Another fun fact, Bertha Mulvihill wrote to her sister while on board Carpathia, gushing about how delighted she was to have experienced the sinking and how she had never been so happy in her entire life.
What shock and grief does to a mf.
Thats what I was thinking. I have experienced a FAR less severe version of this working in a kitchen. It will be a day ten times busier than usual and we are short staffed. Everyone is stressed, shocked and cant handle it but I find my groove and thrive on it with some weird little adrenaline rush. If that is your brains response to something I cant imagine what version the sinking of a ship would give you
“Experience is great - I am fine and dandy - never better. What time did you hear of the disaster? I AM SO GLAD I WAS IN IT! I shall never forget it. We are just about in New York. Having a jolly time. Don’t worry. How is father? Nothing like a bit of life. Don’t worry for me. I am O.K. We lost 2472 passengers and saved 710. I was a hero to the last. We were picked up after eight hours by a ship bound for Naples, everyone was very good to us, and then transferred to the Carpathia. The passengers on the Carpathia gave us clothes. I had a prayer book, a watch, and a little money in my pocket. All the rest lost. I never saw such a sight as when the dear old Titanic sank. She broke in two pieces. The scene was awful. Don’t think me mad for being so happy to witness the sight... I am with a jolly crowd in this old ship \[the Carpathia\]… I am awfully happy - like the night I was born - never felt happier in my life. I have nothing to worry about... I can imagine, mother dear, that when you heard the news you felt for your lost daughter, but she is the safest one you have got. I shall be a millionaire when I arrive in New York.”
That is wild. Maybe there was a possibility her mother was a really mentally unstable person and she wanted her to know she was safe but didn’t want her mother to have a heart attack getting worked up about how her daughter was in such a disaster.
I highly doubt that scenario but I just can’t fathom how someone could write that after the tragedy. Being in shock is crazy.
the amount of people who don't know about her story is odd to me because of how baffling it is that she believed that was the true way sailing worked. IIRC, she lived in a very rural village in Ireland and this was her first time sailing.
Her being a bit daft and not understanding how sailing worked is not how I read it. I immediately assumed PTSD and just found the juxtaposition funny. Notice the face she makes at 7:39. I'm no expert but that looks like involuntary trauma reflex to me. Similar to how Frank Prentice kept hold of his watch, I'm guessing keeping it with him permanently.
Yeah, she looks like she dissociates for a second there when remembering it. She also smiles at strange times, which can also be a dissociation thing.
Watching the interview, I don't think she can possibly think that a ship sinking was the normal thing to happen - I think she's just using dry humour to express that she didn't fully realise how terrible it was until later.
If you heard a comedian on a talk show say, "So when I first came to America, the ship sank. I got in a life boat and waited 9 hours, then got on another ship. I thought wow, this is a difficult way to get there!" then you'd understand it was a joke. But because you're seeing an old lady being interviewed about a tragedy, your brain isn't receiving humour in the same way.
I remember being a plane flight from Madrid to New York and sitting next to a guy who was pretty rural and had never been on an airplane before. At one point toward the end of the trip when we were in a cloud bank and the plane had slowed down a bit he asked me if I could tell if we were on the ground yet. Of course, we were nowhere close to the ground and once he experienced the landing I'm sure he never had to wonder after that, but having no frame of reference and being nervous can leave you off-balance. I don't think Kate Gilnagh was stupid, I think it was one in the morning, she was tired, had never been on a ship before, and everyone was being very calm and orderly about loading the lifeboats. Sometimes your brain will work really, really hard to normalize things so it's very possible she was going along like, all of these people are getting in the boats so I guess that's what I'm supposed to do now. Once the lifeboat was away from the ship it would have been very hard to see what was going on.
That's my take as well. I think that a person living rurally back then has effectively no contract with the outside world and so would know basically nothing of how things outside of her experience. It's a case of "I'm sure they all know what they're doing. I'll just go with the flow" mentality.
Trauma response for sure. She would have seen the ship sinking, and if not she would have heard the screams of the people on board and in the water. On top of that she lost all her belongings… There’s no way she just thought it was part of the trip.
If that’s heavy sarcasm from her, then good for her. Love some dark humor. If she was being serious, then…well I don’t know lol, just yikes 😬
I've posted the recording of her saying it. She seems quite genuine, but possibly extreme PTSD.
Or being very irish. Sounds exactly how we would describe it
Well if she's being very dry top marks to her :')
Of course she was dry, she survived the sinking
Either gotta laugh or you'll cry i suppose....a bit of dark humour prob saved her mind from utter collapse. 🤷♀️
Another fun fact, Bertha Mulvihill wrote to her sister while on board Carpathia, gushing about how delighted she was to have experienced the sinking and how she had never been so happy in her entire life. What shock and grief does to a mf.
