The 10 children survivors of the Titanic experienced a nightmare that few can imagine. The sinking of the Titanic was one of the most traumatic and horrifying events in history, claiming thousands of lives in the icy Atlantic on the early morning of April 15, 1912.

While the tragedy is filled with sorrowful accounts, it also holds remarkable stories of youthful resilience. It is astonishing that children—not just adults—lived through the disaster, and their tales reveal courage, quick thinking, and sheer luck. Below we dive into the chilling narratives of ten youngsters who escaped the icy grip of the Atlantic.

10 Children Survivors: A Glimpse Into Their Stories

10. William Carter II

William Carter, known as Billy, stepped aboard the Titanic at age 11. Hailing from a first‑class family, the Carters were among the ship’s wealthiest passengers. Their children attended boarding schools and even traveled with a personal servant, yet the catastrophe spared no one based on status.

When the iceberg struck, the Carter family queued for a lifeboat. Billy’s mother and sisters boarded without trouble, but Billy was deemed too old for a child’s space. In a daring move, Mrs. Carter disguised her son as a girl, allowing him to slip onto the lifeboat. Thanks to that swift ruse, the 11‑year‑old survived one of history’s greatest maritime disasters.

9. Robert Douglas Spedden

Six‑year‑old Robert Spedden was aboard the Titanic with his parents. He became famous after his mother authored *Polar the Titanic Bear*, a book dedicated to his cherished teddy bear and their ill‑fated voyage. To keep him calm, his mother and nanny told him they were merely embarking on a “trip to see the stars” before boarding a lifeboat.

The family’s calm demeanor proved effective; they found a spot on one of the last lifeboats, becoming the final woman and child visible as the boat filled with men. Robert even fell asleep during the ride away from the sinking ship, illustrating how some passengers managed a serene departure amidst chaos.

8. Jean Hippach

Sixteen‑year‑old Jean Hippach traveled with her mother. The night of the collision, she slept through the initial impact, only waking to the roar of steam. A crew member initially told her not to worry and to return to her cabin.

Eventually, Jean and her mother made it to the top deck and were ushered into a lifeboat after some hesitation— they had believed staying aboard would be safer. Once afloat, Jean watched the horror unfold: a fearful explosion, the ship’s hull cracking, and the lights extinguishing as the lifeboat crew frantically rowed away from the suction of the sinking liner.

7. Madeleine Violet Mellinger

Thirteen‑year‑old Madeleine Violet Mellinger was a second‑class passenger traveling with her mother. The iceberg impact jolted her awake, but she briefly returned to bed until a knock at the door urged them topside.

Upon reaching a lifeboat, Madeleine felt deep sympathy for those still waiting, wishing everyone could crowd onto her boat. She recalled rockets firing from the ship, desperate cries for help, and the anguished screams of people plunged into the frigid water.

6. The Navratil Children

The Navratil story showcases how kindness and luck can reshape a child’s fate. Father Mr. Navratil fled with his two young sons to the United States, having lost custody to his estranged wife. Before placing them in a lifeboat, he wrapped them in a blanket and said his farewells; he perished, but the boys survived.

Rescued passengers discovered the boys spoke only French, creating a communication barrier. A compassionate female passenger volunteered to escort them back to New York until their mother, who saw a newspaper photo of them in France, could travel to retrieve them. The family reunited and returned to France, illustrating the power of strangers’ generosity.

5. Millvina Dean

Millvina Dean entered the world just two months before the fateful voyage, making her the youngest passenger aboard the Titanic. Her family traveled third‑class, heading to the United States. When the ship struck, Millvina, her mother, and her brother secured a spot on a lifeboat and reached New York safely.

Although she never recalled the disaster herself, Millvina’s legacy endures because she became the last surviving Titanic passenger, passing away at 97 in 2009. Her long life allowed her to share memories that keep the tragedy alive for future generations.

4. Mary Conover Lines

Sixteen‑year‑old Mary Conover Lines journeyed with her mother, heading to the United States for her brother’s college graduation. While in the ship’s reception room, the iceberg collision occurred. Mary and her mother promptly made their way to a lifeboat, observing ice covering the deck before boarding.

Mary’s recollection is chilling: she noted the crew’s composed demeanor as they shepherded passengers into lifeboats, fully aware of their own impending doom. She also remembered the terrifying sight of the ship sinking, grateful she was far enough away to avoid hearing the screams.

3. Jack Thayer

John “Jack” Thayer, seventeen at the time, traveled with his parents and made several friends aboard. When the iceberg struck, Jack and a friend became separated from his family and attempted to board a lifeboat, only to be turned away as the final boat left.

Determined to survive, they leapt into the icy water. Jack resurfaced after being nearly pulled down by the ship’s suction, clutching a life preserver. By sheer fortune, he surfaced beside an overturned collapsible lifeboat, where he and twenty‑eight others clung until rescue. His story underscores the role of luck in survival.

2. Eva Hart

Seven‑year‑old Eva Hart was aboard the Titanic with both parents, sailing in second class. Eva and her mother secured a spot on a lifeboat, while her father perished in the frigid sea. Her survival sparked a lifelong commitment to sharing the Titanic’s story.

Eva devoted herself to living fully, traveling widely and speaking publicly about the tragedy to keep its memory alive. Her message emphasized resilience: even after profound loss, one should embrace life’s journeys, a philosophy she embodied until her passing.

1. August Abraham Johannes Abrahamsson

Nineteen‑year‑old August Abrahamsson traveled third class with his parents and two siblings. He delayed leaving his cabin, doubting the seriousness of the situation, which caused him to miss a life belt.

He eventually scrambled to the deck, seeking any remaining lifeboats. Despite his age making entry difficult, he managed to board the final lifeboat. As they pulled away, he heard muffled explosions and witnessed the ship’s final plunge, grateful to have escaped a likely fatal plunge into the icy water.

There’s something irresistibly eerie about a puzzle that refuses to be solved, isn’t there? While the resolution of a baffling event can be satisfying, the very existence of an unanswered question fires up our curiosity, fuels debate, and spawns countless conspiracy theories. Below you’ll find ten chilling enigmas that continue to baffle investigators and keep us guessing.

10 Creepy Mysteries That Defy Explanation

Back in the year 2000, a fierce dispute erupted among Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan over what they believed to be the mummified remains of a 2,600‑year‑old Persian princess. Authorities uncovered the mummy during a raid on a Baluchistan chieftain’s residence in Kharan, Pakistan, and it was slated for a multimillion‑dollar black‑market sale. The corpse’s head was crowned with gold, and the coffin was laden with golden ornaments, lending an air of genuine archaeological treasure.

