A Closer Look at the Titanic Tragedy
The ill-fated ship’s sinking created questions and left behind stories of heroism and courage we're still talking about 112 years later
On this 112th anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s sinking, I’m breaking my rule of sending out just one email per week.
I linked to this post in the first installment of my “This Week in History” series, which went out yesterday and focuses on what happened the week of April 14–21, 1912. I decided it might be a good idea to send this post out individually on the anniversary of the ship’s tragic sinking.
What You Probably Already Know
On April 15, 1912—five days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England—RMS Titanic sideswiped an iceberg 250 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. She sank into the Atlantic’s icy waters just two hours and forty minutes later, taking 1,500 of the 2,240 passengers and crew on board down with her.
Titanic’s passenger list included some of the world’s wealthiest people, as well as immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia. You can view the full list of passengers here, and scroll to the end of this post to learn more about some of the southerners who were on board.
What You May Not Know
The Titanic carried sixteen regular lifeboats and four collapsible lifeboats, fulfilling all requirements of the British Board of Trade.
Experts on the History Channel’s 2012 Titanic at 100: Mystery Solved documentary believe the ship was actually quite well-built—better than other ships of its day. They also concluded that the overwhelming force of the ship striking the iceberg caused it to sink—not faults with the ship’s construction or design. Finally, they report that the crew followed standard procedures, and the number of lifeboats on board was actually higher than what most ships of that time period contained.
Still Making Headlines
The ship deemed “unsinkable” still lies 12,500 feet under the sea, guarding secrets and answers to questions scientists and explorers have long been searching for. Here are some projects dedicated to getting those answers.
In May 2023, deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd. of Guernsey partnered with Atlantic Productions of London to create the first-ever full-sized digital scan of Titanic’s wreckage. View the images here.
On February 26, 2024, Georgia-based RMS Titanic, Inc., the salvor in possession of the Titanic, announced a May 2024 expedition that would capture high-resolution images of the ship, its wreck site, and its debris field. The expedition team plans to analyze the wreck site’s current condition and target artifacts that could potentially be recovered.
Prior to announcing the expedition, RMS Titanic scaled back their original plans due to the death of their director of underwater research, French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet—one of five people on OceanGate’s Titan submersible that imploded last June during an expedition to view Titanic’s wreckage.
Soon after RMS Titanic’s February announcement, the U.S. government tried to stop the expedition, citing a federal law and an international agreement that treats the shipwreck as a hallowed gravesite. As of March 2024, the U.S. government had not yet determined whether RMS Titanic Inc.’s scaled back plans would still break the law.
On Sunday, April 28 at 9 p.m., CNN Original Series will debut a new installment of How It Really Happened With Jesse L. Martin that focuses on the Titanic shipwreck investigation, as well as the ill-fated June 2023 Titan voyage.
Notable Southern Passengers
There were quite a few interesting southern passengers on board Titanic.
Major Archibald Butt, a Georgia native and relative of Brigadier General William R. Boggs, served as a military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft (with whom he was particularly close and is shown with in the photo below). Butt is reported to have been playing cards in the first class smoking room at the time Titanic struck the iceberg. He died on board and his body was never recovered. There are too many unconfirmed reports about Butt’s actions as the ship went down to share in this space, but you can read them here (scroll to the “Sinking of the Titanic” section).
Archibald Gracie IV, son of the Confederate brigade commander with the third name, was born in Mobile, Alabama, but raised in the Northeast and attended school in New Hampshire. On the night of the Titanic tragedy, Gracie and friend J. Clinch Smith placed blankets in the lifeboats. Gracie reportedly helped Second Officer Charles Lightoller fill the lifeboats and free the collapsible boats. Gracie went down with the ship, but was able to get onto Collapsible B. The boat ended up capsizing and, sadly, Smith was pulled under. Edith Corse Evans, one of the first class women Gracie chaperoned, also died. But thanks to Gracie’s swimming skills, he was able to get on top of the capsized boat. Although Gracie survived the Titanic tragedy, he died just under eight months later on December 4, 1912. Some reports link his death to an inability to recover from his ordeal in the cold Atlantic waters.
