Nora Agnes Keane in 1916.
Nora Agnes Keane was a passenger on the RMS Titanic.
Early life[]
Nora Agnes Keane was born in which is Castleconnell (Caisleáñ Ui Chonaill in Irish) Limerick, Ireland on 30 March 1864. She was one of the many children of farmer John Keane and Hanorah A. Fee, who were both Irish natives from Limerick.
Peter Keane was the eldest, born in 1854. It seems there was one daughter that had been born after him but died within a few years, any information about her is missing. In 1856, a second son was born: Albert Michael. He was followed b John in 1859. A daughter was born in 1861: Mary N. Nora came after her and then it was Dennis E. in 1867. Her other younger brothers were: James Frances, Patrick Henry and William Joseph, born in 1867,1872 and 1875 respectively.
In August 1888, Nora was still a young woman when she made up her mind and left her motherland behind to go to America. Her new place was Harrisburg in Pennsylvannia were she worked as a maid. Some of her brothers came over to the US later and got jobs for the local fire department. Later, she and her siblings had their own hotel. Nora kept her same job throughout those years.
Titanic[]
Nora was in Queenstown on April 11 when she became a Second Class passenger of the RMS Titanic. She accidentally lost her Rosary and prayer book during the walk on the boarding plank which she didn’t feel was a very good omen.
Not many of the Irish would have that luxury. Most of them were in steerage. Nora was alotted cabin E-101, which was outward so it had a porthole. Two English women were also in E-101: Edwina Celia Troutt and Susan Webber from Cornwall. They had embarked in Southampton and were servants just like her. Nora had a talk with Miss Troutt about her clumsy moment earlier and had a concern this might mean that something bad could happen to the ship.
On the night of April 14, the women in E-101 were rudely awakened by the impact of the iceberg. Troutt went out to investigate and stewards had acertained all passengers that it was an iceberg but nothing concerned about. All they had to do was get ready to leave their cabin and get themselves to the lifeboats as a precautionary measure.
Having seen the lifeboats being lowered with partners being seperated, Edwina became highly concerned there was more going on and headed back to inform other passengers and collect a few of her items. She could not find Susan but Nora was still there.
In her anxiety, she pleaded Miss Troutt if she could fix her corset for her. Miss Troutt had no time for this, so she threw it aide, saying she should forget about such dawdles, because they were in danger.
The two ladies reached the Boat Deck, where a serenity was present as the officers tried to avoid panic at all cost. One man took a leap into her boat during the process of transferring passengers and hid at the bottom. There was not much light, so according to her, they stepped on him.He was still a valuable person to be saved as he proved by rowing as hard as he could.
Miss Keane survived the sinking as did Miss Webber and Troutt. Nora would never forget the cries for help after Titanic’s demise while poor souls fought for their life in the freezing ocean. Her boat was at at a distance of over 100 yards as Titanic had her last moments and went down.
The RMS Carpathia, a ship 58 miles away from Titanic, had steamed with all her might as Titanic had called her for help, but couldn’t reach Titanic in time. It was 4:00 A.M, when she was at the coördinates that Titanic had passed through. She spent the morning picking up the survivors and most lifeboats of the sunken ship to bring them over to America.
The RMS Carpathia would dock in New York on April 18. Nora’s brothers were waiting for her there, to see that she came with them to Harrisburg.
Later life[]
Nora managed her own public house in Harriston and became an offical US citizen, after her second petition, as she had requested it prior in 1910.
Nora visited Ireland in 1915 and 1916. She was also a passenger on the Lustiania in war time. It was on April 3rd 1915 that she crossed the Atlantic to take care of her physically weakened mother. She lost her mother on February 14, 1916, thus she made another crossing. Yet another voyage followed in 1919 when she wanted to stay in Ireland. She was back in her old home town of Castleconnell. During her life she never had an official partner or children.
In the summer of 1944, Nora Keana got severly hurt when her hip broke. The consquences where too much for her to bear and several months later, she died on December 20, 1944. Nora was laid to rest at Stradbally Cemetery.