Miss
THEODATE (EFFIE) BROOKS POPE, Saloon Class Passenger
[No Picture Provided]
Theodate Pope, 48, was born as the only child of Alfred Atmore Pope and
Ada Lunette Brooks in Salem, Ohio at midnight between 2 and 3 February
1867. Born as Effie Brooks Pope, she changed her name to Theodate
after her grandmother, Theodate Stackpole, when she was 19 and living
on Euclid Avenue ("Millionaires' Row") in Cleveland. Theodate
Pope was an architect and spiritualist who later lived in Farmington,
Connecticut. This page will refer to Theodate Pope's experience
on the Lusitania's last voyage. For a more complete
biography of Miss Pope, see Sharon Dunlap Smith's site, Theodate Pope
Riddle: Her Life and Architecture.
Theodate Pope booked passage on the Lusitania with her maid
Emily Robinson and friend Edwin Friend
to gain support for starting their own society for psychical research
from friends in England. Both Theodate and Edwin had resigned
from
the American Society for Psychical Research after the society's then
president, Professor James Hyslop of Columbia University, took back the
position of editor of the society's journal that he had given to Edwin
Friend.
While in England, Theodate and Edwin were to be guests of England's
leading spiritualist, Sir Oliver Lodge. Theodate's original cabin
on the Lusitania was D-54, but as the Cromptons with their six
children were next door, she found her neighbors to be too "noisy" and
after one night moved to A-10. Theodate and Edwin's tablemates
during meals
for this crossing would be Dr. James
Houghton and Marie Depage, more
concerned about finding decent medical help along the Western Front
than in matters of psychic phenomena. All in all, Theodate had
decided that their company was
"a quiet shipload of passengers." She was also convinced
throughout the voyage that the Germans "intend to get us" but was
comforted at the
thought that "we would surely be convoyed when we reached the war zone."
On Thursday, 6 May, Theodate was roused from her sleep by the ship's
bugler at 5:30 that morning. She looked out her window to see
various members of the crew, including cooks, stewards, as well as
sailors, "loosening the ship's boats and swinging them clear of the
railing."
Edwin and Theodate were also guests at George
Kessler's party that day. At lunch the next day, they were
sitting down to ice cream when a table companion joked that "he would
hate to have a torpedo get him before he ate it." Their
conversation then turned to how slowly the ship was running, almost as
"though the engines had stopped." They then left the
dining room as the orchestra was playing "The Blue Danube," exchanging
greetings with Oliver Bernard, and
went out onto the B Deck promenade. They agreed that the sea was
a "marvelous blue" and very dazzling in the sunlight." As they
rounded the aft corner of the promenade, they heard a "dull
explosion[.]" Water and
timbers "flew" past the deck, and Friend struck his fist with his hand
and remarked, "By Jove, they've got us!"
The two ran inside, missing a shower of soot, only to be thrown against
the wall of a corridor as the ship listed ominously to starboard.
Recovering their balance, they headed toward the Boat Deck
portside, where they and other friends had agreed to meet in the case
of an emergency. The deck was crowded. Theodate and Edwin
passed two crying
women "in a pitifully weak way" and heard an officer shout orders to
stop
lowering the boats and for passengers to go to B Deck level where the
lifeboats would be hanging. He was ignored.
For a moment, before going down to B Deck, they saw a lifeboat being
filled and lowered as the ship was still plowing ahead. The
lifeboat up-ended, spilling its load into the water (possibly lifeboat
#12). Sickened, the pair passed Margaret
Mackworth and Dorothy Conner and
went down to B Deck, starboard. There, they watched another boat
getting away safely, but as the ship was listing so far over and
sinking so quickly, the Lusitania threatened to roll on top of
the starboard lifeboats and anything or
anyone on that side of the ship. Theodate said to Edwin, "It's
not a good place to jump from."
Side by side and arms around each other's waists, the two made for the
companionway leading back to the Boat Deck. They passed Marie
Depage, Dr. Houghton, and Matt Freeman along the way. Theodate
was throughly impressed by the expression of fearlessness in Marie's
eyes. Up top, they saw a boat being filled rapidly and Friend
told Theodate, "You better get in."
Theodate refused to get in without Edwin and he in turn would
not get into one as long as there were women still on the ship.
They made for the stern as water came over the forecastle and
Theodate's maid, Emily Robinson, appeared before them.
"Lifebelts!" Edwin suddenly exclaimed.
Ducking into the nearest room, they found themselves three lifejackets.
