The Molly Brown House Museum
1340 Pennsylvania Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
303.832.4092
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In April of 1912, while on an extended trip in Europe with her daughter Helen, Margaret received word that Larry's son, her first grandson, was very ill. The news caused her to shorten her trip and return to the United States. As fate would have it, she booked passage on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. Helen decided at the last minute to remain in London with friends, and Margaret went on without her, accompanied only by her good friends Jacob and Madeline Astor.

Despite her worries, Margaret was eager to be on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. The ship was a wonder of modern science built by British White Star Lines at a cost of $10 million. The boat weighed 46,000 tons and was 882.5 feet long. The Titanic was the most luxurious ship ever built. "There will never be another like her," said Baker Charles Burgess. "They can make them bigger and faster, but it was the care and effort that went into her."

Features of this "floating palace" included a glass domed staircase, a lounge which imitated the palace of Versailles in France, a gymnasium with the latest electrical exercise equipment, a library, a saltwater swimming pool, a squash racquet court, a photographic dark room, and Turkish baths. Margaret's first class stateroom cost $4,350 for the 6-day voyage. The rooms had freestanding beds made possible by the steadiness of the ship.

The ship's hull was as thick as 6 feet 3 inches in some places and was divided into sixteen watertight compartments made to keep the ship afloat in the case of disaster. The ship's builders boasted that the ship was "practically unsinkable" which the press soon declared "unsinkable."

The Titanic's first class passenger list boasted an impressive number of U.S. and European celebrities: the Astors, Benjamin Guggenheim, Charles Hayes, Jacques Futrelle, Isador Strauss, and Bruce Ismay, the owner of the White Star Shipping Line. Of the above, only Margaret and Ismay survived.

That evening, the ship's Captain and crew had received numerous warnings of ice in the area. The ship even received a radio transmission that a nearby ship was stopped and completely surrounded by ice. Still, for reasons that would be debated for years, the Titanic charged ahead at nearly its top speed of 22.5 knots. By the time the lookout saw the iceberg it was too late to change course. Shortly before midnight on April 14th the Titanic struck ice.

Margaret had retired to her stateroom early, anxious to finish a book. Margaret describes her experience this way, "I stretched on the brass bed, at the side of which was a lamp. So completely absorbed in my reading I gave little thought to the crash that struck at my window overhead and threw me to the floor. Picking myself up I proceeded to see what the steamer had struck. On emerging from my stateroom, I found many men in the gangway in their pajamas. All seemed to be quietly listening, thinking nothing serious had occurred, although realizing at the time that the engines had stopped immediately after the crash and that the boat was at a standstill."

The crew did not immediately realize the extent of the damage. However, like Margaret, they suspected that something was wrong because the engines had shut down.

After the crash, Margaret returned to her stateroom and heard increasing confusion in the hall causing her to investigate further. "I again looked out and saw a man whose face was blanched, his eyes protruding, wearing the look of a haunted creature. He was gasping for breath and in an undertone he gasped, 'get your life saver'."
Margaret, who was a seasoned traveler, never feared for her personal safety. "If the worst should happen," she declared confidently "I could swim out." She was never able to prove her swimming ability. After helping fellow passengers into a lifeboat she headed to see what was being done with the lifeboats on the other side of the ship. She still believed the comments made by her friend Jacob Astor that the ship was unsinkable. Suddenly, she was taken a hold of and with the words "you are going too" was dropped four feet into the lowering lifeboat #6.

Lifeboat #6 was equipped to hold 65 passengers. However, it pushed off from the Titanic with 21 women, 2 men and a twelve-year-old boy on board. As the lifeboat was being lowered, Margaret noticed with horror a gush of water spouting from an opening in the side of the ship. The last orders given to the group by Captain Smith were "row to the light and keep the boats together." As the lifeboat moved away from the sinking Titanic they realized there was no light.

Margaret slid the heavy wooden oar into place with the help of another woman, and the two assisted in rowing the lifeboat safely away from the Titanic. "As we pulled away from the boat, we heard sounds of firing, and later were told it was officers shooting as they were letting down the boats from the steamer trying to prevent those from the lower decks jumping on the lifeboats. Others said [correctly] that it was the boilers."

Margaret could still hear sounds of dogs barking and children crying. She had to believe that they too were being loaded onto lifeboats. Finally, the cries ceased and a great rumbling sound was heard as the boilers exploded and all the contents of the ship slid to one side. "Suddenly," she wrote, "there was a rift in the water, the sea opened up and the surface foamed like giant arms spread around the ship, and the vessel disappeared from sight." At 2:30 a.m. April 15th the Titanic sank. Of the approximately 2,300 on board 1,600 were lost.

The occupants of Margaret's lifeboat stood in silent shock in the middle of their lifeboat. They demanded to go back and help the people struggling in the water, but Quartermaster Hutchens ordered that it was their lives now that were in danger, and that the drowning victims would capsize the small life boat in their efforts to be saved. Reluctantly, the women went back to their oars sobbing at the sounds of death surrounding them.

They continued to row for four more hours occasionally seeing flares sent up by the other lifeboats. At 4:30 a.m. Margaret saw a flash of light. It was from the approaching ship Carpathia that, although not the nearest ship to the Titanic, was the first to answer the distress call. After some difficulty, lifeboat #6 pulled up along side of the Carpathia, and the occupants were pulled aboard one at a time. On deck the group was given hot coffee and stimulants as they achingly scanned the deck for familiar faces.

Margaret, though sore, tired and cold, began to take action. Her knowledge of foreign languages enabled her to console survivors who spoke little English. She also rifled through the ship to find extra blankets and supplies to distribute to women who were sleeping in the dining room and corridors. She compiled lists of survivors and arranged for information to be radioed to their families at her expense. Margaret realized that these women had lost everything- husbands, children, clothes, money and valuables- and needed to start a life in a new country. She rallied the first class passengers to donate money to help less fortunate passengers. Before the Carpathia reached New York $10,000 had been raised.

The Carpathia docked at New York's pier 54 where it was met by a crowd of 30,000 people. Margaret was surrounded by reporters and was asked to what she attributed her survival. "Typical Brown luck," she replied. "We're unsinkable."

Upon hearing that her grandson had recovered, Margaret decided to stay in New York. She continued the work begun on the ship and became president of the survivors committee. The Titanic disaster made Margaret a national hero. By the time she arrived back in Denver, the media was clamoring to interview the "Unsinkable Mrs. Brown."

Content from Kristen Iversen's book, Molly Brown, Unraveling the Myth , published by Johnson Books in 1999.