Titanic survivor reveals why the tragedy continued to give him nightmares for decades

The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most significant events in modern history. There have been countless documents of the disaster in contemporary pop culture of how the ship struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and endangered many lives. Fortunately, several survivors provided firsthand accounts of the incident. One of the survivors, Frank Prentice, who was 23 at the time of the disaster, spoke to BBC 67 years later about how the whole incident continued to give him nightmares many years after. His interview has been featured in the 1979 BBC documentary series, "The Great Liners" and has been shared on YouTube.

Prentice had gotten a job as an assistant purser, tasked with managing money and other supplies on the maiden voyage of the iconic vessel. He described the collision with the iceberg as barely noticeable. "It was just jamming your brakes on the car and that was that–she stopped," he recalled. Prentice went out and looked around to see if anything was wrong but found nothing significant. He noted the sea's eerie calmness, which masked the gravity of the situation.

Although he spotted some ice near the ship, he saw no large icebergs or visible damage above the waterline. The iceberg that had damaged the unsinkable ship had dealt quite a blow to the part of the ship that was submerged in the water, causing it to sink. The situation began to escalate when women and children were ordered to get into lifeboats. Many hesitated to board the lifeboats, still believing the ship was unsinkable and daunted by the terrifying 70-foot drop to the icy waters below.

Prentice mentioned that the Titanic had 16 lifeboats, each of which could carry 50 people. However, since people were confused and slow, only 500 people were saved instead of 800. Things began to get worse as time passed and the ship rocked back and forth badly, creating even more chaos among people. Prentice and some other men were instructed to carry some provisions for the lifeboats, which they had to go back under the ship to get. Once they got back up, the ship broke in two, eliminating any chance of Prentice making it to a lifeboat safely.

Thankfully, he had managed to put on a lifebelt, which kept him afloat amongst the many bodies on the water after the ship sank. At the time, he hoped that he would not die, but chances for his survival seemed bleak. The water was frigid and almost got to him before he was pulled up by people on a nearby lifeboat. He met Virginia Estelle Clark, who saved his life by giving him a cloak to warm up his body. Prentice passed away in 1982, aged 93. The man kept the watch that he wore while the Titanic sank for the rest of his adult life as a kind of keepsake. The watch had been frozen at exactly 02:20 in the morning, 20 minutes after he had been in the cold water.