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Updated on: by Avatar image of authorDina Essawy

The ill-fated voyage of the RMS Titanic in 1912 has remained in the forefront of public memory for over a century. On its maiden crossing from Southampton to New York City, the ship struck an iceberg near Newfoundland just before midnight on 14 April 1912. Tragically, more than 1,500 lives were lost, largely due to the shortage of lifeboats.

The Titanic sank approximately 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. It took 73 years to locate the ship’s final resting place, discovered on 1 September 1985. Technical limitations and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean delayed its discovery, but remarkably, much of the ship’s interior was found to be well preserved, despite the wreckage being split in two.

In an extraordinary act of courage, more than 1,300 men gave up their places in the lifeboats to save women and children. These acts of selflessness have ensured that the Titanic’s heroes are remembered today.

On board the Titanic that night were passengers from all walks of life, from the wealthiest families in Europe and America to poor emigrants seeking a new beginning in the New World. Over the past century, new facts and stories about the Titanic’s survivors and those who perished have continued to emerge. Many tales of heroism, sacrifice and bravery still inspire audiences around the world.

This article presents some of the most remarkable stories of Titanic heroes — passengers and crew alike — who faced an unspeakable tragedy with extraordinary bravery.

Crew Courage

Titanic

The bravery shown by the Titanic’s crew remains one of the most enduring aspects of the tragedy. From engineers who stayed at their posts to musicians who played to the end, these individuals demonstrated extraordinary courage and sacrifice in the face of certain disaster.

The RMS Titanic Crew Members

Some of the most heart-warming and heart-wrenching stories about that tragedy were the acts of bravery committed by the members of the ship’s crew.

One of these stories involves the postal service workers aboard the ship. Since the RMS Titanic stands for Royal Mail Steamer Titanic, she had around 200 sacks of registered mail on board. A survivor of the tragedy reported seeing all five postal crew working furiously as the ship went down, trying to save the registered mail and take it to the top deck. Sadly, none of the crew members survived.

One of the crew members, Oscar Scott Woody’s body, was found later on with his pocket watch still intact. Another postal worker, John Starr March, whose watch was also found, proved the story accurate, as his clock seems to have stopped at 1:27, demonstrating that they had spent time trying to save the mail.

Their heroism not only helped save the mail but also reported that the registered mailbags on board the ship were used to help recover the infant survivors of the disaster.

The Drunk Chef

In both James Cameron’s depiction of the Titanic’s sinking and the film A Night to Remember, the character of a drunk chef is included, which many people might have overlooked. The drunk chef was natural, not just a character in the Titanic movie. The drunk was named Chief Baker Charles Joughin, who acted like a true hero throughout the tragedy despite his inebriated state.

Joughin is said to have thrown women into lifeboats, in addition to chucking 50 deckchairs into the Atlantic for people to cling to. Also, when assigned to the number 10 lifeboat as a skipper, he jumped out at the last moment and back on the Titanic because he thought leaving the ship would “set a bad example”.

It also seems that his excessive drinking helped save his own life. Due to the large amounts of whiskey he had taken in, he was able to survive the sub-zero waters for hours. And in the end, he scrambled onto an overturned canvas lifeboat. He returned to Liverpool and lived for another 44 years.

While Titanic the movie took some liberties when making the film, which is entirely understandable as information surrounding the ship sinking is limited, it is nice that Charles Joughin’s legacy has been preserved in the movie.

Wireless Officers Harold Bride and John “Jack” Phillips

One of the Titanic’s wireless officers, Harold Bride, was responsible for sending SOS messages to nearby ships, which allowed the RMS Carpathia to rescue the survivors.

He was pulled underneath an overturned collapsible boat when the ship went under. He could hold on to its underside all night before being rescued by the Carpathia. After such a harrowing night, Bride did not simply relax; he returned to work, aiding the Carpathia’s wireless officer in sending messages from the other Titanic survivors.

While Bride managed to survive, it was his colleague who perished while trying to send as many distress calls as possible. John “Jack” Phillips insisted on operating the wireless equipment in the room even as the water rushed in. When Bride was saved, he recounted his friend’s bravery in terror.

Unlucky Frederick Fleet

Frederick Fleet was one of the ship’s lookouts and, consequently, was one of the first two people to spot the Iceberg and then yell, “Iceberg! Right ahead!”

After the ship hit the Iceberg, the Fleet manned one of the lifeboats and got many people to safety. However, unlike other proclaimed heroes, his welcome home was not very warm.

