Titanic Survivor Frank Prentice Interview

Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three

There were only 705 survivors, few of them of course are still alive today

but amongst them is Major Frank Prentice from Bournemouth. Now Major, you worked in the purser's office of the ship

you were only 18 at the time, and you were in your cabin here in the midships

of the Titanic when the collision occurred. Now what was the first you knew of the disaster

Well we came to a sudden stop, that's the first I knew about it

and it was just like jamming your brakes on a car. There was no impact, no great impact, you couldn't feel

it was just a bit of a shudder, then she stopped. Now when people realised the ship was actually sinking

were the scenes of great panic? At the end, it was chaotic at the end

What was happening? Well everybody was crying, praying, trying to get into the few lifeboats that were left

No, it was pretty sad at the end. You met a woman, didn't you, and you gave her some advice

Yes, well Mrs. Clarke, I got her into a lifeboat, she was having trouble getting her life jacket on

so we fixed that for her and told her, and she didn't want to leave her husband

that was the trouble, half the women didn't want to leave their husbands

But anyway, we got her, I got her into a lifeboat as a precautionary measure, and she said, well can my husband come with me

And I said no, he'll follow on later on. Well now how did you get off yourself

Well I dropped off the stern just before she sank. So you went right up to the stern here

Yes, it was quiet up there. Presumably the stern was a long way out of the water

Well she was almost vertical when I left her. I was lying, I was hanging onto the board

that says keep air propeller blades, but at the very end I was lying on it

and then I let go and I just missed the propellers on the way down

How big was the drop? I don't know, well over 100 feet

I believe you've still got the watch you had at the time. Yes, I have

Can we have a look at that? Yes. What time did the ship actually sink

I think she went down about quarter past two. Right, well here's the watch

and the watch says 20 past two. So the watch kept going after you'd hit the water

which presumably was freezing. Yeah, absolutely. Full of ice and bits of ice flows

and bergs all around us. Eventually you managed to get into a lifeboat. Yes

Did you meet Mrs. Clark again? Yes, I met her, and I sat next to her and she wrapped a blanket round me

and tried to keep me a bit warm. I was nearly a frozen solid

What about her husband? Her husband was drowned. What are the myths of the Titanic

Was the band playing Nearer My God to Thee? Yes, yes. Did you hear that

I heard that when I went forward the second time. Put some stewardess into a lifeboat

and I found they didn't know where to go or what to do. And on the way back I found them

I heard the band playing Nearer My God to Thee and them singing

What about this theory that some of the men dressed up as women to get into the lifeboats

I don't know. I didn't see any of that. I know there were a lot of men saved

There were 80 firemen, I think, of about 70-odd stewards. And a lot of men saved

I don't know how they got away. They didn't swim. Of course, there were only seven picked up that lived

Who do you blame for this catastrophe? I blame the bridge. I think a lot of the blame was on Bruce Ismay, the chairman

He was the chairman of the shipping line. He was the chairman of the shipping line and I'm very much afraid he influenced Captain Smith

so much that we went straight for the ice. There was no question about it

We were absolutely thrown away. That ship was thrown away. Why, though? Why

For the sake of speed. We shouldn't have been anywhere near there because we had warnings that there was ice

and there was ice all over the place. We had it from ships and shore

And we went straight ahead as if there was nothing there in our way. Does the memory of that night still haunt you now

Well, tonight I shall think a lot about it. Can't help it, can you

Did you think at any stage you were going to die? I didn't give it a thought when I was on the ship

I didn't give it a thought when I dropped from the water, but I gave it a long thought when I was on my own

and everybody else seemed to be dead around me. And then I thought I was going to die

But I had a life jacket on and I had another one tucked under me in a cushion

and I was just paddling towards where I saw the lifeboats, where I... We sent up rockets from the bridge

and I could see where the lifeboats there were. I was on the poop. I had a very good view

What a dreadful scene that must have been, Major Prentice. Thank you very much for joining us

Thank you