THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC

New Zealand Tablet, 20 June 1912, Page 11

THE WRECK OF THE TITANIC

HEROISM OF THE PRIESTS THE SURVIVORS’ TRIBUTE When the survivors from the wreck of the Titanic arrived at St. Vincent’s Hospital (says a New York paper) they were received by the nuns and by members of the Ladies’ Auxiliary. These ladies deserve much praise for the work they did for the passengers. They provided clothing for them and assisted the nuns in caring for them. The Irish Emigrant Society distributed one thousand dollars among the rescued Irish people who were being cared for at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Among the survivors taken to St,. Vincent’s were sixteen Syrians, and they were cared for by an Egyptian priest, Father Misry. While they were in the hospital he celebrated Mass for them and did everything to facilitate their departure for their destination. His Eminence Cardinal Farley visited St. Vincent's Hospital to offer ' his consolations to the survivors in the loss of their relatives.' It was his Eminence’s seventieth birthday. Word was no sooner passed that the Cardinal was there than a score of women to whom complete new outfits were being supplied in an improvised department store on the second floor . flocked around him. ‘How well you all kept up your courage!’ 1 was Cardinal Farley’s first exclamation. ‘ But what dreadful suffering!’ Three French widows whose husbands were lost were among the first to attract his attention. They were Mine. Matilde Weisz, Mine. Louise Laroche, with her two fatherless girls, and Mine. Antoinette Mallet, with her two-year-old son, Andre. Cardinal Farley questioned them in French as to their losses and experiences. Mine. Mallet said she and her husband came to Montreal three years ago and that he obtained employment there as foreman in a, bottling works. Last February they went to visit her mother and sisters in Paris. Her husband brought her and the child to'the lifeboat, she told the Cardinal. That was the last she saw of him. Similar stories were told by the other widows. Then, with peculiar tenderness, the Cardinal bade them kneel before him and gave them his apostolic blessing. Mary Kelly, from Castle Pollard, was the next to be questioned by the Cardinal. She had lost her aunt, with whom she was travelling, she said, but another aunt in New York was then with her. Cardinal Farley questioned her as to the last service in the steerage. It was given by Father Byles, she said, that Sunday afternoon, but there were two other priests on board, all of whom were lost. Here Cardinal Farley’s eye picked out a face in the crowd. ' ‘Father Byles was your brother, was he not?’ he asked. ‘He was to have married you to-day?’ Suppressing a sob, the man stepped forward. It was Mr. W. E. Byles, Brooklyn. Another black-haired Irish girl of about twenty was recognised by Cardinal Farley as. a relative of John Nestor, one of his old men servants. Her name is Bertha Moran, and to her, too, Cardinal Farley gave such comfort as he could for the loss of her brother, Daniel, with whom she had been voyaging to New York. Florentina Duran More and her sister, Asuncion Duran, from Barcelona, bound for, Havana, were also questioned in their own tongue by the Cardinal. They had lost all their money and clothes. Then Cardinal Farley passed through all the wards of the hospital, stopping at the bedside of two steerage passengers, whose feet Avere frozen on the night of horror. No story of rescue told by the survivors was too long to command his attention. He commended‘the members of the committee on the work being done by them to better the conditions of the steerage survivors, characterising it as noble,

