Titanic Passengers who died: Survivors on the Titanic

There were 832 passengers of 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd class and 685 crew who died when the Luxury Liner the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. Only 706 passengers and crew survived.

It will be 100 years ago this year that The Titanic sank on her Maiden Voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York.

All over the world today if you mention the Titanic and the passengers and crew that died that night on 15^th April most people know what ship and what tragedy you are talking about.

So why is there so much fascination with the sinking and loss of life on this particular ship?

I believe there are a number of reasons.

Information of passengers on board the Titanic.

Because of the information available in books, news footage and articles about the passengers on board the Titanic it is hard not to feel like we know some of the families who died on that terrible night in April 1912.

We can read about their reasons for boarding the ship. Were they emigrating to America in the hope of a better life? If they were on their own or with friends or like many 3^rd class passengers were there large families with parents and children on board.

Not many of the passengers and crew survived. Only 706 passengers and crew were alive out of 2223 after the Titanic sank. Most of those families who had a large amount of young children and were in third class accommodation died. Their dream of a better future in America wasted at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Some 2^nd class passengers were returning from business trips in Europe and others were using the maiden voyage of the Titanic as the last part of their honeymoon.

These passengers had a better chance of reaching the lifeboats and survival.

But many of those in second class accommodation also died. Most of the deaths here were the men.

As it was women and children first a lot of women had to say goodbye to their husbands on the deck knowing that they would never see them again.

The older female children too knew the probable fate of their fathers. The older male children were lucky if they were allowed on the lifeboats.

This depended entirely on the interpretation of the officers in charge of loading the boats.

Some boys as young as ten and eleven were left on board with their fathers as their mothers and sisters were lowered down away from the sinking Titanic.

They too would have been terrified knowing there was not much hope of survival.

The tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic

Whether they were 1^st class, 2^nd class or 3^rd class passengers there seems to be so many individual stories that can be read on the internet today almost 100 years later. We can read what happened on board the Titanic that night when on 14^th April at 11.40pm the iceberg hit the Titanic.

There are many accounts of those last few hours until 2.20am on 15^th April 1912 when the new White Star Line Luxury Liner the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea bringing with her hundreds of men women and children.

We can also read what happened to those passengers in the freezing water who did manage to get away from the ship either in the lifeboats or by jumping into the water.

There are accounts from these survivors themselves in interviews they gave to newspapers and in later years to television documentaries. Some survivors also gave statements to the two enquiries one in Britain and one in America.

All this information is freely available on the internet. This is why the sinking of the Titanic will never be forgotten. By reading their individual stories the memory of the many passengers who died that terrible day on 15^th April in 1912 will always be alive.

Those who survived the sinking of the Titanic almost 100 years ago are all gone now too but their stories have been written down and recorded.

The Titanic wreck and Google Earth

The wreck of the Titanic lies in the Atlantic Ocean and through Google Earth and its Google Ocean Application it is possible for anyone with access to a laptop and the internet to navigate to the Atlantic Ocean.

Here from the comfort of their own home they can travel under water to where the wreck of the Titanic now lies. They can move around the ship in the water and see and feel the eerie rusted shape of what is left of this magnificent vessel.

For anyone taking this trip through Google Ocean they will also have to be well aware of the loss of life and the ghosts of those who were trapped in her many corridors and cabins. These men, women and children would have been terrified beyond belief.

Those on board the Titanic will never be forgotten.

Here are just a few of the stories of some of the passengers who were on the Titanic on that fateful night when the ship hit an iceberg and sank. These are families who all had their own unique reasons for being on board the ship on their way to New York. Some of them died and some survived. This is their story.

Douglas Spedden was six years old when he was a 1^st class passenger on board the Titanic. He was travelling with his very wealthy parents and their two servants.

In a famous photo we can see both Douglas, his father Frederic Spedden and his Nanny Elisabeth Burns on board the ship.

This is because an Irish priest Father Browne had boarded the ship at Southampton. He was a keen photographer and set about photographing the passengers and crew on his short journey.

He was given the ticket as a present and got off the ship at Queenstown. This is why his famous photos on board the Titanic survive today.

The Spedden family and their servants all survived. They gave interviews about what happened on board that night when the iceberg hit the Titanic and how they got into lifeboat number 3. Douglas’s Nanny tells reporters how he reacted when he was in the life boat and when the ship the Carpathia finally came to rescue the survivors in the lifeboats.

