- 7 weeks ago
Waking the Titanic (2013) is a powerful Irish documentary that uncovers the moving story of 14 young men and women from a small fishing village in County Mayo who journeyed aboard the Titanic in 1912. Combining historical research, expert insights, and dramatized reconstructions, the film explores their hopes, dreams, and the lasting impact of their voyage on their community. A heartfelt blend of history and remembrance, it offers a unique perspective on one of the most famous maritime tragedies in history.
Waking the Titanic 2013, Titanic documentary, Irish history documentary, Titanic passengers story, maritime history film, Titanic Irish connection, Titanic true story, Titanic dramatization, historical documentary 2013, Titanic legacy, Irish emigration story, Titanic tragedy remembrance, Titanic survivors and victims, Titanic voyage history, Irish heritage documentary, Titanic County Mayo story, Titanic cultural impact, Titanic ship documentary, Ireland and the Titanic, historical films about Titanic
Waking the Titanic 2013, Titanic documentary, Irish history documentary, Titanic passengers story, maritime history film, Titanic Irish connection, Titanic true story, Titanic dramatization, historical documentary 2013, Titanic legacy, Irish emigration story, Titanic tragedy remembrance, Titanic survivors and victims, Titanic voyage history, Irish heritage documentary, Titanic County Mayo story, Titanic cultural impact, Titanic ship documentary, Ireland and the Titanic, historical films about Titanic
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Dear cousin, I'm coming to America on the nicest ship in the world.
00:12Isn't that just splendid?
00:17I'm coming with some of the nicest people in the world too.
00:21They live in Chicago and I shall be able to make the entire trip with them.
00:26They've told me all about Chicago and I know I shall like it much better than I do Ireland.
00:34Yours truly, Annie Kelly.
00:38In April 1912, 14 people from the parish of Addergool in the west of Ireland set sail to emigrate to America.
00:47They were emigrating from poverty to find a better life for themselves.
00:51They came from the one parish and they all left on the one day.
00:54Unfortunately for them, they had the bad luck to step on board the ill-fated steamliner, the ship of dreams, the RMS Titanic.
01:06The Addergool 14 would have been among the poorest to have boarded Titanic.
01:12Eleven of the 14 died on Titanic. Only three survived.
01:17That, from any one community, had to have been the highest number. I can't think of any that would have rivaled that from any other country.
01:27Grandma had said she recalls at first that people were on deck picking up chunks of ice that had scraped off from the iceberg, putting it in their drinks because it seems there were many parties and celebrations going on at that hour of the night.
01:41Many of the survivors said at night they would have nightmares. And what they would hear is the screaming of the people in the water.
01:51And the tiny village they left behind was so traumatized that they didn't speak about the relatives they lost on Titanic for almost a hundred years. Until now.
02:03Addergool is a small townland in North County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. It's a remote but scenic area situated between the shores of Loch Caan and the foothills of Nathan.
02:29At the heart of Addergool is the tiny village of Laherdawn. In 1912 the population of Laherdawn was only 96 people living in 22 houses.
02:42The Addergool story was one of the most tragic of the people's stories on Titanic. And it was the numbers, the numbers of people that were involved. There were 14 young Irish people from Addergool parish in County Mayo.
02:58Of the 14 all but three did not survive the disaster. And this is a very, very high percentage of loss.
03:07The Addergool 14 travelled together in two main groups. Catherine McGowan was related to Annie McGowan. Catherine lived in America and had returned to Addergool to bring her niece Annie back with her.
03:20While she was at home, her tales of success in America encouraged the 14 to travel together with her as a group.
03:29She travelled round recruiting more people to go. She was obviously going to set them all up in certain jobs in Chicago if they came with her to Chicago. And being as successful as she was, she was always very enthusiastic about this adventure.
03:43Annie Kate Kelly, her friend Delia Mahan, Nora Fleming and Bridget Donahue already had plans to emigrate to America.
03:53But the prospect of travelling together with Catherine McGowan meant safety in numbers.
03:58Catherine Burke was a close friend of Catherine McGowan's. Catherine and her husband John were only married a year and had been childhood sweethearts.
04:10They realised that their only hope of living the life they dreamed of together was to emigrate.
04:17Dear Ellie, I suppose you've already heard of the fit I've taken.
04:22Well, I'll be sailing for America on the 11th of April with Kate McGowan.