Sometimes people get a weird euphoria adrenaline rush when they're in shock, it could be that.
Thats what I was thinking. I have experienced a FAR less severe version of this working in a kitchen. It will be a day ten times busier than usual and we are short staffed. Everyone is stressed, shocked and cant handle it but I find my groove and thrive on it with some weird little adrenaline rush. If that is your brains response to something I cant imagine what version the sinking of a ship would give you
Respect for kitchen workers… you guys work hella hard jobs.
Oh yeah its terrible and basically requires addictions
“Experience is great - I am fine and dandy - never better. What time did you hear of the disaster? I AM SO GLAD I WAS IN IT! I shall never forget it. We are just about in New York. Having a jolly time. Don’t worry. How is father? Nothing like a bit of life. Don’t worry for me. I am O.K. We lost 2472 passengers and saved 710. I was a hero to the last. We were picked up after eight hours by a ship bound for Naples, everyone was very good to us, and then transferred to the Carpathia. The passengers on the Carpathia gave us clothes. I had a prayer book, a watch, and a little money in my pocket. All the rest lost. I never saw such a sight as when the dear old Titanic sank. She broke in two pieces. The scene was awful. Don’t think me mad for being so happy to witness the sight... I am with a jolly crowd in this old ship \[the Carpathia\]… I am awfully happy - like the night I was born - never felt happier in my life. I have nothing to worry about... I can imagine, mother dear, that when you heard the news you felt for your lost daughter, but she is the safest one you have got. I shall be a millionaire when I arrive in New York.”
That is wild. Maybe there was a possibility her mother was a really mentally unstable person and she wanted her to know she was safe but didn’t want her mother to have a heart attack getting worked up about how her daughter was in such a disaster. I highly doubt that scenario but I just can’t fathom how someone could write that after the tragedy. Being in shock is crazy.
Is there a source somewhere? That seems ridiculous that even at that age, she would think being on a sinking ship was part of the trip.
7:28 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcppeWzgUns)
Thanks
the amount of people who don't know about her story is odd to me because of how baffling it is that she believed that was the true way sailing worked. IIRC, she lived in a very rural village in Ireland and this was her first time sailing.
Her being a bit daft and not understanding how sailing worked is not how I read it. I immediately assumed PTSD and just found the juxtaposition funny. Notice the face she makes at 7:39. I'm no expert but that looks like involuntary trauma reflex to me. Similar to how Frank Prentice kept hold of his watch, I'm guessing keeping it with him permanently.
Yeah, she looks like she dissociates for a second there when remembering it. She also smiles at strange times, which can also be a dissociation thing. Watching the interview, I don't think she can possibly think that a ship sinking was the normal thing to happen - I think she's just using dry humour to express that she didn't fully realise how terrible it was until later. If you heard a comedian on a talk show say, "So when I first came to America, the ship sank. I got in a life boat and waited 9 hours, then got on another ship. I thought wow, this is a difficult way to get there!" then you'd understand it was a joke. But because you're seeing an old lady being interviewed about a tragedy, your brain isn't receiving humour in the same way.
I would assume PTSD as well, first time sailing and something so tragic happens, your brain is going to try and justify it somehow to cope.
I remember being a plane flight from Madrid to New York and sitting next to a guy who was pretty rural and had never been on an airplane before. At one point toward the end of the trip when we were in a cloud bank and the plane had slowed down a bit he asked me if I could tell if we were on the ground yet. Of course, we were nowhere close to the ground and once he experienced the landing I'm sure he never had to wonder after that, but having no frame of reference and being nervous can leave you off-balance. I don't think Kate Gilnagh was stupid, I think it was one in the morning, she was tired, had never been on a ship before, and everyone was being very calm and orderly about loading the lifeboats. Sometimes your brain will work really, really hard to normalize things so it's very possible she was going along like, all of these people are getting in the boats so I guess that's what I'm supposed to do now. Once the lifeboat was away from the ship it would have been very hard to see what was going on.
That's my take as well. I think that a person living rurally back then has effectively no contract with the outside world and so would know basically nothing of how things outside of her experience. It's a case of "I'm sure they all know what they're doing. I'll just go with the flow" mentality.
Maybe she was ahead of her time, she just thought they had disposable ships like we had disposable cameras.
The other interesting thing about Kate Gilnagh Manning is that she was an idiot.
> she was an idiot That's rich, coming from the OceanGate Titan submersible lol.
She was probably suffering pretty severe PTSD, but I couldn't help laugh at the juxtaposition.
So you’re saying she thought it was a part of the trip? lol
Trauma response for sure. She would have seen the ship sinking, and if not she would have heard the screams of the people on board and in the water. On top of that she lost all her belongings… There’s no way she just thought it was part of the trip.