Yet skepticism lingered. Professor Ahmad Dani, head of the Institute of Asian Civilizations in Islamabad, asserted from the outset that the mummy was a fraud. Subsequent forensic analysis confirmed his doubts: radiocarbon dating revealed the body was not ancient, nor a royal. The coffin and surrounding artifacts were far younger, and the mat on which the corpse lay appeared to be only about five years old. In reality, the remains belonged to a 21‑year‑old woman who had suffered fatal injuries to her neck, jaw, and back. Radiocarbon tests placed her death in 1996, and the “princess” was interred in 2005 without ever being identified.

9 Dutch Students’ Deaths

On April 1, 2014, two Dutch travelers, Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers, bid farewell to their host family in Panama and set off with the family dog for a trek near the Baru volcano. They announced on Facebook that they intended to explore Boquete before tackling the more demanding trail.

When night fell, the host family noticed the dog returning alone, but the pair were nowhere to be seen. Assuming they had camped overnight, the family waited until morning, only to discover that neither woman had turned up for the scheduled private walk. Panic set in, and the police were alerted. Their parents arrived five days later, and investigators combed the forest for ten days without success.

A breakthrough arrived ten weeks later when a local woman turned in a blue backpack she had found on a riverbank in the Boco del Toros region. Inside lay Lisanne’s passport, sunglasses, two bras, a water bottle, some cash, a camera, and both girls’ phones. The phones revealed 77 failed attempts to contact emergency services in Panama and the Netherlands due to poor signal. Photographs on the devices showed the forest trail, scattered belongings on rocks, and a chilling image of blood streaming from Kris’s temple. Two months after that, skeletal remains were recovered; DNA confirmed they belonged to the missing hikers. The girls were officially declared dead from a hiking accident, yet the exact cause of their demise remains a mystery.

8 Leatherman

Historian Dan DeLuca devoted much of his career to piecing together the life of a nameless itinerant who became known simply as Leatherman. The mystery began when DeLuca discovered a weather‑worn gravestone in the Sparta Cemetery of Ossining, New York, bearing the name Jules Bourglay of Lyons, France—an obvious misidentification. Yet local folklore had spoken of a cloaked wanderer haunting Westchester County and western Connecticut since the 1850s.

Leatherman was reputed to follow a strict monthly ritual, trekking roughly 360 miles between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. Dressed in patchwork clothes and wooden clogs, he scarcely spoke, sleeping in forests, caves, and occasionally on a farm doorstep where he would request food. Witnesses marveled at his prodigious appetite, noting he could devour an impressive amount of provisions while standing at the threshold.

The press chronicled his wanderings for over three decades, and modern researchers continue to investigate his enigma. Even Pearl Jam penned a song inspired by him. To this day, his true name, birthdate, place of origin, and early life remain shrouded in mystery.

7 Stained Crypt

Nina Craigmiles, born August 5, 1864 to Myra Adelia Thompson Craigmiles and John Henderson Craigmiles, adored riding in a horse‑drawn buggy. On St. Luke’s Day in 1871, while traveling with her grandfather, their buggy collided head‑on with an oncoming train at a crossing, killing the seven‑year‑old instantly.

Overwhelmed with grief, Nina’s father altered his will, stipulating that he wished to be laid to rest beside his daughter’s ashes within a newly constructed Episcopal church. The resulting St. Luke’s Memorial Episcopal Church, consecrated in 1872, featured a marble mausoleum housing Nina’s remains. When John Craigmiles passed away in 1899, he was interred inside his daughter’s crypt as requested.

Subsequent years saw mysterious red stains appearing on the exterior of the mausoleum. Attempts to clean the discoloration proved futile, and even after replacing the marble blocks, the stains resurfaced. Visitors have reported sightings of a young girl in 19th‑century attire playing near the tomb, and the crimson markings—believed by many to be blood—remain a perplexing feature of the Craigmiles Mausoleum in Cleveland.

6 The Circleville Letters

In 1976, residents of Circleville, Ohio, began receiving anonymous letters containing intimate details about their personal lives. The missives threatened violence and featured vulgar language and explicit drawings. All letters bore the same block‑letter style and bore no return address, though they appeared to originate somewhere in Columbus.

One of the earliest recipients, bus driver Mary Gillispie, was accused of a non‑existent affair with the school superintendent. The writer claimed to have observed her home and knew she had children. Within eight days, Mary received a second letter. Her husband, Ron, later got a similar warning demanding he end his wife’s alleged affair or face danger. The couple suspected Ron’s brother‑in‑law, Paul Freshour, as the author, and after they sent accusatory letters, the correspondence temporarily ceased.

Tragically, Ron Gillispie died weeks later in a suspicious car crash, while the letters persisted, now targeting more locals. Six years later, an attempted murder on Mary led to Freshour’s arrest; he was sentenced to 25 years after a homemade “boob‑trap” device was used against her. While incarcerated, the letters continued to be postmarked from Columbus, even though Freshour was nowhere near the city. The writer’s identity remains unknown, though no letters have been reported since 1994. During filming of *Unsolved Mysteries*, a postcard allegedly from the sender surfaced, reading: “Forget Circleville Ohio: Do Nothing to Hurt Sheriff Radcliff: If You Come to Ohio You El Sickos Will Pay: The Circleville Writer.”

5 Mysterious Vatican Disappearance

In June 1983, 15‑year‑old Emanuela Orlandi completed her second year of high school in Rome and continued flute lessons at the Tommaso Ludovico da Victoria School. On June 22, she asked her brother Pietro to accompany her on the bus to school, but he was unavailable. Running late, she called her sister to share that she had secured a job as an Avon Cosmetics representative. After speaking with the recruiter, she hurried to a BMW and set off, never to be seen again.

Over the ensuing decades, a flood of theories emerged: some suggested a Bulgarian neo‑fascist youth group abducted her; others claimed she lived covertly in a Muslim community in Paris. More outlandish speculation linked her disappearance to a plot against Pope John Paul II or to Rome’s shadowy underworld. In 2017, an Italian journalist alleged he had obtained a Vatican document indicating the Holy See orchestrated her vanishing, a claim the Vatican dismissed as “fake news.”