04:27He'll be thinking I'm in terrible distress, but no, I'm quite happy going.
04:32When I sent you the shamrock I'd no notion of going no more than the man in the moon, but made up me mind all in a minute.
04:40I'm very short of time just now as I'm busy as ever I can be.
04:44Kate McGowan is here. I'm going to a funeral.
04:48I must close with love to you from Catherine Burke.
04:53P.S. The name of the steamer I'm going on is called Titanic.
04:59Upon hearing of their plans, John's sister Mary Burke also decided to travel with them.
05:05Mary Mangan was also a friend of Catherine McGowan.
05:09She too lived in America and had returned to Addergool to announce to her parents the news of her engagement to be married.
05:20Pat Canavan was 21 years of age, a rugged west of Ireland lad.
05:25He too was leaving Ireland in search of a better life.
05:29He travelled with his friend James Flynn and his cousin Mary Canavan, who was also James' stepsister.
05:35Mary Canavan's friend Delia McDermott travelled with them.
05:39They were the only group to go together, all together, from a parish, from any area in the country.
05:46Ireland in 1912 was a very tough place to live.
05:53It was a poverty-stricken country where people lived under a cold west climate.
06:00Large families of 10 or 12 people were crammed into tiny three-roomed houses.
06:09Everyone was poor and every member of the family worked around the clock just to survive.
06:18It was literally a hand-to-mouth existence.
06:21There were difficult times, there was no income around here.
06:24It was a poor, impoverished area and the population were the same, poor and impoverished.
06:29It was a hard, tedious, mundane task to survive here, for everyone here.
06:34Because life was so tough, communities were very close-knit and they depended on each other completely to survive.
06:42Everybody knew each other well.
06:44Whole communities worked together to save the hay or bring in the turf.
06:53It was this closeness that brought relief to the hard lives they lived.
06:57They had no money.
06:59They just didn't have money.
07:00They had barter and they were self-sufficient to the point of view of having a few cows and growing some wheat and some vegetables.
07:07Not an awful lot though.
07:08That's how critical things were.
07:10They lived in humble houses.
07:12They were really grim, old, damp, cautious.
07:16They were cold.
07:17Because they weren't very well off and they weren't very well fed and nutrition was very poor,
07:22they died in their 40s, 50s, 60s of old age in those days.
07:26Or they died of consumption TB which was rampant in most communities at the time.
07:30Cold, damp houses, turf fires, heavy smoke.
07:33It was a huge environment for tuberculosis and they had TB without knowing it.
07:39One small hitch such as a wet summer, a bad harvest or an illness could literally ruin a family.
07:50Because of this, emigration was rife.
07:53Oh yeah, like emigration was rampant.
07:56It was that time.
07:57It was from every townland they were leaving.
08:00There was no work for them here or no prospects of work for them here that time.
08:04Between 1850 and 1912, over 4 million people had emigrated Ireland.
08:10A huge figure considering the population was only 8 million.
08:14Nearly every family in Ireland had a relative abroad.
08:17The education system was basic and outside of cities, most people only received a primary education.
08:37And many never finished primary school.
08:39Emigrants left as young as 14.
08:42school records across Ireland show the scratched out names of those marked
08:46Gone to the USA.
08:49In fact, it became a fashion.
08:52A rite of passage.
08:54Families would proudly await and display photographs and letters from America, England, Australia.
09:00Katie's Borden House, Michigan Avenue, Chicago.
09:07At this time, nearly every family in Ireland had a relative abroad.
09:11New laws meant that only one child in a family could inherit the family land.
09:16Most families had between 6 and 12 children.
09:20This meant that the rest of the children, once they came of age, had to find work elsewhere.
09:26There was no work in Ireland, even in the cities, especially for poor, uneducated countrymen and women.
09:34Marriage or emigration was the only option.
09:40Newspapers carried dozens of ads every day, prompting people to travel on the fastest, the largest, the most luxurious of liners.
09:48The shipping lines competed aggressively for business, as steerage was where the companies made their greatest profits.
09:56Ticket agents roamed the countryside, knocking on doors with brochures, persuading people of the better life they could have abroad.
10:03And those who could afford to go went in their droves.
10:10The girls left more than the fellas left.
10:13Because there was no implying for girls down here at all.
10:15You always sent your daughter to America if you could.
10:18And if you could, you'd try to get her to America.
