Girl Titanic Survivor Now Here Tells Story of Fearful Experiences

Anna Sofia Sjöblom

Third-class passenger

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Says She Still Hears Awful Shriek Of Despair That Went Up As Great Vessel Plunged From – Young Immigrant Gives Graphic Detailed Account

"I saw so many things, so many terrible things, that sometimes I can hardly remember anything. It seems just as if I wanted to rest my mind a long time," said Anna Sjoblom, 18, the first survivor of the Titanic disasters to cross the continent to Tacoma. Miss Sjoblom arrived in Tacoma yesterday afternoon and is staying with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Nelson, 1015 North Steele Street. One of the most vivid descriptions yet given of the horror, from the time the iceberg was struck, through the scenes of terror on the deck of the sinking ship, of the tragedies in the icy water, and of the rescue of the survivors by the Carpathia, is told by this girl who became 18 the day of the wreck.

Miss Sjoblom faced the ill-fated Titanic from a lifeboat, the next to last to leave the steamer, and saw all the horrible happenings as the ship sank bow foremost, and hundreds of passengers leaped into the water. Before the lights of the ship went out she saw clearly the iceberg that brought about the disaster. For an hour after the ship sank, she says, she heard the terrible screams of the people on icebelts (sic) in the water, who shouted and yelled at the tops of their voices.

Screaming. Crying. Praying

"When I was pulled on the deck of the ship by an officer, I rushed to the lifeboats," said Miss Sjoblom today. "There seemed hundreds of people right around me. Some were screaming and crying, some were praying, oh, a great many of them were down on their knees praying. I saw a lot of people, Catholics, make the sign of the Cross. I had to step on many of these people to reach the side of the deck.

"I tried to get into one boat and I was pushed back. The boats kept filling up and going over the side, and it seemed as though I would go down with the ship. I remember watching a little boy about 13 years old, whose parents had gone off in one of the lifeboats. He slipped into a boat and was thrown back on deck by a sailor. He crept into another boat, and again they threw him back to the deck. The third time he slid down in the bottom of a boat and was saved.

Three Deep In Boat

"The boat that I got into finally was the next to the last boat launched. There must have been 50 people in it. It was so crowded that we sat on each other's laps, three deep. While the boat was being lowered, a man jumped into it from the deck above. He came down feet first on my head, and nearly broke my neck. He sprawled over the people in the lifeboat and nearly fell overboard. I was in intense pain for hours after he had jumped on me.

Bobbing Bundle Is Baby

"Before the lights on the steamer went out, I saw a bundle bobbing in the water. It looked as if it was all wrapped up in paper. The lifeboat right behind ours came along, and I saw a man reach over the side and pull it in. He unwrapped it and there was a baby inside. The baby lived but they never found out who the father and mother were.

Six Hours In Boat

"We were six hours in that awfully crowded lifeboat. When we were picked up by the Carpathia we were so stiff and numb that we could not stand on our feet, but had to be hauled on board with ropes. I saw a man picked up so covered with ice you could not see him at all. They said he was dead but they would take him any way. The man got all right and lived."

Three Friends Drowned

Miss Sjoblom was a third cabin passenger on the Titanic, having been sent by her mother in Finland to join her father, Gabriel Gustafson, and brother, Daniel Gustafson, who work in a logging camp near Olympia. Her relatives did not know of her presence on the Titanic, as she had intended coming by [the steamer] Philadelphia, but was prevented by the seamen's strike. She had three acquaintances on board from Finland, one of them formerly of Olympia, and all three were drowned. She was in her berth when the vessel struck.

Saved Railroad Ticket

"The shock when the boat struck the iceberg woke me up," she said, speaking in Swedish to Mrs. Mathilda Nelson, who translated. "Everyone became excited at once. I got up and put on some clothes so that I could go outside. When outside I had not time to go back again. My railroad ticket to Tacoma and a small amount of money were sewed in a little bag and hung around my neck, so that I could not lose it.

"The lifeboat was so crowded that I sat on a man's knee and had a woman on my lap. Several others did the same. There wasn't room for another person in the boat. When we rowed away from the Titanic my face was towards the sinking steamer and the things I saw I will never forget.

Boilers Did Not Explode

"I saw an officer shoot himself through the temple with a revolver. I saw passengers throw themselves overboard shrieking for help. I saw men in the water, floating on lifebelts, who were crusted with ice so thick that you could hardly make out their faces. I saw dead bodies floating about, covered with ice. Oh, it was too terrible to talk about.

"I watched the big steamer every second of the last few minutes she was afloat. The reports were wrong when they say the boilers exploded. The ship just gradually sank in front. The bow went down out of sight, the lights, the low ones first and then the higher around the side of the hull, blinked out, one after the other. Then the steamer, without a sound, except for the shrieks of the people still on board, stood right up on end. It stood there several moments, then slid straight down into the water.

"I Still Hear It"

"The sounds as the ship sank were the most awful sounds I ever heard. I never expect to hear worse. When the boat first began to sink, the people on board began to shriek and wail, and moan. As it went down farther and farther, the shrieks arose louder and louder and more awful. Then, as the boat began to tip up on end, the sound of cries was like something terribly weird. I can't describe it. I can't say how it was. It was just terrible. I can still hear it."

Miss Sjoblom will remain with the Nelsons in Tacoma until thoroughly recovered from the shock of the disaster and the days of excitement following. Her relatives in Olympia were communicated with today.