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By the time Anna Sjoblom came to be interviewed for this broadcast, she had lost much of her Swedish speaking ability and it is thus a mix of English and Finn-Swede. She came from the same small town in Finland that most of my relatives came from.
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I have transcribed the tape as best I could.
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Here is the translation, as best as I can do it.
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I left Finland on March 29, 1912. It was the first time I had been on a train. I had some friends; one was married. We had to wait for another ship when we came to England in Southhampton. We had to wait for an entire week. My ticket was for Swedish American Line. I had to pay eight dollars more to travel on the Titanic. We left Southhampton in England on the tenth of April. Everything seemed to be alright--of course it took a long time -it was a big boat.
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I was seventeen years old. I was---what do you call it---I was sea sick. (I have some problems understanding this part but I think she said she has water on the legs). Pretty soon there came a kind of a bump and I thought maybe it was time to go eat. I had my clothes on and I came up on the deck. There were people all over crying and praying and telling this young man from Munsala that we were going to go down. I said "No, we won't go down. We can't sink. We can stand on the top because it isn't deep enough." You see how little I understood?
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Then he said that he was going to go find (difficult to understand) his other (can't understand). He stated that he hoped his (?) prayed for him now. Then I met another Swedish girl from Sweden and she had two friends and they said that we should go up where they had the life-boats. We had a set of steps as the steps were all closed. I was in third class; the cheapest that I could get.
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We climbed up. We had life-jackets on. They were tight. A man came along and helped me over the railing and he pointed to the life-boats. Of course the boat sttruck there---the 14th of April, which was my birthday. And it went down in the morning on the 15th. I was told by the person who gave orders, as I didn't want to go, that I had to go into the small life-boat. But then the girls (she was with) went into the same. And there were three French boys in the boat who didn't have room and people in their night clothes (night-gowns) and children who sat on the bottom.
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The water was still. I think we left in the lifeboat at one o;clock.
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(Did not understand) Then it went down. It was like oatmeal/pudding overcooking/over-flowing. And then it was so still. There had been all of the people standing on the deck and then there was nobody. There were no more lifeboats. They were gone. And we could see the wave, a little bit. What do you call the waves? And everybody sang and prayed, but I didn't know a word of English.
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Then the people came up in their lifebelts. And before they froze to death, there was such a screaming and noise I put my fingers in my ears. I couldn't stand it. It was just screaming...I'm sorry....
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And we didn't expect to be rescued, but I wasn't afraid. I wasn't afraid and I don't know why. But I wasn't afraid. I had just wanted to come to America where there was more to eat and for a better life. You know, in those days we were under Russia. My father was in America and my brother. And I had to work when I was only fourteen years old and it was hard work.
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At 0500 in the morning we saw a light and there was praying and singing, but we had to be still so the boat wouldn't tip. At 0700 the boat stopped and it couldn't get too close to the ice-bergs. They put out a chair or something and took us up to the Carpathian, which was headed for Italy.
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When you got up there, you saw the bodies and chairs floating around. I saw many, many who had lost their friends and one girl from Denmark, who I understood a bit, lost her sweetheart. I could understand a bit Norwegian, Danish and Swedish so I understood her. They had to tie her up because she lost her mind. They sent her home from New York. (A voice in the background suggests a name that sounds like Feltman/Feldman)
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When I got to New York they gave us tickets to whoever we wanted to go. If I wanted to go back to Finland. Of course I wanted to go to America and I came to Tacoma. I married an American. My children can't speak any Swedish. I worked in America in houses (domestic help). I learned to speak and I learned to cook and I learned what they do here. That was in 1912. How many years is it? 1912? (A voice in the background states 59).
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It's been 59 years since I was on the Titanic. Then there's a book with the name "A Night to Remember." But, I've given away so many things and I don't have anything in Swedish.
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(The voice in the background states that they couldn't let everybody go in the lifeboats. She asks who they let go into the lifeboats).
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There was no order. Those who came first could go. I wish you could understand. There was a millionaire. What do you call a wedding trip (obviously on honeymoon) They had been gone over a year and she was going to have a baby. The man put the woman in the lifeboat and told her that he was afraid and said that he would come after. But with all the millions he couldn't because it was women first.
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The boat was eight stories. I didn't think it would sink.
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There was another millionaire-Strauss, an elderly man, who had been with his wife for many, many years. He wanted her to go into the life-boat. She stepped out because she did not want to go alone. She said that they had gone together in life and that they would die together. There are many, many things I could tell you if I could speak good Swedish.
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(Woman asks a question about how they found out information about the accident in third class)
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They didn't have much chance to get out of there. All the gates were closed. Doors were closed. The men had told me the girl I was with about the small emergency steps. It was the only way out. I can't remember if I prayed to God or not. I wasn't afraid. I just looked...I looked at everybody. It was like I was stunned. (She relates how many people drowned and other statistics)
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(Interviewer asks why they didn't open the gates to Third Class)
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If they opened them, it was too late. There were no life-boats. But of course, I wasn't there then. Two men from Sweden who were in my life-boat were in the water and were picked up in the morning. They were so frozen. Their watches had stopped at the time it had gone---fifteen minutes past two.
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If you want to read more on Anna, here is another link about her:
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