10:20Not to England, because it was rough in England at the time.
10:22But if you got to America, you were well made.
10:24And if you got your daughter to America, that was the best thing you could ever do as a father.
10:28The price of a ticket in third class on Titanic was just over £7 sterling.
10:36This is the equivalent of about £700 sterling in today's money.
10:40But in 1912, it would take at least three years for the average Irish family to save this.
10:46To them, it was a fortune.
10:49The Aboriginal Four team couldn't have afforded it.
10:51And their parents couldn't have afforded it either.
10:53So thus remittances, money coming back from America, which brought the next generation over.
10:57And the remittances, it was a huge phenomenon at the time.
11:00The money was coming back from those abroad.
11:02And that's how this area survived.
11:04And that's what got the Fourteen over.
11:06The Fourteen headed off from the village here and got on, as bad as I have it, Titanic.
11:15While the Addergul Fourteen were planning their new lives in America,
11:19only a hundred miles away in Belfast, construction had started on what was to be the greatest ship in the world.
11:26This was the ship that should have taken the Addergul Fourteen to their dreams, but instead took them to their graves.
11:34Construction began on the Titanic in 1907.
11:39It took three years to build.
11:41At the time, it revolutionized sea travel, as it was the largest, fastest, and most luxurious ocean-going steamliner ever built.
11:51It was the first ship that was guaranteed unsinkable.
11:56Titanic cost one and a half million pounds sterling to build.
12:00In today's money, that's four hundred million pounds.
12:04Harland and Wolfe employed fifteen thousand people during this period.
12:09With such a massive weekly payroll, the Harland and Wolfe shipyard in Belfast became the biggest private employer in Ireland at that time.
12:28Dear Annie, I hope this letter finds you well.
12:31I am writing to let you know that I will be returning to Ireland for a holiday in a few weeks, and I'm so looking forward to meeting you.
12:37I hope that you will be returning to America with me.
12:40It's a lovely place to live.
12:42There are lots of opportunities in America.
12:44Jobs are plentiful.
12:47Yours faithfully, your loving aunt, Catherine McGowan.
12:52Fourteen was a considerable number.
12:53In contrast, when people left in ones and twos, they left all together as fourteen.
12:58Probably orchestrated by one person amongst them all, Catherine McGowan.
13:07Catherine was the perfect example of a successful emigrant.
13:13She had made it big in Chicago, having set up a boarding house providing room and board to the newly arrived Chicago immigrants.
13:20She was a rich entrepreneur and had returned to Ireland to escort her niece Annie to Chicago.
13:27Dear Auntie, I'm really looking forward to going to America.
13:33I'm very glad that you are coming to collect me.
13:36I'm looking forward to the opportunities ahead of me.
13:39And hopefully, with your help, I'll be able to find some work.
13:43Yours, Annie McGowan.
13:45When she returned to Addergul, she returned a very different lady from the girl who had emigrated 22 years previously.
13:54Catherine was now a wealthy woman and returned dressed in finery and loaded with money and tales of the opportunities and riches that could be found in Chicago.
14:06Catherine knew all of the fourteen and actively persuaded them to travel together with her to America.
14:12She told them stories of broad streets, jobs aplenty and lives beyond their wildest dreams.
14:19One by one, she persuaded them all to travel together at the same time on the same ship.
14:25I'm related to Annie McGowan.
14:27When Annie finished school, she was in contact with her aunt Catherine McGowan.
14:34The fourteen would be very much excited because they all had the same expectations as Catherine McGowan told them about.
14:47They probably thought that they could attain the same status as Catherine McGowan by going to America.
14:53The week of the 8th of April 1912, there were fourteen wakes held in houses across the townland of Addergul.
15:10There were fourteen deaths to be honoured.
15:12These weren't real deaths or real wakes, but American wakes.
15:19Ireland has always had lots of customs and traditions.
15:26One of these was the tradition of the American wake.
15:29When emigrants were leaving to go to America, their family and friends would hold a symbolic wake.
15:39Emigrating was like a death.
15:42A person who emigrated in these times would most likely never see their family or friends again.
15:48Most emigrants, bar the lucky few, never returned to Ireland once they left.
16:16These were very emotional affairs and bittersweet.
16:19Very sad for the family of a person leaving and for the person themselves.
16:24But also, the prospects of a better life were exciting.