Frederick was interrogated on more than one occasion to determine whether or not the disaster could have been avoided. He always insisted that he could have prevented it if he’d just had binoculars. He, unfortunately, went on to suffer from depression, which resulted in his suicide in 1965.

The Most Famous Orchestra in History

Mainly due to their portrayal in the 1997 film, the Titanic orchestra gained even more fame and became well–known for their dedication and bravery in the face of absolute mad panic.

Eight band members were part of the orchestra: violinist and bandmaster Wallace Hartley; violinists John Law Hume and Georges Alexandre Krins; pianist Theodore Ronald Brailey; bassist John Frederick Preston Clarke; and cellists Percy Cornelius Taylor, Roger Marie Bricoux and John Wesley Woodward.

The orchestra kept playing as the ship sank into the icy waters, tirelessly trying to spread as much calm as possible amid such a horrific tragedy.

Many survivors reported that the band continued to play until the very end, with one famously saying: “Many brave things were done that night, but none were more daring than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea.

The music they played served alike as their immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.”

Around 40,000 people were estimated to have attended Wallace Hartley’s funeral. On 29 April 1912, the Metropolitan Opera organised a special concert in aid of Titanic’s victims. Fittingly, the concert featured ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ and ‘Autumn’, both believed to have been played by the orchestra as the ship went down.

William Moyles

Engineer William Moyles was another of the unsung heroes on the Titanic as he sacrificed his life by trying to keep the power and lights on for as long as possible.

Joseph Bell and His Team of Engineers

All of the engineers on the Titanic, including Chief Engineer Joseph Bell and his team of engineers and electricians, stayed onboard the ship, working furiously to slow the speed at which the boat sank.

If the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean had come in contact with the boilers, it would have created a massive explosion that would’ve sank the ship much faster. The team sacrificed their own lives to ensure that as many people as possible stood a chance at survival.

Bell and the team members who chose to stay below deck delayed the ship’s sinking by as much as an hour and a half. This allowed more time to save passengers’ lives.

Charles Lightoller – Second Officer

Charles Lightoller was the most senior staff member aboard the Titanic to survive. He was in charge of evacuations and maintained the ‘Birkenhead Drill’ (the principle of women and children being the first to be evacuated). This was not maritime law but a chivalric ideal, and Lightoller only allowed men aboard lifeboats if he felt they were needed to ensure the safety of the lifeboat. Using this principle, there was less delay in deciding who got to be rescued first and many poorer women and children were saved.

Seeing the ship sink into the ocean and realising that there was nothing more he could do, Lightoller jumped into the sea, managing to avoid being sucked down by the ship. Lightoller survived by clinging to an overturned lifeboat and was the last survivor to be pulled from the water when the Carpathia arrived the following day.

Lightoller became a decorated commanding officer for the Royal Navy during WWI. He came out of retirement to assist in the evacuation at Dunkirk by providing his yacht to help soldiers trapped on the beach.

Lightoller, the highest-ranking officer on the Titanic who survived, was praised for his actions, which saved many lives.

Captain Edward Smith

One of the most famous stories to come from the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic is the fate of its Captain, Edward Smith, who chose to remain with the ship until his dying breath. Stories of his bravery later came out, including that of an eyewitness, Fireman Harry Senior, who reportedly saw Smith holding a child up above his head during his final breaths. Other accounts have recalled Smith urging lifeboats on as he froze.

The truth is that there are various wildly contradicting accounts of Smiths’ behaviour during the events of the Titanic sinking, and we don’t know what exactly happened. Some hailed his actions as heroic, staying on the ship, while others claimed he was shocked and that the Second captain did most of the work. Others cite that he was reckless when dealing with the Iceberg, and his actions are directly linked to the ship’s sinking, while one man even claimed that the Captain had survived the tragedy.

There are also varying degrees of Smiths’ activity reported during the tragedy. Some accounts say he was too shocked to lead and entirely indecisive. In contrast, other accounts show him helping many passengers get to safety. Smith had been at sea for 40 years without any significant accidents, so both are probably true. It is hard to believe that anyone wouldn’t be scared on the ship, especially if they were part of the crew and knew precisely what would happen, but that does not mean they could not act courageously despite their fear.

Passenger Sacrifice

Titanic

Amongst the Titanic’s passengers were many who put the lives of others before their own. This section highlights those heroes — wealthy and working-class alike — who refused safety for themselves and whose final acts of kindness and bravery have become part of Titanic’s enduring legacy.