In July 2019, following an anonymous tip, the Vatican excavated two 19th‑century German princesses’ tombs at the Pontifical Teutonic College cemetery, suspecting Emanuela’s remains might be there. The tombs were empty, and the princesses’ whereabouts became uncertain. Two sets of bones discovered beneath a stone slab were deemed far too old to be Emanuela’s. The Vatican closed its investigation, leaving her fate an enduring enigma.

4 Kathy Hobbs Premonition

When eight‑year‑old Katherine Marie Hobbs’s parents divorced, her world was already shaken. Adding to the turmoil, her best friend died during middle school. Soon after, Kathy began experiencing unsettling premonitions that she would not survive past her sixteenth birthday.

After moving with her mother and sister Theresa to a Las Vegas suburb, Kathy celebrated her sixteenth birthday on April 20, 1987, feeling relieved that nothing terrible had occurred. In the days that followed, she grew confident that the visions were merely imagination. On July 23, 1987, she left home to purchase a novel at a nearby supermarket, receiving a kiss from her mother before departing.

The following morning, her mother knocked on Kathy’s bedroom door to find it empty. A missing‑person report was filed immediately. Nine days later, a hiker discovered Kathy’s body near Lake Mead. Police noted rocks at the scene stained with her blood, indicating she had suffered repeated blows to the head. The tragedy devastated her family. While cleaning her bedroom, they uncovered letters Kathy had penned a month before her birthday, expressing love and urging her relatives not to mourn her death. The case remains unsolved, though serial killer Michael Lee Lockhart, later executed for another murder, was a prime suspect.

3 Titanic Poisoning

On the final day of shooting *Titanic* in Nova Scotia, director James Cameron suddenly felt a wave of nausea and disorientation. As he vomited, he realized something was terribly amiss. Returning to the set, he discovered that many cast and crew members were also experiencing bizarre symptoms—some were vomiting, others were laughing uncontrollably, and a few were crying.

When they were taken to Dartmouth General Hospital, the situation grew stranger: a crew member stabbed Cameron in the face with a pen, while others began stealing empty wheelchairs and racing up and down the corridors. Despite bleeding from the pen wound, Cameron could not stop laughing. Hospital staff ruled out ordinary food poisoning and identified the culprit as a chowder laced with PCP that had been consumed by over sixty people on set.

Speculation abounded, with theories ranging from a disgruntled former crew member seeking revenge to a deliberate sabotage. The case was officially closed in 1999 due to a lack of suspects, leaving the mystery of the poisoned chowder unresolved.

2 Miniature Coffins

In 1836, a group of boys set out to hunt rabbits on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. While exploring a concealed cave, they uncovered seventeen tiny coffins, each housing a wooden doll dressed in cotton clothing with oversized eyes.

The discovery was reported in the *Scotsman* newspaper, which noted that the coffins were adorned with funeral trappings and appeared to have been placed in the cave recently. The eerie find sparked a flurry of theories.

Explanations ranged from a mischievous children’s prank to the work of witches performing rituals. Some suggested the coffins represented an ancient custom of giving Christian burials to sailors lost at sea. A darker hypothesis linked the coffins to the infamous Burke and Hare murders, proposing they were a macabre tribute to the duo’s seventeen victims. To this day, the true purpose and origin of the miniature coffins remain a mystery.

1 The Handless Monk

In 2017, archaeologists uncovered a medieval dolphin skeleton on an islet off Guernsey’s coast. The following year, they made an even more puzzling discovery: a male skeleton lacking hands. Further investigation revealed that the handless skeleton, initially thought to be a monk, was buried much later than the dolphin, indicating the two finds were unrelated.

Initial theories suggested the individual might have suffered from leprosy, leading to the amputation of his hands. However, some experts doubt this, noting that the clothing remnants point to a 17th‑century burial—well after the era when monks inhabited the islet. This casts doubt on the monk hypothesis.

Alternative speculation proposes the remains belong to a sailor who perished at sea and was later thrown overboard, only to wash up on the islet. Researchers continue to study the bones, and the true identity and story of the handless individual remain shrouded in mystery.

When the RMS Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, few could have imagined the tragedy that would soon unfold—yet a handful of eerie premonitions hinted at the impending disaster. These 10 creepy premonitions range from prophetic literature to unsettling instincts, each offering a chilling glimpse into the fate that awaited the supposedly “unsinkable” liner.

10 Creepy Premonitions About the Titanic

10 Morgan Robertson

Fourteen years before the Titanic’s ill‑fated crossing, author Morgan Robertson penned the novel Futility, a work of fiction that mirrors the real‑world catastrophe with uncanny precision. In his story, a massive luxury liner named Titan collides with an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic, echoing the very details of the Titanic’s demise.

Robertson insisted he possessed no psychic powers; instead, he drew on his ship‑building expertise and the prevailing anxieties of the era. Still, the parallels are spine‑tingling: both vessels were billed as practically unsinkable, measured roughly 270 metres in length, could cruise at 20 knots, and carried barely the legal minimum of lifeboats. Both met their end about 400 nautical miles off Newfoundland on an April evening.

9 Edith Corse Evans

First‑class passenger Edith Corse Evans was returning to New York after a European jaunt. Traveling with a trio of sisters—Mrs John Murray Brown, Mrs E.D. Appleton, and Mrs R.C. Cornell—she found herself aboard the Titanic amid a sea of confidence in the ship’s invincibility.

When the iceberg struck, crew members tried to reassure the women that the ship could not sink. Edith, however, recalled a fortune‑teller’s warning to “beware of water” and felt a deep, unsettling certainty. Some accounts claim she relinquished her spot in a lifeboat for a sister, driven by the thought of children waiting at home. Tragically, she became one of only four first‑class women who perished that night.

8 George and Edith Vanderbilt

George Washington Vanderbilt II, a scion of the famed Vanderbilt dynasty, had planned to travel first class on the Titanic with his wife, Edith. The couple were avid collectors, constantly journeying to acquire rare antiques, Oriental carpets, tapestries, and fine art for their estate.

Just two days before departure, their footman, Edwin Charles Wheeler, was loading the couple’s belongings onto the liner. A family member, sensing danger, warned them, noting “so many things can go wrong on a maiden voyage.” Heeding the advice, the Vanderbilts switched tickets to the Olympic, while Edwin stayed behind to oversee the cargo—and he ultimately perished when the Titanic sank.

7 Esther Hart

The Hart family travelled as second‑class passengers, hoping to start anew in Winnipeg, Canada. Young Eva Hart was only seven when the ship left Southampton. Their matriarch, Esther, was convinced that calling a vessel “unsinkable” was a blasphemous affront to God.

