stars. The Atlantic<\/p>\n

was like polished plate glass. People later said they had never seen it so smooth.<\/p>\n

End quote. The look out had been warned to watch for icebergs, but<\/p>\n

the ship’s binoculars had been mislaid. Until that moment, he’d noticed nothing<\/p>\n

unusual. Immediately he banged the crow’s nest bell<\/p>\n

three times and telephoned the bridge. The engines were quickly reversed<\/p>\n

and the ship turned sharply to port. Instead of making direct impact,<\/p>\n

the Titanic seemed to graze along the side of the berg, sprinkling ice fragments<\/p>\n

onto the forward deck. Captain Edward Smith<\/p>\n

immediately summoned Thomas Andrews, the ship’s builder, and the two of them went on a tour<\/p>\n

of inspection. They found that the iceberg had ripped into the watertight compartments<\/p>\n

on the starboard side, tearing a 300 foot gash below the waterline.<\/p>\n

The Titanic was designed to float if four of her 16 watertight compartments<\/p>\n

were flooded, but water had already flowed into the fifth. And they both<\/p>\n

knew within twenty five minutes of hitting the iceberg that there was no hope<\/p>\n

of her staying afloat. From now on, the first person account I’m reading are<\/p>\n

from the letter Noel wrote to her parents from the rescue ship.<\/p>\n

In first class cabin B 77, Noel was awakened by<\/p>\n

a slight draw, followed by a distant grating sound. She glanced at the clock.<\/p>\n

The time was eleven forty six p.m. I wondered at the sudden quiet of the ship,<\/p>\n

no route. My cousin Gladys, who shared my room, was not even awakened.<\/p>\n

I opened the door and saw a steward who said we had struck some ice.<\/p>\n

When Gladys asked if there was any danger. The steward replied, Oh, no, we have just grazed<\/p>\n

the ice, and it does not amount to anything. No, I was curious to see what an iceberg<\/p>\n

looked like. So they went up on deck. On the way they ran into a fellow passenger<\/p>\n

who told them the watertight compartments must surely hold. It is<\/p>\n

impossible for anything serious to happen, but no<\/p>\n

wrote. As we were returning to our stateroom, my maid<\/p>\n

met us and said water was pouring into the racket port near her cabin. She<\/p>\n

thought something dreadful was going to happen. We struck<\/p>\n

the iceberg at 11:45 on Sunday night. At first, and until nearly<\/p>\n

one o’clock, no one realized any danger or really knew what had happened.<\/p>\n

Then the orders came to be dressed and to have life belts on in ten minutes.<\/p>\n

My only behaved splendidly. I sent her up at once when the order came,<\/p>\n

and she wanted to wait for us, which I, of course, did not allow. But it was grand. At a moment like<\/p>\n

that. I just had time to pour out some brandy, give my only some, and Gladys<\/p>\n

and myself and hurriedly dressed. They put on woolen suits<\/p>\n

over which no wrapped a full length ermine coat. Then<\/p>\n

no one seemed to know whether life belts were kept, and a strange man found<\/p>\n

hours for us, and we then tied on his for him. And we all<\/p>\n

shook hands and told each other that it would not be long before we<\/p>\n

met again. As we all thought, there were plenty of boats, little knowing that there<\/p>\n

were only 16, and that there were nearly 3000 people on board.<\/p>\n

I’m sure it’s unnecessary, the man said, to put the life belts on. But Noel insisted<\/p>\n

that they obey the order. She put a small brandy flask in one<\/p>\n

pocket and a strand of 300 year old pearls around her neck, a precious<\/p>\n

heirloom that she had worn at dinner just a few hours earlier, leaving her other jewelry<\/p>\n

behind in a satin wood box. As she went by, a person who was<\/p>\n

urging everyone to stop standing around, called out to her, Hurry, little lady.<\/p>\n