Ben Guggenheim Was Not A Coward

“No woman shall be left aboard because Ben Guggenheim is a coward,” is what millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim said before he changed into formal evening wear and sat in deckchairs, smoking cigars and drinking brandy, awaiting his death.

Although his wealthy status afforded him the right to get on a lifeboat first, and even though he could have bribed the crew members as many of his peers did to escape death, Ben Guggenheim chose to stay behind instead of taking the place of anyone else.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Perhaps one of the most well-known stories to come out of the Titanic was that of Molly Brown, portrayed in the James Cameron film by Kathy Bates.

Famously known as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” Margaret Brown earned that nickname by taking over the lifeboat she was on and threatening to throw the quartermaster overboard if he didn’t turn back to look for more survivors. She successfully got the other women on board to work with her, and they managed to row their way back to the crash site and save several more people.

Molly Brown, a Titanic hero and philanthropist, used her status after the disaster to promote her activism, fighting for women’s rights and children’s education and preserving and commemorating the bravery of the men who sacrificed themselves on the ship.

Molly received the French Légion d’Honneur for her work rebuilding areas behind the front line and helping wounded soldiers with the American Committee for Devastated France during WWI. Kathy Bates portrayed the unsinkable Molly Browne in the Titanic movie and is arguably one of the most famous Titanic survivors.

Heroines Lucile Carter and Noël Leslie

Despite their aristocratic status, Lucile Carter and Countess Noël Leslie helped get their respective lifeboats to safety by managing the oars tirelessly for hours to get to safety.

A noted countess and philanthropist, Noël Leslie made perhaps her most significant mark on history when she took charge of one of the Titanic lifeboats and helped steer it to safety. She also urged them to sing songs to keep their spirits up. Not only that but when they reached the Carpathia, she was also said to have gathered food and medicine and translated it for as many passengers as she could.

Lady Countess Rothes ( Noël Leslie / Lucy Noël Martha nee Dyer-Edwards)

Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes, was a British philanthropist and social leader and is considered a heroine of the Titanic disaster. The Countess was a popular figure in London society known for her beauty, grace, personality, and diligence. She helped organise lavish entertainment patronised by the English royalty and members of the nobility.

The Countess was involved in charity work throughout the UK, assisting the Red Cross with fundraising and as a nurse in London during World War I. She was also a leading benefactor of Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital.

Noël embarked on the Titanic in Southampton with her parents, her husband’s cousin Gladys Cherry and her maid Roberta Maioni. Her parents got off at Cherbourg while the rest of the group embarked for New York. The Countess had planned to move to America to start a new life with her husband.

The three women boarded a lifeboat when the ship sank, and Noël divided her time between steering the lifeboat and consoling the troubled women and children who had left their husbands on the boat. When the Carpathia was sighted, the women sang a hymn called ‘Pull for the Shore’ and afterwards sang ‘Lead, Kindly Light’ upon Noël’s suggestion. She continued to help the women and children on the new ship, making clothes for the babies and caring for the women and children around her.

Lead, Kindly Light Lyrics

Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom

Lead thou me on

The night is dark, and I am far from home

Lead thou me on

Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see

The distant scene, one step enough for me

Aled Jones

However, Noël was not interested in the praise or publicity she got as a heroine, insisting that the seaman Jones, her cousin-in-law Gladys and other occupants deserved the recognition. She gifted Jones with an inscribed silver pocket watch, to which Jones responded by gifting the Countess the brass number plate from their lifeboat. The pair wrote to each other every Christmas and maintained communication until her death.

In 1915, Thomas Dyer-Edwards, the Countess’s father, gifted the Royal National Lifeboat Institution a lifeboat called Lady Rothes in gratitude for his daughter’s rescue from the Titanic.

In 1918, an exhibition at the Grafton Galleries in London included a pair of pearls from a 300-year-old heirloom necklace Noël wore when she escaped the Titanic. The auction was actually for the Red Cross.

Lady Countess Rothes is famous for taking the tiller of her lifeboat and helping row the craft to the safety of the rescue ship Carpathia. Alongside able seaman Tom Jones, Noël handled the boat’s tiller, steering it away from the sinking liner and rowing it to the rescue ship while encouraging other survivors with calm decisiveness.

The Countess was featured in Kate Howard’s 1979 movie SOS Titanic and James Cameron’s 1997 film. Rochelle Rose portrayed the Countess in the movie. The Crawley family alluded to having spent time with her in the first episode of Downtown Abbey.

