by Senan Molony
A telegram has been received at Askeaton by Mrs Madigan from her daughter Margaret, who was on board the Titanic, stating that she and Bertha Moran, also from Askeaton, are safe.
(Irish Independent, 20 April 1912)
Report of the American Red Cross (Titanic Disaster) 1913:
No. 287. (Irish.) Domestic servant, 21 years old, injured. ($150)
District Court of the United States. In the matter of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, Ltd:
I, Margaret Madigan, residing at No. 221 Fourteenth Street, in the city of Troy, N.Y., do hereby make and present my claim for damages, loss and injuries sustained by me by reason of the collision of the steamship Titanic with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on April 14–15 1912, and the subsequent sinking of the said steamship.
I was a passenger on said steamship and had in my possession the following property, of the value of three hundred and seventeen dollars and fifty cents, which was lost when said steamship sank on the day last aforesaid:
3 tailored suits – $45; 4 pairs of shoes – $12; 1 gold watch – $50; underwear and stockings – $15; 2 odd skirts – $7; 2 hats – $15; 1 silk dress – $8; 6 shirt waists – $9; 4 pairs of gloves – $4; 1 toilet set – $15; 1 pocket book – $2.50; 1 satchel – $5; cash – $105; 1 gold ring – $25. Total – $317.50.
In 1913 Maggie Madigan married William Kane and moved to Glen Falls, New York. She had escaped from the horror of the Titanic, but six years later the great flu epidemic of 1918 took both her young husband and their only child from her. She lived for another sixty years, dying in January 1978 in her 88th year.
1901 census – Madigan; Church Street, Askeaton, County Limerick.
Parents: James (50), general labourer; Margaret (50).
Children: Simon (23), Mary (15), Margaret (12).
Delia Mahon (19) Lost
Ticket number 330924. Paid £7 12s 7d.
Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.
From: Derrymartin, Addergoole, County Mayo.
Destination: 438 Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.
The fate of the Titanic was read in tea-leaves at the home of Delia Mahon. She lived with her widowed mother, Anne, and three other children in a tiny cottage in remote Derrymartin. Her brother Pat was 20 years old and a sturdy pair of hands on the meagre farm, and they managed, despite the loss of Delia’s father, Michael, many years before. Pat claimed to be able to read the leaves at the bottom of a drained cup of tea, and there was consternation on Delia’s last night at home when he predicted a mishap on the way to America. The uncomfortable atmosphere was soon punctured by hilarity when a neighbour at the hearth suggested she might arrive in New York pregnant! The immediate anxiety thus evaporated in laughter, and although Pat was scolded for alarming his sister, something stronger than tea was duly produced and the party fell to more convivial themes.
The family were very poor, and Delia’s death did much to further dishearten them all. The American Red Cross in its 1913 report on relief cases provided a picture of their plight:
No. 289. (Irish.) A housemaid, 19 years of age, was lost. She left a widowed mother and three younger children in Ireland, and was coming on a ticket purchased by a girl friend, hoping to be able to do more for her mother when at work here.
The Committee paid the cost of the ticket to the friend, who could ill afford to lose the amount, as she was herself assisting her family. English Committee gave £60 to the mother. ($40)
Delia Mahon was born in 1892, and was baptised Bridget on 6 March that year. She was always known to the family as Delia, a familiar name for Bridget. Besides herself, her widowed mother and hard-working Pat, there were two youngsters in the house: Michael was aged 15 and Kate just 12, the latter crying her eyes out when Delia chose to leave.
1901 census:
Parents: Michael Mahon (60), farmer. Wife Anne (45).
Children: Patrick (11), Bridget (Delia, 9), Maggie (7), Michael (4), Kate (2).
Mother-in-law Bridget Cawley, widow, 82.
Mary Mangan (31) Lost
Ticket number 364850. Paid £7 15s.
Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.
From: Carrowskehine, Lahardane, County Mayo.
Destination: 1848 Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.
Someone may have stolen a diamond ring from the body of Mary Mangan after it was recovered from the cruel sea. It disappeared from her listed effects. Mary had been due to be married on her return to Chicago as she had been on a trip home to County Mayo to see her elderly widowed mother and to receive the congratulations of friends and neighbours anxious to wish her well for her forthcoming wedding.
