Edith Grace Martyn was the youngest and last survivor of the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland on May 29,1914.
14 Facts About Grace Hanagan
1.
2.
Grace Hanagan was one of four children who survived the sinking.
3.
Grace Hanagan was born in Oshawa, Ontario, on May 16,1907 and was the daughter of Edward James and Edith Emily Hanagan.
4.
Grace Hanagan's father conducted the orchestra on the ship in the afternoon.
5.
Grace Hanagan refused to sleep in a berth that was next to a porthole as she believed this would be "where the water will come in", the memory of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, that had sunk two years earlier, still fresh in everyone's mind.
6.
Grace Hanagan went under the water twice until she held onto a piece of wreckage.
7.
Grace Hanagan lost sight of her parents in the panicking crowd in the water.
8.
Grace Hanagan was then taken to a hospital in Rimouski, and the next day the hospital arranged for a train to take her and some other survivors back to Toronto, with Mrs Atwell watching over her.
9.
Grace Hanagan eventually went on to live in Niagara Falls, Ontario, working for the Salvation Army.
10.
Grace Hanagan had a photo of her taken in 1934 with nine other Salvation Army members that survived the sinking: Thomas and Margaret Greenaway, David MacAmmond, Ernest Green, Rufus Spooner, Alfred Keith, Mary Atwell, and Frank and Henrietta Brooks.
11.
Grace Hanagan didn't talk about the disaster unless somebody brought up the subject.
12.
Grace Hanagan got in touch with him on Christmas in 1985 when he was living in or near Chelmsford, England, at 91 years old.
13.
Grace Hanagan remained connected to the Empress of Ireland throughout her life, but was not portrayed as a celebrity, "Nor would I want to be," she said.
14.
Grace Hanagan Martyn died in St Catharines, Ontario one day before her 88th birthday and two weeks before the 1995 memorial service.