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**herky** · 07-02-18, 21:57

Originally posted by julip View Post

Could anyone help with a newspaper interview I believe took place after the Titanic sank . The person being interviewed was Flora/Florence Collins nee Sanson . She survived the sinking , was repatriated on a troop ship, and survived an attack on that ship.If anyone has access to newspaper sites I would like to find confirmation of her story . She was born in Dunbar,East Lothian ,Scotland .I believe she was a stewardess on the Titanic. Her husband was W.B.Collins.She had two sons .

I can't find any newspaper reports so far. I assume this is Flora Jane SANSON born 1871 in Dunbar, died 1961 aged 90 in Newton Mearns. Married to William Bernard Collins in 1894, Wandsworth.

**Karamazov** · 08-02-18, 15:40

I can't find any record of her on various online lists of Titanic survivors, either as passenger or crew, which is odd as anyone who was on board the Titanic is pretty extensively documented.
Are you looking to confirm whether she really was a Titanic survivor?
Or have you had sight of the newspaper interview previously and are trying to find it again?

Christine

**Anne in Carlisle** · 08-02-18, 16:42

If she was repatriated on a troop ship which came under attack, that would surely suggest a later date than the Titanic sank, which was 1911, well before attacks in 1914 and onwards.
Anne

**JudithM** · 08-02-18, 22:18

I googled Flora Collins stewardess and came up with a book called The Drowned and the Saved about a ship called the Tuscania sunk by a U boat in 1918. Two stewardesses are mentioned as having been interviewed by newspapers, one of them called Flora Collins

**Karamazov** · 08-02-18, 23:35

Originally posted by JudithM View Post

I googled Flora Collins stewardess and came up with a book called The Drowned and the Saved about a ship called the Tuscania sunk by a U boat in 1918. Two stewardesses are mentioned as having been interviewed by newspapers, one of them called Flora Collins

I'd found exactly the same thing! You can see all three references to Flora Collins via this link:

The Drowned and the Saved

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BeJCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101&lpg=PT101&dq=flora+collins+survivor&source=bl&ots=ZEcRFZ_2Ii&sig=vES7d8avHpHuyLAILr9cS2yCVP4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd0LSLyZfZAhWJJsAKHRByCrsQ6AEwDnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=flora%20collins&f=false

WINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR Next morning at about 6 o'clock my mother wakened us to say there had been a shipwreck and bodies were being washed ashore. My father had gone with others to look for survivors ... I don't think any survivors came in at Port Ellen but bodies did. The loss of two British ships crammed with American soldiers bound for the trenches of the First World War brought the devastation of war directly to the shores of the Scottish island of Islay. The sinking of the troopship Tuscania by a German U-Boat on 5 February 1918 was the first major loss of US troops in in the war. Eight months after the people of Islay had buried more than 200 Tuscania dead, the armed merchant cruiser Otranto collided with another troopship during a terrible storm. Despite a valiant rescue attempt by HMS Mounsay, the Otranto drifted towards Islay, hit a reef, throwing 600 men into the water. Just 19 survived; the rest were drowned or crushed by the wreckage. Based on the harrowing personal recollection of survivors and rescuers, newspaper reports and original research, Les Wilson tells the story of these terrible events, painting a vivid picture which also pays tribute to the astonishing bravery of the islanders, who risked their lives pulling men from the sea, caring for survivors and burying the dead.

I haven't got a live FMP sub so can't read the full reports, but here are search results from which you can see that an interview with Flora Collins was syndicated in various British newspapers:

Search Newspapers | findmypast.co.uk

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search/british-newspapers?date=1918-01-01&date_offsetdate=1918-12-31&lastname=collins&keywords=tuscania

Search newspaper

Christine

**Karamazov** · 08-02-18, 23:47

Originally posted by Anne in Carlisle View Post

If she was repatriated on a troop ship which came under attack, that would surely suggest a later date than the Titanic sank, which was 1911, well before attacks in 1914 and onwards.
Anne

Sorry - my inner pedant getting the better of me as it often does - the Titanic sank in 1912.

Christine

**Karamazov** · 08-02-18, 23:58

An article from a Sacramento newspaper which quotes Flora Collins:

Oops! — California Digital Newspaper Collection

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SU19180209.2.20&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

California Digital Newspaper Collection

Christine

**Anne in Carlisle** · 09-02-18, 07:46

Originally posted by Karamazov View Post

Sorry - my inner pedant getting the better of me as it often does - the Titanic sank in 1912.

Christine

Ooops! I was answering really quickly and a fast Google gave me that date. Sorry! Anyway I knew it was well before the war so the case remains.
My step grandson, a Titanic fanatic, would be horrified at my error but he wasn't here to ask. Would have been more reliable than Google. LOL
Anne

**ozgirl** · 09-02-18, 09:23

Julip, have PMed you.

**julip** · 09-02-18, 10:31

The story about Flora being on the Titanic seemed to be in family memories, but sometimes it can be mixed up with other facts. I was told of the newpaper interview by somebody local, but he can`t seem to find it again !

**julip** · 09-02-18, 16:31

Thank you everyone for all your articles on the Tuscania . It does confirm she was on the ship. I am beginning to think the story of her being on the "Titanic" may have got confused through time . If anyone has found some info.I would be very grateful. It was good to read about her courage . One of my family members was supposed to have gone down on the Hood,but was actually found to have died on another ship the Niger.

Many thanks

Evelyn

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