16:29When Titanic was launched in 1911, the White Star Line made a point of not christening the ship
16:44or blessing it with the customary, may God bless her and all who sail in her.
16:49This caused huge consternation.
16:51At that time around Europe, it was considered unlucky to travel on any maiden voyage.
16:56And this act strengthened this feeling.
16:59Many very superstitious, the Irish included, looked upon this to a certain extent as flaunting God, saying God couldn't sink this ship.
17:14Wherever in the world there is poverty, there is religion, and Ireland in 1912 was no different.
17:24Because life here was so precarious, the Irish were very religious.
17:29They were also very superstitious.
17:31There was a lot of forewarnings about sailing on Titanic.
17:36Delia McDermott, for one, had had an experience about this herself.
17:41Only a few days before Delia left on Titanic, a stranger stopped her on the road one evening when she was returning home with friends.
17:50He told her that she'd be making a journey in a few days, and that there'd be a terrible tragedy, that hundreds would die, but she would be saved.
17:59Other family members of Adaguo people also had psychic forewarnings, so to speak.
18:07The night before she left, Delia Mahan's brother read her tea leaves, and allegedly told her there would be a terrible disaster on her journey, and that she would die.
18:17But these weren't strong enough, I guess, to keep the people from sailing.
18:23The day before the Adaguo 14 left Ireland, they spent their final hours preparing, packing, and with family.
18:42Mary Mangan spent this time with her parents, before going back to America to get married and start a new life.
18:57Catherine and John Burke were also preparing for a new life.
19:01They were expecting their first baby, which would be born in America.
19:05They were full of plans and hope for their new life and family.
19:08Delia McDermott's mother told her that to be a lady in America, she had to wear a hat, that all ladies wore hats there.
19:22She told her that to be a real American lady, one must arrive in New York wearing a hat and gloves.
19:31The day before Delia left, her mother took her to Hickson's shop in Crossmalina to buy her first hat and gloves.
19:41Bridget O'Donoghue worked in the local shop.
19:52The day before she left, the three-year-old daughter of the shop owner asked Bridget to send her back a ring from New York.
19:59To get the sizing right, Bridget measured the little girl's finger with a piece of string.
20:14James Flynn spent the afternoon with his sister, who was upset at his leaving.
20:19She had been deaf since birth, and James was the only one of her family or friends that could sign with her.
20:25He promised he'd send her a ticket for her passage once he got to New York.
20:37When Titanic was launched and in the water, she had the most expensive fitting out of any ship.
20:43The facilities were state-of-the-art.
20:46A heated swimming pool, a gym completed with multi-gym machines, rowing machines and spinning machines.
20:54The famous Grand Staircase was hand-built from oak and mahogany by Belfast's master craftsmen.
21:02Because steerage class was where the shipping companies made their greatest profits,
21:06the White Star Line decided that Titanic would revolutionise this class.
21:10Steerage on Titanic was real luxury.
21:13It wasn't called steerage, it was called third class.
21:17And third class on Titanic was like second class on most other ships,
21:21and even as good as first class on some ships.
21:25The finished ship was resplendent, sleek and elegant,
21:29deemed the largest and fastest ship in the world.
21:33All the Titanic needed now, a crew and passengers.
21:40On the morning of April 10th, 1912, the Addergool 14 made their way to Castle Bar train station.
21:56Goodbyes were emotional.
21:58They faced a 14-hour journey to County Cork to meet Titanic,
22:06which was now preparing to leave Southampton, England.
22:09When the 14 reached Castle Bar train station, they were excited but nervous.
22:27This was final, and they were now leaving home.
22:30After a quarter ticket to be in town.
22:32Quarter ticket to be in town.
22:33Now, the two of the rooms are staying here in town.
22:36The last two of the rooms was no longer living home.
22:38The last one, the last two of the rooms were unlocked.
22:40The last two of the rooms were closed for the city.
25:15Annie Kate Kelly was my aunt.
25:17She was in bed when somebody woke her up and said the Titanic is sinking. She thought they were teasing her. But then somebody else came and they said, oh, yeah, you've got to get out.
25:34When Titanic hit the iceberg, the Addergul 14 were in different parts of the ship.
25:41Some were in their cabins, others were at a party.
25:45The impact wasn't felt by everyone.
25:47In fact, the shudder was so slight that many people on the ship didn't even feel it.
25:54So everyone was calm and orderly.
