Survivors of the Titanic

The Titanic met her unfortunate fate in April of 1912 and while there were over 1,500 lost to the sea, there were a total of seven hundred and six survivors that survived the sinking of this ship. This was one the saddest tragedies that there ever was and here is a brief account of some of the individuals that survived the sinking of the Titanic.


Millvina Dean


Miss Elizabeth Gladys Dean, also known as Millvina, was only a few months old when she, her parents, and a brother, boarded the Titanic at Southampton. They were immigrating to Kansas where her father had high hopes of opening a tobacconist shop. Her mother, brother, and Millvina were the only ones of her family to survive and be rescued. Millvina was the last remaining survivor of the Titanic, and passed away on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97.

 
Violet Jessop

Violet Jessop, an ocean liner stewardess and a nurse was one of the survivors of the Titanic. She is also well known for surviving the Britannic in 1916, the sister ship to Titanic. Violet also survived an earlier fiasco in 1911, when she was aboard the RMS Olympic, when it collided with another ship, HMS Hawke. She passed away on May 5, 1971 of congestive heart failure. 



Lillian Asplund  

Lillian Asplund was the last Swedish/American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. She was five years old at the time and she had actual memories of the sinking. Her family were third class passengers when they boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912. She remembered that the Titanic was very big and it had been freshly painted. She reportedly said that she did not like the smell of the paint. She passed away on May 6, 2006, at the age of 99.
 

Barbara Joyce West 

Barbara Joyce Dainton West was the second to last remaining living survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. Her parents, Barbara, a sister, and one on the way, were immigrating to the United States to begin a new life when the Titanic hit the iceberg. Barbara was only ten months old when she was on board the ship. Her mother, sister, and Barbara were the only ones to survive in the family. Her father’s body was never identified, if it had been found. Barbara died October 16, 2007 at the age of ninety-six years old.

Titanic Survivor Stories: Charles Joughin

One of the most famous Titanic survivor stories is that of Charles Joughin. The man who somehow drank his way though the Titanic disaster and lived to tell the tale. Here is an account of this Titanic survivor and his bizarre story that some still find hard to swallow.

Like any cruise ship of current times, the Titanic was designed as one big party boat. You can’t go on a cruise ship without entertaining the idea of having a few cocktails to go along with the view, and the Titanic was no different. According to the ship’s manifest, the drink order for the Titanic included 1500 bottles of wine, 15,000 champagne glasses, 20,000 bottles of beer and stout, and at least 850 bottles of spirits. The cargo manifest reveals further reserves of 17 cases of cognac, 70 cases of wine and 191 cases of liquor. This was all in addition to the personal stocks of booze that passengers were sure to have included as well.

In addition to the copious amounts of spirits that were aboard the Titanic, there were also a variety of drinking and smoking rooms. This translated into the Titanic being roughly a paradise of drinking and debauchery. Some sources speak of passengers making quips pertaining to ice after the Titanic struck the iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic, but none of these have actually been recorded or confirmed. The Titanic ultimately did sink, but Titanic survivor Charles Joughin and his friend alcohol lived to tell the tale.

Depicted in both A night to Remember and the 1997 blockbuster Titanic movie, Charles Joughin is shown as the drunk guy hanging onto the side of the rail. Many individuals may only see the character as a commentary on a certain outlook on the sinking Titanic, but this character actually survived the disaster by warming his insides with whiskey. Those who documented the story of Joughin site alcohol as one of the contributors to his survival. Along with this cool headed approach to the situation, documents illustrate that the chef survived longer in the icy Atlantic as a direct result of his blood alcohol level.

During the sinking of the Titanic, Joughin and the other chefs were tasked with bringing food and supplies to put aboard the lifeboats. Many depictions of Joughin fail to submit this fact and focus more on his excessive drinking. After awaiting his fate in his cabin while hitting the bottle, Joughin ventured onto the top deck and began helping people onto lifeboats and declining to board one himself. Returning to his cabin and further fortifying himself for another half hour, Joughin would later emerge to throw chairs and other items overboard in hopes to give those who fell overboard something to hang onto.

After the Titanic had completely been submerged, the story sites that Joughin stepped onto the bow of the ship without as much as getting his hair wet. Accounts say that he survived three hours (although the length of time is debated) in the freezing Atlantic. Some say that this was a result of the amount of alcohol in his blood, and others have different explanations. No matter how the details read, the fact is that Joughin survived the sinking of the Titanic and managed to keep a level head during the entire disaster.

Joughin survived the Titanic and his heroism under the influence has gone all but unnoticed over the years. Joughin died at age 78 in 1956 in Patterson, New Jersey.

In a letter to the author of  “A Night to Remember,” Walter Lord, Joughlin wrote:

Mr Walter Lord

Dear Sir,

Some secretaries brought to my notice your very splendid article “A Night to Remember” in the current issue of “The Ladies Home Journal.”