Many of the survivors, especially the young, Irish girls who boarded the Titanic at Queenstown, gave thrilling accounts of the bravery and devotion of the three . priests who,were on board. From all these accounts it is evident that the priests unselfishly gave up their lives in order to be with the steerage victims at the end. :> Three of the survivors who vividly remember the last hours oi the heroic English priest, Father Byles, are Miss Ellen Mocklare, a pretty, dark-haired young girl from Galway ; Miss Bertha Moran, and Miss McCoy. These told their story in concert at the hospital. - , " C ‘ When the crash came we were thrown from our berth/ said Miss Mocklare. ‘ Slightly dressed, we prepared to find out what had happened. We saw before us, coming down the passageway, with hand uplifted, Father Byles. We knew him because he had visited us several times on board and had conducted services for us that very afternoon. . ‘ "Be calm, my good people,” he said, and then he went about the steerage giving absolution and blessings.’ ‘ Meanwhile the stewards ordered us back to bed/ spoke up Miss McCoy, ‘ but we would not go.’ /A few around us became very excited/ Miss Mocklare continued, ‘and then it was that the priest again raised his hand and instantly they were calm once more, he passengers were immediately impressed by the absolute-self-control of the priest. He began the recitation of the Eosary. The prayers of all, regardless of creed, were mingled and the responses, Holy Mary,” were loud and strong.’ ‘ Continuing the prayers/ said Miss Bertha Moran, _he led us to where the boats were being lowered. Helping the women and children in he whispered to them words of comfort and encouragement.’ - £ One sailor/ said Miss Mocklare, ‘warned the priest of his danger and begged him to board a boat. Father Byles refused. The same seaman spoke to ,him again and seemed anxious to help him, but he refused again. Father Byles could have been saved, but he would not leave while one was left and the sailor’s entreaties were not heeded. v' After I got in the boat, which was the last onq, to leave, and we were slowly going further away from the ship, I could hear distinctly the voice of the priest and the responses to his prayers. Then they became fainter and fainter, until I could only hear the strains of Nearer, my God, to Thee,’’ and the screams of the people left behind. We were told by the man who rowed our boat that we were mistaken as to the screams and that it was the people singing, but we knew otherwise.’ , ! ‘ Did all the steerage get a chance to get on deck?’ she was asked. • , I don’t think so, because a great many were there when our boat went out, but there were no more boats, and I saw Father Byles among them. i i A young man who was in • the steerage with us helped me into the boat. It was cold and I had no wrap. Taking off the shirt he was wearing, he nut it around my shoulders, used, the ■ suspenders to keep it from blowing undone, and then stepped back into the crowd. Miss Ellen Toomey, who was on her way to visit her relatives in .Indianapolis, said that"' Father Byles celebrated Mass every morning in the library for the second-class passengers. On Saturday night'he heard confessions, and a number received Holy Communion on Sunday morning. Both priests celebrated Mass for the steerage passengers on Sunday morning. Father Byles delivered a sermon in English and French, the other in German and Hungarian. Strangely enough each of the priests spoke of the necessity of man having a lifeboat in the shape of religious consolation at hand m case of spiritual shipwreck. As soon as the crash came Father Byles went to the steerage and remained there until the end. Miss Toomey got off on the third boat and was about a mile away when the Titanic went own. The fearful wail of the people, victims and survivors, as the ship sank, she said, will forever haunt all who heard it. ” - -

Bridget, or Birdie, Norton, a steerage survivor, tells another story of heroism and unselfishness which included the priests and her brother, all of whom are missing. The priests began hearing confessions on their arrival in the steerage after the shock. Realising that time was short, they exhorted the men and women to say an act of contrition in chorus, and gave a general absolution to the kneeling, terrorised passengers. They then began reciting the Rosary. Birdie Norton was travelling with her brother John. While she was praying he came to her, asked her if her, life preserver was fastened firmly and then said; ■ 1 Come with me; I want you to see the sky. It is beautiful.’ She followed him to the railing, and he then added : Kiss me, sister. Now do look at those stars.’ As she turned her eyes to the heavens, distracted for the moment from the horror of the scene beneath, the brother raised the sister in his arms suddenly and threw her bodily overboard. In the water she battled with the waves, upheld by her life preserver, until picked up by a lifeboat already crowded with survivors. Birdie Norton to-day mourns the loss of that brother and blesses the memory of the priests who lost their lives while giving spiritual comfort to the dying. A party of six young people, three boys -and three girls, all neighbors living at Lara Chapel, parish of Columkille, County Longford, boarded the Titanic at Queenstown to seek their fortunes in America. Two members of the party, brothers, Frank and Michael Kiernan, were lost. They were nephews of the Rev. Luke J. Evers, pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, City Hall place. The other four on their arrival were taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital and later went to St. Andrew’s rectory, where Father Evers took care of them. They all gave interesting accounts of the wreck and spoke feelingly of the heroism and devotion of Father Byles and the German priest. One of the party, Bernard McCoy, stayed on the ship until the water washed over the deck. He then jumped, and, being a strong swimmer, he was able to reach one of the life boats, .but, as he caught hold of the side, an officer pointed a pistol at him and said : ‘ Let go or I’ll shoot.’ The youth let go, but lie dived under the boat and came up on the other side. There he held on, unseen, for over an hour, keeping low in the water and his head as close to the boat as possible. Later he was assisted into the boat and saved. The girls in the party were Katie and Margaret Murphy and Helen Corr.