There is not much time. I’m glad you didn’t ask me if you could go back for your jewels,<\/p>\n

as some ladies have. As soon as he had given the order<\/p>\n

to uncover the lifeboats and muster the passengers, Captain Smith<\/p>\n

told his chief wireless operator Jack Phillips, to send out<\/p>\n

the distress call. Jack had been having a rough day, besieged<\/p>\n

by first class passengers wanting to send messages to their families.<\/p>\n

Enough to overload the at the best of times, unreliable equipment.<\/p>\n

And he’d not paid attention to the six messages from nearby ships warning<\/p>\n

of the ice field ahead by 11:00 p.m. He was, in his own<\/p>\n

words, all done in. He had finally managed to make<\/p>\n

contact with the nearest land station, Cape Race, Newfoundland, when he was interrupted<\/p>\n

by a message from the Californian. A British ship that was only 20 miles away<\/p>\n

say, Oh, man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice. Exasperated<\/p>\n

and exhausted, Jack could only tap out. Shut up! Shut up!<\/p>\n

We are busy. In response to which the operator on the Californian<\/p>\n

turned the wireless off and was in bed by the time<\/p>\n

Jack sent out what was then the standard distress call CQ D. Before<\/p>\n

switching for the first time to the new international call s.o.s.<\/p>\n

At last he managed to make contact with another British Dema. The cop, AIthea, whose<\/p>\n

operator cabled back to tell him she was 58 miles<\/p>\n

away and steaming toward the Titanic as fast as possible.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until an hour and a half after she hit the iceberg that that they<\/p>\n

actually started loading the lifeboats. There was no public address system.<\/p>\n

So it took a while for the stewards to go from cabin to cabin, rouse the passengers. Quite<\/p>\n

a few of whom were asleep by then and get them into their life belts<\/p>\n

and up on deck. There were 16 wooden lifeboats each 30<\/p>\n

foot long and nine foot wide built to carry 65 passengers.<\/p>\n

But there had been no lifeboat drill. The number of lifeboats required<\/p>\n

on a passenger liner at that time was based on her tonnage, not on the number of people<\/p>\n

aboard. And Bruce is made, chairman of the White Star Line, had ordered the number<\/p>\n

to be reduced from the designer’s original specifications so that passengers<\/p>\n

would have more room to stroll on an uncluttered deck. All the boats<\/p>\n

together could carry eleven hundred and seventy eight people. This Sunday night<\/p>\n

there were twenty two hundred and seven people on board up on the<\/p>\n

boat deck. An officer shouted through a megaphone, ordering the ladies<\/p>\n

to come forward. Women and children first was then the law of the sea.<\/p>\n

By then, the Titanic was listing slightly. But most passengers still<\/p>\n

believe that the ship was safer than any of the lifeboats, and he had to repeat the order<\/p>\n

several times before anyone moved. Gladys Cherry thought they were doing<\/p>\n

a foolish thing to leave that big safe ship by then. Crew<\/p>\n

members below were beginning to understand the true situation. But on the boat<\/p>\n

deck, only the captain and Mr Andrews knew the full extent of the damage.<\/p>\n

We stood close to the Asper through the asters. That’s John Jacob and his<\/p>\n

pregnant young wife, Madeline. No, wrote Colonel Astor, put his wife in<\/p>\n

a chair. She was quite calm. The last I saw of Colonel Astor<\/p>\n

was when he stood by his wife, trying to comfort her. Noel spoke next<\/p>\n

with a young Spanish lady, Maria Pe\u00f1asquito, niece of Spain’s prime minister, who<\/p>\n

was on her honeymoon. She was torn away from her husband<\/p>\n

just as I reached the top deck. He put her into my arms and asked me to take care of her.<\/p>\n

And it was awful making her leave him. But one’s only feeling was to prevent any panic<\/p>\n

or scene and obey the captain’s orders. It was like a terrible nightmare.<\/p>\n

Of course, we had no man belonging to us. Thank God. But for the people who had, it<\/p>\n

was too ghastly. Two or three wives stayed with their husbands,<\/p>\n

and it seems too cruel to separate people unless there are children<\/p>\n

anymore. Ladies. Any more ladies? The Captain shouted. Then he handed. No.<\/p>\n