Frightened, Esther kept a vigilant watch, even sleeping by day so she could stay alert at night. When the ship jolted, her instincts kicked in, allowing the family a swift escape. Unfortunately, Eva’s father, Benjamin, refused to board a lifeboat, choosing instead to give his coat to his wife to keep the family warm as the water rose.

6 Jonathan Shepherd

Junior second‑assistant engineer Jonathan Shepherd entered the Titanic’s crew with a palpable dread. His anxiety was rooted in a prior mishap: a year earlier, he’d been aboard the Olympic when it collided with HMS Hawke, a British warship.

His father recounted to the Northern Daily Telegraph that Jonathan was “down in the dumps” before sailing. When asked why he was hesitant, Jonathan answered, “I’m not afraid of death, but I don’t want to go.” On the night of the disaster, he was helping engineers rig pumps in boiler room 5 when he slipped on a raised access plate, breaking his leg. Fellow crew members Frederick Barrett and Herbert Harvey hauled him to safety, but the bulkhead burst and Jonathan was ultimately swept away by the flooding.

5 Henry Wilde

Chief Officer Henry Wilde was originally slated for the Olympic but received orders to join the Titanic at Southampton. In a letter home from Queenstown, he confessed, “I still don’t like this ship… I have a queer feeling about it.”

When the liner struck the iceberg, Wilde threw himself into loading lifeboats. He even brandished a gun to stop a group of stokers from commandeering a lifeboat, ensuring women and children could board. His final sighting was him struggling to free collapsible lifeboats A and B from the officers’ quarters roof. Wilde never resurfaced, and his body was never identified.

4 Alex Mackenzie

Alex Mackenzie, a 24‑year‑old Scot, boarded the Titanic at Southampton with a second‑ or third‑class ticket purchased by his grandparents. While strolling the gangway, a disembodied voice whispered that staying aboard would cost him his life.

He heard the warning once, then twice, each time louder. Determined not to ignore it, Alex turned away from the ship and returned to his hometown of Glasgow. Though his family scolded him for wasting the pricey ticket, they breathed a sigh of relief when news of the disaster broke.

3 John Coffey

John Coffey, a 23‑year‑old aspiring stoker or fireman, signed onto the Titanic in Southampton for a modest £5‑a‑month wage. He planned a round‑trip crossing but abandoned the vessel during its stop at Queenstown, his hometown, citing an inexplicable foreboding.

Weeks later, Coffey explained that an unsettling feeling had prompted his departure. Undeterred, he resumed his maritime career and later joined the RMS Mauretania, sailing unscathed after the Titanic’s sinking.

2 Edith Rosenbaum

Fashion reporter Edith Rosenbaum (later Edith Russell) boarded first class after covering the Paris Easter Sunday races. Though she praised the Titanic as “the most wonderful boat you could think of,” a letter to her secretary from Queenstown revealed her own dread: “I’m going to take my very much needed rest on this trip, but I cannot get over my feeling of depression and premonition of trouble. How I wish it were over!”

When the iceberg struck, Edith escaped in Lifeboat 11 clutching a tiny toy pig whose music soothed fellow passengers. She was rescued four hours later and later survived tornadoes, car crashes, and another shipwreck, living a remarkably resilient life.

1 William T. Stead

English newspaper editor William T. Stead was en route to New York for a Carnegie Hall conference, invited by President William Howard Taft. Years before the tragedy, he authored a short story titled “How the Atlantic Mail Steamer Went Down” (1886), depicting a transatlantic liner sinking with 916 passengers aboard and a catastrophic shortage of lifeboats.

Stead’s fictional warning eerily prefigured the Titanic’s fate, and he himself perished on the night of April 15, 1912, becoming one of the many victims of the disaster.

The RMS Titanic was built to accommodate up to 2,435 passengers and 900 crew members, yet its lifeboats could only hold about a third of that number. When the ship struck an iceberg, many seats stayed empty, leading to needless loss of life. Still, a handful of individuals pulled off truly astonishing feats. Below you’ll find the top 10 incredible Titanic survival stories that prove courage, quick thinking, and a dash of luck can turn tragedy into triumph.

Top 10 Incredible Stories of Titanic Survival

10 Charles Joughin

Charles Joughin, a 30‑year‑old chief baker on the Titanic, earned a tidy £12 per month—making him one of the highest‑paid crew members. When the liner slammed into an iceberg at 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, Joughin was in his bunk. He quickly ordered his bakers to dispatch 50 loaves of bread to the lifeboats, then slipped away for a splash of liquor in his quarters.

Afterward, he made his way to the boat deck and was assigned to Lifeboat 10 to shepherd women and children. He declined a seat, preferring another drink. By the time he returned, every lifeboat had already launched, so he began tossing deck chairs overboard to lighten the ship’s load as it began to list.

When the Titanic started to plunge, Joughin claimed he swam away from the sinking hull. Rumor has it the alcohol dulled his senses, letting him stay calm and numb to the icy water. While most people perished within minutes, he floated in the darkness for two hours before clambering onto an overturned lifeboat. Rescued by the Carpathia, he later testified, “I was all right barring my feet, they were swelled.”

9 Charles Herbert Lightoller

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller kept watch from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm on the fateful night. Before being relieved by First Officer Murdoch, he instructed Sixth Officer Moody to alert the crow’s nest for any small ice and to relay that information to the other watches.

Awakening at 11:40 pm to a grinding vibration, Lightoller shuffled to the deck in his pajamas. After a brief chat with Third Officer Herbert Pitman—who also sensed something was wrong—he convinced Captain Edward J. Smith to begin lowering lifeboats. He helped load women and children and even brandished an empty gun to deter a group of men trying to commandeer Lifeboat 2.

Ordered to escape on Lifeboat 2, Lightoller retorted, “Not damn likely,” and instead removed Collapsible B as water rose on deck. When the Titanic surged forward, he plunged into the sea, narrowly avoiding being sucked down the massive ventilator shafts. A burst of hot steam from the boiler propelled him back to the surface, where he clambered onto the very Collapsible B he had saved. After a near‑miss with a broken funnel, he eventually made his way to Lifeboat 12. Lightoller was the last to board the Carpathia, refusing entry until every passenger and crew member was safe.

8 Richard Williams Norris

Swiss‑born Richard Williams Norris, a promising tennis prodigy, was traveling with his father, Charles Duane Williams. He had been slated for a U.S. tennis tournament and planned to study at Harvard. When the Titanic struck the iceberg, the duo lingered in the gymnasium, chatting with instructor McCawley instead of rushing for safety.

