Titanic in rememberance by Norwegians

Today marks exactly 100 years since the White Star Line’s supposedly unsinkable but ill-fated Titanic set sail from Southampton to New York. 20 Norwegians died, 11 survived, when the ship sank five days later, killing over 1,500. Torment

Sintef researcher Dag Bertelsen has written a book about his grandfather, Albert Moss from Bergen, who was traveling in third class and barely survived the disaster. Grandson Mr Bertelsen said the crew “had to be strict, and there were several who tried to get aboard [the lifeboats] in vain.”

“He was first denied boarding, but got in after a while when they directed their attention elsewhere.”
Albert Moss died in 1973. Nine years earlier, he told NRK about what he experienced from when Titanic collided with the iceberg.

“The bump was like when you nudge the quay during berthing, no harder. I realised immediately that we had hit an iceberg as I had sailed those waters for many years.”

“When I came down the stairs, I saw the hall where my cabin was located was filled with water. I then realised we were all in peril.”

Relating events from the lifeboat, where he lay, frozen, when Titanic broke in two and sank, Mr Moss recalled, “that’s when the terrible screaming began, and these screams have tormented me many nights since then.”
31 people with Norwegian ancestry also survived the disaster.

Mythical

Today, amongst the some 1,309 passengers on board the current MS Balmoral 12-night Titanic memorial cruise sailing the exact route is Anne Isabel Udbye from Trondheim. 45 Norwegians are on the voyage.

“This is very exciting, it’s a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience,” she told NRK.

Ms Udbye is sailing with her mother, legal partner Tormod Gåsbakk, and 12-year-old son Olevarius Frostad Udbye.

“The tickets went immediately when they were put out for sale three years ago, but a cancellation one year ago meant there was then space for us,” she continued.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines operates the Balmoral, which left slightly delayed due to high winds, Sunday. The RMS Titanic was constructed by parent company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

“This is a major part of our history. I’m very interested in the Titanic mystery. So many myths surround it; the ship that couldn’t sink that sank on its maiden voyage,” said Ms Udbye.
Historic

Meanwhile, a rare picture of the iceberg that caused Titanic’s sinking, as well as some 180 other other items, are due to go on auction in nine days at New Hampshire-based company RRAuctions.

It is believed the image, by one of the survivors Mabel Fenwick on the RMS Carpathia that picked up 705 survivors, was taken ten hours later. It was initially passed on to fellow passenger John Snyder together with other images she took.

RRAuction’s Bobby Livingstone believes this will be sold for a considerable amount. He told the New York Daily News, “Few images in history can be more chilling than that iceberg off in the horizon.”

Also in this auction to be sold are chairs from the ship, as well as a letter written by orchestra member Wallace Hartley who played until the ship took him and others to their watery grave 4,000 metres below.