As of today, there are no living Titanic survivors left. Though the last living Titanic survivor passed away in 2009, there have been extensive efforts to gather all the details and first-person accounts of the tragedy (and the subsequent rescue) for the past few decades. These accounts, of course, ensure that though it may not have happened in recent memory, the sinking of the Titanic, the lives lost, and those who miraculously survived, won’t soon be forgotten. So, how much do you know about the sinking of the Titanic? Keep reading to find out how many people survived, who the survivors were, and what happened to the survivors after they were rescued.
How many people survived the Titanic sinking?
The Titanic—billed as an unsinkable ship—struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912 and sunk in the morning hours of April 15, 1912. The ship was crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, sailing to New York City from Southampton, England and many of the people who died were Americans. According to History.com, it was previously thought that the RMS Titanic was unsinkable because its hull had 16 water-tight compartments. Four of these compartments could flood and the Titanic could remain afloat. However, more than four of them filled with water after hitting the iceberg and ultimately, the ship sunk, taking more than 1,000 lives with it. In comparison to how many people were on board, not very many were saved. With an estimated 2,224 people total on board—and only 705 people rescued by way of lifeboats—the Titanic’s sinking marked one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. Though it happened decades ago, there is still much speculation about how many lives were actually lost. Historically, the U.S. Senate Committee has claimed that number to be 1,517 while the British Board of Trade says it’s 1,503.
Who are the Titanic survivors?
Most records show that 705 people survived the sinking of the Titanic—most of which were women and children. However, Encylopedia-Britannica.org, found and listed as many as 712 survivors in their own research and the numbers continue to be disputed. Several of the Titanic survivors were famous people. These survivors include Molly Brown—a now-iconic American socialite—J. Bruce Ismay—the highest-ranked official of the White Star Line—Cosmo Duff-Gordon, Lucy Duff-Gordon, the aforementioned Millvina Dean, Elsie Bowerman, Elizabeth Shutes, Laura Mabel Francatelli, CharlotteCollyer, Lawrence Beesley, Madeleine Astor, Michel Navratil, Edmond Navratil, Violet Jessop, Charles Lightoller, Dorothy Gibson, Lucy Noel Leslie, Karl Behr, and Eva Hart.
Millvina Dean
Dean, the last living survivor of the Titanic, passed away in 2009 at the age of 97. At the time of the sinking, Dean was just 2 months old.
Molly Brown
Brown—historically known as The Unsinkable Molly Brown—was also on Lifeboat number 6 and allegedly pleaded (even argued) with the crew to return to the wreckage to help survivors. It’s not clear, however, if she did convince them to return or not.
Elsie Bowerman
Bowerman, a suffrage advocate who was on the same lifeboat as Brown, later wrote her own account: After surviving the sinking of the Titanic, Bowerman worked as a nurse in World War I and eventually went on to study law. She became the first barrister-at-law to practice at London Courthouse the Old Bailey.
Cosmo and Lucy Duff-Gordon
The Duff-Gordons—a married couple—also survived but Cosmo Duff-Gordon was eviscerated by the public for boarding a lifeboat when it was supposed to be women and children only. After all, they both boarded Lifeboat number 1. Lucy Duff-Gordon explained: Strangely, Lucy Duff-Gordon was also set to board the Lusitania—which sunk in 1915 after being torpedoed by a German submarine—but canceled her trip last minute. As for Cosmo Duff-Gordon, he claimed that there were no women and children around when the boat hit the water. Still, there are conflicting reports that allege Mr. Duff-Gordon bribed crew members with money.
Madeleine Astor
Madeleine Astor was pregnant and on her honeymoon—recently married to John Jacob “JJ” Astor—when the Titanic sank. Her husband did not survive and upon getting rescued, she later gave birth to their son. However, the Titanic seemed to haunt Astor, who publicly refused to talk about it and even once cited that she was “inconvenienced by the curious.” She later died in 1940 at the age of 46.
Eva Hart
Hart was seven years old at the time of the tragedy and was later awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). She went on the record many times detailing her recollections of the event, even famously adding that if there had been enough lifeboats, “no one would have died that night at all.” Based on Hart’s rememberings, it is also thought her mother and father may have inspired the “Titanic coat” from the movie in which the character Cal puts a diamond necklace in his coat pocket, then puts the coat on Rose, who is rescued. Hart died in 1996 at the age of 91.
Charlotte Collyer
Collyer was a second-class passenger who survived. She was 31 years old at the time and later recounted the devastating story of becoming separated from her husband:
Michel and Edmond Navratil
Most recognizably known as “the Titanic orphans,” Michel and Edmond Navratil were four and two years old respectively when the Titanic foundered. The French brothers had been voyaging ship alone with their father—their mother still in France—and he placed them both in the last lifeboat and bid them goodbye. Their father, unfortunately, perished with the Titanic. Michel later gave the BBC a harrowing account of what it was like leaving his father behind: Upon arriving in New York as survivors, their story made international news as the only children rescued without a parent or guardian and the boys’ mother eventually got word. She traveled to New York to claim them. Edmond later died in 1953 but the older brother, Michel, died in 2001. He was 92 years old and the last living male survivor of the Titanic. Edmond died in 1953, but Michel was the last male survivor of Titanic, dying in 2001 at age 92. Eventually becoming a philosophy professor in his native France, he spoke philosophically as well about the event that claimed his father’s life. “He dressed me very warmly and took me in his arms. A stranger did the same for my brother. When I think of it now, I am very moved. They knew they were going to die,” he said, according to the BBC. “‘I died at 4. Since then I have been a fare-dodger of life. A gleaner of time.”