Archibald Gracie IV

Insisting on following the “women and children first” mandate, Archibald Gracie IV remained aboard the Titanic until every lifeboat was filled up, and then he helped launch the collapsible boats.

When his collapsible overturned, he and several other men had to hold onto its underside for the entire night until he was rescued. However, he sadly succumbed to injuries he had sustained during the wreck and died about a year and a half later due to his poor health.

John Jacob Astor IV

“The ladies have to go first… Get in the lifeboat to please me… Good-bye, dearie. I’ll see you later.” Those were the reported last words of John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest man aboard the Titanic whose body was recovered with $2440 in his pockets, an inordinately large sum of money at the time.

“Colonel John Jacob Astor’s conduct deserved the highest praise,” said Colonel Archibald Gracie, the last rescue man. “The millionaire New Yorker devoted all his energies to saving his young bride, nee Miss Force of New York, who was in delicate health. Colonel Astor helped us in our efforts to get her in the boat. I lifted her into the ship, and as she took her place, Colonel Astor requested permission from the second officer to go with her for her protection.

“‘No, sir,’ replied the officer, ‘Not a man shall go on a boat until the women are all off.’ Colonel Astor then inquired about the number of boats being lowered away and turned to clearing the other ships and reassuring the frightened and nervous women.

Ida and Isidor Straus

Many of the survivors reported with awe how Mrs. Straus steadfastly refused to get on a lifeboat and leave her husband behind. “Mrs. Isidor Straus,” said Colonel Gracie, “went to her death because she would not desert her husband. Although he pleaded with her to take her place in the boat, she steadfastly refused, and when the ship settled at the head, the two were engulfed in the wave that swept her.”

Ida reportedly said, “As we have lived, so we will die together”.

Isidor Straus had been the owner of the American department store Macy’s since the late 1800s

James Cameron featured the couple in his 1997 movie. You may remember the emotional scene where the couple kissed and held each other in bed as water slowly entered the room, and the ship’s quartet played ‘Nearer My God to Thee. ‘A deleted scene shows Isidor trying to persuade Ida to board a lifeboat, which she refuses to do. It’s difficult to believe that one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in the film is based on an actual couple and highlights the emotional turmoil families feel losing their loved ones to such a tragic disaster.

Pictured above is a photograph from 31 May 1911, the day that the Titanic was launched by Harland & Wolff at Belfast.

Jeremiah Burke – A Message in a Bottle

Jeremiah Burke was born in Glanmire, Co. Cork, and he planned to leave his family home and farm in Cork and immigrate to New York. Two of Jeremiah’s oldest sisters had emigrated and settled in the USA, and his older sister Mary had married and started a family in Boston. She had sent over money to her brother Jeremiah to join them.

Burke was a third-class passenger travelling aboard the ship with his cousin Hanora Hegarty. Both Jeremiah and Hanora died in the sinking. Thirteen months later, in the early summer of 1913, a postman found a small bottle on a shingle beach near Cork Harbour while walking his dog. Inside the bottle was a message which read:

13/04/1912

from Titanic,

Good Bye all

Burke of Glanmire

Cork

Letter from Jeremiah Burke

The bottle was brought to the local police station before being passed on to the Burke family. According to Brid O’Flynn, Jeremiah’s grand-niece, Jeremiah had received a small bottle of holy water from his mother for good luck.

The family recognised the bottle and handwriting and explained that their son would’ve revered a bottle of holy water and wouldn’t have been unnecessarily discarded or thrown in the water. They believed the message was written in his last moments as a desperate attempt to send a message to his loved ones. The fact that the bottle reached his hometown parish is miraculous, and the message has since been donated to the Cobh Heritage Centre, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

Millvina Dean – The Youngest Survivor

Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when her family boarded the Titanic. The family decided to immigrate to the United States. Tragically, they were never meant to be on the ship; their original boat was cancelled due to a coal strike, and they were transferred onto the Titanic as third-class passengers.

Millvina, her brother and her mother were placed in Lifeboat 10, but her father unfortunately did not survive. As with the fate of many immigrant widows, New York or life in America, in general, was no longer a feasible option, nor was it something many people wanted to do, as the exciting prospect of starting a new life with their partner was now impossible.

After seeing A Night to Remember in 1958, Millvina refused to watch James Cameron’s Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio or other related TV shows or movies. She understandably found it difficult to watch the sinking of the ship, as the vivid film would give her nightmares of her father’s death. She also criticised the idea of transforming a tragedy into entertainment.

