You already know why the Titanic was so disastrously short on lifeboats, or how Bruce Ismay cheated death, or which ship picked up survivors the morning after. This April, let us discover nine less-known stories about the legendary steamer and those who sailed on her.

9.

The only Japanese on the Titanic was Masabumi Hosono, a civil servant at the Ministry of Transport, dispatched to Russia in 1910 for a study of the railway system. The brief stay in London on his return journey was about to change his entire life. He survived the Titanic and, once safely on board the Carpathia, he wrote down a narrative of the events. Upon his return to Japan, Hosono was widely condemned as a coward for having saved his life, instead of facing death with dignity and composure. The stigma followed his family long after his death.

Left: Masabumi Hosono. Right: His account of the sinking written on White Star Line Stationery.

8.

Augustus Henry Weikman was Titanic’s first-class barber. He ran the small but luxurious barbershop just behind the Grand Staircase, with two adjustable chairs and a waiting area. Weikman was an old salt, with countless Atlantic crossings behind him. He got famous for changing into an old suit when summoned to help lowering the lifeboats, reluctant to stain his uniform. The humble barber survived by a narrow chance, falling into the water and swimming 600 feet to the nearest lifeboat.

7.

The survivors of the dreadful night included three dogs. Two Pomeranians boarded lifeboats in the arms of Margaret Hays and Elizabeth Barrett Rothschild. The rescue team on the Carpathia refused to board Mrs. Rothschild’s companion, until the lady, having lost her husband in the sinking, threatened to remain in the boat with the dog. The third canine survivor was Sun Yat-Sen, a Pekinese, named after the president of the recently proclaimed Republic of China. He too survived thanks to the patronage of a wealthy owner, Henry Harper.

6.

Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche and his two children were the only passengers of known African descent. Laroche, an engineer from Haiti, perished in the disaster after helping his pregnant French wife and two daughters onto a lifeboat. The couple was booked on the SS France at first, but due to the ship’s policy of banning children from the dining hall, they exchanged their first-class tickets for second-class on the Titanic. Joseph’s daughter, Louise Laroche, died in 1998 as one of the very last remaining survivors.

5.

The most famous movie about the Titanic may be James Cameron’s 1998 epic, but the first ever film about the disaster premiered 31 days after the incident, on 16 May 1912. And while it had none of Cameron’s lavish decors, it featured something much more valuable – a real Titanic survivor, Dorothy Gibson. The plot was based on Gibson’s account of the events, with the young woman also playing the leading role. Most scenes were shot in a studio in New Jersey, but the sinking itself was enacted on a real derelict ship in New York Harbor.

4.

Contrary to popular belief, many wealthy passengers died aboard the Titanic. Among them were department store Macy’s owners Isidor and Ida Straus. Curiously, the two were born on the same date (although in different years) and died together. Although urged to get on a lifeboat with the other first-class female passengers, Ida refused to be parted from her husband, remaining by his side until the end.

Love Titanic facts? My Titanic Guide to the World explores dozens of monuments, exhibitions, and experiences that tell the real-life stories of those who built, sailed, and perished on the Titanic.

3.

True, there was much bombastic publicity around the legendary steamer, but her Grand Staircase deserved its grand name. Sixteen feet wide, it towered over sixty feet through seven decks – two decks more than the three electric passenger elevators.

2.

Although modern cruise ships reach gargantuan proportions, the only remaining ocean liner, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, is not that much larger than the Titanic. Built 92 years later, the QM2 is just 76 m longer, 13 m wider, and exceeds the Titanic’s passenger capacity by only 18%.

1.

“Miss Unsinkable” was the much-deserved nickname of Violet Constance Jessop, who worked as a stewardess on the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, as well as a nurse on the third Olympic-class liner, HMHS Britannic. She gained fame for having survived Olympic’s collision with HMS Hawke, the Titanic disaster, and the sinking of the Britannic in WWI. A less known character in this string of misfortunes is Arthur John Priest, or “the unsinkable stoker”. He survived all three ordeals, plus the sinking of SS Donegal – a Midland Railway passenger ferry, requisitioned for the Great War and sunk by a German U-Boat. Unfortunately, Mr. Priest was less inclined to write a memoire than Ms. Jessop, so history has all but forgotten him.

The Shipyard