Interview with Agnes Sandström

Agnes Charlotta Sandström

Third-class passenger

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Interviewer:
Mrs. Sandström, how did it come about that you and your daughters found yourselves on the Titanic?

Agnes Sandström:
We were returning to America after a visit home and because there was a strike, there were no other ships between Gothenburg and Southampton. So we went on it.

Interviewer:
Were you also drawn to it because it was a modern and famous ship?

Agnes Sandström:
Yes, of course I thought so, although certainly not yet. But it was very nice and grand. It was a big difference from the ship we had tickets on.

Interviewer:
What class were you traveling in?

Agnes Sandström:
We were in Third Class.

Interviewer:
It has been mentioned, in official reports even, that the third-class passengers were neglected, do you agree?

Agnes Sandström:
No, I don't see that at all. I don't think that was the case. Of course the people traveling in Third Class have to know that they didn't pay the same amount as those traveling in First or Second Class. So you can't expect the same level of service. But our service was as good as we could have hoped for. The cabins were nice as was everywhere else. The food was good and the place settings were nice. So we weren't neglected.

My friend and I, who shared the same cabin, were sleeping. The collision woke me up, but I thought we had stopped momentarily. But after a while, they knocked on the door and told us to get up, which we had already done. They told us that we had collided with an iceberg and that it had made a hole, but it would be repaired shortly. It would be fixed in a couple of hours otherwise another ship would come along to pick us up.

Interviewer:
So you were never told how serious the situation was?

Agnes Sandström:
No. Probably very few knew. Not until the very last moment. Nobody thought it possible, because the Titanic couldn't sink – "Titanic," or however you pronounce it.

Interviewer:
So even when the ship began listing pretty severely, the seriousness of the situation wasn't fully understood?

Agnes Sandström:
No, not really. But you could sense what was happening when you reached the top deck. When we got there – We had to climb ladders to get there – We saw that they were – There were a lot of Catholics on the ship and they began crossing themselves – Rosaries – So there was a little panic there, but there was none before. We started thinking of calling on Mary, mother of God.

Interviewer:
It must have been difficult for you with the two little girls to keep track of?

Agnes Sandström:
Yes, so I couldn't concern myself with everything happening around me. I climbed up to the top deck and there was rope, rope, and more rope, so I sat down and thought, "I'm dead tired." But there was something that drove me to the lifeboat. The first lifeboat was full and the second one was full as well, so I couldn't get on those. The steward for our cabin was at the third lifeboat and he told me I was going in this one and he helped us on. He arranged for the girls to get on first and then he helped me. The other two – the first boat I'd wanted to get on – it didn't slide down the ropes, so people fell off before it hit the water. In the second boat I'd wanted to get on, they hadn't inserted the plugs that allowed rainwater to seep through. They hadn't inserted them. So that boat didn't make it. I guess it had been decided that I was going to be saved.

Interviewer:
And it was one of the last boats –

Agnes Sandström:
Yes, it was. How many there were afterwards I can't say, but maybe two or three.

Interviewer:
When you were in the water and rowing away from the sinking ship, how damaged was the Titanic at that point? Was she on her way down?

Agnes Sandström:
Yes, she was. It was like she had split in two. And you heard a creak, or what you would call it, just as she split in two. And after that, it didn't take long for her to sink. But she didn't sink in the middle. She sank from both ends.

Interviewer:
It was women and children first. Did men get in the boats as well?

Agnes Sandström:
Yes. First off, they needed somebody to row. And then you had others trying to sneak aboard, trying to get in, even though they weren't supposed to. They put bags on their heads to look like ladies.

Interviewer:
Mrs. Sandström, what is your most vivid memory of this night? What do you remember most after all these years?

Agnes Sandström:
Seeing them standing on the deck before going into the water. Screaming until you couldn't hear them any longer. And also when they tried to cling to the boat and they were pushed away because the boat was so full we couldn't take on anymore.

Interviewer:
And they couldn't survive many minutes in that cold water.

Agnes Sandström:
No, they couldn't.

Interviewer:
It has been said that the ship's orchestra played "Nearer My God to Thee." Do you know anything about that?

Agnes Sandström:
No, I don't. I don't dare comment on it, because I didn't hear it. But they very well could have, even though I didn't hear it, because my thoughts were with my children.

Interviewer:
You had made friends with many Swedes on board. What happened to them?

Agnes Sandström:
I didn't see any of them afterwards. The woman I was closest to didn't make it. We were in the lifeboat – From around 1:30 we were in the lifeboat until about 7:30 in the morning when we were picked up by the Carpathia.

Interviewer:
Did you have any idea at the time of the scale of the catastrophe? That so many people had drowned?

Agnes Sandström:
No, we didn't realize. We thought there were more lifeboats who had more passengers that we didn't know about. We only saw the one boat. But there were others who left before us. How many, we didn't know.

Interviewer:
Your husband lived in San Francisco at the time. Did he know about the accident?

Agnes Sandström:
No, not until he heard it on the radio. There was an evening paper that mentioned an accident at sea, but he didn't know we were on that ship. He found out the day after, through a telegram from the ship, that we were saved, because we were on the Carpathia.

Interviewer:
And then you had a long trip to San Francisco.

Agnes Sandström:
Yes. Once we got to New York, we had to stay there five days before going to San Francisco. But it took a week to get there.

Interviewer:
Was there a trial that you were involved in?

Agnes Sandström:
No, there was not.

Interviewer:
What kind of compensation were you given by White Star Line?

Agnes Sandström:
Well, I don't remember how much we received, but it was to compensate for lost clothes and other things, but nothing special. It was valued fairly.

Interviewer:
You didn't stay too long in America?

Agnes Sandström:
No, we were only there until November and then we returned home again.

Interviewer:
Mrs. Sandström, do you have any more tangible memories from the voyage?

Agnes Sandström:
No, not exactly. But I do have this painting. It was a man who cleaned my cabin. When I returned home he was a steward on that ship as well. He had painted it and he gave it to me.

Interviewer:
You have now lived in Sweden for many years. During this time, have you had contact with any other Swedish survivors?

Agnes Sandström:
No, I haven't, because I haven't met any who were on that voyage.

Interviewer:
It has now been 50 years since the Titanic sank. Do you feel like you've gotten over the horrible images you witnessed on the 14th of April, 1912?

Agnes Sandström:
Yes, sometimes. But other times, I recall.

Interviewer:
And you remember?

Agnes Sandström:
I remember everything.

Curator's note: This English translation from the original Swedish account is based primarily on the translation used in the Criterion Collection's Blu-Ray edition of A Night to Remember, in combination with Google Translate.