Mystery of Mary Sloan, Titanic Survivor
Sam Sloan
After the sinking of the Titanic, almost all of the survivors seem to
have disappeared. Some apparently wanted to live out their lives in
peace and did not want it known that they had survived the Titanic.
For example, Harold Bride, the Marconi operator who became famous for
sending out the SOS messages that the Titanic was sinking, afterwards
kept it a secret that he was that famous man. When he died, it was
reported to the coroner's office that one H.S. Bride had died, and the
coroner inquired: Was that THE Harold Bride?
Another survivor, Violet Jessop, complained that nobody had asked her
about the Titanic sinking and that she had been ignored.
Mary Sloan was a Titanic survivor who wrote letters to her family
while she was on her way back to England on board the Lapland. After
reaching New York, all of the Titanic crew members went back on the
Lapland the next day except for those who were kept in the USA to
testify before the US Senate and elsewhere.
What happened to Mary Sloan, after she returned to England on the
Lapland, has remained a mystery. However, today I received an e-mail
which may solve the mystery.
The e-mail contains four postcards which were written by someone with
the same or a similar name to her sister or aunt Annie Sloane.
I have just posted the cards on my website as follows:
http://www.anusha.com/marysloa.jpg
http://www.anusha.com/maysloan.jpg
Here are two of the cards. They are from Belfast, Ireland. They are
addressed to Mrs. William J. Gilliland (Annie Sloane), Alpine Avenue,
Silverton, Hamilton Co., Ohio, US America and read:
"We are stopping for a fortnight. Glorious weather. All well M.
Sloane"
"We are all well. Hope you got the Christmas number I sent you all
right. Fine Weather here now. M. Sloane"
The other two cards are more difficult to read and are signed "May
Sloane".
Silverton Ohio is just outside of Cincinnati. I have found Alpine
Avenue on a map. The question is whether this is the same Mary Sloan
who survived the Titanic.
One clue which indicates that it is the same person is that in one
place she is May Sloane and in another place she is Mary Sloane.
The Titanic survivor is also sometimes referred to as Mary Sloan and
other times as May Sloan.
The Titanic survivor was from Belfast. This May Sloane was also from
Belfast. Also, Mary Sloan, the Titanic survivor, had two sisters.
On the other hand, these postcards are signed Sloane, whereas the name
of the Titanic survivor is spelled Sloan.
This difference is not important however, as these are alternate
spellings of the same name and Annie and Mary both signed their names
with and without the e at end.
On the other hand, if this is the same Mary or May Sloan, she seems to
have been older than it was supposed that the Titanic Survivor was.
This Mary or May Sloane died on January 13, 1926.
I also have a marriage certificate showing that the father of Annie
Sloan was named Samuel Sloan (me?). This information was sent to me by
the great-granddaughter of Annie Sloane.
I have just posted the marriage certificate at
http://www.anusha.com/sloanmar.jpg and at
http://www.anusha.com/maysloan.htm
Does anybody have any insight into this. What would be helpful would
be if the letters which Mary Sloan, the Titanic survivor, wrote her
sister while on board the Lapland can be found. If the letters can be
found, we could determine if a person with the same handwriting wrote
the letters to Mrs. William J. Gilliland.
Note that Annie Sloane was sometimes called Anna Sloan and William J.
Gilliland later became known as William J Gillian.
Sam Sloan
James (Jim) Alexander Carlisle
May lived at Kerrsland Park in Belfast. After she returned to England, she
was called to the British Inquiry, but was not called to give evidence.
While on the Lapland she wrote to her sister Maggie Brown (married name)
who lived in Bangor (where the Titanic Convention takes place next year).
After the Inquiry she spent a couple of weeks in the South of England then
returned home to Belfast.
She was interviewed by a couple of newspapers, one was the Belfast Evening
News (now Belfast Telegraph). They have the interview on microfisch, she
told about speaking to Mr Andrews after the collision and about speaking
to Dr Simpson, who gave her a wee dram of whiskey!!
I have heard she married and moved to Bangor, but I can't confirm it.
In Ulster people who are named Mary are quite often referred to as May (My
mother is named Mary, but everyone calls her May). She spelled her surname
Sloan, no e.
Hope this is of some help to you.