As the ship sank, both father and son were forced into the frigid water. Norris watched in horror as his father and several others were crushed by a collapsing forward funnel. The same funnel’s wave, however, thrust him toward Collapsible A, which he clung to until crew helped him aboard Lifeboat 14. Despite leg injuries, Norris went on to win the U.S. singles championship in 1914 and 1916, a 1920 Wimbledon men’s doubles title, and a 1924 Olympic gold medal.

7 Harold Bride

Junior wireless operator Harold Bride assisted chief operator Jack Phillips, handling Morse‑code messages via Marconi’s system. Throughout the day, they relayed iceberg warnings to Captain Smith and transmitted passengers’ personal messages home.

When the Titanic collided, Captain Smith ordered the duo to fire SOS signals. Initially dismissive of the danger, they soon realized the gravity of the situation. Phillips spent the night sending distress calls, while Bride kept the captain updated on any responses from nearby ships.

As water flooded the wireless room, Bride helped launch a collapsible lifeboat. He was swept off the deck but landed beneath an overturned boat, joining fifteen others. After being transferred to other lifeboats, he survived until the Carpathia rescued them. Though injured, Bride continued to operate the Carpathia’s wireless and relayed personal messages for fellow survivors.

6 George Beauchamp

George Beauchamp survived not one but two maritime catastrophes: the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the 1912 disaster of the Titanic. To secure a fireman stoker position on the Titanic, he lied about his age, claiming to be 32 when he was actually ten years older.

After the iceberg impact, Beauchamp was allowed to leave the engine room and helped usher women and children into Lifeboat 13. He then rowed the boat away from the Titanic, struggling at first to keep it clear of the sinking hull and prevent water from seeping in. Meanwhile, his earlier experience on the Lusitania—torpedoed by a German U‑boat—made him wary of larger vessels, prompting a lifelong preference for smaller boats.

5 Ella White

First‑class passenger Ella White boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, traveling with companion Marie Grice Young, maid Amelia Bissette, and manservant Sante Ringhini. Although the liner boasted opulent amenities—like the Olympic dining room and a state‑of‑the‑art gym—Ella remained in the cabin she shared with Marie for the entire voyage.

She only emerged when the ship’s collision jolted her, describing the sensation as if the vessel had rolled over a thousand marbles. Soon after, she entered Lifeboat 8 alongside her maid. Despite clashes with the ship’s seamen, Ella’s battery‑operated cane proved vital: she held it aloft to illuminate the pitch‑black sky, turning the lifeboat into a floating lighthouse that guided them to safety and later back toward the Titanic in search of survivors. The cane, a cutting‑edge gadget in 1912, was essential for navigation in the darkness.

4 Ruth Becker

At just 12 years old, Ruth Becker set sail on the Titanic with her mother Nellie, her ailing brother Richard, and her younger sister. The family hoped to reach Benton Harbor, Michigan, for Richard’s medical treatment, while their father Allen Oliver Becker remained in Guntur, India, planning to join later.

When the iceberg struck, Ruth’s mother and the two youngest children boarded Lifeboat 11. Ruth initially missed a seat, but soon found a place in Lifeboat 13. As that boat was lowered, it was nearly crushed by the faster‑descending Lifeboat 15. A crew member swiftly cut Lifeboat 13’s ropes, allowing it to escape the collision. Ruth was later rescued by the Carpathia and, after anxious hours, reunited with her mother and siblings.

3 Edward and Ethel Beane

When the Titanic struck, women and children were ushered into lifeboats, leaving many husbands behind. Newlyweds Edward and Ethel Beane were among those affected. Ethel was forced to abandon her husband and board a lifeboat, while Edward was left to fend for himself in the icy waters.

Edward swam until a lifeboat rescued him. Despite the odds—many men succumbed to hypothermia—he survived and was later reunited with Ethel aboard the Carpathia. Their story stands as a testament to love and perseverance amid disaster.

2 The Titanic Waifs

When the final lifeboat, Collapsible D, was lowered, a father placed his two young sons inside. The curly‑haired boys were cared for by 22‑year‑old Mary Kelly of Castlepollard, Ireland, who soothed them with song.

After the Carpathia rescued the boys and brought them to New York, their identities were unknown. Newspapers ran heart‑wrenching stories, branding them “The Titanic Waifs.” Eventually, Marcelle Navratil stepped forward as the mother of three‑year‑old Michel and two‑year‑old Edmond Roger. Their father, Michel Navratil, had boarded under the alias Louis Hoffman after kidnapping the children in France. He perished, but the boys were returned to their mother.

1 William Carter II

The Carter family traveled first‑class, heading back to Rhode Island after a European tour, accompanied by their pet dog and servants Alexander Cairns and Augusta Serreplà. When women and children were being loaded into lifeboats, the family awaited their turn for Lifeboat 4. Eleven‑year‑old William Carter II was stopped by Second Officer Charles Lightoller, who deemed him too old for a child’s seat.

Determined not to leave her son behind, William’s mother Lucille removed her hat, placed it atop his head, and disguised him as a girl. Though he mourned leaving his dog, William secured a spot in Lifeboat 4 and survived, living to the age of 84.

Every life lost following the sinking of the RMS Titanic was a tragedy, and these 10 tragic stories illustrate the human heartbreak behind the headlines.

10 Tragic Stories: Unveiling the Human Faces Behind the Disaster

10 The Fortune Family

The Fortune family from Winnipeg, Canada, were first-class passengers on the Titanic. Mark Fortune planned a trip to different corners of the globe as a present for his wife, Mary, and their four children, and they traveled on the luxury liner for their passage home.

Tragically, this was the last trip the family experienced together. When the Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14th, Fortune’s daughters, Alice and Mabel, entered Lifeboat 7 and gave their jewelry to him and their 19-year-old brother, Charlie. Mary and daughter Ethel also entered the lifeboat, the first to be launched from the liner. The two men, stranded on board the sinking vessel, sadly lost their lives in the disaster. The Fortune women reportedly returned to the home Mark had built; however, they struggled to live in the 36-room Tudor-inspired mansion. It was an unwanted reminder of the men they had lost during the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

9 The Allison Family

Hudson and Bess Allison, who taught Sunday school and Bible classes, started Allison Stock Farm and built a family home near Winchester, Ontario, in 1911. As Hudson was on the board of the British Lumber Corporation, the whole family traveled to England for a director’s meeting. During their visit, they enjoyed a trip to the Scottish Highlands, bought furniture for their farm, and recruited new staff members.

