Titanic Honors the Irish - Tribute to Miss Bridget McDermott

Ever heard of St. Louis, Missouri? Well, that is where Miss Bridget McDermott was heading in April 1912, when she boarded Titanic. She came from County Mayo, Northern Ireland with a big dream of making a name for herself in America. She would encounter some interesting foreshadowing on her journey to board Titanic. You see, the night before she left on Titanic, she was traveling through Lahardane Village headed for Queenstown. It was dark, and a little man in a black suit tapped her on the shoulder. He somehow knew that she was going on a long journey, and he told her the following, "There will be a tragedy, but you will be saved." What? How did this man know where she was going or anything about her? Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished.

She was apprehensive when she boarded Titanic as a 3rd class passenger. Of course, her instincts were right and tragedy struck - bringing her grand journey to an end in the middle of the Atlantic. The night of the sinking, a steward came to her room and told her to get dressed and head topside. The steward assured her that there was no danger, but when Bridget made it topside, she was immediately told to enter a lifeboat. She actually had to jump some 15' from a rope-ladder to get into a lifeboat.

Bridget reached New York on board the Carpathia. She made it safely to America and lived out her life there. When she died in 1959, she was buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City where 3 other Irish Titanic Survivors were also buried.


May the Luck of the Irish Be With You.

Chief Purser,

Erin Wicker