Robertha was the last Canadian survivor of Titanic. She was born on September 11th 1899 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died on March 4th 1993 in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 93 yrs 5 mths 22 days.
Bertha Watt was a young twelve-year-old Scottish girl travelling with her mother Bessie as 2nd class passengers. They boarded in Southampton and were heading to Portland, Oregon to be reunited with her father who was an architect.
Bertha and Bessie survived the sinking. In high school Bertha wrote an essay titled A Personal Experience on the Titanic, which was published in the school newspaper, which described the terror of the experience.
She wrote about her experiences in 1963 and said that the lessons she learned there provided her with a sound philosophy for her life. She learned how to behave and how not to behave, and recalled the hypocrisy of some passengers, the selfishness of others: “There was the minister who hid under the seat in our boat, walking stick and small case included. When we were well on our way he appeared and sat bemoaning the fact that he had lost so many years of sermons on the Titanic.
“Another woman was worrying about her jewels when all of a sudden another woman yelled ‘Give me back my husband and son and I’ll buy you jewels.’ Those few days before New York were a life all their own. Tragedy affects people in so many different ways.”
In 1923 Bertha moved to Vancouver after she married Leslie Frederick Marshall, a Canadian doctor (dentist) she met at college. Their son Don Marshall still lives in British Columbia. His grandmother, who lived with their family up until Don went to college, never spoke about the sinking.
When the Titanic wreck was found in 1985 and the salvaging began Bertha Watt was angry because she thought of the wreck as a gravesite.
Bertha Watt was the last Canadian survivor, she died on March 4, 1993.
This website is intended to let people know about a wonderful & extraordinary person:
Robertha Josephine Marshall (Watt)
...a True Survivor...may God bless her soul...
She will NEVER be forgotten...
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