SCOTTISH HEROINE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21554, 17 January 1940, Page 11

SCOTTISH HEROINE

“SADIE OF THE BOLIVAR” Sister Sadie Ogilvie, the 25-year-old Scottish nurse whose heroism in the Simon Bolivar disaster thrilled Britain, was married the other day at Caernarvon. North Wales, to her fellow survivor, Mr Charles Bridgwood, a young Leeds engineer. Sister Sadie met Mr Bridgwood in the liner’s smoke-room only a few hours before the Simon Bolivar was mined. They were talking together when the first explosion rocked the vessel. Their wedding took place at the Castle Square English Presbyterian Church, and was kept secret. Only the bride’s sister and her husband whose home is in Caernarvon, were present. When the Simon Bolivar went down Sister Sadie and Mr Bridgwood became separated. She went to help the children; he waded through a flooded saloon to save an injured woman.

First Aid in Boat

Sister Sadie, with three children, was able to get into a lifeboat. At once she began caring for the injured. She tore her dress in strips to make bandages, broke up an old box and used the pieces as splints. Her next meeting with Mr Bridgwood, who had been picked up, was in the rescue station ashore, where she was still at work giving first-aid. They had only the clothes they wore, but Mr Bridgwood still had some money in his wallet. In borrowed clothes—Sister Sadie wore a coat much too big for her—they travelled to his home in Crossgates, Leeds. And to celebrate their escape, they travelled first class!