The terrible story of a Titanic survivor who, years before the tragedy, arrived in Peru on vacation, fell in love and raised a family that considered him a legend | Peter Dennis Daly | Liverpool | Southampton | Vapor Carpathia| nnsp | ARCHIVE-ELCOMERCIO

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With her he settled in our country and had 10 children: five men and five women. He also became a representative of the London firm Haes & Sons in Peru. In 1912, Peter Daly he went to London on business, and embarked, on his return, in the first class of the Titanic, a White Star Line company ship that was similar to a building eleven stories high and about three blocks long. 322 people boarded the famous ocean liner in first class, 277 in second and 709 in third. There were also 898 people in the crew.

The rest is history. Days later, the huge British ship collided with an ice floe and sank. A fact that occurred even when the cable messages announced the dangers on that side of the sea. It also didn’t help that the ship’s lookouts didn’t have binoculars to get a good look at the road. The family of Daly He didn’t hear from him for several days. For a moment, they thought that the Englishman had died on the luxurious boat valued at 10 million dollars. Later, his family found out that he survived and that he would arrive in Peru in a few weeks. There he would tell everything that happened that day.

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On the afternoon of Monday, May 13, 1912, a chronicler of Trade interviewed Peter Dennis Daly at his residence in Lima. The British businessman had arrived in Callao hours before, from Panama on the steamer “Guatemala”. At his house, he was accompanied by his family and a group of friends who, distraught, went to visit him to find out about his state of health after the tragic accident.

With a slight smile on his face, Peter attended our reporter and told him that he embarked on the Titanic in Southampton, on Wednesday, April 10 of that year. The huge ship was scheduled to call at Cherbourg and Queenstown. She arrived at the first port that same night and at the second, on the morning of the 11th. Until then, everything was calm for first-class passengers, an area where she was Daly.

The British revealed that “the first days” the Titanic he covered 484 miles of distance and that, between Friday and Saturday, 519. On Sunday, April 14, he was doing 540 miles, since he wanted to reach New York in record time. That morning, the passengers from her class chatted quietly on the deck of the ship. Captain Edward Smith he was smiling and confident that he would achieve a new maritime feat. Triumph was certain.

That is how that Sunday night they enjoyed a pleasant dinner and each went to rest in their rooms. Peter Daly He confessed that at that time his watch was one hour behind New York. Being 11 pm, the passengers of the Titanic they felt a strong movement in the ship. At first, the ship’s officers said nothing was wrong. However, the alarm began to be felt among all travelers.

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From one moment to the next, everything turned into chaos. The officers gave the order to save the women and children first. Daly he recounted that several men left the boats they had boarded to make room for the women on the boat. The incredible thing about it all was that on that dark night the sky began to shine with countless stars. “I have never seen a night as starry as that, of which I will keep eternal memory”said Peter.

Minutes later, a group of third-class passengers tried to climb to the first level to save themselves. The rude opposition of the officers stopped the attempt. Despair and anguish took over the place. Peter Daly remember that only screams and laments of women and children for their “loved ones” were heard. Minutes later, the British was shot down by the force of the water that came to starboard. She was one of the last people to leave the Titanic before it sank.

He also revealed that the captain Smith He remained at his post until the last moment. It all lasted two hours. Minutes later, the Englishman managed to get on a boat and was saved from death. Then all the survivors of the Titanic were picked up by steam Carpathia, which took them to New York. There, they were besieged by the American press. Nine days after the tragic sinking, Daly embarked for Peru after making a stopover in Panama.

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On Sunday April 14, 2002, Trade published an interview with the family of the survivor of the Titanic. In the conversation, his grandson, Dennis Gonzales Dalywho was born in 1933, a year after the death of PeterHe said that it was common for his grandfather to travel to London every two or three years for work or to visit friends and relatives. “In addition to buying clothes”he said, smiling. She knew all this from stories she had been told about him.

Doris Patsi Gonzales Dalywho was 9 months old when his famous ancestor passed away, revealed that he was very stern, “So much so that he could take away your speech if you made a rudeness to him”. She confessed that she was very proud of her hero grandfather and that she had lost count of the times she cried watching the movie. Titanic. Both told that Peter he was not going to embark on the famous British ship. A friend encouraged him to return to Peru on the maiden voyage of the luxurious English ship.

In addition, they recalled that “someone” tried to prevent him from boarding the ship by arguing a letter that, fourteen years earlier, told the story of a ship called Titan that sank on its first voyage. However, his grandfather boarded the ship with the excuse of visiting his eldest son, Nicanor, in New York. His firstborn had been living in that city for two years. when the Titanic collided with the iceberg, Daly He went back to his room: “He put on woolen underwear, a thick sweater and boots to help him withstand the cold. In his belt wallet he put his money, personal documents and a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He put on an overcoat and went up again.

His life jacket was given to a woman who was screaming desperately for help. He was convinced that no one could survive the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. After being dragged off the deck, Peter he took off his overcoat and swam until he reached a boat. The boat was full and they did not want to bring it up. He even received a blow to the head from an oar. Therefore, he swam again and reached lifeboat No. 5, where they made a space for him. Already in New York, he was admitted to a hospital.

In the following days, his wife, who was in Lima, did not hear from him. The news took time to reach the country and, for a while, they thought that Daly he had died in the sinking of the ocean liner. Already in the New York hospital and accompanied by his son, Peter He received the news that his legs had to be amputated because he had the beginnings of gangrene. He refused to undergo the intervention. Later, he returned to Peru and lived for more than twenty years with daily steam baths to warm his legs. This was the aftermath that remained for surviving the accident.

Those who knew Peter Daly They said that he did not like to tell the story of what he experienced on April 14, 1912. His grandchildren agreed that he was traumatized after everything that happened in the sinking of the ship. However, for them he became a legend for everything he fought to survive that tragedy. It should be noted that on April 11, days before the accident, the Titanic almost bumped into him steam new yorkwhen the latter broke the moorings that held him to the dock of Southampton. This was just a first warning of what would happen more than 100 years ago.

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