Elizabeth Eustis, a few days after the sinking of the Titanic.
Elizabeth Mussey Eustis was a passenger aboard Titanic.
Elizabeth Eusits was born on 1 March 1858 in Boston, Massachusetts to William Tracy Eustis and Martha Gilbert Dutton. Both her parents hailed from Massachusetts and had married in Boston on October 3rd, 1849. Her father was Civil War veteran and first worked in the oil business and later in the hotel business. Elizabeth had 6 siblings.
Titanic[]
Elizabeth regularly took voyages. In the early of 1912, Elizabeth and her sister Martha Stephenson went on to tour of Southern Europe. For their return to the USA they boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg as First Class passengers and they occupied cabin D-20. Whilst aboard they reportedly spent time with Mr. and Mrs. John Borland Thayer, Martha's Haverford neighbours.
Disaster[]
On the night of April 14th, the sisters were awakened by a "ripping" sound and Martha S. decided to slip on a wrap and investigate. However, other noises outside their stateroom made both ladies decide to get fully dressed. They went out to the corridor but a steward advised them to go back to bed. They didn't but instead put on street clothes, grabbed their rings and went up on deck. Martha S. and Elizabeth were on A-Deck when all women and children were ordered up to the deck. They followed Mrs. Thayer and her maid up the stairway and stood watching the distress rockets being fired, which alarmed them.
Steward Dodd then ordered them to return to A-Deck and led them down to where lifeboat 4 was hanging next to the enclosed windows. They were helped into the lifeboat which was then lowered away.
Aftermath and later life[]
Upon her arrival in New York aboard the RMS Carpathia, Elizabeth was met by relatives and spent time at the Belmont Hotel before heading back to Brookline. She was undeterred by her experience on Titanic and made at least one more ocean-going voyage, one being aboard Berengaria in 1927 with sister Martha.
Elizabeth and Martha S, who remained a spinster, lived with Henry in Brookline for the rest of their lives and Elizabeth was reportedly very active in civic life. Martha Stephenson, who had also survived the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, died in 1934. Elizabeth Mussey Eustis remained an active member of Brookline society for many years. She died at her home at 1020 Beacon Street in 1936.
Elizabeth died at her home on May 17th, 1936 at the age of 78. She was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts with her parents and several siblings.