The very sad part of this family story is that Douglas Spedden who was 6 years old when he survived the sinking of the Titanic was to die two years later in a terrible accident. Frederic and Daisy Spedden were devastated and never got over the loss of their only child and much loved son.

To read the full story click this link below

Douglas Spedden 6 years old when he survived the Sinking of the Titanic

When the Titanic Sank in April 1912 Mr and Mrs Goodwin and their six children Lillian 16, Charles 14, William 11, Jessie 10, Harold 9 and Sidney 1 and ½ years old all died.

The Goodwin family on board the Titanic

Frederick and Augusta Goodwin and their six children were from London and left England on the Titanic as immigrants to America to start a new life. They boarded at Southampton as 3^rd class passengers.

Frederick was a qualified Electrical Engineer and had been offered a job in New York. His brother Thomas and sister were already living there. They secured a rented home and took weeks preparing and furnishing the house for the family’s arrival.

Third class accommodation on board the Titanic

As third class passengers on board the Titanic there were designated areas they were excluded from. This was to cause many deaths of 3^rd class passengers including women and children. They were not told of the danger of the ship sinking until it was too late and most of the life boats were gone.

And even when the 3^rd class passengers were aware of the terrible danger they were in, most of the families were trapped in their cabins and third class areas. This is because their accommodation was segregated by doors and barriers.

The barriers leading up to the first and second class areas were either manned by the crew or locked. The only way to get to the lifeboats was through the first class areas.

2^nd class accommodation barriers

As soon as the lifeboats were being prepared the Captain gave the order that the 2^nd class passengers were allowed to enter the first class accommodation in order to reach the decks and lifeboats.

Another reason many children and women died on the Titanic that night was that in 3^rd class accommodation all males and older male children were segregated from their wives, older daughters and very young children.

The Titanic hit the iceberg at 11.40 pm on the night of 14^th April and many of the mothers and young children would have been asleep in their cabins on the stern side. Their husbands and older sons would have been on the opposite part of the ship on the port side.

Any single men would also have been away from the women and children and not available to help any mother with many young children and babies.

This was the case for the Goodwin family on that terrifying night. There is no record of what happened to them in the last hours of their death. We do not know if Frederick Goodwin and his sons managed to get to the rest of their family before they died.

To read their story click on the link below

The Titanic: The death of 3^rd class passengers the Goodwin family

Mrs. Margaret Rice and her five young children boarded the Titanic at Queenstown in CorkIreland. She was a widow and was returning to her home in Washington.

Margaret Rice had her five sons with her. They were Albert 10, George 8, Eric 7, Arthur 4 and Eugene 2 ½ years old.

Margaret was a very young child when she too emigrated to Canada from Athlone with her family.

When she was 19 years old she met and married William Rice. They returned to Athlone for a few years but then went back to Canada.

William and the family then moved to Washington but William died in an accident at work a few years later. Margaret received compensation from the company. With this she bought a house there. She was still grieving so decided to bring her sons to her home town in Ireland.

After over a year in Ireland she felt strong enough to return home to America. That is why the Rice family, Margaret and her five young sons were on the ship as it sank. They all died that night when the Titanic sank and only Margaret’s body was recovered.

To read their story click on the link below

The Titanic: The death of 3^rd class passengers the Rice family

The sinking of the Titanic on 15th April 1912 will never be forgotten.

When the Titanic set sail for New York from Queenstown there were 1,343 passengers of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd class. There were also 885 crew on board the ship. There are detailed accounts of what happened when the iceberg hit the Titanic and the next few hours before it sank.

Those who survived the sinking of the Titanic

There were 706 passengers and crew who survived the Titanic. By reading accounts from survivors and watching documentaries on TV and You Tube we can also feel their pain, terror and utter despair as they escaped from the ship. Through them we also experience some of the events of the tragedy.

Those who died when the Titanic sank

With 1,517 passengers and crew who died that night there are numerous accounts and records we can all access to find out about the men women and children who lost their lives when the Titanic sank. There were whole families who died together some with as many as eight children who drowned.

It will be 100 years ago next year that The Titanic sank on her Maiden Voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York. But I believe even after another 100 years passes the sinking of the Titanic will still be remembered as will its passengers and crew.

© Copyright 2012. L.M.Reid.