Isidor Straus was one of the three richest men on board Titanic, along with John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim. Straus lived in Georgia at the time of the Civil War but moved to New York City in 1865. By 1893, he co-owned Macy’s department store with his brother, Nathan. Isidor served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and turned down an offer from President Grover Cleveland to be Postmaster General. Straus and his wife, Ida, spent winter 1911–1912 in Europe and planned to return home on the Titanic. A recount of the sinking explains that Gracie asked Isidor and Ida to board a lifeboat, but Isidor refused to go before the other men. Their great-great-granddaughter says Ida also refused, stating, “Isidor, we have been together for all these years. Where you go, I go.” Ida reportedly gave her fur coat and spot on the lifeboat to her maid, Ellen Bird. Soon after, Isidor and Ida went down with the ship, along with Astor and Guggenheim. The couple were last seen sitting together arm in arm on a pair of deck chairs. A memorial plaque hangs on the wall of Macy’s main floor in Manhattan to honor their selflessness, and a park and memorial statue were also dedicated to them 5 miles away.
Robert W. Daniel, a 28-year-old banker born in Richmond, Virginia, was a first-class passenger who later claimed to have survived the sinking thanks to his swimming skills. Daniel says he jumped overboard after the lifeboats had been lowered, then was pulled, unconscious, into a collapsible boat, and picked up later by the RMS Carpathia. Other reports surmise that because Daniel was a first-class passenger, he more likely boarded an early lifeboat before the majority of passengers were aware of how grim the situation was. While on the rescue ship en route to New York, Daniel met Titanic survivor Eloise Hughes Smith, a widowed 18-year-old who was pregnant and had lost her husband, Lucien, to the sinking. Robert and Eloise married within a year, but divorced in 1923. Daniel would remarry and divorce once again, before a final remarriage. He was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1935 but died in 1940 at the age of 56.
Jacques Heath Futrelle was a 37-year-old mystery writer from Pike County, Georgia. At age 18 he began a career at the Atlanta Journal, where he would later establish the journal’s first sports department. He also worked at the Boston Post and New York Herald before he began writing mystery novels. Futrelle and his wife, Lily May Peel, traveled to Europe in 1912 and celebrated Futrelle’s 37th birthday with friends in London the night before boarding the Titanic to return home. The party continued until 3 a.m., so the Futrelles never went to bed. They packed up and headed for Southampton, then boarded the ship as first class passengers. Upon the tragic sinking, Futrelle made sure May boarded a lifeboat and told her he would come later in another lifeboat. Reports say May’s last sight of her husband was of him smoking a cigarette with John J. Astor. Futrelle’s final book, My Lady’s Garter, was published posthumously with an inscription from May that read, “To the heroes of the Titanic, I dedicate this, my husband's book."
Oscar Scott Woody of Roxboro, North Carolina, served as one of five postal clerks on board the Titanic. After receiving news that the ship had struck an iceberg, the clerks opened the registered mail cage below deck and attempted to drag approximately 200 sacks of registered mail upstairs to save it. All five clerks perished in the line of duty. April 15 also happened to be Woody’s 41st birthday. A 1912 Raleigh News and Observer article noted that Woody “died like a North Carolinian.”
Here’s a fascinating description of how the lifeboats were dispatched as recalled by Mrs. Emil Taussig, who survived the ship’s tragic sinking. Definitely worth reading.
A Personal Note
April 15, 1928 was my paternal grandmother’s birthday. I never asked her about it, but I would guess the Titanic tragedy cast a shadow on that day for her forevermore.
April 16 is my husband’s birthday, a day also marked by tragedy. On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech—the school we and two of our three children attended—experienced a mass shooting on campus that left 32 dead. We try to make April 16 a day of celebration for my husband’s sake, while also remembering the Virginia Tech lives that were taken that day.
I can only imagine how the descendants of Titanic passengers feel every April 15. If you’re one of them, please know I’m thinking of your ancestor and what it must have been like for all of the passengers and crew on that tragic day. Their legacy will not be forgotten.
Thank you Betsy. I find this topic so interesting but also so sad. Many lives lost. Thanks for reading!
True words! We really can't take anything for granted and should be grateful for every second we are alive.