THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220389
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND LENGTH: 46 lines
Edith Haisman, the oldest survivor from the sinking of the Titanic, has died at 100. Haisman died Monday at a nursing home in Southampton.
Haisman remembered seeing her father, Thomas Brown, standing on the deck of the sinking ocean liner on the night of April 14-15, 1912, with a glass of brandy in one hand and a cigar in another.
He waved and said: ``I will see you in New York.''
The Titanic took 1,500 lives down with it. Lifeboats got away with about 700 as the vessel sank 560 miles off Newfoundland.
Haisman's father was taking the family from South Africa to Seattle, where he intended to start a hotel business.
Edith, his only child, married the late Frederick Haisman, an architectural engineer, in South Africa. They had 10 children and more than 30 grandchildren.
Edith Haisman appeared in public in 1993 to accept her father's gold watch, which had been recovered from the Titanic's wreckage.
``I was in lifeboat No. 13. I always remembered that. My father was waving to us and talking to a clergyman, the Rev. Carter,'' said Haisman, who attended the ceremony in a wheelchair.
``The Titanic went into the ice and I heard three bangs. Before we hit there had been terrific vibrations from the engines during the night as the ship was really racing over the sea.
``As the lifeboat pulled away we heard cries from people left on the ship and in the water and explosions in the ship. There were lots of bodies floating. We kept on rescuing people and trying to cover them up against the cold. We were in the lifeboat nine hours.'' MEMO: Titanic artifacts can be seen at Nauticus until March 31. Call
664-1000 for details. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS/
Color File photo
Edith Haisman, then a teen-ager, last saw her father aboard the
sinking ocean liner the night of April 14-15, 1912, with a glass of
brandy in one hand and a cigar in another. He waved and said: ``I
will see you in New York.''