Dr. Bregstein last saw his son on the C-Deck fantail. Mervyn was choking on the smoke, and his father could not keep his own eyes open from the burning, and was becoming groggy. Miss Anne Litwak, 20, (lost) stood with them. The Misses Gladys and Ethel Knight approached, wearing life jackets. They were about to go overboard, and offered to take Mervyn and Miss Litwak with them. They went to the rail, but Miss Litwak looked down into the storm and with a terrified expression said ‘I just cant.' So, the Knight sisters and Mervyn jumped together.

They separated upon impact with the water. Gladys Knight, riding on the crest of a wave, saw Ethel and Mervyn struggling together some distance away. And then Gladys was carried off by the current.

Ethel Knight managed to hold on to Mervyn, but as the hours passed she slipped into hypothermic shock. They drifted to a large group of survivors, and she vaguely remembered someone taking Mervyn from her as she blacked out.

Mervyn vanishes from the story at that point. His body was never found.

A clue to what became of him can be found in an account by Dolly Davidson. She described how she and her husband, Sidney, were in a large group of survivors. There was a little boy with the group, who was passed from person to person as each grew too exhausted to hold him. A wave broke over the group and drove them under water. When they all surfaced and grabbed at one another again, they saw the boy struggling weakly about 25 feet away. And, then he was gone. Mrs. Davidson identified the boy as "Arthur," but 8 year old Arthur Sheridan, of Wilkes-Barre, wore a life jacket and his body was recovered. It is most likely that she, and the others, witnessed Mervyn's death.

Mervyn Bregstein's mother, Ethel, died at age 29. His father, Dr. S. Joseph Bregstein, intended on remarrying, and took Mervyn on the Morro Castle voyage to discuss the coming marriage.

The voyage was not a pleasant one. A disgruntled waiter put a nail in Mervyn's food. Dr. Bregstein thought the Morro Castle was mediocre and rather dull. The hoped for father-son talk never took place.

They were awakened on the night of September 8th by Miss Jane Adams, who pounded on the door of cabin 301 and called to them that the ship was on fire. Dr. Bregstein took the time to dress Mervyn in a yellow rain slicker before they set off for the lifeboats. Neither took a life preserver.

The Bregsteins found water sloshing in their hallway, from a dropped fire hose. The stairs to the lifeboats were blocked by fire, and so they walked aft. As they crossed the upper level of the dining room, the electricity failed.

Witnesses, including Dr. Bregstein, remembered Mervyn asking Cruise Director Smith, who wore a life jacket, where he could get one, and being told ‘Stick by your father.'

(Continued)