Gladys and Roberta into lifeboat number eight, and ordered it to be lowered<\/p>\n

only half full at 1 10, 1, 10 a.m. The<\/p>\n

goodbye was terrible, wrote No. Captain Smith stood next to me<\/p>\n

as we got in, and told Tom Jones, a seaman, to row<\/p>\n

straight for those ship lights over there, leave the passengers aboard<\/p>\n

and return as soon as possible. Goodbye. He said. Remember, you<\/p>\n

are British. No. Was impressed by the captain’s great calmness<\/p>\n

and courage. She could see the lights. Plainly, though, it was not clear what they were,<\/p>\n

and she was soothed by the belief that the ship would pick them up. Surely, she told<\/p>\n

Gladys, our boats will be able to do double duty in ferrying passengers to the<\/p>\n

help that gleams soon. Yeah. Able Seaman Thomas Jones<\/p>\n

was the only sailor on board the lifeboat. The two other men, a steward and a cook,<\/p>\n

had been let on as crew, but they didn’t know how to row and set the<\/p>\n

boat spinning in a circle. Some of the women were hysterical.<\/p>\n

My first impression was that we must keep our heads about us. No road. Above<\/p>\n

all things, she she told herself, we must not lose our self-control.<\/p>\n

A reporter in New York later quoted Tom Jones. There was<\/p>\n

a woman in my boat, as was a woman, he said, straightening up in her honor<\/p>\n

as his eyes lit up and his speech became animated. She was the Countess of Wrath<\/p>\n

is. And let me tell you about her. I was in command, but I had to row.<\/p>\n

And I wanted someone at the tiller. When I saw the way she was carrying herself,<\/p>\n

and I heard the quiet, determined way she spoke to the others. I knew<\/p>\n

she was more of a man than any we had on board. And<\/p>\n

I put her in command. I put her at the tiller.<\/p>\n

Lights were blazing from the Titanic’s portholes and distress signals shooting<\/p>\n

up from the deck as they rowed away. The white flowers could be seen from<\/p>\n

the Californian, which was only twenty miles away, and a young seaman<\/p>\n

reported to her captain that he could see a giant liner stopped dead in<\/p>\n

the water. That will be the Titanic, her captain replied<\/p>\n

on her maiden voyage. Meanwhile, onboard the Titanic,<\/p>\n

Captain Smith walked around the ship after all the lifeboats had been launched and<\/p>\n

released the crew from their duties. The assistant radio operator operator<\/p>\n

who survived reported that the captain entered their shack up to 5 a.m. men.<\/p>\n

He said, You have done your full duty. You can do no more. Now<\/p>\n

it’s every man for himself. That’s the way it is at this kind<\/p>\n

of time. The occupants of lifeboat number eight could still hear the<\/p>\n

melodies of the eight man band, which had been playing ragtime as they watched<\/p>\n

the ship listing to port until the bar was almost completely submerged.<\/p>\n

The Titanic was now going down very quickly, although it was impossible for them<\/p>\n

to see the final moments in any detail. They were able to make out some fifteen<\/p>\n

hundred people crowded at the stern, huddled together. The<\/p>\n

most awful part no reported was seeing the rows of portholes vanishing<\/p>\n

one by one. Maria Pe\u00f1asquito began to scream<\/p>\n

for her husband. So no. Handed<\/p>\n

the tiller to Gladys and moved to sit beside her. I had her in my arms.<\/p>\n

Most of the first part of the night, her maid, a Spanish peasant and quite incapable, was<\/p>\n

useless. So terrified. No one wrote. Mercifully, I managed to prevent her seeing<\/p>\n

or hearing when the steamer sank as she was nearly mad. The other English<\/p>\n

and American women in our boat, with one exception, were splendid, and we had twenty four<\/p>\n

of them. One seamen and only two stewards who did not even know how to row.<\/p>\n

