Based on the real ship, it's people, maybe a bit of A Night To Remember, and the 1997 movie
Absolutely NO drama. No blaming any of the actual people from the ship and no disrespect towards any of them. Merely a tribute to the people and I'll try to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
November 9th, 1872 - April 14th, 1944
She is a Scorpio
Marian Longstreth Thayer was an American socialite and survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Marian Longstreth Morris was born in Haverford, Pennyslvania. Her father was Frederick Wistar Morris, and her mother was Elizabeth Flower Paul. Marian was one of 7 children; 3 boys and 4 girls. Frederick was part of the Morris family firm of Morris Wheeler and Co., which was a prosperous iron and steel company. Her grandfather, Israel Morris II, who owned the firm, bought the Dundale Estate at Villanova, Pennsylvania as a country residence for himself and his children. On this estate he built numerous large houses for his sons, one of which was for Frederick. It was in this house that Marian spent much of her childhood.
In 1892, at the age of 20, Marian married John Borland Thayer, who at that time was a clerk in railway administration and ten years her senior. Over the years John was progressively promoted, and he eventually became Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They had 4 children; 2 boys and 2 girls, one of them being Jack Thayer. Jack was the only one of their children to travel with them on the RMS Titanic. The Federal Census shows that in 1910, Margaret Fleming was employed by the Thayer family as a maid. She travelled with John, Marian, and Jack in 1912 when they went to Europe and returned home with them on the Titanic.
Onboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912: The family and Margaret boarded Titanic at Cherbourg and occupied adjoining cabins C68 and C70. On the Sunday afternoon before the ship sank, Marian Emily Ryerson went for a stroll on the deck and encountered J. Bruce Ismay. According to Ryerson, Ismay showed them a telegram which said there were icebergs in the area. She also claimed in a deposition to the U.S. Senate Inquiry about Titanic that Ismay said they were going to start extra boilers on the ship. After Titanic struck the iceberg, Marian and Margaret were taken to Lifeboat 4 with Emily Ryerson. After the lifeboat had rowed away from Titanic, Marian gave her own account of what happened as follows:
"The after part of the ship then reared in the air, with the stern upwards, until it assumed an almost vertical position. It seemed to remain stationary in this position for many seconds (perhaps twenty), then suddenly dove straight down out of sight. It was 2.20 a.m. when the Titanic disappeared, according to a wrist watch worn by one of the passengers in my boat.
"We pulled back to where the vessel had sunk and on our way picked up six men who were swimming – two of whom were drunk and gave us much trouble all the time. The six men we picked up were hauled into the boat by the women. Two of these men died in the boat. The boat we were in started to take in water; I do not know how. We had to bail. I was standing in ice cold water up to the top of my boots all the time, and rowing continuously for nearly five hours. We took off about fifteen more people who were standing on a capsized boat. In all, our boat had by that time sixty-five or sixty-six people. There was no room to sit down in our boat, so we all stood, except some sitting along the side.
"The boat I was in was picked up by the Carpathia at 7 a.m. on Monday, we having rowed three miles to her, as we could not wait for her to come up on account of our boat taking in so much water that we would not have stayed afloat much longer."
Marian, Margaret, and Jack survived the sinking, but John B. went down with the ship. When Carpathia docked, Marian's brother was there to meet them and took them back to their home in Haverford, in a special train that had been arranged for survivors. Unknowingly Marian still had in the pocket of her overcoat the White Star brochure about Titanic which contained information about the ship and included a list of first class passengers. The cover of the brochure and the first page of the passenger list are shown on the right. It still bears the mark of being folded.
After The Sinking: Marian never claimed from White Star Line for the loss of John B.'s life but did claim for the loss of their luggage. Marian did not remarry but remained in her house, Redwood, in Haverford. Soon after the tragedy, Marian joined Madeleine Astor and Florence Cumings in a luncheon to thank Captain Arthur Rostron and Dr. Frank McGee, the RMS Carpathia's surgeon, for their assistance in their rescue. After this, Marian invited the two men to stay a few days at her home in Haverford where she, Jack, and other passengers from Titanic expressed their gratitude for their help.
Marian died at her house on April 14th, 1944, the 32nd anniversary of the Titanic's sinking.