Edwin tied them onto the women. The ship was going so
rapidly that they could see the funnels move and the bare steel of
where the
waterline began. They had to jump.
"You go first." Theodate urged Friend.
Edwin Friend grabbed a rope from a davit of a departed lifeboat and
jumped. Theodate and Emily waited for Edwin to come back up
before they jumped. Seconds later, Friend resurfaced, smiling
and encouraging the two women to join him. Before jumping,
Theodate
then turned to Emily and said:
"Come, Robinson."
Upon entering the water, Theodate was sucked down and caught between
decks. Thinking that she would die at any moment, she sincerely
hoped that during her life that she had "made good." She then
opened her eyes to see green water and the keel of a lifeboat right
above her. Floating up, she hit her head but her hair and straw
hat saved her from serious injury, for the bump had temporarily
affected her sight.
Surfacing, she found herself and "hundred of frantic, screaming,
shouting humans in this grey and watery inferno." A panicked man
without a lifebelt then jumped onto her shoulders, grabbing her for
floatation. The man weight was pushing her under and she pleaded,
"Oh, please don't." The man let go and losing consciousness, she
went under again.
Surfacing and on her back and regaining consciousness, Theodate
saw people much farther from her and the sky still a brilliant blue.
A man on her right had a gash on his forehead. Also nearby
she could make out the back of a woman's head. To her left was
"an
old man upright in the water," floating high above the water.
Theodate
asked, "Do you see any rescue ships coming?"
"No." was the response.
Somewhere in the background came the sounds of those in the water
singing "Tipperary."
Theodate looked around for Edwin Friend, but he was nowhere in sight.
She then made her way to a nearby oar and deciding that the whole
scene was "too horrible to be true" and could only be a dream, she lost
consciousness.
At evening, the trawler Julia discovered her, unconscious,
lying across her oar. Sailors fished her out with boat hooks and
laid her on the deck with the dead. Fellow Lusitania
passenger Belle Naish
saw her and could not believe that she was dead. Belle encouraged
the crew to try artifical respiration and after two hours Theodate's
breathing became steady. Although still semiconscious, the crew
wrapped Theodate in a blanket and placed her on the floor beside the
charcoal
fire in the captain's cabin. It was almost 10:30 before Theodate
had regained sufficient consciousness to realize she was sitting in
front
of a fire. Two women patted her and told her that the doctor was
on his way.
Theodate asked the women for their names but found talking too great an
effort. She was shaking violently despite the fire and had no
recollection of the shipwreck.
The doctor came aboard at Queenstown and examined her in the captain's
cabin. He then called two sailors to assist her ashore. The
two men made a chair out of their locked hands, but Theodate was unable
to hold onto their shoulders and almost fell over backwards. The
doctor steadied her as they came down the gangplank into the city.
One of the sailors shouted, "Way, way!"
Theodate was taken to a hotel which she considered "third-rate"
and tried to stand, but could not support herself. She was
carried
into the lounge and saw "men in all sorts of strange garments."
The
proprietress gave her some brandy. Theodate then saw the man who
had been joking about the ice cream earlier now in a pink dressing
gown.
He was unable to answer her questions on the fate of Edwin Friend.
She was helped upstairs to share a room with other survivors but could
not sleep. All night she was hoping that Friend would appear
looking for her and every time more survivors arrived in her room she
was
disappointed. A concerned passenger went to check all the hotels,
hospitals, and private houses that were housing survivors but found
nothing of Edwin. Theodate's hair began to fall out from the
effects of shock.
The following year Theodate held several séances where the
spirits of Edwin Friend and Elbert Hubbard
made appearances. Edwin was reportedly "flushed" and thundering
about the "dastardly deed" that ended his life.
Theodate was awarded $25 000 for her suffering and discomfort, and
another $5000 for the loss of her jewels and personal property.
On 6 May 1916, she married a former Russian diplomat, 52-year-old
John Wallace Riddle. She passed away on 30 August 1946, and her
house, Hill-Stead, is now a museum that not only showcases her
architecture, but also her collection of artwork.
Theodate Pope Riddle was elected to the American Institute of
Architects in 1981.
Link of interest:
Hill-Stead Museum
References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania.
Madison Books, 1956.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkeley Books, 2002.
Theodate Pope Riddle. Online. <http://www.hartnet.org/hha/Farmington/Main%20Street/Framed%20Pages/Pope.htm>
Smith, Sharon Dunlap. Theodate Pope Riddle: Her Life
and Architecture. Online. <http://www.valinet.com/~smithash/theodate/>
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