Then came the horrifying screams of more than a thousand people struggling in<\/p>\n

vain to keep alive in the subfreezing water. Most of them didn’t drown.<\/p>\n

They froze to death after their cries had faded away. There<\/p>\n

was a terrible silence. Noel was overwhelmed by a feeling<\/p>\n

she could identify only as indescribable loneliness. Some<\/p>\n

of us wanted to return to the boat to try and pick up people, but the majority were against<\/p>\n

this and said we should be sucked in by the sinking ship. So we had to give it up. No<\/p>\n

reported ladies, said Seaman Jones. If any of us are saved,<\/p>\n

remember, I wanted to go back. I would rather drown with them than leave<\/p>\n

them. The ghastly ness of our feelings thought. No, never can<\/p>\n

be told. Gladys Cherry expanded on this in a letter she wrote to Tom Jones<\/p>\n

from New York. I feel I must write and tell you how splendidly you took charge<\/p>\n

of our boat on the fatal night. There were only four English people in it. My cousin,<\/p>\n

Lady Rothfuss, is her maid. You and myself, and I think you were wonderful. The<\/p>\n

dreadful regret. I shall always have and I know you share with me is that we ought to have gone back<\/p>\n

to see whom we could pick up. But if you remember, there was only an American lady,<\/p>\n

my cousin self and you who wanted to return. I could not hear the discussion<\/p>\n

very clearly as I was at the tiller, but everyone forward and the three<\/p>\n

men refused. But I shall always remember your words. Gladys,<\/p>\n

steer the boat nearly all night to let the men row. Noel told her parents. Then four of<\/p>\n

us took turns. One American woman rode without stopping for five hours.<\/p>\n

I rode three hours and my maid as much. The American woman was Margaret<\/p>\n

Swift, whom no later described as magnificent. Not only<\/p>\n

in her attitude, but in the whole way in which she works. Walter<\/p>\n

Lord adds While they were pulling at the oars, another American woman noted<\/p>\n

with pride that as she rode next to the Countess of Wrath is further down<\/p>\n

the boat. Her maid was rowing. Next to the Countess is made. The cold was intense<\/p>\n

and we were surrounded by icebergs that we expected would be on us at any moment. Noel continued<\/p>\n

Even heavy fur coats were not enough to keep them warm. And many of the women were lightly dressed<\/p>\n

for two hours. We rode toward a distant light, which was never any nearer.<\/p>\n

Then we saw a port light vanish and the masked headlights grew dimmer until they disappeared.<\/p>\n

The small oil lamp in the lifeboat lacked kerosene and went out quickly. And<\/p>\n

the only available light came from a small bulb in a cane whose owner kept<\/p>\n

waving it about, which was sometimes helpful and sometimes confusing.<\/p>\n

They found themselves lost in the dark without drinking water or compass,<\/p>\n

quote, a handful of people in an open boat faced with a fate worse<\/p>\n

than drowning. Roberta my only later recorded. The endless hours<\/p>\n

in the dark on the water were the worst. No wrote as one had time to think<\/p>\n

of everyone that we never expected to see again. Then it lost. In<\/p>\n

the far distance, Jones detected a bright moving object that seemed to be headed<\/p>\n

directly toward them. He asked Noel if she could see it. At first she couldn’t.<\/p>\n

But as it drew nearer, they saw it was a search light on the proud of aligner.<\/p>\n

The cop, AIthea, was steaming in that direction from the southeast, firing rockets.<\/p>\n

They turned and began rowing toward her. It took them another hour to reach the ship,<\/p>\n

and as dawn began to break, all the lifeboats were headed in the same direction.<\/p>\n

I tried to keep in touch with the other boats by shouting. So when the cop AIthea came in sight,<\/p>\n

we were not much scattered. No road to keep up our spirits, Jones later<\/p>\n

reported. We sang as we rode. All of us. They started out with<\/p>\n

pool for the shore, followed by one of Noles favorite hymns.<\/p>\n

Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom. Lead thou me<\/p>\n

on. The night is dark and I am far from home. Lead thou me on.<\/p>\n

Then Jones added As we approached the ship, we stopped singing and<\/p>\n

prayed. No summarized their experiences in her letter to her parents.<\/p>\n

I can never, never tell you all the horrors we have been through since Sunday. We got into<\/p>\n

the boat a little before 1:30 and it was not until 5:00 or 5:30 that we caught<\/p>\n

sight of this steamer. And at first I could not believe she could be really there and that<\/p>\n

we might be rescued. The sea was very calm till daybreak and then began to get<\/p>\n

up a little. And by the time we managed to row to this steamer, it was rather rough<\/p>\n

for small boats. And we dashed repeatedly against the side of this boat and were then<\/p>\n

hauled up on a little plank and rope. I fainted when I was taken<\/p>\n

on board, which was stupid, but I think it was the strain of the last hour rowing and the cold.<\/p>\n

