19 ROSE METCALF

Ship’s dancer While panic spread around her the 23 year-old gave up her place in a lifeboat.

She had been drinking coffee in the Salon Londres bar at the stern, waiting to have her picture taken with passengers, when it struck the reef. As she was wearing evening dress, Miss Metcalf, from Wimborne, Dorset, decided to return to her cabin, number 3507 on the third deck, to change into warmer clothes and her life jacket.

From there she went to her muster point, at the very front of the boat, and took a roll call of passengers as the boat started to list. It was clear that not all the lifeboats would be able to launch, and there would not be enough space for everyone, so she stayed on board. Eventually, she clambered up to deck five, where she managed to wave and attract a rescue helicopter at 2.30am.

Miss Metcalf, from Wimborne in Dorset, said. “We knew there would be too many people for the life rafts. We were literally throwing each other. We were creating human chains to try to pass people over gaps that, if they dropped down, there was no recovery from. There was panic, people were white – crying and screaming. I decided to wait until the water was high enough, so I could jump or swim, but I didn’t want to be inside.

“I was making sure the people on my life raft had their jackets done up. I was trying to keep people talking, was trying to keep the mood calm and keep practical. My heart was racing, but I was calm to everyone else.”