In addition to those whose stories appear in this book, other passengers and crew members have become well known in Titanic history. They include:

Millvina (Elizabeth Gladys) Dean was the last survivor of the Titanic to die. Born on February 2, 1912, she was only nine weeks old when her parents, Bertram and Georgette Dean, left England to move to Kansas with their new baby girl and son, Bertram, who was almost two. Millvina’s father died in the sinking. Her mother was able to raise Millvina and her brother in part thanks to Titanic relief funds. Millvina, who never married, retired to Southampton and became a Titanic celebrity in her seventies, giving interviews and going to conventions. She died on May 31, 2009, at the age of ninety-seven.

Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon became infamous for being in Lifeboat 1, which was lowered with only twelve people and which made no effort to save others. Cosmo Duff Gordon had married Lucy (known as “Lucile”) Wallace, a divorced dressmaker and fashion designer, in 1900. After the disaster, fireman Charles Hendrickson testified that both Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon said they should not go back to help others because it would be too dangerous.

The Duff Gordons were the only passengers called to testify in the British Inquiry. In one exchange, Lady Duff Gordon was asked if she knew that there were people in the Titanic as the ship was sinking. “‘No, I did not think so; I do not think I was thinking anything about it’” was her reply. Her husband’s answers were equally callous. When asked at the British Inquiry if he thought about whether or not the boat could save some of the people in the water, he answered, “‘I was not thinking about it. At that time I was attending to my wife, as I think I said just now. We had had rather a serious evening, you know.’” Cosmo Duff Gordon died in 1931, and Lady Duff Gordon died in 1935.

Benjamin Guggenheim, forty-six, was an American millionaire and mining tycoon. He gave Titanic steward James Etches a written message for his wife that read, “If anything should happen to me, tell my wife in New York that I’ve done my best in doing my duty.” He and his secretary discarded warm sweaters and were seen dressed in evening clothes the night of the sinking. Guggenheim is also reported to have said, “We’ve dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen.” He died when the Titanic sank and his body was not recovered. Guggenheim was traveling with his mistress, twenty-four-year-old French singer, Léontine Aubart. Ms. Aubart wrote to the White Star Line asking for reimbursement for clothing and jewelry she had lost, including twenty-four pairs of shoes, twenty-four night costumes of silk and lace, twenty-four dresses and wraps, a tiara, seven hats, and one gold bag with sapphires.

Wallace Henry Hartley, age thirty-three, was born in England, where he became a violinist. He was the band leader on the Titanic and traveled second class. He became famous for leading his musicians in ragtime tunes after the collision until almost the end. People interested in the Titanic still debate and wonder what was the band’s final song; some passengers recall hearing “Nearer My God to Thee,” while other eyewitnesses such as Harold Bride remember hearing “Songe d’Automne.” Wallace Hartley and the other seven members of the Titanic’s orchestra died in the sinking.

Edmond and Michel Navratil, ages two and three, were known as the “orphans of the Titanic.” Their French father had taken his sons away from his estranged wife and was traveling under an assumed name. The boys were rescued in Collapsible D, but their father died in the sinking. The boys spoke no English, and on the Carpathia they were not claimed. First class passenger Margaret Hays volunteered to take care of them until family could be found. Their mother recognized their picture after newspaper stories were published proclaiming, “Tots Saved from the Sea.” The White Star Line paid for her to travel to America in May to be reunited with her boys. Edmond died in 1953, and Michel died in 2001 at the age of ninety-two.

Ida and Isidor Straus were first class passengers who became famous for their devotion to each other and their decision to stay together when the Titanic sank. Mr. Isidor Straus, who was sixty-seven, had come to America as a boy of nine. He and his brother were in the dry goods business and became co-owners of R. H. Macy and Company in 1896. Isidor’s wife, Ida, age sixty-three, almost boarded Lifeboat 8. She was overheard to say, “‘We have lived together for many years. Where you go, I go.’” Although Colonel Archibald Gracie and some of her other friends tried to persuade her to get into a lifeboat, the couple stayed together and sat on deck chairs. Both were lost in the sinking. Their memorial service in New York was attended by 40,000 people.

Information on these passengers and crew members is drawn primarily from Encyclopedia Titanica, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org, and from the Titanic Inquiry Project.