{"id":13190,"date":"2022-04-12T10:39:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T08:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=206050"},"modified":"2022-04-12T11:01:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T09:01:11","slug":"titanic-passengers-8-stories-of-people-who-sailed-on-the-liner","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/titanic-passengers-8-stories-of-people-who-sailed-on-the-liner\/","title":{"rendered":"Titanic passengers: 8 stories of people who sailed on the liner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Emma Slattery Williams\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Eight stories of luck, bravery and tragedy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>

1<\/span>

The Astors<\/h3>\n<\/div>

John Jacob Astor IV (47) and his 19-year-old wife Madeleine were the wealthiest couple aboard Titanic<\/em><\/a>, and among the richest in the world. Astor, an American business magnate, was believed to be worth more than $80 million when he went down with the ship. The couple had cut short an extended honeymoon across Europe and Egypt \u2013 a trip taken to escape the gossip surrounding their 28-year age gap and marriage \u2013 after Madeleine had fallen pregnant. Wanting the child to be born in America, they had booked passage home on Titanic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Madeleine was safely conveyed onto a lifeboat and later remarked how many of the men left on board didn\u2019t seem to be alarmed at the situation. Her husband\u2019s body was later recovered from the ocean. Madeleine gave birth to John Jacob Astor VI in August 1912 \u2013 he was nicknamed the Titanic<\/em> baby.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
John Jacob Astor IV, standing with his wife, Madeleine. He died on the Titantic; she survived him and bore his child. (Photo by George Rinhart\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

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2<\/span>

Alfred Nourney<\/h3>\n<\/div>

Dutch-born Alfred Nourney was keen to live a life of luxury on Titanic<\/em>. To avoid a scandal after getting a woman pregnant, Nourney was journeying from his home in Cologne, Germany, to stay with relatives in America. Travelling under the pseudonym Baron Alfred von Drachstedt, Nourney brought with him jewellery and expensive clothes to fool people of his fake aristocratic status, and though he boarded second class at Cherbourg he soon requested a transfer to first class.<\/p>\n

He was one of the first into a lifeboat, where he is said to have smoked and continually fired his gun into the air. One story claims that on the rescue ship RMS Carpathia<\/em>, Nourney\u2019s behaviour was less than gentlemanly, and he was allegedly found asleep on a pile of blankets meant to be given out to survivors. Once in the US, Nourney claimed he had lost all his money on board and returned to Germany, where he later joined the Nazi Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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3<\/span>

Thomas Andrews<\/h3>\n<\/div>

One of the minds behind the construction of Titanic<\/em><\/a>, Andrews was on board for the ship\u2019s maiden voyage as part of the guarantee group \u2013 representatives from Harland and Wolff who were there to look for things that could be improved and to fix any minor problems. After the collision, Andrews informed the captain that the ship would sink within two hours.<\/p>\n

Knowing there were not enough lifeboats, he tirelessly searched cabins \u2013 persuading people to put on lifejackets and get on a lifeboat if they could. A steward claimed to have seen Andrews in the first-class smoking room, staring at a painting of Plymouth Sound (which Titanic<\/em> was due to visit on its return) making no attempt to save himself. Others, however, said they had witnessed him assisting with the evacuation until the bitter end before jumping overboard himself. His body was not recovered.<\/p>\n