As the Allison family wished to return to the U.S. with friends, they altered their travel plans and booked the Titanic as first-class passengers, paying for three Upper Deck cabins while their two new servants traveled second class.

When the Titanic hit an iceberg, Alice Cleaver, a nursemaid for 11-month-old Hudson Trevor Allison, stepped into Lifeboat 11 with the baby. Unaware Alice had rescued her son, Bess Allison reportedly refused to leave the boat without him and stepped off a lifeboat with her two-year-old daughter, Loraine.

Major Arthur Peuchen commented to the Montreal Daily Star that Mrs. Allison left the boat to join her husband, as someone told her he was being lowered from the liner on the opposite side of the deck. However, Mr. Hudson was nowhere to be found. Tragically, Mr. and Mrs. Allison, and their young daughter, Loraine, died in the sinking.

Tragically, Trevor died in 1928, at age 18. In 1940, a woman named Helen Loraine Kramer came forward, claiming to be Loraine Allison, seeking the Allison family fortune. In 2013, DNA testing revealed that the woman was not Loraine.

8 The Rice Family

Margaret Norton was born in Athlone, Ireland, and married William Rice at 19 years old. In 1909, the couple moved to Washington, USA, but her husband sadly passed away in a railway accident. After receiving an insurance settlement, Margaret Rice decided to return to Ireland, where she lived with her five sons until 1911. However, she decided to start over in the United States again with her family and booked third-class passenger tickets on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. They boarded the liner at its final stop of Queenstown, Ireland, on April 10, 1912.

Tragically, Margaret and her children, aged between two and ten, sadly lost their lives in the maritime disaster. A passenger later recalled seeing Margaret in the third-class area of the liner, clutching her youngest child, Eugene, while her four other children held onto her skirt.

7 Ida and Isidor Straus

Those who watched James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) might recall the elderly couple who lay in bed holding each other as the ship sank into the ocean. The couple is loosely based on Ida and Isidor Straus, first-class passengers who chose to die together on the liner rather than separate. Isidor was a co-owner of Macy’s department store and remained aboard the sinking vessel so others could live.

While Ida had an opportunity to save herself by entering a lifeboat with other women and children, she made the brave decision to stay with her husband of 40 years. Isidor was offered a place in a lifeboat, as an officer reportedly said, “Well, Mr. Straus, you’re an elderly man…and we all know who you are… of course you can enter a lifeboat with your wife.” However, he replied, “No. Until I see that every woman and child on board this ship is in a lifeboat, I will not enter into a lifeboat myself.”

Ida then stepped out of the lifeboat and reportedly said, “We have lived our whole life together, and if you are going to remain on the boat and die as the boat sinks, I will remain on the boat with you. We will not leave one another after our long and wonderful marriage together.” Both Ida and Isidor lost their lives in the sinking.

6 The Sage Family

The Sage Family ran a bakery and shop in Hackney, England, before attempting a new life as Pecan farmers in Jacksonville, Florida. The family of 11 initially planned to travel to Philadelphia on a different liner but were forced to change to the Titanic following a coal strike. While the Sage family were reportedly reluctant to move away from England, the children’s father, John, insisted.

The family’s last movements on the Titanic are unknown. Yet, some witnesses reported seeing them on the deck. One of the daughters, either Dorothy or Stella, may have been offered a seat on a lifeboat but refused to leave the liner without her family. Tragically, every family member lost their life in the fateful event. It was the disaster’s biggest single recorded loss of life for one family.

5 Elin Ester Maria Braf

Twenty-year-old Elin Braf traveled with Alice Johnson, Alice’s two children, and another Swedish woman, Helmina Nilsson. She was journeying to America to visit her sister, Annie Hammar, in Chicago. On the night of the Titanic’s sinking, they made their way to the ship’s upper deck to enter either lifeboat 13 or 15.

While Alice, her daughter, and Helmina stepped into the boat, Elin appeared to freeze with fear and refused to enter. As Elin was clutching Alice’s son, Harold, the young mother called out for him, who was soon pulled from Elin’s arms and placed into the lifeboat. However, Elin remained on the sinking vessel and tragically lost her life in the disaster.

4 The Goodwin Family

Five days after the Titanic sank into the North Atlantic Ocean, the crew from Mackay-Bennett, a rescue ship, removed the body of a 19-month-old boy. The newborn was transported to a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a headstone erected over his grave read “unknown child.” The young boy’s identity remained a mystery for many years, as no parents ever came forward for the child.

In 2007, researchers finally discovered his identity, which was Sidney Leslie Goodwin. Born in Edmonton, England, to Fredrick and Augusta Goodwin, Sidney was one of six siblings traveling on the Titanic with his parents. The family were third-class passengers aboard the luxury liner and planned to start a new life in Niagara Falls. Scheduled to travel on another ship, the Goodwins were later transferred to the Titanic (due to a coal strike, just like the Sage family). Tragically, every member of the family perished in the maritime disaster, like many third-class passengers. Only Sidney’s body was recovered from the water.

3 Thomas Millar

Thomas Millar, an assistant deck engineer, endured his fair share of heartache before climbing aboard the Titanic. His wife, Jeannie, had passed away three months earlier, and he decided to join the crew to provide for his sons, 11-year-old Thomas Jr. and 5-year-old William Ruddick. It was his goal to start a new life in America with his children once settled. In the meantime, they remained in their aunt’s care in a village located on the outskirts of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Before setting sail for America, Thomas handed his sons a penny each and instructed them not to spend it until his return.

Unfortunately, Thomas never returned to bring his children to America, as he sadly lost his life aboard the ship. His children remained under the care of their aunt and received an allowance of five shillings per week from the National Disasters Relief fund. The pennies remain in the family’s possession to this day.

2 Ramon Artagaveytia

Ramon Artagaveytia was born into a passionate seafaring family. Days before his grandfather’s death, Ramon’s father received an inscribed oar, which read:

“Knowing how to use it, you will never be hungry. Your ancestors have always survived thanks to the sea. This is your destiny. Follow it.”

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Ramon had experienced tragedy at sea before stepping onto the Titanic. The first-class businessman survived the sinking of the America liner in 1871, one of 65 passengers to survive as he jumped into the sea. While many survivors suffered horrific burns following the ship’s fire, Roman struggled with PTSD.