She became involved in various Titanic-related events, even visiting her relatives and the house her parents had planned to live in in Kansas City. It is fascinating to think just how much of her life was influenced by the tragedy.

Millvina will forever be one of the most famous Titanic passengers because of being the youngest survivor on the ship.

Rescuers & Investigators

Titanic

Beyond the sinking itself, the Titanic’s story is shaped by those who documented, investigated, and attempted to save lives. Here, we explore the figures whose actions during and after the disaster helped preserve the truth and honour the memory of the Titanic’s victims and survivors.

Father Frank Browne – Photos preserved in time

Fr Francis Patrick Mary Brown was an Irish Jesuit, a skilled photographer, and a military chaplain during the First World War. He is best known for his photographs of the RMS Titanic, its passengers, and crew taken shortly before its sinking in 1912.

In April 1912, Fr. Browne received a present from his uncle: a ticket for the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic from Southampton to Queensland Cork via Cherbourg, France.

Browne took dozens of photographs of life aboard the Titanic during his trip, including the gymnasium, the Marconi room, the first-class dining saloon and cabin. He also took photos of the passengers enjoying walks on the promenade and the boat decks. His photos of the passengers and crew, including Captain Edward Smith, are the last known images of many people on the Titanic.

But Fr Browne’s story doesn’t end there; he considered staying on the ship to New York. During his time onboard, the priest befriended an American couple who were millionaires. They offered to pay for his ticket to New York and back to Ireland if he agreed to spend the voyage to New York in their company.

Fr Browne went as far as to telegraph his superior, asking permission to extend his trip. Still, his time off request was sharply denied, and the priest left the ship when it docked off in Queensland to continue his theological studies in Dublin. When Fr Browne heard that the boat had sunk, he realised his photos were of great value. He negotiated the sale of the images to various newspapers and received free film for life from the Kodak company. Browne would become a frequent contributor to Kodak magazine.

Post-war, Browne faced ill health. He was sent to Australia for an extended time as the warmer climate would aid his recovery. Browne photographed life aboard ships in Cape Town, South Africa, and Australia. On his return journey, he would photograph many more countries worldwide; it is estimated that Browne took over 42000 photos during his life.

The People of New York City

It should be taken into account that many of the people who survived the wreck were either severely shocked, disoriented or had just lost the men they loved and who were to provide for them as they ventured into the New World. It is then comforting to know that the people of New York were said to have stepped in to help.

They opened their homes and hearts to the survivors and provided whatever aid they could to ease their transition and help them deal with the tragedy.

It is terrifying to imagine yourself in the situation many survivors found themselves in. I was filled with nervous excitement just a few hours ago when I realised that I was in a disaster and that my partner had become stranded on a sinking ship. To become the sole breadwinner and caregiver of your family while arriving in a foreign country and facing the prospect of living there unemployed or sailing back home after such a traumatising event at sea isn’t enjoyable to even think about.

Therefore, any article about the Titanic’s heroes must mention the comfort many New Yorkers provided to women and children in their darkest hours.

Esther Hart, who had been travelling with her husband and daughter to New York, was forced to board the lifeboat with her daughter, leaving her husband behind, never to be seen again. They had plans to immigrate to America but were split up by the tragedy.

Esther noted the displays of humanity and kindness she found after facing such profound loss. “I have never experienced such real kindness. God bless the ladies of the ‘Women’s Relief Committee of New York’, say I heartily and fervently. Why, Mrs Satterlee drove me in her beautiful car to the hotel where I was staying pending my return to England and wanted me to go to lunch with her in her house, but my heart was too full. She knew the reason and appreciated it like the lady she is.”

The Man Who Found the Wreckage

On Sunday, 1 September 1985, Robert Ballard and his oceanographers discovered the wreckage of the Titanic. You can read more about his discovery below.

The Carpathia and the Californian

As we have mentioned throughout this article, the Carpathia or RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Carpathia rescued many of the survivors mentioned in this article. But how did the Carpathia find out the Titanic hit an iceberg? Well, a few days into her trip, the ship received a distress call, and its Captain, Arthur Henry Rostron, rerouted the Carpathia to rescue the survivors.

The Carpathia was 60 miles away from the Titanic. Despite the dangers icebergs posed to the ship, the Carpathia diverted its course at full speed to assist the Titanic ship as quickly as possible. It took the Carpathians just under four hours to reach the Titanic after they received the call.

