Posted on 05/30/2002 5:20:50 AM PDT by TomGuy
The last Titanic hero succumbs
May 29 2002 at 10:52AM
By Barbara Cole
The world's last surviving hero of the Titanic disaster, Herbert "Pops" Johnston, has died in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal.
As a 15-year-old apprentice on the Carpathia passenger vessel in 1912, he helped rescue dozens of passengers who had been aboard the Titanic. And having reached the grand age of 104, Johnston was something of a survivor himself.
On Tuesday, a day after going into a coma at the Mbango Frail Care Home in Port Shepstone, the great-great-grandfather died peacefully in his sleep.
The old salt recalled the words of his captain On his 100th birthday in 1997, British-born Johnston received congratulatory telegrams from Queen Elizabeth and former president Nelson Mandela.
He was a crewman on the Carpathia when the ship answered a distress call from the Titanic, which had hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage from England to New York.
When the Daily News took him to watch the award-winning film Titanic, 87 years after the tragedy that cost 1 490 lives, the old salt recalled the words of his captain: "Action stations! Action stations!"
The Carpathia crew could not believe the scene which met them when their ship, after receiving a distress call, turned around and went to the rescue.
The Titanic had sunk and the rescuers could see passengers on liferafts in the dim light of early morning.
Johnston and the rest of the Carpathia rescuers helped save 711 people.
Johnston recalled a nine-week-old baby being lifted into his arms - and, 11 years ago, that "baby", then an 84-year-old Englishwoman, sent him a "thank you" note.
Johnston, who "jumped ship" when the Carpathia arrived in South Africa, served in both world wars. He lived on the South Coast for 40 years. He joined the Memorable Order of Tin Hats in 1946, and until Tuesday was the Moths' ldest member.
He was a life member of the Combined Operations Shellhole in Margate.
A memorial service will be held at the Margate Methodist Church next Wednesday.
Johnston is survived by three children, six grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.
I understand that A Night to Remember made use of some of the footage from that German movie.
I like both, just for different reasons.
Meanwhile, the crew of the passenger ship Californian, within visual sight of the distressed ship, demonstrated a titanic case of Kitty Genovese syndrome.lol!
The wireless operator on the Californian was in bed. Congress reacted, of course, by enacting the first regulatory laws of wireless use to, among things, require 24-hour monitoring of radios on U.S. flag vessels.
Walter Lord, I hope I'm recalling his name correctly just passed away himself a week or two ago.
BTW, the sequel to A Night To Remember was The Night Lives On, also a very good book.
Many Freepers belong to this organization as well.
Mr. Johnston was, no doubt a freeper at heart.
And a bump to Tomguy on the book. I found it at my local library. Lightoller was definitely a memorable character. I especially liked the story on how he believed his Christian Science beliefs saved him from death that night.
That's when I turned this particular movie off. The class warfare bit, egregiously exploited, when in truth many "upper class" men (John Jacob Astor, for one) graciously offered seats in the lifeboats to "lower class" women and children.
The Titanic sinking was one marker in the passing of the old, genteel order notable at the turn of the last century.
Walter Lord signs copies of his book about the Titanic "A Night To
Remember" at a reception in his honor in this April 4, 1998 file photo,
in New York. Lord, who went from writing obscure tax manuals for
businessmen to literary fame as the best-selling author of ``A Night
to Remember,'' a gripping account of the sinking of the Titanic, died
Sunday, May19, 2002, at 84.
(AP Photo/Mitch Jacobsen, file)
Interesting times this week -- the recent thread
celebrating Bob Hope's 99th birthday had a similar
shared nostalgia. It's been a sweet break from some of
the tough events we've experienced lately.
True enough. I am a Titanic buff 30+ years running now, and I have to buck the tide and put in a good word for James Cameron's 'Titanic'. He went to enormous lengths to keep the 'rivet-counters' happy, and he wove his story into several famous photograph taken on board by a Jesuit Priest on the legs of the voyage between Southampton and Cherbourg. Very well done movie, from a historical standpoint- he did his homework.
I had actually prepared myself for some FReeper's hot-gunner reply pointing out that Kitty Genovese wasn't even born when the Titanic met her demise. There seems to be a jag for posturing minutia around here these days.
Kitty Genovese should be a household term. The fact that her story is not well known is testament to our current terrorists-thrive-among-us predicament, as well as other societal problems. Yikes--it could have been called Californian Falling Star Syndrome (that would be an apropos hoot!). Interviews with several Californian crew members revealed they 'decided' the multiple Titanic distress flares were merely shooting stars...
Alas, I digress from the thread topic...
tee hee
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