The Titanic

Notes From Me

Passengers Mentioned In the Book

• Edith Brown and her mother surived. Edith’s father did not.
• Robert Douglas Spedden, both his parents, and his nurse survived.
• Maria Touma, her mother, and younger brother survived.
• Eva Hart and her mother survived. Eva’s father did not.
• John Jacob Astor IV did not survive. John’s wife, Madeleine, did.
• Isidor and Ida Straus perished. Isidor was originally offered a seat in a lifeboat but refused, insisting that women and children should be saved first. Ida also declined to board a lifeboat without her husband, choosing to stay with him. They were last seen on the ship’s deck, arm in arm.
• Michel Jr. and Edmond Navratil survived in a woman’s arms. Their father, Michel Navratil, did not survive.
• Anna Sjöblom survived the diaster, but her friends, Jakob Alfred Johanson, Jakob Alfred, and Karl Johan Wiklund did not.
• Nina Harper and her cousin Jessie both survived, but Nina’s father, John, did not.
• Marjorie Collyer and her mother, Charlotte, survived, but Marjorie’s father, Harvey, did not.
• Dickinson and Helen Bishop both survived the disaster in Lifeboat 7. Unfortunately, their dog, Freu Freu, was left in their stateroom and did not survive.
• Lawrence Beesley survived aboard Lifeboat 13.
• Carl Jonsson survived the disaster by floating on a door that was blown from the ship. He floated for six and a half hours until Madeleine Astor reached out her hand and they pulled him aboard the lifeboat.

Crew Mentioned In the Book

• Thomas McCawley was described as a ruddy-cheeked, spry little man in white flannels who remained in the gymnasium throughout the disaster, never making it off the ship.
• Jack Phillips worked tirelessly to send distress signals and coordinate rescue efforts, despite the wireless room being busy with commercial traffic before the collision with the iceberg. He did not survive the sinking.
• Harold Bride worked with Phillips to try to send distress signals until the end. After the Titanic sank, Bride was rescued by the Carpathia. Despite being seriously injured, he helped the Carpathia’s wireless operator, Harold Cottam, transmit survivor lists and personal messages from the ship.
• Frederick Hopkins did not survive.
• William Watson did not survive.
• Captain Edward J. Smith did not survive. Some say he jumped overboard, picked up a child, and swam over to a lifeboat to save the child. But he refused to get in the lifeboat himself. It’s unknown whether or not this story is true.
• First Officer William Murdoch did not survive.
• Frederick Barrett survived the sinking. He managed to escape into Lifeboat 13, which was already nearly full when he got inside, with more people following him. Right as their lifeboat lowered, Lifeboat 15 began to lower as well. When Lifeboat 13 hit the water, it started to drift directly below Lifeboat 15. Barrett climbed over women to cut the falls and push the boat free, saving the 70 persons in Lifeboat 13.
• Second Officer Lightoller survived the disaster. Lightoller was assisting getting the collapsible lifeboats out when Titanic jolted, and Lightoller was thrust into the ocean. He began swimming, but was sucked against the grating of a ventilator shaft and pulled down with the ship. When the cold water hit the hot boilers, the blast blew him back up to surface, where he found himself beside capsized Collapsible B. Thirty men, including Phillips and Bride climbed into the boat with Lightoller. Phillips later died. When the Carpathia came to rescue the lifeboats, the one with Lightoller was the last one to be picked up, and Lightoller allowed everyone to get on the boat before him, meaning he was the last survivor of Titanic to be picked up.
• Quartermaster Robert Hichens escaped on Lifeboat 6. He was in charge of loading that lifeboat, and it left Titanic with only 28 persons on board.
• Archie Jewell survived. He was one of the first to leave the ship in Lifeboat 7, which had 28 people on board. The capacity was 65.
• George Symons survived. He escaped in Emergency Lifeboat 1, which carried only twelve occupants, and of which he was put in command.
• Frederick Fleet survived on Lifeboat 6, alongside Quartermaster Robert Hichens.
• Reginald Lee escaped the sinking on Lifeboat 13.
• Thomas Andrews did not survive the disaster. During the ship’s final hours, Andrews wandered the decks encouraging passengers to wear their life jackets and to make their way to the boats. He was last seen staring into space by the painting in the first-class smoking room, his own life jacket discarded.
• Fifth Officer Lowe survived on Lifeboat 14, which he filled with 58 people. Once they hit the water, he gathered multiple boats together to redistribute the passengers. After the screams of those in the water subsided, he determined it was safe enough to pick up survivors. He took another man who snuck on the lifeboat as a woman to go with him. They picked up four survivors, but one of them, Hoyt, died later in the boat. Lowe did not see any females’ bodies around the wreckage.

Sources

• https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Table of Contents

• What Was Titanic?
  • Samantha’s Story
• The Grandest Ship
  • Samantha’s Log: Praying for News
• Building a Monstrous Vessel
  • Samantha’s Log: Memories of Setting Sail
• A Pleasant Life on Board
  • Samantha’s Log: Setting Records
• All in the Ship Together
  • Samantha’s Log: Hoping for a Better Life
• Iceberg!
• Horror at Sea
  • Samantha’s Log: Tragedy in the Water
• Desperate to Survive
  • Samantha’s Log: Still Waiting
• After the Disaster
  • Samantha’s Story Continues
• Epilogue

What Was Titanic?

Titanic was a British cruise ship that set sail on April 10, 1912, from Southampton, England to New York City. It was widely believed that Titanic was the largest and safest vessel in the world.

Thousands of passengers boarded this luxury trip to begin a long journey. Some were Americans returning home after travel. Others were Europeans in search of new opportunities in America. Edith Brown, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a South African wealthy family, was one of these passengers.

Each passenger boarded the ship with their own story, but they all knew they were making history by sailing on Titanic’s first voyage. They were all told Titanic was unsinkable, but its owners were eager to prove Titanic was faster and better than every other ship—ambition that would endanger the entire ship and all of its passengers and crew.

Samantha’s Story

When Samantha Parkington comes downstairs to breakfast, she’s horrified by the front page of the New York News. The headline screams “TITANIC SINKS!” Samantha’s heart drops. Her best friend Nellie, Aunt Cornelia, and nephew William are on board that ship! They are sailing home from visiting Ireland.

Bridget and Jenny, Nellie’s biological sisters, knock at the door. They heard the news. Together, the three girls fall into each other’s arms.

The girls all decide to go home from the New York Academy for Young Ladies to be with their Uncle Gard. He needs them, and they need him. While packing their bags, Samantha jumps every time she hears the doorbell ring. She keeps hoping she hears the maid coming upstairs with a telegram from Aunt Cornelia, but it’s never her.

Nellie was very excited about this journey. She hadn’t seen Ireland since leaving there with her parents and sisters. She was thrilled to have the chance to show Cornelia and William where she was born. Their letters were full of descriptions of the green hills and giant cliffs with the ocean crashing below.

Samantha hears Grandmary’s voice echoing in her head. Grandmary hadn’t approved of the fuss over Titanic. She kept telling Cornelia that faster doesn’t always mean better. But nobody listened to Grandmary—they all thought sailing on Titanic would be a great adventure.