Interview with Maude Sincock Roberts

Maude Sincock

Second-class passenger

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Maude Sincock:
It was a beautiful boat. That boat was built in Scotland. 1

Interviewer 1:
Oh, yes.

Maude Sincock:
And it just came down the side of England to Southampton. And that's where we left, from Southampton, on a beautiful day, Wednesday morning. The sun was shining very nicely.

Interviewer 2:
Do you remember that all?

Maude Sincock:
And the bands were all playing on the wharf and there were people all watching. It was just wonderful. Oh, it was a floating palace. That's what they said it was. Well anyways, from Wednesday, we had beautiful weather all the way until Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday. It was even a beautiful day. But this was around quarter to 12:00 when that iceberg struck the ship.

Interviewer 1:
Did you notice it at the time?

Maude Sincock:
Oh, yes. Everybody couldn't help but notice it because it was just a big thump. Well, see, an iceberg is three quarters under the water.

Interviewer 2:
Where were you when this happened? Were you in your cabin?

Maude Sincock:
In bed. Well, it was about 10 minutes to 12:00, you know. A lot of them were in bed and a lot weren't. So, then one of the stewards came down in every lobby, knocked on everybody's door, and set everybody on deck with life belts. Well then, people opened their doors and started to get all excited, you know how it is. They asked if the boat was going to sink. They said, well, it was just a precaution. So of course, I hopped out of bed real quick then. And I just had my nightie on and a raincoat. I put my feet in my slippers, no stockings, no hat or nothing and I grabbed the life belt and away I went. But, because see, I was alone. I mean, just that I came with friends.

Interviewer 2:
These friends you came with, did they survive too?

Maude Sincock:
Yeah, I came with friends from our town. 2 But I was alone myself. But at some point, I navigated my way through to the elevator. The little elevator boy was even gone. So then we had to climb the stairs still.

Interviewer 1:
What deck were you on? Do you remember what cabin you had or what deck? How many flights up you had to go?

Maude Sincock:
Oh, I had to go quite a few flights to get to the top deck where the rowboats were being put out. Oh, when I got up on there, it was –

Interviewer 1:
Must have been a madhouse.

Maude Sincock:
– It was such a crowd you couldn't even get through hardly. Good job I was small.

Interviewer 1:
Oh, you were small enough to wriggle between the people?

Maude Sincock:
I had to navigate through some of the other people, yeah. Of course, there was an awful lot of excitement, you imagine.

Interviewer 1:
Yeah, sure. But at that time, was the boat leaned over at all to the side? Was it heeled over?

Maude Sincock:
Then I managed my way to get through over to the side of the ship, you know, by the railing. And they were filling boats already then, and you know, there was a lot of people there that they were going to get in the boat and then they changed their mind. They said they'd be safer on the big boat and they wouldn't get in those little boats. See, the big boat was here and then the little boat was still like this and then lowered down after.

Interviewer 1:
It was hanging on the ropes, of course.

Maude Sincock:
And a lot of them looked down and the waves looked so treacherous. In the middle of the sea like that. All you could see was sky and water, you know. But anyways, that boat got lowered down and I didn't get in it, so I just moved my way along the railing and I got in the next boat. And there were still people there that wouldn't go in the boat. They said they'd be safer on there, so some of them it was their own fault, I suppose. But I took a chance.

Interviewer 1:
Was your lifeboat completely filled with people when it was lowered?

Maude Sincock:
Oh yes, they all were, as far as I know, they were all full. And then we were in those little boats all night, icebergs all around us. In the morning we saw a little speck just like that, and that was the Carpathia.

Interviewer 1:
Oh, you were picked up by the Carpathia then?

Maude Sincock:
We were picked up on the Carpathia. During the night, there was a sailor in each boat, and during the night they would holler to each other so that one wouldn't get lost, because if one got lost, you would never get found anymore, you know. That was the way that happened. Well then, it was maybe about nine o'clock the next morning. We were in those little boats all night. It was about nine o'clock.

Interviewer 2:
It must have been cold.

Maude Sincock:
Oh, yeah.

Interviewer 1:
You just had your nightie and your raincoat on and your slippers. You must have been pretty cold.

Maude Sincock:
That's all I had. We saw that boat, and everybody had to row to that Carpathia. They had a swing, just like a little child swing with a board on it. One by one, we had to sit on that and help our feet up.

Interviewer 1:
A boson chair, yeah.

