To find out more details about my new paperback book on the Titanic and the Californian, including ordering details, please look here.

On November 22nd I heard on the [?] program talking about your book: A Night To Remember - also the next night the Lady with the broken arm, who got away in the last boat. I naturally was very much interested, because I also am a survivor of the Titanic. I was a waiter in the 2nd cabin. So I bought the Ladies Home Journal, and read your condensed version of the book with great interest. At the very start you quote: there was no moon, but the cloudless sky blazed with stars, the atlantic was like polished glass: the latter is correct, it was a inky [?] black night and the Atlantic was as smooth as the proverbial millpond, but the first star we saw was just before daybreak. We were huddled in the boat, and someone shouted here comes a ship, soon we realized it was just a star, coming up over the horizon. You also talk about a young French girl stumbling into no.9 lifeboat, there was actually a Mme Aubert, and her maid. I was standing by no.9 to pass the passengers into the lifeboat, and also I got away in No.9, when I passed Mme Aubart into the boat, she probably missed her footing, because she cried out: ma jambe, ma jambe (my leg, my leg). I may also add that it was very dark, and it was like stepping off a roof [?] into a dark space. evidently she was not hurt, because the next thing we heard from her was about daybreak when she moaned: ma mari, mes malles ( my husband, my trunks ) over and over. An old shipmate of mine, who was also [?] me in the boat knew that I could speak French, told me to go over to her and try to quieten her. I went over and spoke to her, also tried to reassure her, that perhaps he husband could be in one of the other boats - eventually she quietened down. She even remarked about the men in the boat, laughing, joking and smoking. She was also one of the few passengers who praised the crew, when she left 2 wrecks later on the sS Adriatic for France.

Notes:

1. Spelling and punctuation have been preserved, where possible.
2. Other survivors recall the incredibly clear night, and the brilliant starlight.