RMS Titanic, April 14th, 1912.
Most passengers were fast asleep, blissfully unaware of the nightmare they would soon wake
up to.
This is MajorTop10 and I invite you to join me in honoring the lives of these 10 Real
People Who Died on the Titanic.
Ann Elizabeth Isham, an American first-class passenger, was headed back to the states to
spend the summer with her brother Edward in Manhattan.
Ann mostly kept to herself and her best friend, a Great Dane, who was one of 12 dogs aboard
the Titanic.
Legend has it that Ann gave up her spot on a lifeboat because her dog wasn’t allowed
to come, and she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him behind.
Ann was later found dead with her dog wrapped tightly in her arms.
Benjamin Guggenheim, an American millionaire and first-class passenger, actually slept
through the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg, but was awakened by his mistress
Leontine Aubart, who had felt the collision.
Once Aubart and her maid were safe aboard Lifeboat 9, Guggenheim donned his evening
suit and remarked, “We’ve dressed in our best and are prepared to go down as gentlemen!”
He was last seen with his valet in the Grand Staircase foyer, lounging in a deck chair,
sipping brandy, and smoking his last cigar.
John Jacob Astor IV, an American businessman and the richest man aboard the Titanic, didn’t
believe the Titanic collision was serious.
In fact, he and his family were obliviously riding the mechanical horses in the Titanic
gymnasium as the first lifeboats were being loaded.
As Astor’s wife was being loaded onto Lifeboat 4, Astor asked the officer if he could join
his wife.
The officer replied, “No, sir, no man is allowed on this boat or any of the boats until
the ladies are off.”
Astor was last seen alive smoking a cigarette alongside American journalist and mystery
writer, Jacques Futrelle.
Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy’s, and his wife Ida were returning to the states from
a trip to Europe.
They were both offered spots on a lifeboat, but selflessly refused, preferring the lives
of other Titanic passengers over their own.
They even secured a place on lifeboat 8 for Ida’s maid, Ellen Bird.
Ida, fully devoted to her husband Isidor stated, "I will not be separated from my husband.
As we have lived, so will we die, together."
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the couple standing together on deck arm in arm, ready to face
death together.
Jack Phillips, the British senior wireless operator aboard the Titanic, had just celebrated
his 25th birthday on the second day of the Titanic voyage.
On April 14th at 10:55 pm, only 45 minutes before the Titanic hit the iceberg, Phillips
received a message from the SS Californian, warning the Titanic of ice in the area.
Unfortunately, Phillips, who had already received multiple warnings about ice, responded by
telling the wireless operator of the Californian to shut up.
When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Phillips frantically sent out distress signals until
2:00 am the next morning when Captain Smith came and relieved him of his duties.
At this point, water was flooding into the wireless room.
Phillips was last seen racing towards the aft of the Titanic, and never made it off
the ship.
Thomas Andrews, the British architect in charge of designing the Titanic, was a first-class
passenger on the Titanic and probably knew the ship better than anyone else.
In fact, Andrews had suggested the Titanic have at least 46 lifeboats.
Unfortunately, upper management for the Titanic project overruled his suggestion and equipped
the Titanic with a mere 20 lifeboats.
When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Captain Smith ordered Andrews to inspect the damage.
Andrews, realizing the Titanic was doomed to sink, made haste to put passengers on the
lifeboats.
He was last seen in the smoking room, eyes fixed on the Plymouth Harbour painting over
the fireplace.
The Unknown Child, whose body was recovered and buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia, remained
unidentified until 2008 when a DNA analysis conducted by Canadian researchers at Lakehead
University revealed his identity as Sidney Leslie Goodwin.
Sidney, who was only 19 months old at the time of the Titanic sinking, was the son of
Frederick Joseph Goodwin and Augusta Tyler from England.
Sadly, the entire Goodwin family, which had been traveling third-class, perished in the
sinking.
Bessie Waldo Allison, an American first-class passenger, boarded the Titanic with her husband
Hudson Allison, her young children Loraine and Trevor, as well as four of the family’s
servants.
When the Titanic hit the iceberg, Bessie and her daughter Loraine were placed on a lifeboat
and would have left the Titanic safely, but Bessie ran off the lifeboat in a panic to
look for Trevor, her other child.
Unbeknownst to Bessie, Trevor was safe on another lifeboat with the family nurse.
Bessie refused to leave the ship until she found him.
Regrettably, Bessie never found her son Trevor, and she died in the sinking.
In fact, Trevor, only 11 months at the time, was the only surviving member of the Allison
family.
Elin Gerda Lindell was a Swedish third-class passenger emigrating to the United States
with her husband Edvard, a shoe factory worker.
As the Titanic sank, they both managed to reach the partially submerged collapsible
A, but Elin fell in the water, and Edvard was too weak to pull her out.
As Elin drifted away and drowned, Edvard watched helplessly while tightly clutching Elin’s
wedding ring.
Edvard, stricken with grief, died from the cold with his wife’s wedding ring still
in his hand.
Annie Clemmer Funk, an American missionary who boarded the Titanic as a second-class
passenger, was asleep in her cabin when the Titanic struck the iceberg.
A steward came to her door to wake her, relay the news and tell her to get dressed and go
up on deck.
Annie was about to take the last seat on one of the lifeboats, when a distraught woman
came pushing her aside and yelling, “My children, my children.”
Annie allowed the woman to take the last seat on the lifeboat and took her place alongside
the more than 1,500 people anxiously awaiting that terrible moment when the Titanic would
plunge beneath those murky and frigid waters.
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