'Mrs. Rhoda Mary "Rosa" Abbot (née Hunt) was 39 when the RMS Titanic hit the iceberg on April 14 and sank on April 15, 1912. A third-class passenger boarding from Southampton, England, she came to England after divorcing with her husband in 1911. After going to England on the Olympic, the Titanics sister ship, she stayed with her widowed mother. They soon found out that Abbott's two sons became homesick and would have to return to New York. Rhoda's Baptist church provided the Third class tickets on the Titanic. Rhoda was born in East Providence, Rhode Island, USA. At the time of the sinking, she was heading home with her two sons Rossmore and Eugene Joseph Abbott. Right before the Titanic officially sank, Rhoda and her sons jumped from the boat deck. Her grip on her sons released and she frantically tried to find them. When she lost hope, somebody from boat A grabbed her and pulled her aboard. She couldn't see her sons. Later on, boat A overturned and all the passengers were thrown out. Boat D found them and helped them board. There was a lot of room because the lifeboats had only been half filled and all the people who died were immediately thrown off. Soon after that, the people on boat D saw the Carpathia. When they were rescued, Rhoda was put into special care for her leg injuries from the cold sea. She was one of the few women to physically survive in the icy cold waters after the Titanic sank.
Advertisement