On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and started sinking. Merchant seaman Frank Winnold Prentice was the assistant storekeeper on the ship. When the collision occurred, Prentice was in his cabin and didn't feel much besides the ship stopping. He went up to the promenade deck and saw chunks of ice. Moments later, the orders came to load women and children onto the lifeboats. Then, the Titanic broke in half.
In the video below, from the 1979 BBC documentary The Great Liners, Prentice recounts what happened next.
When asked whether it was traumatic to bring back the memory of that night, he said, "I shall probably dream about it tonight; have another nightmare."
Prentice died in 1982 at 93 years-old.
Previously: The Japanese passenger who survived the Titanic but faced unbearable shaming at home