Maude Sincock:
It was a higher ship. Then we got up. I was wondering how we're getting up. There was two men up there with a windlass.

Interviewer 1:
They were cranking you up one at a time from the lifeboat onto the the Carpathia.

Maude Sincock:
Yeah, well see, that ship, it wasn't as big as the Titanic, by any means, but still it was a seagoing big vessel.

Interviewer 1:
Pretty high.

Maude Sincock:
Well, I think it had almost a full load on itself. And then to take on 750 passengers (that's how many we were extra), that made a lot of work. I didn't get sick, but I did catch a cold. The only thing I wanted was an orange. And that little waiter was real good. He went around till he found me one. You know, when your stomach feels sick, you don't feel like eating too much. And besides, there was so many people that were upset. You know, you imagine-

Interviewer 1:
Of course, everyone was in a state of shock.

Interviewer 2:
- they lost relatives.

Maude Sincock:
Yeah, so many people were upset. Well, when we got on that boat, that captain was real careful. See, he went slower, you know, and beside, it was foggy. So, it took us longer to get into New York then, but we got there safe anyway.

Interviewer 1:
Could you see the Titanic sinking, after you got on?

Maude Sincock:
Oh, yes I saw it go down. The sailor that was in our boat said that we were just far enough away to be out of the suction. When that boat exploded, there's four great big funnels on that Titanic. And the suction was about, well, he said it was about a mile around, that it sucked in everything.

Interviewer 1:
It was an explosion, huh?

Maude Sincock:
And then of course, we saw different pillows floating, and you know, things, these chairs and deck chairs and all kinds of things.

Interviewer 1:
Wreckage.

Interviewer 2:
You must have known, too, that there were people in the water.

Maude Sincock:
Yeah. So we were just far enough away to be out beyond the safe side. That's what the sailor said in our boat. [unintelligible] when I thought, you know, in your excitement.

Interviewer 1:
It's been a long time.

Maude Sincock:
Yeah, well, I mean, just at that time you don't think of everything either. We were just thinking about...there was another girl and I. You know, those rowboats have a little three-cornered piece on the end of them where they have that rudder. Well, there was another girl and I sitting up on there. We were sitting on our legs to keep them warm because we didn't have no stockings on, either one of us.

Interviewer 1:
You must have been cold.

Maude Sincock:
We just hurried up. Well, when we got in New York, we were glad to get in there. But we got in there about maybe around 11 o'clock. I never saw so many people in my life, and I saw a lot of people.

Interviewer 1:
There must have been great mobs waiting for the Carpathia. By that time, everybody knew.

Maude Sincock:
They were all over everywhere, and they had it roped off like that so that people couldn't get in too close, you know. But when we got there, there was the Red Cross. It must have been Red Cross. Oh, huge room. So everybody that wanted to go in there, they had lunch and they had all kinds of clothes, you know, everything.

Interviewer 1:
Yeah, because here you are, you're getting off the Carpathia in New York. You've got no baggage, no shoes, no socks.

Maude Sincock:
No. We had them. Well, they had everything in there that you wanted, so at least we got dressed. But then there was different people there that wanted to take some of us, you know, I mean, so the lady that I came with, I went with her. I went to a lady's house. She wanted us to stay there. But we had to stay there until we got our fare to our destination. Because we didn't have nothing, you know. We lost everything.

Interviewer 1:
You lost everything. And where were you going to at the time?

Maude Sincock:
I was coming up here.

Interviewer 1:
Coming up to -

Maude Sincock:
To Hancock. And that other lady was going to Mohawk, up by Calumet. So I had company.

Interviewer 1:
So you were originally from here then, is that it?

Maude Sincock:
No, no, I came from England.

Interviewer 1:
Oh, you're British? And you were emigrating to the United States?

Maude Sincock:
I am all British. 3

Interviewer 2:
But you must have had relatives here then already. Did you have family here in Hancock?

Maude Sincock:
Oh, yes.

Interviewer 1:
And you've been to Hancock before?

Maude Sincock:
My dad was here. My mother's family was here. Her dad and brothers and sisters. That's why we wanted to come out. My dad was here and my one sister was here, so then I came out. Then later, my mother came out with the other little ones. She came in September then.

Interviewer 1:
She must have been pretty nervous coming over after you had been on a ship that sank.

Maude Sincock:
She said she would like to see a boat cross the ocean and come back safe.