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Name: Miss Robertha Josephine "Bertha" Watt
Born: Monday 11th September 1899
Age: 12 years
Last Residence: in Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Scotland
2nd Class passenger
First Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 33595 , £15 15s
Destination: Po​rtland Oregon United States​
Rescued Boat 9​

Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Died: Thursday 4th March 1993​

 

​Miss Robertha Josephine Watt, 12, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on 11 September 1899, and was with her mother Bessie Watt on Titanic bound for Portland, Oregon where they were to join her architect father.

They were originally booked on the New York, but because of the coal strike were transferred to the Titanic.​​​​
They were rescued in lifeboat 9.

​Twelve years old at the time, her most vivid memory was that she was roused from her sleep, and told to say her prayers because the Titanic was in trouble. She wrote about the experience as a student in 1917 for the Jefferson High School newspaper in which she claimed:
"We heard many pistol shots, and could see people running hopelessly up and down the decks. Some in the lifeboat were crying. One or two were hysterical. There was nothing anyone could do. We just kept on going. We didn't row much, just enough to get far enough away from the suction. Then we puttered. We had just to drift around until dawn, occasionally flicking a gentleman's cigar lighter to let the other boats see where we were. The fellow at the tiller was an Irishman. Paddy had no authority, he was just a deckhand. He was wonderful, telling me about the stars. It was calm. I don't remember sloping around in the boat. There was nothing on the lifeboat but a keg of biscuits. No water, no liquor, no light. I don't know if the first class lifeboats had all the things they needed, but if anyone was sick or collapsed in our boat, there was nothing to revive them with. It showed the disorganization. We didn't find the rudder [sic] until we were out quite away. I had a nightie tucked into a pair of panties, and house slippers. Luckily, I had a fur lined coat. They lined them with squirrel bellies in those days, and it had a fur collar. They asked if anyone could row, and mother said she could. That's how she spent the time. Rowing or standing. A minister appeared out from under a seat. He must have gotten in before the the lifeboat even left the deck. He sat with his chin on his walking stick moaning on about all the years of sermons he lost. One woman all but turned and flew at him - "if you can give me back my husband and my son I'll pay you for your sermons." We didn't get aboard Carpathia until about 9 a.m. There was a rope ladder with a belt. My mother said, "go on, you can climb that. I went up without the belt." The captain roared down, "don't let anyone come up without a belt on."
She also recalled the sinking in an interview with the Vancouver Province, in which she spoke of her mother reassuring her that if this were a nice night on Loch Ness you'd just be out for a row, and telling her, "don't worry honey, you weren't born to be drowned, you were born to be hanged."
In 1923 Bertha Watt married a Vancouver doctor, Leslie Marshall, and moved to British Columbia, where she became a Canadian citizen.

One of her most valuable possessions was the Titanic's second class passenger list. "A day out or so, passengers were given booklets with the names of those in the same class," she said. "My mother had it in the pocket of her tweed coat. When we were picked up by the Carpathia the officers borrowed it to radio the names of the second class passengers to New York. "
She died in Vancouver on March 4th 1993.

Her son Don Marshall and the family decided to sell the momentos after her death, including the list, essay and photos etc, instead of keeping it in the family. It is a great piece of history...