Elizabeth Shutes
A New York native, Shutes was acting as governess to Mr. William Thompson Graham’s teenage daughter, Margaret, while aboard the Titanic. The three of them—all first-class passengers—were sailing back to America where Shutes would continue as Margaret’s governess in Connecticut. Shutes gave an account of the collision: Shutes added that Margaret was eating a sandwich at the time of the crash and her hands were trembling so much that the sandwich fell apart.
Violet Jessop
Jessop was a stewardess who was no stranger to maritime distress. In fact, she was on the Olympic when it crashed into another ship in 1911, a few years before the Titanic; then on the Titanic, she made it to Lifeboat number 16; then, in 1916, she was aboard the Britannic—Titanic’s sister ship—when it hit a German mine. In her memoir, she recalled escaping the Titanic: Still, not even three maritime disasters could stop her. Jessop worked on ships until she passed away in 1971 at age 84.
Charles Lightoller
The Titanic’s Second Officer, Lightoller spent the majority of the time while the ship was sinking helping passengers into lifeboats and lowering them down. Lightoller stayed on board until the very moment the Titanic sank, sucking him down with it. According to Lightoller’s account from his book Titanic and Other Ships: From there, Lightoller climbed onto an upturned lifeboat for refuge, where he waited to be rescued. He died in 1952 at age 78.
Dorothy Gibson
Gibson, a silent film actress who boarded the Titanic with her mother, actually later starred in the first-ever movie about the ship’s sinking, Saved From the Titanic. But she soon quit the film industry and returned to Europe. Sadly, during World War II, she experienced even more tragedy as she found herself imprisoned in a concentration camp. Gibson survived life in the concentration camp but died later in 1946 at the age of 56. Of her experience, Gibson said:
Lucy Noel Leslie
Known as the Countess of Rothes, Leslie didn’t just survive; she heroically helped row Lifeboat 8 to safety. Of her role in manning the botat, a crewman named Able Seamen Thomas Jones said, “She had a lot to say, so I put her to steering the boat.” Later, she worked as a nurse in World War I and continued to focus on her philanthropy.
Karl Behr
Behr, a professional tennis player, found love on the Titanic in the shape of Helen Newsom. Newsom was on vacation with her family and during the sail, Behr emphatically pursued her. Once Behr realized the ship hit an iceberg, he woke Newsom and her family and they all made it to Lifeboat number 5. Both survived the sinking, got married, and had four children together! He went on to become a Hall of Famer and in his recounting of the trauma, cited a feeling of survivor’s guilt: “Although the sinking of the Titanic was dreadful… the four days among the sufferers on the Carpathia was much worse and more difficult to forget.”
J. Bruce Ismay
Ismay survived the sinking of the Titanic by hopping into the final lifeboat as it lowered away. For this, the highest-ranked official on the White Star Line was also crucified and became known as “The Coward of the Titanic” since only women and children were meant to board. Upon his return to England, he was ostracized by society and he spent the rest of his life paying out insurance claims to those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.
What happened to the Titanic survivors when they were rescued?
Two and a half hours after hitting an iceberg, the RMS Titanic sunk at 2:20 a.m. But it was another hour and 20 minutes until salvation arrived. The Cunard liner the Carpathia brought survivors from the lifeboats aboard and several other survivors were pulled from the water. There, survivors were medically treated if they needed it. Days later, the Carpathia arrived in New York. But before docking in New York, survivors searched the Carpathia for their loved ones, as it was unclear who made it to safety and who didn’t. Six survivors—Chinese sailors Lee Bing, Fang Lang, Chang Chip, Ah Lam, Chung Foo, and Ling Hee—were denied entry to New York, according to The New York Times. The Chinese Exclusion Act, an anti-immigration law enacted in 1882, prohibited these survivors from entering the U.S. and so, immigration officials extradited them to a cargo ship on its way to Cuba. Any accounts from these survivors after boarding the cargo ship cease to exist. At the time the Titanic became in distress, the Leyland liner the Californian was actually less than 20 miles away. However, the Californian didn’t hear the distress signals coming from the Titanic because the person who manned the radio was off-duty. This revelation came to light later, after Titanic had sunk. As a result of this failure, History.com also maintains that a new rule required ships to keep watch on their radios 24/7.
Why did so many passengers perish in the sinking?
The Titanic had an insufficient amount of lifeboats on board. According to History.com, the Titanic had 16 lifeboats total and four Engelhardt collapsible boats. Altogether, this accommodated 1,178 people total though as many as 2,224 were on board. As a result, the first-ever International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was held in 1913 and it became an official rule that every ship require lifeboat space for each individual on board. The second issue with the lifeboats was that even as the Titanic was actively sinking, lifeboats weren’t being filled to maximum capacity. According to Britannica, crewmen worried that the lifeboats couldn’t sustain the weight of a full boat so, they filled them only halfway. One of the darkest examples of this is Lifeboat number 7. The first lifeboat to leave the site of the sinking, it held only 27 people despite having the capacity to hold up to 65. Next up, the best quotes from the movie Titanic.