25:56Nobody thought the ship was in any danger.
26:04Grandma had said she recalls at first that people were on deck picking up chunks of ice
26:10that had scraped off from the iceberg, putting it in their drinks
26:13because it seems there were many parties and celebrations going on at that hour of the night.
26:17And most likely she probably considered there was no danger.
26:23Up until the disaster itself, these people were having a great time.
26:30They were having fun, they were doing things together, they were singing, they were dancing.
26:37When the Titanic hit the iceberg, this was 20 minutes to 12.
26:42I should rise and you...
26:45Nora Fleming was celebrating her birthday and she was singing on this fateful day.
26:52The stewards had told the Addergul 14 that there was nothing to worry about,
26:58that they were to stay in steerage and above all stay calm.
27:02They were told that they would receive further instruction as soon as possible.
27:05Nora Fleming kept singing to help the situation and to help keep people at ease.
27:11As time went on however, the Addergul 14 became more and more anxious.
27:23Stress began to increase and pressure began to show.
27:27However, they did their best to stay calm like they were told to by the stewards.
27:32And I think that lasted so long until they saw the slant of the ship, the way it was sinking.
27:44And that's where the panic started.
27:47And despite the panic, the Addergul group seemed very organized in this.
27:53The men came to find the women and realized we have to get out of here.
27:59We have to find a way to the lifeboat.
28:02The people in the steerage class weren't given access to the upper decks to get the boats.
28:07You could not get access to second class or first class from steerage.
28:12You had to go through gates and barriers and they were kept that way
28:15and they were manned by crew who were told to keep them down below until we had order.
28:20They knew from the beginning there weren't enough lifeboats
28:25for at least a thousand people that were on board that ship.
28:30But it was even worse because the lifeboats were set up in such a way
28:35that the first eight lifeboats were on first class deck space.
28:41Now no other class was allowed in that area.
28:44So those first eight boats went off with almost entirely first class people.
28:52The Addergul group was very organized.
28:56The men got the women together and they started working up the decks.
29:01And the only way to do that until you got to the uppermost deck
29:05was by literally putting women in your hands and boosting them up onto the next deck.
29:14So literally you had three or four decks you had to ascend to get to the boat deck.
29:20That was only the last one that there was a stairway that could be used to get onto the boat deck itself.
29:27It has to be called heroic I think.
29:32When the Addergul group got to the lifeboat decks there were only three lifeboats left.
29:37In the panic the group lost each other in the crowd.
29:42Catherine and Mary Burke each got a place on a lifeboat.
29:48But when John Burke was refused access both Catherine and Mary got out of the lifeboat to stay with him.
29:57Annie Kate Kelly was put on a lifeboat in their place.
30:04I should not have been saved except for Mrs Burke's refusal to leave her husband.
30:11I looked up and saw my cousin watching, holding in his hands his rosary beads which he raised to bless me.
30:19He was among the many that went down with the ship.
30:22On the other side of Titanic Delia McDermott had got on a lifeboat.
30:27Then the most extraordinary thing happened.
30:30Delia! Come back! Come back here!
30:33She realised she had left her hat behind her.
30:37She got off the lifeboat and returned back into steerage of Titanic to get her hat.
30:46When she got back on deck all the lifeboats had gone.
30:49She then lowered herself down a rope and jumped 15 feet into the last lifeboat that was being lowered away.
30:57And she survived.
31:00The hat was something that was so important to her.
31:03It was the one thing that she had that she valued that she wanted to bring to America.
31:10I'm sure she thought I won't be able to afford another one like that when I get to America.
31:15And I cannot chance it.
31:17So I'll take the chance and I'll go back and see if I can get it.
31:22And most likely not realising the dangerous situation that she was in.
31:26On another part of the ship Annie McGowan also managed to get a place on a lifeboat.
31:31I'm related to Annie McGowan.
31:34She remembered being grabbed, get in the lifeboat, get in the lifeboat.
31:38And she was scared because she didn't know what was happening with her aunt.
31:41And she remembered hearing husbands and wives not wanting to be separated, screaming.
31:48She remembered when she was in the lifeboat that a man tried to get in the boat and said,
31:55If you don't let me in, I'm going to tip over the whole boat.
31:59So they let him in the lifeboat.
32:01But her biggest concern was for her aunt and what had happened to her aunt.
