Unlikely Friendship Survives Titanic

0:00On March 22nd, a most unlikely friendship began on the Titanic in April 1912, when Countess Noel of Raffis and Abel Seaman Thomas Jones ended up together on lifeboat number 8. She was the first class passenger from high society, while he was a crew member from humble quarters. After the ship struck an iceberg late on April 14th, their boat launched around 1 a.m. with just 27 people aboard, mostly women, far, short of its capacity. At night, they rode steadily through the dark, cold waters toward lights from a nearby ship, the Californian, but never reached it. The boat held only a fraction of who could have fit, as many passengers refused to believe the massive liner could sink. Fears of suction from the sinking ship and panic swimmers kept them from turning back for survivors in the water. Passengers on board comforted each other amid the horror, with the Countess helping calm those who had leapt husbands behind. To lift spirits during the long hours, they sang songs like ballads and hymns until silence fell after the cries stopped.

1:02Rescued by the Carpathia around 4 a.m., the group had endured intense cold surrounded by icebergs. For decades after, Jones and the Countess stayed close, exchanging letters, Christmas cards, and gifts. He crafted a wooden plaque with the bronze number 8 from their lifeboat, praising her courage. She sent him a watch engraved with a date and a yearly pound note. Their bond outlasted the trauma, a rare bright spot from that disaster, remembered through family kept letters and mementos long after her death in, 1956.