Titanic (31 page)

Hugh Woolner

A London businessman in his forties and first class passenger on the
Titanic
, Hugh Woolner was in the first class smoking room along with Mauritz Björnström-Steffansson at the time of the collision, and the two later helped the officers and crew load the lifeboats with women and children. He and Björnström-Steffansson were both rescued by jumping into Collapsible D as it was being lowered. Hugh Woolner died on February 13, 1925.

Information on passengers and crew is drawn primarily from
Encyclopedia Titanica
and from the Titanic Inquiry Project. To learn more about all the survivors and victims, visit www.encyclopedia-titanica.org.

In addition to those whose stories appear in this book, other passengers and crew members have become well known in
Titanic
history. They include:

Millvina (Elizabeth Gladys) Dean
was the last survivor of the
Titanic
to die. Born on February 2, 1912, she was only nine weeks old when her parents, Bertram and Georgette Dean, left England to move to Kansas with their new baby girl and son, Bertram, who was almost two. Millvina’s father died in the sinking. Her mother was able to raise Millvina and her brother in part thanks to
Titanic
relief funds. Millvina, who never married, retired to Southampton and became a
Titanic
celebrity in her seventies, giving interviews and going to conventions. She died on May 31, 2009, at the age of ninety-seven.

Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon
became infamous for being in Lifeboat 1, which was lowered with only twelve people and which made no effort to save others. Cosmo Duff Gordon had married Lucy (known as “Lucile”) Wallace, a divorced dressmaker and fashion designer, in 1900. After the disaster, fireman Charles Hendrickson testified that both Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon said they should not go back to help others because it would be too dangerous.

The Duff Gordons were the only passengers called to testify in the British Inquiry. In one exchange, Lady Duff Gordon was asked if she knew that there were people in the
Titanic
as the ship was sinking. “‘No, I did not think so; I do not think I was thinking anything about it’” was her reply. Her husband’s answers were equally callous. When asked at the British Inquiry if he thought about whether or not the boat could save some of the people in the water, he answered, “‘I was not thinking about it. At that time I was attending to my wife, as I think I said just now. We had had rather a serious evening, you know.’” Cosmo Duff Gordon died in 1931, and Lady Duff Gordon died in 1935.

Benjamin Guggenheim,
forty-six, was an American millionaire and mining tycoon. He gave
Titanic
steward James Etches a written message for his wife that read, “If anything should happen to me, tell my wife in New York that I’ve done my best in doing my duty.” He and his secretary discarded warm sweaters and were seen dressed in evening clothes the night of the sinking. Guggenheim is also reported to have said, “We’ve dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.” He died when the
Titanic
sank and his body was not recovered. Guggenheim was traveling with his mistress, twenty-four-year-old French singer, Léontine Aubart. Ms. Aubart wrote to the White Star Line asking for reimbursement for clothing and jewelry she had lost, including twenty-four pairs of shoes, twenty-four night costumes of silk and lace, twenty-four dresses and wraps, a tiara, seven hats, and one gold bag with sapphires.

Wallace Henry Hartley,
age thirty-three, was born in England, where he became a violinist. He was the band leader on the
Titanic
and traveled second class. He became famous for leading his musicians in ragtime tunes after the collision until almost the end. People interested in the
Titanic
still debate and wonder what was the band’s final song; some passengers recall hearing “Nearer My God to Thee,” while other eyewitnesses such as Harold Bride remember hearing “Songe d’Automne.” Wallace Hartley and the other seven members of the
Titanic
’s orchestra died in the sinking.

Edmond and Michel Navratil,
ages two and three, were known as the “orphans of the
Titanic
.” Their French father had taken his sons away from his estranged wife and was traveling under an assumed name. The boys were rescued in Collapsible D, but their father died in the sinking. The boys spoke no English, and on the
Carpathia
they were not claimed. First class passenger Margaret Hays volunteered to take care of them until family could be found. Their mother recognized their picture after newspaper stories were published proclaiming, “Tots Saved from the Sea.” The White Star Line paid for her to travel to America in May to be reunited with her boys. Edmond died in 1953, and Michel died in 2001 at the age of ninety-two.

Ida and Isidor Straus
were first class passengers who became famous for their devotion to each other and their decision to stay together when the
Titanic
sank. Mr. Isidor Straus, who was sixty-seven, had come to America as a boy of nine. He and his brother were in the dry goods business and became co-owners of R. H. Macy and Company in 1896. Isidor’s wife, Ida, age sixty-three, almost boarded Lifeboat 8. She was overheard to say, “‘
We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.’”
Although Colonel Archibald Gracie and some of her other friends tried to persuade her to get into a lifeboat, the couple stayed together and sat on deck chairs. Both were lost in the sinking. Their memorial service in New York was attended by 40,000 people.

Information on these passengers and crew members is drawn primarily from
Encyclopedia Titanica
, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org, and from the Titanic Inquiry Project.

On the waves of the Atlantic 16th

Dear Mother and Sister,

I will now briefly write a few words to you to let you know that I am alive after great suffering and difficulties. You have probably read in the newspaper that the ship we travelled on sank. Oh great God what I have suffered on this voyage. . . . I feel so strange I can hardly write, I can’t collect my thoughts. I have bad news to tell . . . They were lowering lifeboats and I was thrown into one of them. I held on to Nils [her fiancé] with one hand and wanted to take him along, but they held him, being afraid that there would be too many of us. I screamed as loud as I could and wanted to go back, but at the same time I was lowered . . .”

— Olga Lundin, second class passenger

On board the Carpathia

Thursday, 18th April, 1912

I think we all feel a little better this morning, We, that are so fortunate, having lost no one; but all the poor women’s faces are piteous to see; yesterday morning I was very busy . . . cutting out garments for the Steerage and Second Class children, some of whom had no clothes at all, we made little coats and leggings out of the blankets . . . I slept a little better, but one wakens terrified, which is very silly, as we have nothing to grumble at in comparison with the poor widows, Oh, it is too dreadful to see them . . .”

— Gladys Cherry, first class passenger

Dear Mother,

I am saved, but I have lost everything. I must, however, be thankful for my life. I have not a penny and no clothes. I was thrown on board a little boat in my nightdress and boots. I had no stockings on. We were in this little boat in the middle of the ocean for six hours, and I was nearly frozen when we were picked up. . . . We could hear the screams from the men as the Titanic was sinking. I think there are hundreds drowned. . . . I don’t know what I shall do when I get to New York . . . I am frightened to death nearly . . .

Your loving daughter,

“Maud”

— Maude Sincock, second class passenger

Our ship struck an iceberg. I went on deck and met a sailor who asked me to help lower the boats. The sailor said, ‘Take a chance yourself.’ I did, as did my friend, but the officers came along and ordered us off the boat. A woman said, ‘Lay down, lad, you are somebody’s child.’ She put a rug over me and the boat went out, so I was saved. I’ll write you a note when I get to New York.

— Daniel Buckley, third class passenger