The Aristocrat and the Able Seaman (The Countess of Rothes, Thomas Jones, and the Tragedy of Titanic)

When Titanic left Southampton in 1912, neither the aristocrat, the Countess of Rothes, nor the able seaman Thomas Jones could have imagined meeting—let alone navigating a tiny lifeboat together at night among towering icebergs. But Jones placed Noёl Rothes at the tiller when he recognized her calm capability, and for seven long hours they did everything they could to guide at least twenty-five others to safety.

Their ordeal forged an unlikely bond that endured until Noёl’s death in 1956. Angela Young, Noёl’s great-granddaughter, tells the intertwined stories of these two courageous Titanic survivors and examines why so few people survived the tragedy.