32:06And I believe in the lifeboat they tried to reassure her and tell her that her aunt was on the next lifeboat.
32:15But she never ended up hearing what happened.
32:22All of a sudden she said it just busted in half and she thought a boiler had broke.
32:44And that's what caused it and that's when she said you really heard a lot of screaming.
33:01The lights completely go out so it's pitch black and then you hear the screams.
33:08That's when the screaming started.
33:11It was terrible.
33:13The salt water and the wind made my eyes bleed.
33:16The screams of the passengers left on the decks drifted over the water.
33:20It was horrible. Horrible noise. Horrendous noise. Unforgettable noise.
33:35And unforgettable cries and appeals and people over dawning.
33:42Those who actually entered the water.
33:44When you land in the water the temperature was zero to one degree.
33:47Most of them you had to swim for a start.
33:49If there were a life jacket you can swim with a life jacket on you.
33:52You float like a cork.
33:53The more you struggle the worse it becomes for you.
33:55Because you use up all your energy and you get cold rapidly.
33:58You last about 14-15 minutes and then you're sleeping to unconsciousness.
34:01And you're dead within about 20 minutes.
34:07Very few people that ended up in the water were survivors.
34:12We're talking about maybe two dozen at most.
34:16And the reason being the water was so cold.
34:22People did not die by drowning as many people think.
34:27Most of them had life belts on.
34:29They were above the level of the water and the water was pretty clear that night.
34:34Pretty calm.
34:35The water was so cold they died of hypothermia.
34:39And died probably within 10 or 15 minutes at most of the time they went in the water.
34:44There were just a few stars out there was no moon.
34:59So they drowned in the darkness.
35:01Which is worse again.
35:02So it was a horrible end for all the 1500 drowned.
35:06So it was worse when the water was or after everyone was,
35:13And the water was very careful.
35:14But it was less than 10 years maybe.
35:15Some people did not die there.
35:16And the water was very careful.
35:17It had been a boy and a man who disappeared.
35:18And the water was very careful.
35:19When you've turned the water away,
35:21And the water had been very careful.
35:22And you saw the water made the water on the land.
35:23Of the Adder Ghul 14, only three survived Titanic.
35:37Annie Kate Kelly, Annie McGowan and Delia McDermott.
35:48On arrival in New York, they were taken to St. Vincent's Hospital
35:52where they remained for two weeks.
35:55All three were badly traumatized and very weak.
35:59Most of them got very good treatment from the hospital staff.
36:03They were kind of special people because of what had happened to them.
36:09But that wasn't necessarily true of the representatives of the White Star Line.
36:16Annie Kate Kelly was my great-aunt.
36:19The doctor was quoted as saying he didn't think she would survive.
36:22Every time she closed her eyes, she would relive the tragedy all over again.
36:26She couldn't eat.
36:27She couldn't drink.
36:29She was just distraught, which was a real contrast from the way I knew her.
36:34I knew her as a very, you know, forthright kind of person, very witty, and with tremendous strength of character.
36:45My mother was very, very stressed out.
36:50And according to her two aunts, they couldn't even talk about the incident at all, that she was very, very sick.
36:57Delia McDermott was my grandmother.
37:02She came on the Titanic with two girlfriends, and both of them perished.
37:07She was so traumatized by the sinking of the Titanic that anything that would remind her of it would cause her a lot of anguish.
37:15As these people were recovering in St. Vincent's Hospital, the White Star Line representatives very definitely took advantage of these people when they were ill, when they were not thinking properly,
37:29when they were in hysterics, and would go into the rooms and have them sign papers, and the papers basically said they would settle with the White Star Line for $25, no matter how much they had lost on board, no matter what kind of injuries they had had.
37:51In other words, they were signing off everything to the White Star Line that they could have sued for later for $25.
38:00Annie, Annie, Annie, from the White Star Line, we needed a sign, we needed a sign, we needed a sign, we needed a ticket to Chicago.
38:14Annie Kate Kelly was a very good example of this.
38:17This happened to her, she did sign the papers, and she did get $25, and that was the extent of what she got for her belongings, and the ordeal she'd been through.
38:31Mary Mangan did not survive the Titanic.
38:43Her body was discovered on April 22nd.
38:46It was the 61st body to be retrieved from the water, and it was easily identified because of the jewellery that had been found and her effects.
38:55In particular, there was a gold watch with her picture inside, and her name was engraved inside Im Mangan, and also engraved on the outside Im Mangan.
