Commemorating the Titanic

We all know bits and pieces of the Titanic tragedy.
On this 100th Anniversary,
I'd like to share an interesting true story
of one of the Titanic passengers.

On April 10, 1912

the RMS Titanic left Southampton, England

on her maiden voyage with a

final destination of New York City.

Photo from Wikipedia
RMS Titanic Departing from Southampton on April 10, 1912

Just four days into that Maiden Voyage,

the ship that was promoted as unsinkable

due to state-of-the art safety features,

struck an iceberg at 11:40 pm, Sunday, April 14, 1912.

The Titanic sunk 2 hours and 40 minutes later

the morning of April 15.

The sinking of the Titanic is considered

the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.

Of the 2,224 passengers and crew on board,

1,514 did not survive.

To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of this event,

the Midland County Historical Society

sponsored a presentation by internationally-recognized

Titanic authority and Midland resident Floyd Andrick.

Mr. Andrick has personally interviewed

a number of Titanic survivors and his talk and slides

disclosed details about the building of the ship,

personal survivor stories of life on board the Titanic

and their memories of the tragedy.

Upon entering the lecture hall,

everyone was given a Boarding Pass with the name

of an actual Titanic passenger. 

My Boarding Pass was issued to Ms. Edith Rosenbaum.

Although Edith Rosenbaum's story was not part

of the presentation and we were able to view a roster

at the end that disclosed the fate of individual passengers,

I thought it would be fun to do a bit of internet research

afterwards to learn more about

Ms. Edith Rosenbaum.

Beginning in 1910 Edith Rosenbaum

was a foreign fashion correspondent

for "Women's Wear Daily" and dispatched weekly reports

to New York from the publication's Paris office.

By 1912, Edith was designing her own line of

retail clothing for Lord & Taylor in New York.

Women and children were ordered off the ship first

but many refused.  The evening of April 14

was bitter cold and everyone on board knew that the Titanic

had so many safety features there was no danger

of the ship sinking.  Several of the initial lifeboats

were lowered with few passengers.

Edith was one of the women who initially

elected to remain on board the Titanic. 

However, Edith was a Titanic survivor and she

credited a stuffed musical pig for saving her life.  

Edith survived a severe auto accident in Paris in 1911

that took the life of her fiance.  

Since pigs were considered good luck charms in France,

Edith's Mother brought her a musical pig

to keep her out of harms way in the future.

Edith was clutching the pig in her arms

while on the deck of the Titanic and

sailors assumed she was holding an infant.

The sailors told her that she could stay on board

the Titanic if she wished but they were going to

save the baby and passed the bundle down into the lifeboat.

Edith had no choice but to follow her lucky charm

and reluctantly jumped into the lifeboat.
Edith was one of the last to evacuate the Titanic.

Edith later served as a war correspondent

 for the "New York Harold" and after the war

continued writing fashion and society news

for several magazines. 

She was known professionally as Edith Russell. 
Edith never married. 

Edith died on April 4, 1975 at the age of 98.
And she still had her musical pig for good luck!

Photo from Dover Public Library website.
Artist Depiction of  RMS Titanic at Sunset
Artist Unknown

Until next time, live and love well.

Sharing this true story with

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