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The Jewish Chronicle

On this day: The Titanic hits an iceberg

April 14 1912: Tragedy at sea

April 14, 2011 09:26
Titanic

By

Jennifer Lipman,

Jennifer Lipman

1 min read

Perhaps the most famous ocean wreckage in history, 99 years after it left Southampton its name still warns of the follies of poor disaster planning.

The "unsinkable" ship, which set sail on April 10 carrying 2,228 people crashed into an iceberg at 11.40pm. The impact left a gaping hole in its hull and water flooded in. The ship sank in the freezing Atlantic waters a few hours later early in the morning of April 15.

There were several Jewish passengers on board, many of them impoverished and in search of a better life, others considerably better off. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, whose wealthy family owned New York department store R. H. Macy and Co, were among the more than 1,500 those who died at sea. Their bodies were never recovered, despite the best efforts of their son Percy.

The Straus', who had been married for 41 years and had six children, were later immortalised on screen, marking the fact that they refused to separate and instead chose to go to their deaths together.