All the best
James (Jim) Alexander Carlisle
www.nireland.com/uts
Titanic Convention, Bangor Northern Ireland 4th - 6th April 2002
Sam Sloan
One of the cards says: "We are stopping at Bangor for a fortnight.
Glorious weather. All well M. Sloane"
http://www.anusha.com/marysloa.jpg
Since you say that Mary Sloan, the Titanic survivor, lived in Bangor,
Ireland, this seems to provide strong, almost conclusive proof that
this is the same person.
Sam Sloan
PS I tried to send this article directly to you, but you had changed
your e-mail address from two years ago when had previously written me.
The Great Suprendo
>Mystery of Mary Sloan, Titanic Survivor
Snipped "Wow, I just got a postcard! It must be from a titanic
survivor!"
I hate to break it to you pal but in Northern Ireland alone there are
about 800 Sloan/Sloanes listed in the phone book, and I'd hate to think
how many aren't in the book at all. I think you're barking up the wrong
tree.
You'd think the Titanic was the only ship that ever sunk especially
after that damn film the other year.
--
This post was brought to you by a suppurating ring-blister named Colin.
James (Jim) Alexander Carlisle
Sorry, I didn't notice that this was being cross posted, especially to the
hate social group, this one goes out to just teh Titanic group.
I spoke to the North Down Borough Council (Convention organizers) this
afternoon and they are going to dig into their records about Maggie Brown
and her sister May Sloan. I'll let you know when I hear something.
Sorry, about this buck ijit's posting, we have more of our fair share of
them
Jim Carlisle
Michael P McGee
regards. Mike
James (Jim) Alexander Carlisle <carl...@c2i.net> wrote in message
news:3A64A3DE...@c2i.net...
thats HACKSAW
"person" they say they are?
should we get autographs?
should we stalk them as john lennons stalker did? i would really think
against it. but otherwise let this free willed individual speak their
mind as we ridicule him from behind closed windows.
granted im not here to ridicule anyone, but if ya have something to
say to someone, make it constructive critisism, rather then something
they can get an exampleof who you are3, and make their judgement based
on your example.>--
gregory....@ntlworld.com
The Great Suprendo wrote:
>
> A certain Sam Sloan, of soc.culture.irish "fame", writes :
> >Mystery of Mary Sloan, Titanic Survivor
>
> Snipped "Wow, I just got a postcard! It must be from a titanic
> survivor!"
>
> I hate to break it to you pal but in Northern Ireland alone there are
> about 800 Sloan/Sloanes listed in the phone book, and I'd hate to think
> how many aren't in the book at all. I think you're barking up the wrong
> tree.
>
> You'd think the Titanic was the only ship that ever sunk especially
> after that damn film the other year.
Seven times as many people have died on other single ocean liner
disasters in more recent times. Ten or twelve thousand on one ship if my
memory serves me.
ov...@smang.net
disasters that have killed more people, and even more passengers, than the
Titanic disaster, but none of them were recent, and NONE of them killed "ten
or twelve thousand on one ship".
Bill Smythe
> .... and NONE of them killed "ten
>or twelve thousand on one ship".
______________
If there were ten or twelve thousand on one ship, wouldn't the ship sink
automatically, before it even left port?
Bill Smythe
Byter
or more GIs.
--
Half-baked Titanic theories galore at
http://www.pcslink.com/~tom/titanic
Great circle computer: /distance.html
SNAME Report: /titanic25.pdf
NIST Report: /metallurgy.pdf
"Bill Smythe" <chic...@enteract.com> wrote in message
news:959ea3$ic7$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
j...@watson.ibm.com
on Wed, 31 Jan 2001 06:29:56 GMT,
ov...@smang.net writes:
>Your memory doesn't serve you at *all*. There have been ocean liner
>disasters that have killed more people, and even more passengers, than the
>Titanic disaster, but none of them were recent, and NONE of them killed "ten
>or twelve thousand on one ship".
For a list of the deadliest maritime disasters see
<a href="http://www.cableregina.com/users/shipwreck/index6.htm">
The worst killed about 6000 people. Most occurred during
WWII. However the Philippine passenger ferry Dona Paz sank on
Dec. 20, 1987 (which I would consider recent) with the loss of
4341 lives.
James B. Shearer