Before stepping onto the Titanic, Ramon wrote a letter to his cousin, Enrique, stating, “The sinking of the America was terrible! Nightmares keep tormenting me. Even in the most quiet trips, I wake up in the middle of the night with terrible nightmares and always hearing the same fateful word: Fire! Fire! Fire! I have gotten to the point where I find myself standing on the deck with my lifebelt on.”

According to Julian Padro y Manent, a surviving second-class passenger, he and two Urugyuan brothers were amused that Ramon took the Titanic’s collision seriously. One of the men, Mr. Francisco M. Carrau, reportedly advised him against climbing into a lifeboat to avoid catching a cold. Tragically, Roman and the two brothers lost their lives in the disaster.

1 Denis Lennon and Mary Mullin

Denis Lennon and Mary Mullin from Currycreaghan, Ireland, fell head over heels in love in 1911. After living with her family in 1911, they made plans to run away together after Mary dropped out of convent school. The smitten couple originally booked to make the voyage aboard Cymric. However, due to the coal strike (again), they boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as third-class passengers under the names Denis and Mary Mullin.

Mary’s brother, Joe, and possibly her mother, attempted to track the couple down with a loaded firearm, but they arrived at the dock too late. Despite escaping the family’s fury, Denis and Mary never made it to America. The couple lost their lives aboard the sinking ship.

While less well known than the sinking of the Titanic, the ten nautical disasters on this list often eclipse the Titanic story in terms of sheer horror, scandal, and loss of life. With human nature itself proving either the salvation or doom of the castaways, here are tales of heroism, cannibalism, endurance, murder, and disappearance without a trace.

10 SS Arctic, 1854

If you are familiar with the sinking of the Titanic, then you are aware of the principle of “women and children first.” But what if that principle was ignored? On September 27th, 1854, the SS Arctic, a passenger paddle steamship of the Collins Line, entered a dense fog off the Newfoundland coast and collided with the French fishing vessel the Vesta. Attempts to patch the hole in the hull with sailcloth and mattresses failed, and over the course of four agonizing hours, the sea crept in, finally extinguishing the ship’s boilers and, with them, the pumps.

With 250 passengers and 150 crew on board, the Arctic’s six lifeboats were woefully inadequate to carry more than 180. At first, the process of loading the women and children went as planned—until panic began to spread amongst the ship’s crew. As discipline broke down, a wild melee ensued, and one boat after another was swarmed by mobs of men. One tipped over, sending most of its dozen occupants (mostly women) into the sea to drown. Desperate to restore discipline, the captain attempted to launch another boat on the opposite side of the ship, only to see it too filled with male crew rather than women and children.

The two remaining boats (and a makeshift raft built by loyal officers) were likewise taken by the ship’s crew, one boat stolen by the engineering staff who, brandishing firearms, told the crowd that they needed the boat to patch the hole in the ship. No sooner had the boat launched (only half full) when it rowed away, leaving the waiting women and children to their fate. Of the 400 aboard, only 85 survived (61 crew and 24 male passengers). All the women and children drowned.^[1]

9 SS Pacific, 1856

As if things could not get worse for Collins Line founder Edward Collins, who had lost his wife and two children in the sinking of the SS Arctic, her sister ship, the SS Pacific, disappeared into the Atlantic without a trace in January of 1856. Leaving Liverpool for New York City with 45 passengers and 141 crew, no word of the ship’s fate was ever heard again, save for a message in a bottle washed up on the coast of the Hebrides islands in 1861. Whether authentic or a hoax, the message within offers us one possible explanation for the Pacific’s destruction:

“On board the Pacific, from L’pool to N. York. Ship going down. Great confusion on board—icebergs all around us on every side. I know I cannot escape. I write the cause of our loss that friends may not live in suspense. The finder of this will please get it published.”^[2]

8 Empress of Ireland, 1914

Among the beneficiaries of updated lifeboat regulations in the wake of the Titanic disaster was the ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. Equipped with watertight doors and enough lifeboats to accommodate 280 more people than the ship was built to carry, the fact remains that when she collided with the Norwegian ship Storstad in a fog at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River on the night of May 29th, 1914, she sank in scarcely 15 minutes, taking 1012 of the 1477 people aboard to their deaths.

The water poured into her side so quickly that there was no time to shut the watertight doors, and the list to starboard increased so quickly that it nullified the port side lifeboats, which could not be lowered. Many passengers sleeping on the starboard side drowned in their cabins, but some who made it to the boat deck were able to successfully launch five of the lifeboats.

Some five minutes after the collision, the power failed, plunging the ship into total darkness. Five minutes after that, with the useable lifeboats gone, the Empress of Ireland rolled onto her starboard side, allowing hundreds of the doomed to take refuge on the exposed port side hull, where they sat for a few agonizing minutes watching the frigid water slowly creep up the hull to claim them “like sitting on a beach watching the tide come in,” as one survivor put it.^[3]

7 Essex, 1820

While falling far short of the death toll of the Titanicor any other entry in this list, the tale of the whaling ship Essex eclipses all the rest in terms of sheer horror. The real-world inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, the Essex, was twice rammed by a sperm whale in November 1820, some 2,000 miles west of the South American coast. The twenty-man crew was forced to take to three whaleboats with what food and water they could carry and set off to reach South America.

In two weeks, the food was gone, and water so scarce that they were forced to drink their urine. They were temporarily saved by water and food foraged on barren Henderson Island, but after eating the island dry, they set off once more in the boats, less three men who decided to stay. By January, the men in the boats began to die. The first two corpses were consigned to the sea, but when a third died, the men were so hungry they decided to resort to cannibalism. When more men died, they did likewise. Soon, even this dire infusion of food became insufficient, and the surviving men drew lots to see who was to be killed and eaten next.

A young 18-year-old named Owen Coffin drew the black spot and was soon shot and butchered by the others, one of whom died ten days later and was likewise consumed. It would not be until late February 1821 that the five dazed survivors were rescued off the coast of Chile, having eaten no less than seven of their comrades.^[4]

6 Sultana, 1865

Imagine this. You have just spent years in Andersonville, the notorious Confederate prison where starvation, disease, and ill-treatment have killed some 13,000 of your comrades (a staggering death rate of 29%). You have just learned the Civil War is over after four brutal years, and you have just been told that you are finally going home. And so some 1,953 released Union prisoners of war were crowded onto the groaning decks of the Sultana, a northbound Mississippi river steamboat designed to carry only 376 passengers. With some 177 additional passengers and crew aboard as well, the Sultana crept slowly up a Mississippi swollen by one of the worst floods in living memory.