Of course they all wanted to see the ring. As the envious young girls crowded around Mary’s outstretched left hand, the older married womenfolk smiled indulgently and made jokes at those same fingers soon being worn to the bone by doing all his mending and housework. When Mary sailed from Queenstown for a new life, she left not only with the earnest good wishes of all from her home place, but an extensive trousseau of wedding gifts. Most precious of all, however, was still the ring, symbol of love eternal.
When Mary’s body was recovered floating in the sea on 22 April 1912, the ring was still bright on her finger. But although it was carefully noted and logged by the crew of the MacKay-Bennett search vessel, it was missing later from possessions due to be handed over to her family as last mementoes. A note in the public archives of Nova Scotia on a list of Mary’s belongings states simply: ‘No ring in effects’. Either it had been misplaced or pocketed by a person unknown:
No. 61: Female. Estimated age: 30. Hair light
Clothing – Green waterproof; black coat; skirt; blouse; red cardigan jacket; black button boots with cloth uppers.
Effects – One gold watch, engraved inside ‘M. Mangan’, and photo, and outside ‘M. Mangan’; gold locket with hair and photo as in watch, engraved ‘Mary’; gold chain; beads in pocket; brass belt buckle; medallion round neck; diamond solitaire ring; gold bracelet ‘M.M’.; wire gold brooch.
No marks on clothing. Probably Third Class. Name – Mary Mangan.
Mary’s body was buried at sea on the same day as its discovery. Only the effects were retained and later passed to Bridget Mangan, the deceased’s 70-year-old mother, and Ellen Mangan, her 29-year-old sister. Mary and Ellen had returned to Ireland from America together, but Mary was returning to Chicago with the Bourkes – who lived in the next-door homestead in Carrowskehine – and Ellen was expected to follow; she never risked the Atlantic again, later marrying a neighbour, Pat Walsh.
The items sent home by the coroner’s office in Halifax remained in the family. Mary’s nephew Anthony Mangan still has her water-damaged watch, carrying the inscription that made her identification so easy, but now missing its hands. But the clasp containing her photo and a lock of hair has been lost.
Mary’s mother later fielded a claim for $10,000 for the loss of her daughter against the White Star Line. She received just a pittance when the corpus of claims was finally settled under limited liability. In the meantime she had been granted administration of Mary’s assets in Ireland, which came to a not inconsiderable £92 10s, in a judgement given at Ballina court on 10 August 1912. And then there was assistance from the American Red Cross:
No. 292. (Irish.) Domestic servant, 30 years of age, lost; left mother, brother and sister, not dependent upon her. Body recovered and part of burial expenses paid, the brother requiring this amount of help. ($50)
The surname Mangan is pronounced ‘Mannion’ in the local Mayo dialect and this explains why a description of a passenger named Mary Mannion (instead of another woman named Margaret Mannion, who was on board) may refer to Mary Mangan. Another Mayo survivor, Annie Kate Kelly, spoke of running towards a ladder to the Second-Class area of the Titanic in the company of the ‘Burkes and Mary Mannion’. Annie goes on: ‘For then they were not letting the steerage passengers up the stairway.’
There is no further mention of Mary Mangan after she is placed at t
he bottom of a vertical ladder, denied the chance of safety, peering fervently upwards at the stonily-set faces of the crew, her diamond ring possibly glinting in the near darkness as she brings her hands above her head, like so many others condemned to earnest entreaties.
1901 census – Bridget Mangan (55), widow.
Mary, daughter, farmer (20), John Mangan (22), Ellen Mangan (18).
Margaret Mannion (28) Saved
Ticket number 36866. Paid £7 14s 9d.
Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.
From: Loughanboy, Caltra, County Galway.
Destination: 314 West 127th Street, New York city.
Saved in boat No. 16, which cast off from the port side of the Titanic, Margaret Mannion had to watch in agony as her sweetheart stepped back on deck and went to his death. Martin Gallagher had returned to Ireland from Rye, New York, to bring back the girl to whom he had written fond love letters from the United States.