Most written accounts were hair-raising scenes which did not actually occur, except in the last few moments when those left behind made a mad rush towards what they considered a safer place, the Poop Deck. Fortunately I was all alone, when the big list to port occurred. I was able to straddle the Starboard rail (on A deck) and stepped off as the ship went under. I had expected suction of some kind, but felt none. At no time was my head underwater. just kept moving my arms and legs and kept in an upright position. No trick at all with a left-belt on. Your account of the upturned collapsible with Col.Gracie aboard was very correct. Most of the crew, were familiar with life boat and Fire stations as they had manned the “Olympic” (a sister ship) previously. Some curious things are done at a time like this. Why did I lock the heavy iron door of the Bakery, stuff the heavy keys in my pocket, alongside two cakes of hard tobacco.

My conclusions of cause: Grave error on part of Captain Smith kept course in spite of ice warnings and severe drop in temperature from 5 P.M.

Loss of life: life boat shortage, for the number of passengers and crew, but many more could have been saved, had the women obeyed orders. In those circumstances the crew are helpless.

The remainder of the letter concerned the rest of his ship career, such as the fact that he made first voyage as Cabin Boy SS Melbourne to S.America in 1896.

Joughin’s file also included a letter from Captain J.H.Anderson, who wrote to the the Ladies Home Journal on 8/1/56. He says that Charles Joughin and he were shipmates and the stories recounted in “Journal” were almost verbatim as told by Joughin 30 years ago. One story that was not recounted in the Journal was Joughin’s initial treatment aboard the Carpathia when he was placed in a warm oven to thaw him out, or as he expressed it “they popped me in an oven like one of me own pies!”

Titanic: The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Margaret Brown (right) giving Captain Arthur Henry Rostron an award for his service in the rescue of Titanic's surviving passengers

Margaret "Molly" Brown was an American socialite, philanthropist, and activist who became famous due to her survival of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, after exhorting the crew of Lifeboat No. 6 to return to look for survivors. She became known after her death as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Margaret was conveyed to the passenger liner RMS Titanic as a first class passenger aboard the tender SS Nomadic at Cherbourg, France. The Titanic sank early on April 15, 1912 at around 2:20 am after striking an iceberg at around 11:40. Margaret helped others board the lifeboats, but was finally convinced to leave the ship in Lifeboat No. 6.[1] She would later be regarded as a heroine for her efforts to get Lifeboat 6 to go back to search for survivors.[1] Molly Brown was later called "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" by authors because she helped in the ship's evacuation, taking an oar herself in her lifeboat and protesting for the lifeboat to go back to try to save more people.

Her urgings were met with opposition from Quartermaster Robert Hichens, the crewman in charge of Lifeboat 6, who was fearful that if they did go back, the lifeboat would either be pulled down due to suction, or the people in the water would swamp the boat in an effort to get inside. Sources vary as to whether the boat did go back and if they found anyone alive when they did.

Titanic: Survivors from Wales of 1912 liner tragedy

By Steve Duffy BBC News Wales

One of the Titanic lifeboats, with some of the 700 survivors

... Able seaman Thomas William Jones, 32, son of a fisherman from Llanbadrig on Anglesey, was in charge of boat No 8. It contained two fellow crew and 24 women, all first class passengers, including the redoubtable Countess Rothes, an expert oarswoman.

However, despite Jones' own misgivings, the majority of passengers were against going back for survivors, despite there being room on board for fear of being swamped. A letter of gratitude from the countess's cousin, a fellow survivor, said: "I shall always remember your words, 'ladies if any of us are saved, remember I wanted to go back. I would rather drown with them, than leave them.'"

Another crew member from Anglesey was Holyhead-born Edward Brown, 34, a steward in first class, who helped load lifeboats but was washed overboard by a wave as he tried to leave in a boat as the ship sank.

The non-swimmer said it felt "like a lifetime" in the water, clinging onto a lifebelt until he was rescued by a collapsible lifeboat, one of the last to leave Titanic.

His great-great niece Olivia Goulding said: "He was in the water so long his hands and feet swelled up - he said that his feet were bursting through his boots, but he took an oar of the lifeboat".

Edward later married but the physical toll from that night may have contributed to his death at the age of 48 in a Liverpool sanatorium. He left a widow and six-year-old daughter.

Olivia and her cousin Valerie Lewis, who have researched his story, presented Holyhead Maritime Museum with their findings in his memory to coincide with the centenary.

Historian Richard Davenport-Hines, who has written Titanic Lives: Migrants and Millionaires, Conmen and Crew said: "The crew and passengers in the lifeboats would have realised, with 1,000 people bobbing in lifejackets in the water, people might get to the sides and overwhelm them.  

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