Titanic Survivors – Some Noteworthy Stories You Must Know

The Real Story of the Unsinkable Titanic

Titanic was a ship like no other, but the British passenger liner sank on her maiden voyage after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and taking the lives of over 1500 people.

The launch of the Titanic was a grand affair since it boasted several new and innovative features. Not to forget, the ship was the biggest floating object in the world at that time.

Deemed unsinkable, the Titanic’s maiden voyage saw over 2000 guests and crew members board the ship from Southampton to New York City.

Construction of the Titanic

The Titanic was constructed by the White Star Line, which built several other luxurious passenger liners known for their comfort rather than speed to compete with the Cunard Line, which made headlines after constructing ships like Lusitania and Mauretania that set speed records in crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

The Titanic was completed in more than two years, on March 31, 1912, at a whopping 1.5 million dollars, equal to over 47 million dollars today. According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, it was 270 m long, 28 m high, and weighed 46,500 tonnes.

Titanic Carried 2240 People on her Maiden Voyage

It could accommodate 3320 guests and crew members but sailed with 2240 people, per NOAA. The passengers came from all social classes, including the wealthiest to the working-class immigrants from Ireland and Germany, looking for new opportunities.

The Titanic offered luxury and comfort, yet the safety of the people was compromised. The first victims were not the people who died on its maiden voyage but some of its builders. It took 3000 men to construct the Titanic.

Titanic’s Captain Ignored Iceberg Warnings

Before tragedy struck, the Titanic’s Captain had been warned by other ships of the presence of icebergs in their path, yet Captain Edward Smith and First Officer William Murdoch sailed at almost full speed.

The result was that the unsinkable Titanic sank within four days after sailing from Southampton.

Titanic Hits the Iceberg

The night it hit the iceberg was incredibly calm, with no waves, which made it more difficult to spot an iceberg since no waves struck against the ice. There were two lookouts, Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee. Fleet was on watch when Titanic hit the iceberg.

The impact made holes in the starboard through which water gushed inside. In just two hours and forty minutes, the ship had sunk into the depths of the Atlantic.

This was because 6 of its 16 watertight compartments filled with water, which flowed over these compartments to fill the remaining ones. If only four compartments had been filled with water, Titanic could have been saved.

Poor Quality Iron used contributed to Titanic’s Sinking

In 1998, researchers at NIST found that the Titanic’s hull had thin gashes rather than just one big gash, as initially thought. The scientists also concluded that poor-quality iron was used in the rivets of the hull, which had three times the slag which contributed to the Titanic’s sinking. In low temperatures, slag turns brittle, which may have caused the rivet head to break after the iceberg hit.

The front part of the ship filled with water and sank, and its back lifted out of the water, placing pressure on its middle portion. It cracked, and the Titanic broke into two, eventually sinking at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912.

Just 16 Lifeboats Onboard

There were just 16 lifeboats and four collapsibles on the Titanic, which could carry only a third of its passengers. While this may seem a careless mistake today, it was not so in those times. The Titanic had more lifeboats than required, per the law of the time.

Carpathia arrived at 4:00 am and rescued the survivors from the icy waters.

Titanic Victims & Survivors

Many prominent people of the time died, including the ship’s architect, Thomas Andrews; Businessman Benjamin Guggenheim; Macy department store owners Isidor Straus and Ida Straus; and the wealthiest passenger onboard, John Jacob Astor IV and his pregnant wife Madeleine, the inheritor of the whole Astor fortune.

Astor died as he did not believe the ship was sinking, and later, he could not go onto a lifeboat due to the women and children first policy. However, his wife survived.

Ida Straus returned from the lifeboat to her husband, saying ‘Where you go, I go’, per National Archives, U.K., and the couple aged 67 and 63 died together.

According to a 2012 study by Sweden’s Uppsala University, around 70% of women and children and only 20% of men were saved.

As per investigations, first-class passengers went on lifeboats first, followed by the second class, and last were the third-class passengers, the ordinary people who lost their lives.

A Victim’s Letter

The tragic story of the iconic ship was once again in the limelight recently when a letter written by one of the victims of the Titanic disaster sold for a record-breaking price at an auction.

The letter by Alexander Oskar Holverson, addressed to his mother just a day before the ship struck an iceberg, sold for £126,000 at an auction in England.

This was the last-known letter written on board by a victim. It described life inside the most luxurious liner of that time, days before its tragic destiny.

Survival Stories

Over one hundred years after the accident, people are fascinated by the lives of Titanic Survivors—the saga of those who survived the incident and lived on to share their experiences.

These memories they shared remind the world of what transpired aboard the Titanic on its fatal voyage and how these brave individuals survived to tell the tale to generations anew.

Hundreds of books have been written about the survivors’ experiences and the last moments of the Titanic before it sank.

Since it would be arduous to list each of the over seven hundred Titanic survivors, let us look at some of the prominent stories of Titanic Survivors who lived on to share their onboard experiences.

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Charles Joughin, a Crew Member of the Titanic

One of the most famous and bizarre Titanic survivor stories is that of Charles Joughin. Joughin, a part of the crew of the Titanic, survived the incident in the most unique manner possible.

To combat the bitter cold after the vessel started sinking in the middle of the North Atlantic, the passengers began drinking alcohol to provide inner body warmth.

