April 11 All Aboard

Once titanic left Southampton, she headed across the channel to Cherbourg to drop off and pick up more passengers. There were a large number of passengers to be boarded from 'the continent', dropping of 24 channel crossers and picking up another 274 passengers.

The majority of first class passengers boarded at Cherbourg, such as Colonel JJ Astor and his teenage bride Madeline, returning to New York after their extended honeymoon through Egypt and Paris. They were hoping their time wintering in the warmth would have allowed the scandal caused by his divorce and subsequent marriage to die down back home. Plus Astor wanted the baby Madeline was carrying to be born on US soil.

The Astors had met up with Margaret “Molly” Brown while in Egypt and she changed her travel plans in order to take the Titanic back to New York with them. Being of the 'nouveau riche' and shunned by much of established 'high society' herself, Molly proved to be quite an ally for the Astors.

Other well known 1st class passengers included, Benjamin Guggenheim, returning from Paris, where he spent most of his time. Movie actress Dorothy Gibson and her mother Pauline were returning home after vacationing in Paris, in between movies.

The Mediterranean and French Riviera were fast becoming favoured winter destinations for the wealthy but once the weather warmed, it was time to head home again.

There were also a number of honeymoon or newly wed couples, in fact there were a dozen or so in all who had chosen to end their honey moon on Titanic.

Also boarding at Cherbourg were a wide ranging number of nationalities, making the start of their journey to a new life. As Southampton was the starting point for a large number of Scandinavian emigrants, Cherbourg was the beginning point for many from Lebanon, Syria etc.

Titanic was so large that she was unable to dock and passengers were moved on and off the ship by specially built ferries, or tenders. Both New York and Southampton docks had major rebuilding in order to take the new super liners but elsewhere it was tenders.

In Cherbourg the custom built SS Nomadic ferried first and second class passengers, while SS Traffic carried 3rd class.

Titanic Arrived off Cherbourg at around 6:30 pm. She had been delayed in Southampton following a near collision with the New York while leaving the dock. The imminent collision was averted when the quick thinking Vulcan tug boat captain threw a line to the New York and pulled her out of harm's way. This incident meant that Titanic was delayed up to an hour before finally getting on her way.

They were able to make up some time by getting all the passengers, luggage and cargo on and off in under two hours and were back in open waters by 8pm. Titanic was now heading overnight towards Queenstown, Ireland for the last stop before heading out across the Atlantic.

Unlike the Cherbourg stop, Queenstown would pick up mostly 3rd class passengers. In fact on the morning of the 11th, at 11:30, 120 mostly Irish, emigrants prepared to board. They were, in the majority, young men and women who had secured work in America and were fleeing the poverty and difficult conditions of their homeland.

One notable exception was Margaret Rice and her family. Margaret had been widowed when her husband was killed in work accident in 1910, leaving her with 5 boisterous sons to raise alone. She had decided to return to Ireland where her family were, but in 1912 felt it would be best for her boys if they went back to America. So here she was on April 11 with her 5 boys aged from 2 -10 ready to board Titanic.

There were a number of women in a similar position. Although not widows like Margaret Rice, they had a large brood of small children to take care of alone on the long journey. These women were on their way to meet up with their husbands, who had gone ahead to obtain jobs and housing for the family. Alma Palsson, who began her journey from Sweden at the end of March on a train to Copenhagen,was travelling with her four young children aged from 8 years down to 18 months. Her husband Nils had left in June 1910, when little Gosta was just 6 months old. He was a miner but a prolonged coal strike had forced him to emigrate, in order to get work to support his family. By early 1912 he had sufficient money saved to buy his family their passage to join him.

Like Nils Palsson, Frank Lefevre was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his wife and their 4 children aged 11- 2. He was already in Iowa with their 4 older children and they were looking forward to seeing Frances and the 4 younger children. The family were also bringing their furniture, personal belongings and cash.

At 1:30 pm Titanic weighed anchor for the last time and headed for New York, while her passengers headed to the various dining areas for their main meal of the day.

 

Background
Part 1   Introduction to the story.
Part 2   Sign of the Times
Part 3  The Times They are a Changing
Part 4  Crossing the Atlantic
Part 5  Iceberg Dead Ahead

The Journey
Part 1 Preparation
Part 2 Setting Sail
Part 3 A few stops
Part 4 All's well
more coming soon

Another Perspecive
Part 1 An astrological look
Part 2 An astrological perspective