I'd like to introduce you to some of the real people who were actually there the day the Titanic sank. Their stories are just as compelling as the fictional Hollywood characters. More so, I'd say, because their stories are true. (I will also add here that I am at a disadvantage because all of my Titanic books are packed, except for the one I am currently reading. I will do my best with the facts using my memory, and the internet.)
The Allisons: I am drawn to them the most, perhaps because they were a couple about my age, with two young children. Or perhaps because of the sheer heartbreak I feel at their story. If you have seen the 1996 TV movie, you are familiar with them. Mr. Hudson Allison from Montreal Canada was a 30 year old businessman and had traveled to England for a directors' meeting. He was traveling with his wife, Bess, and their children, two year old Loraine and eleven month old Trevor.
He was not a poor man, and while they were there he had purchased two dozen horses for his stock farm, and furniture for their two residences. They also hired on some household staff, including a chauffeur, a cook, Alice Cleaver, who was hired as a nursemaid for their son Trevor, and a lady's maid for his wife Bess.
They had three cabins booked in first class. One for he and his wife, one for Bess's maid, Sarah Daniels, and Loraine, and a third for Alice and Trevor. The rest of their staff traveled in second class.
On the night of the sinking, the Allisons had been dining with friends. When the ship struck the iceburg and the chaos insued, Alice took Trevor and got into a lifeboat (boat 11). Bess had been placed in a lifeboat with Loraine, but refused to leave without her baby. She wasn't aware he was already off the ship. She and Loraine got out of that boat, and apparently were told Hudson was in a lifeboat being lowered on the opposite side. She found that to be untrue, and by now her lifeboat had already been lowered.
Nobody can know what all happened. We know that Bess and Loraine never made it into another boat. They parished that night, along with Hudson. Only the body of Hudson Allison was recovered. Of all the children traveling in first and second class, little Loraine was the only who was lost.
Of the family of four, only baby Trevor was saved. He was raised by an aunt and uncle in Canada, and died in 1929 at the age of 18.
Special thanks to Encyclopedia Titanica for helping me fill in all the facts.
