Geneva Woman, Passenger on the Ill-Fated Titanic, Recalls Her Experiences Night of Disaster

The approaching anniversary of the sinking of the Cunard liner, Lusitania, on May 7th, 1915, by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland, recalls to the mind of one Genevan, at least, the tragic sinking of the great White Star liner Titanic, three years before in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland, when it rammed an iceberg.

Nineteen years ago this past month, on the night of April 14th and 15th, 1912, occurred one of the greatest marine disasters of all times and Mrs. Chris Christensen of 320 Hamilton street, one of the Titanic's 705 survivors, in reminiscing about the tragedy, recalls vividly the ordeal through which she and others in her life boat passed before being picked up by a rescue ship. Mrs. Christensen was rarely spoken of her thrilling experience and the great majority of Genevans have been unaware that one from this city was a passenger on the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden trip.

Out of the 2,340 passengers that the gigantic steamship carried, 1,635 perished. A review of the list of ship tragedies reveals that only one other exceeded the sinking of the Titanic in loss of life. On April 27th, 1865, the S.S. Sultana with Union soldiers aboard, blew up in the Mississippi River, seven miles above Memphis, with the loss of 1,700 lives.

On Way To Visit Father

Mrs. Christensen, nee Miss Bertha Ilett, lived on the Isle of Jersey off the coast of England when she planned to make a trip to the United States to visit her father and sisters. When arrangements were completed, she found that she could make the necessary connections at Southampton, England, to sail on the White Star Line's new and luxurious $10,000,000 boat, the Titanic. It was the last word in ocean liners and hundreds had fixed the date of their sailing so that they could travel on the Titanic. Passengers had every confidence in its seaworthiness because of its airtight compartments and its other then-modern scientific devices.

It was a gala occasion when the leviathan of the deep finally nosed out of the Southampton harbor on Wednesday, April 10th, its nose pointed toward New York, the goal it never reached. Thousands jammed the docks to see the boat's departure and bid relatives and friends goodbye.

Before she had cleared the harbor, some of the Titanic's ill fortune manifested itself. The irresistible suction caused by its 66,000-ton displacement tore the American Liner, New York, from its moorings. The New York floated toward the Titanic, and had it not been for the aid of two tugs, the American liner would have rammed the new ship.

Games, dances and other forms of entertainment occupied the passengers' time during the next four days. On the night of [Sunday] 14th, the Titanic finally entered the iceberg lanes – and warnings of the floating ice masses had been received by wireless.

Retired Early That Evening

Mrs. Christensen retired early that eventful evening, having tired of the various sports, but hundreds of others remained up as usual to amuse themselves. Suddenly the pilot saw a towering mass of ice looming in front of the ship and he swung the wheel, but too late. The Titanic struck the ice a glancing blow and slid over a submerged shelf of ice which ripped out its bottom, although at the time no one knew that this had happened.

The impact was not hard and did not occasion any alarm and many passengers, after coming on deck to see what was the matter, returned to their pursuits believing that a minor collision had occurred and that the ship had stopped so that the damage could be checked.

Mrs. Christensen did not know that there had been anything amiss until she was awakened by a steward at about 11:30 o'clock.

"Get into your life preserver," he bid her, "The ship has struck and iceberg, but there is no danger. Take your place at your lifeboat."

She did as she was bid and joined others on the second deck. There was some confusion apparent, but not much, as the general belief still prevailed that nothing serious had happened.

Lowered In Life Boat

"I got into my lifeboat," related Mrs. Christensen, "with about twenty-eight others, and members of the crew began to lower the boat. Some trouble was experienced at first as the ropes were stiff with paint, but finally we were lowered to the water. The men who had been assigned to the boat to row sent the boat away from the ship. From our small boat, the list of the Titanic was quite noticeable although nothing had seemed out of place while we were on the deck.

"We rowed from the ship and even then we thought that nothing serious could happen to the liner and that we were only getting a chilly lifeboat ride. Soon we discovered that our own craft was leaking and we transferred to another partially filled boat that was near. We rowed farther away, meanwhile keeping our eyes on the Titanic. We could now see that it was settling deeper and deeper, and what we had once believed impossible was happening.

"Our rowers put considerable distance between ourselves and the liner in order that we would not be caught by the suction."

As Mrs. Christensen was one of the first to leave the liner, she did not see the last minute scenes where famous men, including John Jacob Astor, sacrificed themselves that women and children might be.

"From a distance we continued to watch the boat," Mrs. Christensen continued, "Suddenly there were three loud explosions and the liner broke in two. The front end sank beneath the waves while the stern stood high in the air. It remained for five minutes, before it, too, went out of sight."

Boat Occupants Hysterical

"The occupants of my boat were now hysterical as they realized what had happened, as many had left dear ones on the liner. The Titanic sank at about 2:20 o'clock and we were in the lifeboat for about four hours before we were finally picked up by the Carpathia the first rescue ship on the scene. There had been no provisions in our boat and we were mighty thankful to have a big ship under our feet again.

"The Carpathia was crowded with survivors and the dining room had to be used for sleeping quarters. We had saved none of our clothing as we had not anticipated that we were leaving the ship for good."

Mrs. Christensen related the events following the Carpathia's arrival in New York where the boat was met by huge crowds intent on ascertaining the fate of friends and relatives. Mrs. Christensen was met by her father and a friend and went home with them immediately. A cablegram was sent to her mother on the Isle of Jersey telling of Mrs. Christensen's rescue.

"Did the band play, 'Nearer My God to Thee,' as the ship sank," Mrs. Christensen was asked by the writer.

"We were too far away at that time," Mrs. Christensen replied, "although we heard that tune before we were out of hearing distance. I learned from other survivors, however, that 'Autumn' was the selection the musicians were playing as the boat took its final plunge, and not 'Nearer My God to Thee.' The fact that the band played the latter song earlier probably caused the belief that it was their last."

Chooses Geneva For Home

Mrs. Christensen chose Geneva as a home due to the fact that a sister lived here.

"I shall never forget that night," Mrs. Christensen said, "and while I would not want to go through it again, I would not part with the experience for anything."

Mrs. Christensen has in her library a large book which describes the sinking of the Titanic and contains the stories of a number of passengers. The heroic acts of some of the passengers and of brave Captain E. J. Smith who went down with the ship, are recorded therein for posterity.

The fact that so many people were lost is attributed to the small number of lifeboats. Statistics show that the utmost capacity of the life saving devices was 1,100. This with the fact that the liner carried, 2,340 persons shows that only half could be accommodated. Many of the boats at that were half-filled and not stocked with provisions, while others were lost in launching.

The Titanic disaster did much toward bringing about stricter regulations concerning the number of lifeboats a ship should carry, and the ships plying the sea today have enough of the smaller craft to accommodate the passengers in case of emergency.

We would like to thank Wolfric Rogers for contributing this article. If you would like to contribute a primary source to Titanic Archive, please contact us.