‘The men … remained to die’: The sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912

The last message that was relayed from Royal Mail Steamer Titanic was – “Sinking by the head. Have cleared boats and filled them with women and children.”

Indeed, more than half of the passengers on the ill-fated Titanic on her maiden voyage that sank on April 15, 1912, were men, many of whom stayed on board the sinking ship as the women and children were evacuated in lifeboats.

In a newspaper story in the days after the sinking as anxious family and friends awaited the slow-to-come news of survivors, The Patriot printed a story that said:

“The picture that inevitably presents itself, in view of what is known, is of men like John Jacob Astor, master of scores of millions; Benjamin Guggenheim, of the famous family of bankers; Isidor Straus, a merchant prince; William T. Snead, veteran journalist; Major Archibald W. Butt, solder; Washington Roebling, noted engineer – of any or all these men stepping aside and bravely, gallantly, remaining to die that the place he otherwise might have filled could perhaps be taken by some sabet-shod, shawl-enshrouded, illiterate and penniless peasant woman of Europe.

Thus, the stream of women, with toddling infants or babes in arms – perhaps most of them soon to be widowed – filed up from the cabins and over the side and away to life.

Then men – by far the greater part of them – remained to die, millionaire and peasant, and man of middle class, alike, bravely, it must have been, sharing each other’s fate and going down to a common grave.”

The Royal Mail Steamer Titanic was one of three large ships built by the White Star Line during a time of intense competition among shipping lines, according to history.com. Construction of the lavish ship with 10 decks and 840 staterooms took two years from 1909 to 1911. It was constructed at a shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.

At the time, it was the largest passenger steamship ever built. According to history.com, the ship had 29 boilers to power two main steam engines. More than 100,000 people turned out to see it launched.

Titanic had a capacity of 3,300 people.

Titanic’s maiden voyage created a stir. Passengers included celebrities and dignitaries.

First-class passengers included American millionaires Benjamin Guggenheim, John Jacob Astor and Charles M. Hays. Astor and his wife, Madeleine, 18, were returning home to await the birth of their child. He was the wealthiest passenger on board. Also on board were the owner of Macy’s, Isidor Straus and his wife; and heiress Margaret “Molly” Brown. According to history.com, Brown “would earn her ‘unsinkable’ nickname by helping to maintain calm and order while the lifeboats were being loaded and boosting the spirits of her fellow survivors.”

Guggenheim, Astor and Straus and his wife did not survive.

The ship left from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, bound for New York. There were 2,240 people – including passengers and crew – on board. More than half of the passengers, 1,680 were men.

One person who had a ticket but was not onboard was Milton S. Hershey. Hershey bought the ticket for $300 but left England on the German liner Amerika on April 6 and arrived in New York before Titanic set sail.

Passengers did include Pennsylvanians from Philadelphia, Germantown, Bryn Mawr, Pittsburgh, Haverford and Scranton.

Another passenger was Nora Keane of Harrisburg. She was returning from her native Ireland where she had visited her mother. Keane survived the sinking of the Titanic and returned to live in Harrisburg where she and her brothers operated a hotel on Paxton Street. She eventually returned to Ireland before the death of her mother then stayed there.

Around 11:40 p.m. April 14, Titanic hit an iceberg. A lookout had spotted the iceberg and the crew attempted to move the ship quickly. Titanic grazed the iceberg but a jagged, underwater spur that no one had seen ripped a 300-foot hole below the ship’s waterline.

“By the time the captain toured the damaged area …. Five compartments were already filling with seawater, and the bow of the doomed ship was alarmingly pitched downward, allowing seawater to pour from one bulkhead into the neighboring compartment.”

The ship’s builder, Thomas Andrews, was on board and determined that the ship would be able to stay afloat only for another hour and a half.

The crew attempted to evacuate Titanic. The number of lifeboats on board could only accommodate 1,178 people but as they were floated, they were not filled to capacity. Each lifeboat could hold 65 people, but many left with less than half of that.

Titanic snapped in two and sank around 2:20 a.m. on April 15 in the North Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles south of Newfoundland. Passengers were dumped into the frigid water – many dying from cardiac arrest and cold incapacitation.

The Carpathia, which was headed toward Titanic after receiving a distress call, rescued 705 people from the lifeboats.

The estimated number of dead is 1,517.

When news of the sinking began to trickle in, The Patriot reported that thousands of “anxious persons” gathered at the White Star Line offices in New York seeking information about relatives and friends who were sailing on the Titanic.

“From early morning until late tonight pathetic scenes were witnessed in lower Broadway and Bowling Green, opposite the steamship offices. Hundreds of anxious inquiries were received also by long distance telephone.”

White Star Lines had an incomplete list of survivors.

Those seeking information “could not believe that the White Star officials were giving out all the news of the disaster.”

“Mrs. Benjamin Guggenheim, wife of the smelter millionaire, was one of the first visitors in the forenoon. When informed that no word had been received of her husband, she became hysterical.”

The Patriot also printed this “Figures of the Great Catastrophe”:

First cabin passengers, 325

Second cabin passengers, 285

Third cabin passengers, 710

Total number of passengers, 1,320

Members of the crew, 850

Total passengers and crew, 2,180

Number of known survivors, 868

Number who probably perished, 1,312

Total number of named survivors, 328

Approximately 20 lifeboats manned by seven members of the crew each, 140

Estimated saved steerage passengers, 400

Named survivors:

First cabin – women, 141; men, 63; children 6; total 210

Second cabin – women, 92; men, 16; children, 10; total, 118.

The wreckage of Titanic was not discovered until Sept. 1, 1985.