titanic survivors

PowerPoint Show by Andrew

♫ Turn on Speakers

At 11:39 p.m. on April 14, 1912, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg dead ahead of the Titanic, which was steaming at near full speed on her maiden voyage to New York.

Two hours and 40 minutes later, she slipped beneath the waves. Of the 2,224 people on board the supposedly unsinkable ship, only about 700 made it to the lifeboats. The remaining 1,500 were trapped in the belly of the sinking ship or died within minutes of leaping into the frigid North Atlantic water.

Just before dawn on April 15, the flotilla of survivors was spotted by the RMS Carpathia. By 9 a.m. all the survivors were aboard. 

1912 - Frederick Fleet, 24, the lookout who first spotted the iceberg. He went on to serve in both World Wars. In 1965, he experienced depression and later hanged himself.

April 15, 1912 - The iceberg that sank the Titanic.

April 15, 1912 - Titanic survivors approach the Carpathia.

April 15, 1912 - Survivors aboard the Carpathia.

April 15, 1912 - Survivors aboard the Carpathia huddle for warmth.

As the Carpathia steamed toward New York, she dispatched radio messages to spread the news of the tragedy. The public was shocked, and relatives of passengers were thrown into panic as they searched for information on their loved ones. The offices of the White Star Line were swarmed in New York, as well as in Southampton, where most of the crew hailed.

Some of the rich and famous survivors and victims were identified before the Carpathia arrived, but friends and family of lower class passengers and crew had to wait in agonizing suspense.

After a treacherous journey, Carpathia arrived in New York Harbor on the rainy evening of April 18. The ship was surrounded by more than 50 tugboats carrying journalists, who shouted up to the survivors, offering money for firsthand accounts.

April 1912 - People wait for news outside the offices of the White Star Line in New York.

April 18, 1912 - Crowds stand in the rain awaiting the arrival of the Carpathia in New York.

Disembarking survivors were swarmed by the press, the bereaved and autograph-seekers. Some moved on to relatives in New York and other cities, while the less fortunate were sheltered by charities.

The next day, the U.S. Senate convened a special hearing on the disaster at the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

On April 29, the surviving Southampton crew returned to their homes in the south of England. Of the 724 crew who hailed from that one city, at least 549 did not make it back.

A group photo of some of the surviving crew members.

A crowd in Devonport, England gathers to hear a survivor tell his story.

April 1912 - J. Hanson, seated right, district secretary of the National Sailors and Firemen's Union, awards shipwreck pay to survivors.

April 29, 1912 - Relatives wait on a railway platform as survivors of the Titanic arrive at Southampton.

Relatives wait for survivors at Southampton.

Relatives wait for surviving crew to come ashore at Southampton.

Relatives waiting for survivors at Southampton.

Relatives await survivors at Southampton.

Survivors are greeted by relatives at Southampton.

A surviving crew member kisses his wife upon arriving.

April 29, 1912 - Surviving stewards line up outside a first class waiting room before being called in for questioning by a board of enquiry.

A survivor gives a woman his autograph.

The four Pascoe brothers, crew who survived the sinking, return to Southampton.

Unidentified survivors, later identified as Michel, 4 and Edmond Navratil, 2.

Edmond and Michel Navratil are reunited with their mother.

May 29, 1912 - Wireless operator Harold Thomas Coffin is questioned by a Senate committee at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

November 1912 - A nurse holds newborn Lucien P. Smith, Jr. His mother Eloise was pregnant with him while returning from honeymoon aboard the Titanic. Lucien's father died in the disaster. Eloise later married a fellow survivor, Robert P. Daniel.