Countess of Rothes
(Martha Lucy-Noel MacFie)

By Corbyn Coffelt

Martha Lucy-Noel MacFie was born on December 25, 1884 in Scotland.  She had no occupation but was very rich.  Who knew that she would have such an exciting story to tell? 

Martha lived in London, England when she was twenty-seven years old.  Her husband decided to buy a fruit farm in Vancouver, British Columbia, so they thought that she might as well travel in style.  They booked a ticket on the Titanic, number 110152.  The interesting thing is that she registered with the name of Countess of Rothes.  She was in first class, which wasn’t surprising.  Martha was to travel with her cousin, Cherry Gladys, and her maid, Cissy.  On April 10, 1912, they made their way to the Southampton port to board the Titanic.  This is their adventure.

They were having a wonderful time the day before things went wrong.  They had gone to bed and were woken up by a stewardess.  The Titanic’s motor was off so immediately they knew something was wrong. They rushed to the deck to see a crowd of people.  Some passengers whizzed past them.  Martha asked one what had happened. 

They replied, “The captain wants everyone to get their life jackets.” 

Martha told the others and then rushed back to their cabin and then went back to the deck.  By now, people were being ordered into the life boats.  They ran over to life boat number eight.  They easily stepped into it.

“The first impression I had as we left the ship was that, above all things, we must not lose our self-control.” Martha recalled.  She later wrote, “When we pushed off from the Titanic’s side, I asked the seaman if he would care to have me at the tiller, as I knew something about boats.  He said, “Certainly, lady.”  I climbed into the stern sheets and asked my cousin to help me.”

A few minutes later the Titanic went down. The sight was too much for Martha.  She left the tiller to Cherry and started to weep.  When she had recovered, she took charge of the tiller again and listened to the shrieks and cries of the dying passengers until they were silenced forever. 

Martha, Cherry, and Cissy were rescued by the Carpathia, another ship in the area.  They finished their journey to the US where Martha gave birth to her two sons, Malcolm and John.  She later moved back to England.  She died on September 12, 1956 at age seventy one due to heart disease in Hove, Sussex.