Lifeboat legacy for 'baby of Titanic'
End of era: Last Titanic survivor Millvina Dean, who has died aged 97, with friend Don Mullan. The author challenged stars of the movie to donate money for her nursing home bills
"An intelligent woman who had a great childlike quality and sense of fun. From the moment I met her it was the start of a beautiful friendship from which I have some great memories," said Irish author and humanitarian Don Mullan while reflecting on his relationship with Millvina Dean, the last living link to the most famous ship in history, who died a week ago.
Millvina Dean was a nine-week-old baby on RMS Titanic when it set sail from Southampton on April 10, 1912. Rescued from the stricken Titanic by her father Bertram (who perished with the liner) Millvina had been pursued by the ship's compelling story ever since.
"It all began with James Cameron's film Titanic in 1997 when my daughter Therese was captivated by the movie and watched it endlessly. We took her that year to Southampton to a Titanic convention where we met Millvina. From the moment we met there was a great rapport," said Don.
And so a friendship began between Don and Millvina which resulted in the last survivor of the Titanic expressing an interest in the author writing her memoir. Millvina's life was shaped by the Titanic but she had no memory of it.
Her mother Georgette was remarrying so she felt she owed it to her daughter to tell how her father Bertram had died in the disaster. Two thirds of children in third class died when the ship went down. It was the quick action of Mr Dean that saved his family before he perished with the liner.
Despite the enduring global fascination with the stricken liner -- not to mention the runaway success of the 1997 film Titanic which grossed €1.3bn worldwide at the box office -- in recent years Millvina had struggled to pay the costs of her room in a Southampton nursing home.
Don was moved by her plight and successfully challenged the wealthy stars of Titanic to help her out.
Director James Cameron gave a one-off payment of $10,000, while actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio together donated an initial $20,000. Since then Celine Dion has donated $10,000. "It's not enough to profit from the memory of the Titanic. I felt there were people who could, and morally should, help Millvina. Realising how much the film made at the box office -- not to mention DVDs, videos, records and licensing fees -- when I saw Millvina struggling to pay her nursing home fees I got really angry towards James Cameron.
"I had been communicating with his office via his lawyer from November 2007 about Millvina's plight. I don't know if Cameron personally was made aware of my appeal but the failure of his office to even acknowledge my appeal on behalf of this gracious old lady really disappointed me.
"That's why, at the opening of my Nokia photographic exhibition in Dublin I decided to challenge him publicly, along with the stars of the movie. "Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were delightful to deal with."
Now that Millvina has passed away, Don has suggested that the majority of surplus funds go to saving lives at sea via the RNLI charity. He believes this would be a wonderful legacy to the baby of the Titanic.
"Millvina was a beautiful person and anybody who met her thought so. It wasn't being the baby of the Titanic which made her special, it was Millvina -- the other was incidental," he said.
Don's YouTube tribute to Millvina can be seen at: www.connector.ie/blog and www.nokia.ie/donmullan.
- ALISON O'RIORDAN
