Have you ever met a person who hasn’t ever heard the story of Titanic? Unlikely. Even
if you ask a 10-year-old, they’ll tell you exactly what took down the gigantic ship.
However, some survivors of the sinking legend would beg to differ. Here’s one of their
stories, and … surprise… it has nothing to do with an iceberg.
Armenian publicist Vaghinak Byurat was 25 years old in the spring of 1912. He described
what happened on his journey to America on the most famous ship in the world in his memoirs.
Quick history quiz: do you remember when the Titanic left the Southampton dock? Did I hear
April 10, 1912? Yeah, that’s right.
Now back to the story: in 1912, Vaghinak published some books together with his father, a famous
Armenian writer. His task was to take the books to America. He had some health problems,
so he was denied at the consulate at first, but he got the papers he needed to enter the
US after his father pulled some strings for him. Vaghinak caught the legendary Orient
Express from Istanbul to Le Havre, and from there he made it to Southhampton. He learned
that the nearest ship departing for the New World was the Titanic, which everyone was
talking about. He was pretty excited about the journey, and arrived at the port neatly
shaven and smartly dressed, with a trendy cap and massive glasses that were popular
in the US at that time. The writer met three men with whom he shared cabin 804. They were
two Englishmen and a French guy from Alsace named Moren. Because Moren and Vaghinak were
around the same age, and Vaghinak could speak excellent French, they quickly became friends.
They would hang out on the deck, at the onboard saloon, the bar and the library. None of them
could possibly imagine what would become of the “unsinkable” ship just days later.
They went to bed rather late on April 14, just like on the other nights. Shortly after
midnight, something that sounded like a big explosion woke everyone up. “Bam”, the
nightlights went out, and the Englishmen were jolted from their bunks by a strong push.
One of them injured his head, and another one, his arm. The two new friends helped them
up, took a few belongings with them and left the cabin, not knowing they would never step
back in it. Vaghinak only took his passport and all the cash he had – about $54.00.
It was clear that something was wrong, yet it was quiet in the corridor. The young men
tried to find out what was going on. None of the crew members wanted to say anything,
but a few minutes later it was impossible to deny that the Titanic was going underwater.
Vaghinak noticed the sailors were getting the lifeboats out and commanded they were
only for women and kids. Some men tried to sneak in anyway, but gunshots were fired off
to prevent them from doing so. Vaghinak and Moren looked at each other, understanding
they had two choices: stay on the sinking ship and say goodbye to their futures, or
at least try to save themselves by jumping in the water. Both wanted to live and both
knew they could swim well, so the choice was obvious. Moren managed to get them two life
vests. Vaghinak put his passport and money in a little bag and tied it around his neck.
The Titanic’s bow was already underwater by that time. It must have taken them real
courage: imagine you’re in the middle of the high sea on a sinking ship and you know
no one will save you right away. A lot of people in this situation wouldn’t have dared
to take it to the open water.
So, Vaghinak and Moren jumped and got instantly separated by a sudden wave. It only made things
worse, because braving this catastrophe with a friend was one thing, but doing it alone
was way scarier. The water in the North Atlantic that night was just below freezing, at a scary
28 degrees Fahrenheit (-2 C). The young writer felt his arms and legs go numb, and he was
understandably getting weaker and weaker every second. He lost the life-vest and now his
only hope for survival was a lifeboat. He was about to faint and it wasn’t getting
any warmer in the water. Just then, he bumped into something. It was a lifeboat! But if
you’re hoping for a happy end at this point – I’ll have to disappoint you. The boat
was so overcrowded they pushed the young man with a paddle when he tried to stick to the
boat. He begged for help, but they refused to show mercy. Their logic was simple: one
extra man in that boat could have made it sink, and no one in it would have a chance
for survival. He had to let go of the boat, and what happened after is a miracle.
Vaghinak woke up alive on board another ship. That ship was the Carpathia, and it was en
route to New York with lucky survivors on board. The writer had a terrible headache
and he saw double, but what mattered most is that he escaped from the freezing ocean!
How did he do it? He couldn’t remember anything. The next evening, the ship made it to New
York. Without his passport and money, which he must’ve lost at some point during the
rescue, Vaghinak was taken to the hospital. 12 days later, a woman came into the room
and all she could say through tears was “Oh my dear boy!”. She turned out be the person
who saved Vaghinak. Mrs. Astor was in her fifties, and she told the young man the lifeboat
he tried to get into didn’t actually leave without him. Missis Astor told the sailors
that the young man was her son, and she wouldn’t let them go without him since she’d already
lost her husband on the Titanic. It turned out she kept Vaghinak’s passport and money
and invited him to visit her when he felt better. After he recovered, the writer was
reunited with his family in Boston. He even received all the books he planned to sell
in America since they were traveling on a different ship.
Vaghinak lived a long and happy life and, as a great storyteller, he shared what happened
to him many times. Interestingly, he’s never mentioned an iceberg hitting the Titanic,
and always spoke about an explosion. If what he said was true, something must have caused
that huge explosion. It could have been a fire, and quite a lot of people actually believe
that theory, saying that coal was burning in the ship’s hull. That fire would have
started long before the ship’s departure, and there was simply no way to put it out.
Titanic must have left with the fire still ongoing, and the flames weakened the hull
so much it couldn’t survive its meeting with an iceberg. Supporters of this theory
use pictures of the Titanic leaving the docks for evidence, pointing to a huge dark mark
on the hull. Even if that’s true, though, it’s still not obvious whether the fire
lead to an explosion. And, supporters of this theory don’t deny there was an iceberg.
Another theory that explained the explosion claimed that there was a German U-boat involved
in the sinking of Titanic. The Armenian writer was, in fact, not the only survivor who mentioned
they heard explosion sounds coming from somewhere deep in the bowels of the ship. And, they
also claimed they’d seen a searchlight coming from some ship shortly after Titanic had sunk.
It wasn’t a vessel hurrying to the rescue, so it could have actually been a submarine
that surfaced to see what it’d done to the legendary ship. This theory is highly unlikely,
though, for several reasons. First of all, as you know, the Titanic sank in 1912, which
was still a time of peace. No country in the world would dare to kill thousands of people
and provoke other countries for no reason. Secondly, a U-boat from Europe couldn’t
have gone that far in those times; and it couldn’t have been stationed in that region
either. It simply wouldn’t have survived there for a long time. Finally, hitting a
target that’s moving quickly at night time is still a challenge for submariners even
today, and it was basically impossible in 1912.
It’s hard to tell what could have made a man who survived such a tragedy remember things
that did or didn’t happen. Let’s hope that in the future, scientists will be able
to explain all the mysteries surrounding the Titanic.
Do you believe an explosion might have killed Titanic, and there was no iceberg at all?
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