Titanic survivor who hung onto board while ship sank recalls moment he cheated death in extraordinary interview

While over 1,500 passengers from RMS Titanic died in the disaster after it hit an iceberg and sunk, there were several hundred people who miraculously survived the sinking.

Some of them went on to recount their incredible stories of survival from one of the most infamous shipwrecks of all time, including Frank W. Prentice.

He'd worked on board the Titanic in the Purser's Office, a place where First Class passengers could buy tickets to various attractions around the ship.

Prentice would later give an interview to the BBC in 1979 recounting his story of survival and how the disaster stayed with him many decades later.

He likened the moment of impact with the iceberg to 'jamming your brakes on a car'

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He said: "We had a porthole open and I looked out and the sky was clear, stars were shining, the sea was dead calm and I couldn't understand it.

"So I came out of the cabin and I thought I'd go forward. Although she was supposed to be unsinkable – with the double bottom – the iceberg had cut her from forward on the starboard side to the engine room right through her two bottom."

Prentice said he'd gone to the 'well deck on the starboard side' and could see ice but was not able to spot any 'sign of damage above waterline', though he soon realised the ship had 'slipped over the iceberg'.

He made his way to the Poop Deck at the aft of the ship and realised just how rapidly the situation was changing.

"All of a sudden, she lifted up quickly and you could hear everything crashing through her," he said.

"I thought now I'm going to leave. I was hanging onto a board, we had two boards starboard and port."

When the Titanic began to sink, he was dropped into the sea with his lifebelt on and was fortunate not to hit anything on the way down into the water.

BBC

He said: "There were bodies all over the place. Then I looked up at the Titanic and I could see the bottom and then gradually she glided away and that was that. That was the last of the Titanic.

"I didn't want to die and I didn't see much chance of living. I was gradually getting frozen up and by the grace of God I came across a lifeboat and they pulled me in."

In the interview, Prentice noted how he met a couple – Mr and Mrs Clark – just before he managed to escape the ship. According to Prentice, the wife was distraught at the idea of leaving her husband behind but he urged her onto a boat, saying her husband would follow soon after.

Prentice met Mrs Clark again on the lifeboat that rescued him from the freezing sea and said she 'probably saved my life'.