On the other hand, another ship called the Californian sent an iceberg warning to a nearby ship, the Titanic, which also picked up the Antillian. Despite the warning, both ships continued ahead, but after encountering an ice field, the Californian stopped for the night and sent another warning to the Titanic. This transmission was received, but due to a backlog of passenger telegrams, the person who intercepted the message was frustrated to be interrupted and asked the Californian ship to stop sending any further messages until they had caught up with their backlog.

The message was not marked MSG, which meant ‘Master Service Gram’ and required the Captains to acknowledge that they had received it, so it was reserved for important information. Had this message been delivered to the Captain, the circumstances may have differed.

As a result, the Californian wireless operator turned off the machine for the night and went to sleep. Less than 90 minutes later, SOS alerts from the Titanic were sent out. The ship was criticised heavily for its inaction; it was much closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia. So, had the Californian received this message, many more lives could have been saved before the ship sunk. The substantial loss of life could have been prevented.

Titanic Belfast

Titanic

The RMS Titanic was built in Belfast and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners designed to be the largest and most luxurious ships of their time. The first was RMS Olympic, built in 1911, and the third was HMS Britannic, built in 1915.

Belfast has become one of the best places in the world to visit if you want to learn more about the Titanic. The Belfast Titanic Museum offers a range of tours around the city that follow in the footsteps of those who built the Titanic.

The Titanic Museum Belfast offers plenty to explore and experience, such as nine interactive experiences that will immerse you in the lives of the people who built and boarded the ship and the stories of the people who lived through, or died during, one of history’s most infamous disasters. There is also a discovery tour and a chance to board the SS Nomadic, the Titanic’s sister ship and the world’s last remaining White Star Vessel.

If you plan to visit Belfast, where the Titanic was built, check out our ultimate Belfast travel guide. If you choose to see the city, the Titanic Experience Belfast is a great place to start your trip.

Titanic Cobh

Titanic

A lesser-known Irish location related to the Titanic is Cobh, Co. Cork. Known as Queenstown back in 1912, Cobh was the last place where the Titanic’s passengers departed. The Titanic, in Cobh’s experience, looks at the lives and fate of people who boarded the Titanic from Ireland.

The Titanic left Southampton, England, and called at Cherbourg, France, before stopping in Cobh, Ireland. One hundred twenty-three people boarded from Roches Point in Queenstown; three were in first class, seven were in second, and the rest travelled in third class, known as steerage.

The Cobh Titanic experience is another essential location in the ship’s history. The story of the Titanic, Cobh, and the Irish people who boarded the ship is fascinating. Cobh shares a unique history as the last place the ship stopped before venturing across the Atlantic.

The RMS Titanic will forever be known as the ship that went down and took many lives with it. However, we should all take time to learn of the heroism and absolute kindness that drove the people on board during what they believed to be their last moments on Earth.

We hope you have learned something valuable after reading our Titanic heroes and survivors list. Many of the Titanic’s heroes saved countless lives through their brave actions, so please let us know if we have left anyone out. The story of tragedy also brings hope, and the stories of the Titanic heroes will continue to live on forever.

Worthy reads that might interest you:

Irish Diaspora: Why Ireland’s Citizens Emigrated| The Story Behind the Belfast Peace Walls| Belfast History: The Origins of a City| Famous Landmarks in Ireland| Famous Irish People Who Made History in Their Lifetime|

FAQs

Who was the real hero of the Titanic?

Several individuals have been called heroes, but Chief Engineer Joseph Bell and his team are particularly honoured for staying below deck to keep the ship’s lights and pumps working. Their sacrifice delayed the sinking and saved hundreds of lives.

How many engineers stayed at their posts?

All 35 engineers, along with electricians and boilermen, remained at their posts until the end. None of them survived the sinking.

Why didn’t the Californian help and which ship rescued the survivors??

The SS Californian had turned off its wireless for the night and missed Titanic’s SOS calls. Although it was nearby, the ship’s crew failed to understand Titanic’s distress rockets until it was too late. The RMS Carpathia rescued Titanic’s survivors. It raced through ice fields for four hours after receiving the distress signal.

Did Captain Smith go down with the ship?

Yes, Captain Edward Smith perished with the Titanic. Eyewitness accounts differ on his final actions, but he remained aboard and made no attempt to save himself.

How long did it take Titanic to sink?

The Titanic sank approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes after striking the iceberg at 11:40 pm on 14 April 1912.

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