39:07She had her engagement ring, that was listed in her effects, but later on there was a notation added that there was no ring in effects, so the ring went missing at some stage.
39:18It was never returned to the family.
39:19Her body was buried at sea, her clothing was buried with her, and they returned her personal effects to the family.
39:27The reason that they buried some at sea and not others was because some of the bodies were too decomposed, and it would be difficult for embalming.
39:36The still bodies had been found floating until as late as June 1912, the same year.
39:41The bodies of the remaining ten of the Addergool group, Delia Mahan, Mary Canavan, Pat Canavan, Catherine McGowan, John Burke, Catherine Burke, Mary Burke, James Flynn, Nora Fleming, and Bridget O'Donoghue, were never found.
40:09They didn't know in Larradon for a whole week what had happened.
40:17They got wind after five days, but the information was inaccurate for a start, and it was exaggerated, and then they couldn't give the proper story.
40:26No one knew who drowned and who survived, and then eventually the authorities had the names and numbers in New York.
40:32So it would have taken maybe eight, nine days for the news to come back to a household that their son, their daughter, had not met in America.
40:38When the news came, the pain was insufferable, and they could do nothing about it.
40:44They had no body.
40:45They had no grave to go to.
40:48And it's very well described what happened.
40:51Hitchers being put of the people on the beds.
40:54There were white snow, white quilts.
40:57And you could imagine all the crying and the neighbors coming.
41:00The pain was always there.
41:02They went with that pain.
41:03They died with that pain.
41:05And the important thing was to make a new life and get on with it, which they all did.
41:09They all made a new life.
41:29Graham, Mama, Dad.
41:31It had to be my sister's wedding, I'm sure.
41:35Here, Annie McGowan, Anne McGowan, baptized on July 9th, 1897.
41:52Date of birth, July 5th.
41:54However, remember the stories that she used to tell?
41:57Born at the stroke of midnight, so we got to celebrate her birthday on July 4th.
42:01She's the only person born between the 4th and the 5th.
42:05What that means, I never could.
42:09That's the truth.
42:12Annie McGowan was my grandmother.
42:14There's close to 100 of us that would not be here if she had not survived the Titanic.
42:21Annie McGowan was my mother.
42:23And when she came here, all she had was a nightgown, slippers, and a coat.
42:30She was sick for quite a while.
42:33And they were afraid that she would lose her mind if it was constantly brought up.
42:38And then, of course, her aunt had died on the ship.
42:40But once she started going on with her life, and she got over the initial shock of the experience,
42:49I mean, I don't think you ever really get over it, but she led a normal life.
42:55And then she went to secretarial school, and she got a job.
42:59And shortly after that, she met my dad, and they got married.
43:04She had three girls.
43:06My sister Fran, my sister Jackie, and myself.
43:10My mother was a very strong lady, a very feisty, determined person.
43:16She, when she made up her mind to do something, she did it.
43:20Nothing was going to get in her way.
43:22She was going to get it done.
43:23She didn't like something she told you.
43:25I discovered her newspapers in the drawer when I was a teenager.
43:32She had the original newspapers about the sinking of the Titanic in the drawer.
43:37And she never, ever talked about it prior to that.
43:40And I asked my mother about it.
43:42She said, just put that away, and never mind.
43:44Don't talk about it.
43:46And the next I heard was just before I got married.
43:48And we discovered that this was true.
43:51She was really on the Titanic, but she still would not talk about it.
43:56Growing up, she was terrified of the water.
43:59My mother never went in the water, ever.
44:02Never wanted us to go in the water, either.
44:10Delia McDermott was my grandmother.
44:12Delia has 34 descendants, and 30 of them are alive right now.
44:17Delia married my grandfather, John Lynch, and he was a Galway man.
44:22She met him and married him in America.
44:25And they lived in Jersey City, and he worked on the Central Jersey Railroad his whole life.
44:31They had three children.
44:33Delia was just a very quiet person, very reserved.
44:36She never initiated conversations.
44:38I can picture her sitting in her rocking chair in the kitchen, and I also picture her with a rosary bead.
44:45She was, you know, she was always praying.
44:48She ran a boarding house where she lived on Union Street.
44:51She would be up early.
44:52She would attend daily Mass, and she would tend to her home.
44:56She was a real homebody.
