Kathryn Shetler

October 20, 2014

3rd Hour
My Story
I remember the day when I got the ticket to sail on the Titanic. I was so excited! I
was in 3rd class because Im not very rich. I was still excited though. I wanted to pack
and leave right then, but the ship wasnt even done being built. I couldnt wait.
I am Karen Marie Abelseth. I was 16 years old when I sailed on the Titanic. I was
traveling to Los Angeles, California to live with my sister, Anna, because my mom died
when I was 12. My ticket cost $40 which would be $900 today. It was a lot of money to
come to America, but it was necessary.
The day I boarded the Titanic I was so excited. I was amazed at how big it was.
When I boarded the ship I went down to my cabin, I had to share a cabin with other
girls, but it was okay. Then I went back up to the deck to wave the crowd goodbye.
The ship was beautiful at 882 feet and 9 inches long. The Grand Staircase was
gorgeous with all of its beautiful wood carvings. It had an orchestra of 8 men which I
couldnt see unless they happened to be playing on deck. They would usually play in a
first class room. My cabin had two bunk beds, a sink for freshwater, and very little
wardrobe space. The third class general room had benches and tables and third class
men had a smoking room. I couldnt believe I was on the Titanic.
The next two days were amazing. On April 14, 1912 I had a lot of fun with Laura
Mae Cribb. She was one of my roommates and we became very close the past few
days. We spent our entire afternoon at the pool after a wonderful lunch. Then we went
to dinner. It was fantastic. After dinner we went back to our cabin and fell asleep.
That night I felt a bump and I could hear the engine stop. I woke up my
roommates and they thought there was nothing wrong. They fell back asleep, but I
couldnt. Just about ten minutes later I heard a steward say to put your life jackets on
and go up to the deck. I told everyone and we acted immediately. On deck there were
people who thought nothing would happen, we were just confused. Then we heard

shrieking downstairs and saw that the Titanic hit an iceberg and water was rushing into
the boat. We quickly got into Lifeboat 16. Some passengers didnt think the ship was
sinking so they would not get into the lifeboat. Our boat was being lowered even though
it was not completely full. We didnt want to take any chances.
It was 1:00 in the morning and it was cold. The other lifeboats were starting to get
crowded. We saw the Titanic start to angle. About thirty minutes later one end of the
ship was under water. People started to dive off the ship before knowing the water was
only 31 degrees fahrenheit. Another twenty minutes later the ship was halfway under
water at a dangerous angle, then suddenly it broke in half and the half underwater sank
very quickly. In the next 15 minutes it was straight up. Everyone, even the captain and
the orchestra, was holding onto the side rails for their lives. In the next five minutes the
Titanic was gone.
We waited for four hours in our lifeboats then finally the Carpathia was here. The
crew loaded everyone onto the ship. They took care of people who were frozen after
being pulled into a lifeboat after they had been in the water. The Carpathia then sailed
to America.
When we got to New York they took everyone to the hospital. I stayed at St.
Vincent DePaul for a few days before continuing to Los Angeles. There were 710 third
class passengers and only 174 survived, 14 men, 80 women, and 24 children.
Epilogue
Karen Marie Abelseth died in 1969 at the age of 74 due to natural causes. Laura
Mae Cribb died in 1974 at the age of 79 of Cerebral Thrombosis.