According to the story told in her home place, Margaret Mannion was saved by being swung over into the boat by a man’s braces that Martin Gallagher, her fiancé, divested himself of to provide the crude rope for escape. Another member of this group of Galway passengers, Ellen Mockler, who also survived, later wrote home and declared: ‘The boys were magnificent.’ Certainly their assistance saved Margaret Mannion – even as she was robbed of the man who was due to become her husband. Margaret lived another fifty-eight years, but only stayed seven in the United States.
More than a decade after her death, her grandson Michael Hopkins wrote his recollection of Margaret’s account:
Down below, the Third-Class passengers began to get very panicky, especially as water started to rise about their feet. At last one brave Irishman jumped up and said, ‘’Tis do or die’ and the rest of the men agreed and they stormed down the corridors followed by the ladies in their night clothes. Suddenly a large barrier at the foot of a stairway stopped them, but a few strong fellows managed to smash it down. They moved on with all their might. At one stage a sailor tried to stop them, but they took care of him. They soon reached the top where there were two more sailors standing with guns. They tried to threaten the passengers by firing shots in the air but this did not frighten the men. They just threw the sailors out of the way and rushed to the lifeboats. Men from all three classes tried to get onto the boats but some were shot down due to their actions.
In the only newspaper comment she ever made, Margaret merely told The Connacht Tribune in 1963 that the three men she had been travelling with from her parish had helped to secure places for her and her companion, Ellen Mockler: ‘I never saw Ellen Mockler after we were landed in New York.’
On board that vessel as it inched into New York harbour on 18 April 1912, Margaret told immigration that she was a 24-year-old domestic from Loughanboy, County Galway. Identifying herself as a 24-year-old domestic to the American Red Cross in the same fashion, she was aided to the tune of $100. Her case was numbered 294 in the 1913 report of that organisation on assistance to survivors of the wreck.
Margaret Mannion booked her passage in Ryan’s agency in Ballygar, County Galway and was one of five people from the hamlet of Caltra on board the Titanic. The two women were saved, their young male escorts drowned, victims of their sex as much as an iceberg. The two women appear to have been rescued in lifeboat No. 16, while the men were forced back and fell to their knees in prayer. Margaret blotted out the terrifying experience and Ellen Mockler found solace later by joining a convent.
Margaret found work as a domestic. She returned to Ireland in 1919, and a year later married Martin Hopkins from her home place. They farmed a smallholding until a Land Commission settlement prompted them to move in 1959 to a new farm in Laurencetown, some distance away. She had three children, but almost never spoke to them about the Titanic. She had a phobia about discussing the shipwreck, relenting only once when she agreed to do an Irish TV interview in the 1960s. But she never turned up at the appointed hour, pleading illness, and refused to reschedule.
Margaret Mannion Hopkins died on 15 May 1970, in her 86th year. She had been widowed four years earlier. She is buried in Chapelfinnerty Cemetery, County Galway.
1901 census – Mannion, Loughanboy, County Galway.
Parents: Laurence (65), farmer; Margaret (60).
Children: Bridget (20), Laurence (18), Margaret (17), Celia (15).
Kate McCarthy (24) Saved
Ticket number 383123. Paid £7 15s.
Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.
From: Ballygurtin, County Tipperary.
Destination: Guttenburg, New Jersey.
Bansha lady’s escape – second last to leave the ship
Interesting Letter
Clonmel, Friday –
Miss Katie McCarthy, daughter of Mr Patrick McCarthy, farmer, Ballygurtin, County Tipperary, midway between Cahir and Bansha, has written to her father stating that she was the last to leave the Titanic on the night of the memorable tragedy.
It will be remembered that Miss McCarthy left home in company with Miss Kate Connolly of Tipperary, Miss Katie Peters, Ballydrehid, and Mr Roger Tobin, Ballycamon, the latter three being near neighbours.
Miss McCarthy’s letter, which is written from New Jersey where she is now with her sister, is as follows:
‘About 12 o’clock on Sunday night, Roger Tobin called us to get up, but told us not to be frightened as there was no danger. To make sure however of our safety, he told us to get lifebelts. There were three of us in the room, Katie Peters, Katie Connolly and myself. When Roger Tobin called me I wanted them to come up on deck, but they would not come. They appeared to think there was no danger. That was the last I saw of them.