44:58My grandmother never spoke about the Titanic, and I learned from an early age on not to ask her about the Titanic.
45:06Perhaps it's a feeling of anybody who survives a disaster where others have lost their lives,
45:13and you wonder, why did God spare me?
45:16Especially for her, after she got herself up out of a lifeboat and was able to get back into a second lifeboat,
45:25which was amazing because I'm sure by the time she got into the second lifeboat,
45:29there were people struggling to find lifeboats and to get into one,
45:33and she was fortunate enough to get into one 40 minutes before it sank.
45:37She never spoke about going home again.
45:45Annie Kate Kelly lived with her sisters.
45:48I think she was there for a time before she was able to pull herself together and, you know, get out and get a job, you know.
45:57I probably saw her very regularly once I came here.
46:01Annie Kate Kelly lived and worked in Chicago as a milliner for nine years.
46:06Then, as a direct result of her experiences on Titanic, she completely changed the direction of her life.
46:16Annie Kate Kelly always questioned why she was saved when so many others,
46:22she was wealthier, better equipped in life, didn't survive.
46:29And she always felt a calling and ended up giving her life to the Lord and became a nun
46:36and was a teaching nun for most of her life.
46:39She said, well, I decided if I wanted to make a life for myself, I had to put the Titanic behind me and move on.
46:56She taught in many of the grammar schools in the Chicago area.
47:01She was a very straight-laced lady, very fond of family and very into her students.
47:07A lot of young people actually kept in touch with her, those whom she had taught until she died.
47:26The village of Laherdon in Ireland still feels the pain of the Titanic tragedy a hundred years on.
47:32The story of the Adar Ghul 14 nearly died completely with the last generation in Laherdon.
47:39The pain of their loss was so intense that the villagers stopped talking about it completely.
47:44There was bitterness around the area afterwards, and then people stopped talking about it, deliberately stopped talking about it.
47:51Firstly, because it broke their hearts, firstly, because it disturbed them greatly, having lost somebody.
47:55Secondly, there was a possibility there was money owed, and somebody may have come looking for owed money.
48:01And it got bitter, and then they stopped talking about it.
48:04And that's why the story suddenly began to disappear, and that's why it wasn't known about a generation later.
48:10Because of this, a lot of documented evidence of the 14 was lost over the years.
48:17However, in the last decade, the people of Adar Ghul have begun to talk about this history again.
48:23In recent years, they have begun to embrace this legacy.
48:27They are now actively recovering this history, and there's evidence of this all around the village of Laherdon.
48:33In the last decade, the people of Laherdon have been busy travelling and communicating with people around the world,
48:40collecting, rebuilding, and archiving the documents and records of the Adar Ghul 14.
48:45This is Mary Mangan's watch, which was recovered from the Titanic.
48:52It was found around Mary's neck on a chain.
48:55At the back here, then, I've got the inscriptions of Mary Mangan.
49:01She was probably just looking at it for the times for the train,
49:06thinking, how long have I got left before we get to the Titanic?
49:09The watch stopped at 20 past two.
49:12It stopped when the Titanic sank into the water.
49:15We know that Mary Mangan would have gone into the water at that time.
49:19It's just amazing to have it.
49:23Relatives and residents with an interest in the Titanic
49:26are constantly working in different ways to commemorate the Adar Ghul 14.
49:32Obviously, we want to include the ship sinking.
49:35You can see the stern of the ship.
49:38But the most intriguing of all Laherdon's commemorations takes place here every April.
49:49On the 14th of April at 2 a.m.,
49:52a candlelit procession slowly winds its way through the village to the local church.
50:01Here, a ceremony is held.
50:03This is a ritual created by the people of Laherdon to unite the community
50:09and help them to tell their story together.
50:13The story of how 14 of their ancestors left this village 100 years ago
50:18to seek hope and a better life in America, but never got there.
50:22At exactly 2.20 a.m., the time Titanic finally disappeared into the sea.
50:32The relatives of the Adar Ghul 14 ring the church bell for each of the 14.
50:39The people of Adar Ghul are telling their story once again.
50:43The taken away from their friends and family,
51:01the model of Adar Ghul 14 ring the church bell for all the nations on the earth.
51:03The tree is a Sultan from the relevant condition in Africa.
51:05Which time, as we should look at isolation and maintain for all the branches of their own body,
51:08there are many of the people with them.
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