And I remember nothing after I was put into the swing and hauled up till I found myself on<\/p>\n

the dining room sofa with the doctor pouring hot stuff down my throat and someone<\/p>\n

rubbing me. You cannot imagine the goodness of all these people. Noel wrote about<\/p>\n

the car Pythias crew. They came at full speed to the rescue, all among<\/p>\n

the icebergs and at great risk to themselves over 60 miles under<\/p>\n

three hours. The captain told me they got the message four minutes before<\/p>\n

they Marconi place was closed for the night, and he then had all the crew up and<\/p>\n

told them that he left it to them to do their best. That night we are over 700<\/p>\n

survivors on board. And of course, have nothing with us but the clothes we managed to put on. Some<\/p>\n

of us very little. Another passenger described how people were in this strange<\/p>\n

assortment of undress costume, some in ball gowns, many in night dresses,<\/p>\n

and only a few fully clothed. Makeshift hospitals<\/p>\n

were set up on board, and Noel and Gladys assisted the doctors as they tended<\/p>\n

to the survivors. I think that one in the middle there might be no, we’re not sure.<\/p>\n

Knowall was one of the few upper class ladies to have been trained as a nurse, which qualified<\/p>\n

her to apply braces and bandages and administer medications. She gave<\/p>\n

special attention to the man who had managed to get into lifeboats after jumping off the Titanic<\/p>\n

and whose legs and feet were still numb from having been in the icy water. There<\/p>\n

is plenty to do now helping the doctor and with the tiny children, feeding them<\/p>\n

and letting the mothers rest. And I find my French very useful. There are so many<\/p>\n

who know no English. This morning, the doctor sent for me to be with a French woman<\/p>\n

who is quite frantic, and we were afraid, afraid to leave her. It took two<\/p>\n

hours to calm her as she declared she would kill herself, but is quiet now. But must<\/p>\n

not be left. The second and third class are easier to quiet and manage and are so grateful<\/p>\n

for any little gift or attention. One steerage woman has lost seven children out of eight<\/p>\n

and her husband. But oh, the horror of it all can never be told.<\/p>\n

And those fearful cries when she sank will never go out of my head. And I am one<\/p>\n

of the lucky ones. We were in a fog now, so I am afraid we shall be late to New York and we so long to<\/p>\n

arrive. Most of the people are so splendid. There are a few broken down. Gladys<\/p>\n

has been busy distributing the garments we can collect and make to the children.<\/p>\n

We have made great friends, of course, with some of the people, and one marvels at their heroism.<\/p>\n

One did not really feel frightened, and mercifully there were so many to help and see to.<\/p>\n

We are hoping against hope for new, more news of survivors tomorrow. But<\/p>\n

the captain told me privately he had none. So one says nothing. The doctor<\/p>\n

here is so kind and helpful to us both. By the end of the<\/p>\n

first full day, the cop atheist crew was marveling at the woman they dubbed<\/p>\n

the plucky little countess. You have made yourself famous by rowing the boat.<\/p>\n

A stewardess told her. I hope not. No, said I have done nothing.<\/p>\n

After three days, they reached New York Harbor, and while the first and second class passengers disembarked,<\/p>\n

no stayed onboard to help with the steerage passengers arranging for an<\/p>\n

ambulance to transfer one of them to New York Hospital at her expense. Her husband,<\/p>\n

