Titanic Survival Story- Emily B. Ryerson’s and Mine

by Sally Matheny

This is really a comparison of two survival stories.

One is about Emily Borie Ryerson, a survivor of the infamous Titanic ship. The other is about me, Sally Matheny, a 2012 survivor of the Titanic Camp at the S.C. State Museum.

At an overnight Titanic Camp in Columbia, S.C., before entering the Titanic exhibit, each person was given a “boarding pass.”

On each pass was information about an actual passenger aboard the steamship Titanic in the year 1912. 

We assumed their identities as we traveled through the exhibit. At the end of the event, museum participants have gathered information to discover the outcome of their Titanic passenger.

Boarding passes were handed out randomly, discriminated only by man, woman, boy or girl. My boarding pass was ticket #17608k which enabled me to “become” Mrs. Arthur Larned Ryerson (Emily Maria Borie) of Haversford, Pennsylvania.

I was very happy that I, and Emily Ryerson, were traveling first class. Woo hoo! Mrs. Ryerson probably wouldn’t have whooped. She would have been very proper because she was used to such treatment.

In fact, when she boarded the Titanic the White Star Line director, Bruce Ismay, personally greeted her family. The Ryerson family were given an extra stateroom. The director even assigned them an additional servant even though the Ryersons had brought their own maid on the trip as well.

Tragedy struck this family before they even boarded the Titanic. The Ryerson’s oldest son Arthur Jr., age 20, was killed in a car accident in the states while they were away in Europe. This was the reason for their trip home. 

They were not enjoying the glamour of the Titanic. In fact, it was noted that Mrs. Ryerson was so upset she stayed in her room most of the trip. The family had only taken the Titanic because it was the first ship available to get back home.

Initially, my 18 yr. old Emily was registered to go to the Titanic Camp with me. Apparently, she forgot about a 5K race she had registered to run in and could not go. 

I also asked my oldest daughter to go but she had a lot of homework and would have to drive 4 ½ hours from college to get home and turn around and drive another 2 ½ hours to the museum. Perhaps these were similar to Ellen Ryerson’s reasons for not going to Europe—too far to travel or she had previous commitments.

It is sad the Ryerson family was unable to enjoy the luxurious Titanic with its Turkish baths, gym, and heated indoor pool. Only the first class passengers could enjoy the pool filled with salt water, and even then, they had to pay a nominal fee to use it. 

At the time, the Titanic was the largest ship in existence, measuring around eleven stories high and weighing 53,000 tons. A luxury soon to be lost at the bottom of the sea.

Mrs. Ryerson, her three children, and their maid, all survived. Even so, the funeral of their oldest son still had to be postponed.

Why? Because unfortunately, after the sinking of the Titanic, they also the anguish of planning Mr. Ryerson’s funeral as well. 

Life forever changed for the Ryerson family.

Mrs. Ryerson, although very wealthy, still had to endure hardships and learn how to persevere. My only hardships at the Titanic Camp were trying to sleep with the museum’s continual lights and sounds. A migraine and the lack of a hot shower did not help either, but… 

I survived.