‘I then left the room, and on going out I met a man from Dungarvan who took me up to the Second-Class deck where they were putting out the boats. I was put into one boat, but was taken out again as it was too full.
‘I was in the last boat to leave the ship and was the second last person put into it. This was a short time before the ship went down. We were only just out of the way when the ship split in two and sank.
‘We remained in the boat all night until near eight o’clock the following morning when we were rescued by the Carpathia. Our boat was so full I thought it would go down every moment and one of the boats capsized when we were leaving the sinking ship.
‘I did not however feel at all frightened and did not fully realise the danger and the full nature of the awful tragedy until I was safe on board the Carpathia. When we were put on board the Carpathia, we were immediately given restoratives and put to bed.
‘I slept for an hour and then got up, feeling all right. When we landed in New York on Thursday night at eleven o’clock we were met by a number of Sisters of Charity nurses who took us up to St Vincent’s Hospital where we were treated with the greatest kindness.’
(The Cork Examiner, Saturday, 11 May 1912)
Patrick McCarthy, who had been waiting in New York for the Carpathia to dock, wired home a telegram received on 19 April. It declared with economy: ‘Katie is saved’.
Report of the American Red Cross (Titanic Disaster) 1913:
No. 276. (Irish.) Unmarried woman, 23 years old, coming to live with her sister in New Jersey, was severely injured. ($50)
According to the US Senate inquiry report, Katie had been due to stay at the rooming house of Mrs P. J. Murray at 231 East 50th Street in New York before continuing on to New Jersey. She told US immigration she was a 23-year-old domestic.
Soon after arriving in New York, Katie met a man, John Croke, from her home place of Bansha, County Tipperary, and they were married on 2 September 1914, at St Francis de Chantal Church. She was 26, while the groom, whose occupation was given as a watchman, was aged 30. Katie and John stayed a further seven years in America. In 1921 they decided to return home, and lived quietly in Tipperary for many years afterwards, running a shop in the village of Dundrum. They had no children.
Kate McCarthy Croke died at home on 12 Nove
mber 1948. Cause of death was cited as ‘essential hypertension with some coronary thrombosis and cerebral thrombosis’:
Mrs Catherine Croke, whose death occurred at her residence on 12th inst., was wife of Mr John Croke, farmer and merchant, Ballintemple, Dundrum.
A descendant of a fine old Tipperary family, the McCarthys of Springhouse, she was a very kindly lady, held in affectionate regard in the district, where her passing, after three months’ illness, is sincerely mourned.
She was one of the survivors – believed to be the last in Ireland – of the ill-fated liner Titanic, wrecked by an iceberg in 1912.
The remains were removed on 13th inst. to Donaskeigh Parish church and interment took place on Sunday in St Michael’s Cemetery, Tipperary, in the presence of a very large assemblage.
(The Nationalist, Clonmel, 20 November 1948)
1901 census – McCarthy, Ballygurteen, County Tipperary.
Parents Patrick (54), farmer; wife deceased. (Née Mary Boyle)
Children Patrick (23), John (21), Michael (17), Johanna (19), Katie (14).
Thomas McCormack (19) Saved
Ticket number 367228. Paid £7 15s.
Boarded at Queenstown. Third Class.
From: Glenmore, Ballinamuck, County Longford.
Destination: 36 West 20th Street, Bayonne, New Jersey.
Thomas Joseph McCormack was 19, and in Third-Class passage to New York, returning to New Jersey after a visit home to his parents. He and Bernard McCoy – whose story follows immediately – alleged they were beaten off when they tried to clamber on board lifeboats as they struggled in the sea.
Extract from the British inquiry:
Lord Mersey to W.D. Harbinson: ‘Who are the people you want to represent here?’
Harbinson: ‘One is Thomas McCormack, who alleges in a statement –’
Mersey: ‘Never mind what he alleges.’
Harbinson: ‘ … the other person is Bernard McCoy.’