Joughin used this idea to utmost perfection and binged on alcohol, as depicted in movies such as A Night to Remember and Titanic, while the ship sank.

Yet even as he was consuming alcohol, Joughin did not forget his duty as a shipman, helping numerous other passengers into the deployed lifeboats.

When the ship finally sank, he was left waiting in the frigid waters of the Atlantic for over three hours before being rescued, going on to live for another 44 years.

Later, those who documented the story of Joughin confirmed that his survival in the icy water directly resulted from his blood alcohol level.

Charles Joughin, years after his unbelievable survival, died at 97 in Patterson, New Jersey.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Margaret Brown was an American philanthropic socialite whose story as a Titanic survivor inspired more confidence than despondency.

Called Maggie by her friends and depicted as ‘Molly’ in various movies, Margaret Brown is remembered for her effort to exhort the crew in her lifeboat to search for more survivors. Brown was later called “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” posthumously.

More than her anecdotes of survival, Margaret Brown is associated with raising funds to help financially impoverished survivors. She is also remembered for her relief efforts during the First World War.

Margaret also established the Survivor’s Committee and raised almost $10,000 for needy survivors when the rescue vessel Carpathia reached New York harbour with Titanic survivors.

The life story of Margaret Brown was documented in a 1960 Broadway musical, The Titanic’s Molly Brown, based on her life and its 1964 film adaptation of the same title.

Margaret Brown died from a brain tumour on October 26, 1932, at the Barbizon Hotel in New York City, New York.

The youngest survivor, Eva Hart

Eva Miriam Hart was one of the youngest survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Eva was seven years old when she boarded the vessel with her parents.

Eva was sleeping when the accident occurred, and Eva’s father placed his wife and daughter in Lifeboat No. 14. Eva’s father didn’t survive, and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

The RMS Carpathia later rescued Eva and her mother. Eva later worked as a professional singer in Australia, a Conservative Party organiser, and a magistrate.

Eva Hart was one of the Titanic’s most outspoken survivors and criticised the vessel’s lack of sufficient lifeboats.

She was also vocal against any salvage attempts on the Titanic, noting that it was a gravesite and should be treated as such.

Film Actress, Dorothy Gibson

Dorothy Gibson was an American silent film actress and singer who is now best remembered as a survivor of the Titanic tragedy.

Dorothy was on board the Titanic with her mother, and they both escaped from the ship on the first lifeboat launched.

Dorothy came close to death even in the lifeboat when a hole was found in the bottom of the lifeboat.

However, the rush of icy cold water through the hole was later blocked by the dress of people aboard the boat. After reaching New York, Dorothy starred in the first motion picture about the disaster, ‘Saved from the Titanic. ‘

The 22-year-old had to re-enact the experience a mere five days after the accident by wearing the same clothes she had been wearing when the ship met with the accident.

However, the report says Dorothy gave up acting shortly after the movie’s release. Dorothy died on February 17, 1946, at the age of 56.

Millvina Dean

The Titanic’s last survivor was Eliza Gladys “Millvina” Dean, a British civil servant and cartographer. Millvinia Dean went from being the youngest voyager on board the vessel when the tragedy struck to the oldest survivor of the incident.

Dean was only nine weeks old when she started her journey abroad on the Titanic with her parents and brother. Protectively cloaked in a sack to ward off the frigidity, Millvinia started life afresh in Southampton, Great Britain—where she lived until she died in 2009—with her brother and mother, also survivors.

Dean’s father did not survive the Titanic disaster, and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

Violet Jessop

One of the crew members, Violet Jessop, was on the top deck to help the non-English-speaking passengers. She had survived a similar accident before, as white starline ships were known for their sturdy build.

However, it was different this time. Jessop maintained her calm and helped everyone get on lifeboat 16. One of the officers gave her a baby to look after. After being rescued, the mother found her baby, and Jessop retired in 1950, nicknamed Miss Unsinkable.

The Titanic survivor stories prove that miracles occur even in adversity. It is up to those who have received the miracles to engage their lives purposefully.

Each of the seven hundred Titanic survivors contributed their share of goodwill to the world before they met their end in the timeliest and most appropriate manner.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How many Titanic survivors are still alive?

There are no survivors left. The last survivor was Millvina Dean, who was just eight months old at the time of the tragic accident. She died in 2009 at the age of 97.

2. Are the bodies still in the Titanic?

After the Titanic sank, the search and rescue team recovered around 340 bodies. Thus, about 1500 people were killed in the accident, and about 1165 bodies are still lost.

3. How many children died on the Titanic?

Around 109 children were onboard when the Titanic sank. And about half of the number, around 59 to 60 children, died. Only one child travelling in first class died. The others were children of third-class passengers.

4. How many animals were on the Titanic?

When the Titanic sank, 12 dogs, 4 hens, 4 roosters, 30 cockerels, a yellow canary, and the ship cat Jenny were on board. Only three dogs survived, while all the other animals died.

5. Why did third-class passengers suffer the most?

It was found that third-class passengers were treated harshly, were denied access to lifeboats, and many were left to die. It was a result of the socio-economic biases and prejudices against them.

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About Author

Zahra is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an avid writer, possessing immaculate research and editing skills. Author of several academic papers, she has also worked as a freelance writer, producing many technical, creative and marketing pieces. A true aesthete at heart, she loves books a little more than anything else.

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