Rotters, was waiting for her when she finally walked down the gangway. I<\/p>\n

looked awful. When we arrived, poor darling, you never saw anything<\/p>\n

so impressive as the huge silent crowds.<\/p>\n

At last, I am safe and sound. No cable to her parents am resting. I am so<\/p>\n

tired. Thank God I am here. The London Daily Telegraph reported that Lady Roths<\/p>\n

was at the Ritz Carlton Hotel under the care of a physician. It is not so much<\/p>\n

exposure and shock which made her ill as the effects of her hard labor<\/p>\n

in pulling at the oars. A few days later, she wrote to my grandmother.<\/p>\n

My dearest May, thank you both for your wires. I send you just a few lines as<\/p>\n

though I’ve been really pretty well. Two days ago I got a chill and I’ve had to be in bed and I’m only dressed<\/p>\n

up again. The doctor here is very fussy and won’t let me do it much<\/p>\n

or much as of course, we are all feeling the strain a good bit. Now<\/p>\n

if you ask mother, she will show you my first letter. I cannot write that awful description again,<\/p>\n

and it would be difficult to explain to anyone how one still feels or incapable<\/p>\n

of any emotion on the subject. One is so stunned with the horror of it all.<\/p>\n

I have the little Spanish widow here with me. She is wonderful. She knew no one in America, but<\/p>\n

of course has friends now, and clings very much to me. Her husband put her into<\/p>\n

my arms on the deck just before we got into the boat, and I promised to take care of her.<\/p>\n

I knew neither of them before. It’s so cruel separating the men and women so much.<\/p>\n

But one must obey orders or return to one’s cabin, as Mr. and Mrs. Strauss did<\/p>\n

together. Gladys was wonderful all the time, and so was my maid.<\/p>\n

The doctor won’t let me travel yet. My heart is being tiresome, not serious. So right<\/p>\n

now your line here, I’m getting some clothes. Slowly, of course, we lost<\/p>\n

everything except the few clothes and fur coats we had on. Luckily<\/p>\n

too, for us, life belts are warm things. I hope you all flourishing and<\/p>\n

longing for news of my boys. How is your mother? Much loved you all from know.<\/p>\n

My grandmother had first learned the news on April the 15th from a billboard<\/p>\n

outside the village store in Rye in Sussex, where she was on holiday with her family.<\/p>\n

Giant liner sinks that evening at 6:12. She received<\/p>\n

the first of three telegrams. Marconi’s nothing official yet.<\/p>\n

Globe newspaper just published says wireless received at Halifax<\/p>\n

states. All passengers safely taken off the Titanic.<\/p>\n

Then a little later, Titanic proceeding Halifax own steam.<\/p>\n

All passengers transferred Parisian and Carpathia and<\/p>\n

another Virginian proceeding along with Titanic to Halifax. No casualties,<\/p>\n

but at 9:30 that night, her father cabled very anxious news,<\/p>\n

alarming in paper. Nothing more until 10 46 the next<\/p>\n

morning, the 16th and granny received the first of three more cables.<\/p>\n

Countess Wrath is saved. Titanic, 40 and 42 saved, Lady<\/p>\n

Wrath is among them. And no all safe onboard cop AIthea<\/p>\n

on the 18th. My grandparents cable. No sympathy, thankfulness. May<\/p>\n

George the press. People here are really awful. One is never free and they<\/p>\n

always printing imaginary interviews and photos of you, which is maddening. No wrote to<\/p>\n

my grandmother to set the record straight. She agreed to give one nonexclusive<\/p>\n

interview two days after the Carpathia dropped. After that, she never<\/p>\n

spoke publicly about the Titanic again. But that didn’t stop stories about<\/p>\n

her from appearing in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic headings.<\/p>\n

Plucky Little Countess, Countess Wrath. His Bravery. One article headed Ladies<\/p>\n

at the orz quoted a fellow passenger. The Congress is an expert,<\/p>\n

horsewoman, and thoroughly at home in the water. She practically took command of our boat<\/p>\n

when it was found that the seamen could not row skillfully. Several women took their place with the<\/p>\n

