Bridget Cooper

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/bertha-bridge...

Miss Bertha Bridget Moran

• Born: Sunday 9th September 1883 in Toomdeely, Askeaton, County Limerick, Ireland
• Age: 28 years 7 months and 6 days (Female)
• Nationality: Irish
• Marital Status: Single.
• Last Residence: in Askeaton. County Limerick, Ireland
• 3rd Class passenger
• First Embarked: Queenstown on Thursday 11th April 1912
• Ticket No. 371110 , £24 3s
• Destination: Troy, New York, United States
• Rescued (boat 15)
• Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
• Died: Saturday 15th April 1961 in Michigan aged 77 years
• Cause of Death: Natural Causes
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-lifeboat-15/ Life Boat No. 15
• Reference: https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-deckplans/ R.M.S. Titanic deck plans

Miss Bertha Bridget Moran, 28, of Askeaton, Co Limerick was travelling with her brother Daniel to Bronx, New York. She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 371110, £24, 3s).

Bertha Moran was rescued, probably in lifeboat 16.

After losing her brother, Daniel, in the Titanic disaster, Bertha remained in the United States. She married and died on 15 April 1961, while residing in Michigan. She was one of three Titanic survivors known to have died on 15 April. The others were Mrs Selma Asplund and Mr Meyer Moore.

Sources Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279]). Noel Ray (1999) List of Passengers who Boarded RMS Titanic at Queenstown, April 11, 1912. The Irish Titanic Historical Society

Contributors Cameron Bell, Northern Ireland Robert L. Bracken, USA Michael A. Findlay, USA Noel Ray, Ireland

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)

• Mr Daniel James Moran
• Mr Patrick Ryan

Titanic Honors the Irish - Tribute to Miss Bertha Moran

Hello to ya'! I'm Bertha Bridget Moran, but they call me Bertha back home and at my job. I work at the Peabody Shirt Factory in Troy, New York, makin' those famous shirts for the Arrow Shirt Company.

To claim an inheritance, my brother, Daniel, had to return to our family home in Limerick, Ireland, and I went along for the ride. We sailed back to the States aboard Titanic. 'Twas grand to be on the very ship that was the talk and pride of Ireland where she was built. She was a Floatin' Palace! We were shaken awake by the collision, and by the frightenin' reality that, as third-class passengers, it would be more of a challenge to exit the ship, especially since we'd never had a lifeboat drill.

There was an English priest from Essex who'd been servin' as a kind of chaplain for third-class passengers. He led us to where they were lowering lifeboats, but I never saw him after that, and my brother was nowhere in sight either. I was on my own, frozen with fight. Would the Luck o' the Irish get me through?

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Sep 19 2019, 16:43:44 UTC
• Reference: Full text- https://archive.org/details/truthabouttitani00grac/page/n6 "The Truth About the Titanic" by Colonel Archibald Gracie, IV 1913 pp. 296-299

BOAT NO. 15.*

Br. Rpt., p. 38, places this next to last lowered on starboard side at 1.35. No disorder in loading or lowering this boat.

Passengers: All third-class women and children (53) and Men: Mr. Haven (first-class) and three others (third-class) only. Total: 4.

Crew: Firemen: Diamond (in charge), Cavell, Taylor; Stewards: Rule, Hart. Total: 13.

Grand Total (Br. Rpt., p. 38) : 70.

. INCIDENTS

G. Cavell, trimmer (Br. Inq.) :

The officer ordered five of us In the boat. We took on all the women and children and the boat was then lowered. We lowered to the first-class (I. e. A) deck and took on a few more women and children, about five, and then lowered to the water. From the lower deck we took In about sixty. There were men about but we did not take them In. They were not kept back. They were third-class passengers, I think — sixty women, Irish. Fireman Diamond took charge. No other seaman In this boat. There were none left on the third-class decks after I had taken the women.

S. J. Rule, bathroom steward (Br. Inq.) : Mr. Murdoch called to the men to get Into the boat. About six got In. "That will do," he said, "lower away to Deck A." At this time the vessel had a slight list to port. We sent scouts around both to the starboard and port sides. They came back and said there were no more women and children. We filled up on A Deck — sixty-eight all told — the last boat to leave the starboard side. There were some left behind. There was a bit of a rush after Mr. Murdoch said we could fill the boat up with men standing by. We very nearly came on top of No. 13 when we lowered away. A man, Jack Stewart, a steward, took charge. Nearly everybody rowed. No lamp. One deckhand in the boat, and men, women and children. Just before it was launched, no more could be found, and about half a dozen men got in. There were sixty- eight in the boat altogether. Seven members of the crew.

J. E. Hart, third-class steward (Br. Inq., 75) : Witness defines the duties and what was done by the stewards, particularly those connected with the steerage.

Pass the women and children up to the Boat Deck," was the order soon after the collision. About three-quarters of an hour after the collision he took women and children from the C Deck to the first-class main companion. There were no barriers at that time. They were all opened. He took about thirty to boat No. 8 as it was being lowered. He left them and went back for more,' meeting third-class passengers on the way to the boats. He brought back about twenty-five more steerage women and children, having some little trouble owing to the men passengers wanting to get to the Boat Deck. These were all third-class people whom we took to the only boat left on the starboard side, viz., No. 15. There were a large number already in the boat, which was then lowered to A Deck, and five women, three children and a man with a baby in his arms taken in, making about seventy people in all, including thirteen or fourteen of the crew and fireman Diamond in charge. Mr. Murdoch ordered witness into the boat. Four men passengers and fourteen crew was the complement of men; the rest were women and children.

When boat No. 15 left the boat deck there were other women and children there — some first- class women passengers and their husbands. Absolute quietness existed. There were repeated cries for women and children. If there had been any more women there would have been found places for them in the boat. He heard some of the women on the A Deck say they would not leave their husbands.

There is no truth in the statement that any of the seamen tried to keep back third-class passengers from the Boat Deck. Witness saw masthead light of a ship from the Boat Deck. He did his very best, and so did all the other stewards, to help get the steerage passengers on the Boat Deck as soon as possible.