All went well until 2 am on the 27th of April, 1865, when both of its faulty boilers suddenly exploded under the strain. The jet of scalding hot steam blew out the center of the boat, destroying the pilothouse and knocking down the smokestacks, trapping hundreds in the wreckage that soon caught fire. Those trapped under the collapsing decks were scalded or burned to death, while the hundreds of ex-prisoners who jumped overboard quickly drowned, unable to keep afloat in their weakened state. When the hulk of the Sultana finally sank by the Arkansas shore around 7 am, some 1,169 men had died, making this the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history.^[5]

5 SS Central America, 1857

On September 9, 1857, the SS Central America, carrying 477 passengers, 101 crew, and over nine tons of newly mined gold from the California Gold Rush, found itself trapped in a hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. For two days, she rode out the storm, her steam-powered paddle wheels keeping her pointed into the 100 mph (62 km/h) winds. But by September 11, the boilers were failing, the sails were torn to ribbons, and leaks had developed, which threatened to overwhelm the pumps.

When the boilers finally failed, the engines and pumps fell silent, and the ship was adrift at the mercy of the storm. Red-eyed passengers spent the long night passing buckets of water up through the dark ship, but they were fighting a losing battle with the sea. The eye of the hurricane brought momentary calm, allowing the doomed to contemplate their fate, but when the storm returned, the ship continued to sink by the stern.

In the morning light, another ship was sighted, and women and children were loaded into the lifeboats and set off through the perilous sea. In this way, some 153 people were saved, but when the Central America finally sank after its three-day struggle, it took some 425 souls with it.^[6]

4 SS Princess Alice, 1878

There could be nothing more pleasant than taking an evening excursion by paddle steamer up the river Thames, which is what some 700 Londoners were doing on the evening of September 3, 1878. Then the SS Princess Alice was cut in two by the oncoming collier SS Bywell Castle in Galleon’s Reach, just east of London. Those who had been below decks at the time of the collision had no chance of survival, as it took a mere four minutes for the broken ship to slip beneath the river.

Despite launching boats from both the Bywell Castle and riverfront residences and factories, hundreds of people, weighed down by Victorian clothing, were washed under and away by the currents. Terrible as this was, what happened next transformed the scene into an unfathomable horror. The pumping stations for the London sewer system output their raw sewage into the Thames at the very spot where the Princess Alice sank, and a mere hour before the disaster, over 90 million gallons of raw sewage had been dumped into waters already polluted by local gas works and chemical factories.

The Times cited a local chemist who reported the outflow as “two continuous columns of decomposed fermenting sewage, hissing like soda-water with baneful gases, so black that the water is stained for miles and discharging a corrupt charnel-house odour.” The toxic slime proved fatal even to those who did not drown in it. Of the 130 survivors of the disaster, some 16 died later from ingesting the putrid waters.^[7]

3 SS Atlantic, 1873

Prior to the 1912 loss of the Titanic, the White Star Line’s greatest catastrophe was the loss of the SS Atlantic on a different April night some 39 years earlier. En route to New York from Liverpool with 952 passengers and crew, the Atlantic was diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to load more coal. Approaching what they believed to be the harbor entrance in a howling storm, the ship was, in fact, over 12 miles (19 kilometers) off-course, heading straight for underwater rocks.

Failing to spot a familiar lighthouse west of the harbor, the helmsman relayed his concerns to the officer of the bridge, only to be told to stay the course. When the ship struck the rocks and the hull was smashed inward, the passengers clung to the listing vessel and watched as one after another of the 10 lifeboats were launched, only to be crushed against the hull or swept away by the raging sea. With no other way off the swiftly capsizing ship, crewman John Speakman swam to nearby rocks with a line of rope, creating a lifeline by which the strongest were able to pull themselves to shore.

In this way, some 429 passengers and crew survived to watch the remaining 535 people drown, including all 156 women and 188 of the 189 children aboard the ship. Commemorated in artwork by Winslow Homer and Currier & Ives, the loss of the Atlantic was the deadliest civilian maritime disaster of its day, only eclipsed 25 years later by our next entry.^[8]

2 SS La Bourgogne, 1898

Speeding through a fog bank southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 1898, the SS La Bourgogne, a French ocean liner bound from Le Havre to New York, was struck midship by the iron-hulled sailing vessel Cromartyshire. Those passengers sleeping on the starboard side either had no chance of escape from their berths or woke to find their compartments rapidly filling with water.

With the starboard side lifeboats damaged or destroyed by the collision, the crew attempted to launch the port side boats, only to find the task imperiled as the list to starboard increased and the port side rolled up into the air. As discipline collapsed, passengers and crew fought to gain space in the undamaged lifeboats, and within 30 minutes, the ship had settled and slipped stern first under the waves.

It was only when the sun rose, and the fog lifted that the crew of the Cromartyshire (still afloat) realized that the La Bourgogne had been far more damaged than herself and began to render assistance to the survivors. But it was too late. Of the 726 souls aboard, only 173 survived, and of those, all but 70 were male crew members. Of the 300 women aboard, all but one would perish, along with each and every one of the children.^[9]

1 Batavia, 1629

In June 1629, the Dutch East India Company’s ship Batavia struck a reef off Beacon Island, a remote coral island 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) west of Western Australia. While her fate was a common enough occurrence in the age of sail, it is what happened next that earned the Batavia a spot on this list. Though 40 people drowned, the rest of the 322 passengers and crew got ashore on a desert island only to find no fresh water and nothing to eat but birds.

When the captain, senior officers, and some crew embarked in the longboat on a 33-day journey to Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia) to seek help, the hundreds of survivors elected one Jeronimus Cornelisz, a senior company merchant, to leadership. They could not have made a worse choice.

He ordered 20 of the soldiers to explore a nearby island, ostensibly to search for food, but then abandoned them to die. Then, confiscating all weapons and then all the food, he began a two-month reign of terror, marooning more of his rivals on nearby islands and forcing seven of the surviving women into sexual slavery. Then, with food becoming scarce, he began to openly murder the survivors. Around 110 men, women, and children were drowned, hacked, strangled, or beaten to death before the 20 soldiers, having refused to die on their desert island, set up a fort and refuge from the mutineers.

Cornelisz declared war on the soldiers, and a battle ensued. It was in the midst of this inter-island war that the Batavia’s captain returned in the rescue ship, arrested the mutineers, and tortured them into a confession. Cornelisz and his followers were executed, and the nightmare was finally over for the 122 souls that remained.^[10]