Countess at the oars and rowed for a turn, while the weak, unskilled stewards<\/p>\n

sat quietly in the end of the boat. The Times of London<\/p>\n

several stewardesses spoke very highly of Lady Roths, declaring that she behaved like<\/p>\n

a heroine berth on onboard the ship and in the boat. And after they reached the Carpathia,<\/p>\n

she set about cutting out clothes for the babies who were rescued. No,<\/p>\n

did not welcome the publicity to her mind. There was nothing brave about<\/p>\n

what she did. She saw it as a team effort and always ascribed equal credit<\/p>\n

to the other women who helped row and navigate. It was Able Seaman Tom Jones,<\/p>\n

she said, who acted nobly. She also paid tribute to the many men<\/p>\n

who would not survive the sinking. They were brave men all but stood<\/p>\n

back. So the women should have at least a chance to live. Their memories should<\/p>\n

be held sacred in the mind. All the world forever. No. And<\/p>\n

her husband escaped the attention by traveling to California, where they spent some days<\/p>\n

recuperating, giving up on the idea of buying an orange grove. They returned<\/p>\n

to Scotland, where no resumed her life. Chatelain philanthropist and mother<\/p>\n

to her two boys. Unlike many<\/p>\n

of the survivors whose lives were permanently scarred, 10, including Frederick<\/p>\n

Fleet, the lookout later committed suicide. Noel did not let her experience<\/p>\n

on the Titanic define her later life. Gladys Cherry was more willing<\/p>\n

to talk about their experience and even to joke years later, when asked whether she’d<\/p>\n

crossed on the Titanic part way. She said.<\/p>\n

During the First World War in which Roth is served, he had no converted<\/p>\n

a wing of Lesli House into a hospital for soldiers. Invalided from the front<\/p>\n

and no old. No worked with the Red Cross as a nurse.<\/p>\n

They picked up their life again after the war, and Roth has resumed<\/p>\n

his responsibilities in the House of Lords until 1923. But he<\/p>\n

had been twice wounded and never fully recovered his health. He died in March<\/p>\n

Colonel Claude MacAfee, and went to live with him in a village in Gloucestershire.<\/p>\n

They kept their ties with Scotland, though, and my uncle took these photos during a holiday<\/p>\n

in Argyll in 1936.<\/p>\n

And here’s a picture of her in her later years as I remember her.<\/p>\n

No. Rarely spoke about her experience, even to the family. But my father<\/p>\n

told me that a year after the sinking, when she was dining out with friends in<\/p>\n

London, she suddenly experienced the awful feeling of cold and intense<\/p>\n

horror that she associated with the Titanic. For a moment, she couldn’t imagine<\/p>\n

why. But then she realized that the orchestra was playing the Bacher, all from the tales<\/p>\n

of Hoffmann, which she had last heard on the Titanic. On the night of the sinking.<\/p>\n

And she never made peace with the fact that lifeboat number eight had not returned<\/p>\n

to look for survivors, something that her grandson later called the great sadness<\/p>\n

of her life. Tom Jones was was the son of a Welsh<\/p>\n

fisherman and the only thing he or No. Had in common before their shared<\/p>\n

experience in the lifeboat was their age. She was 33 and he was<\/p>\n

sent him a silver pocket watch engraved with her name and<\/p>\n

the date of the sinking. And later he presented her<\/p>\n

with the Bross number eight from the lifeboat attached<\/p>\n

to a piece of wood. Years later, she said, I still treasure it.<\/p>\n

They exchanged Christmas cards every year and remained friends until her death.<\/p>\n

No. Did agree to be interviewed by David, asked the publisher of the British Sunday paper<\/p>\n

The Observer and a cousin of John Jacob in 1956.<\/p>\n

By then, she was 77 years old and suffering from heart trouble, and she<\/p>\n

died peacefully at home. Just a week before the scheduled interview,<\/p>\n

her memorial plaque in St. Mary’s Church, Fairfield,<\/p>\n

ends with these words. Holiness is an infinite compassion for<\/p>\n

others. Greatness is to take the common things of life and walk truly<\/p>\n

among them. Happiness is a great love and much serving.<\/p>\n"},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/09\/british-studies.png","download_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/podcast-download\/195\/countess-noel-heroine-of-the-titanic.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/podcast-player\/195\/countess-noel-heroine-of-the-titanic.mp3","audio_player":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/podcast-player\/195\/countess-noel-heroine-of-the-titanic.mp3<\/a><\/audio>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/podcasts.la.utexas.edu\/british-studies-lecture-series\/feed\/podcast\/bsls","embedCode":"

Countess No\u00ebl, Heroine of the Titanic<\/a><\/blockquote>