[renfairegeek]

Yes, would love to see more...

[surfaces]

Excellent pictures. There's something about sea burials that I find oddly creepy.

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by diannegrow1 ↗

Great post would love to see more pictures.

More
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...ictures-23055/

[LadyCPlum]

Originally Posted by darlingnikki88 ↗

I didn't even know this happened. I'm guessing these were the only bodies they were able to recover? Titanic was such a tremendous tragedy. It's creepy and terrifying to think about what those souls experienced... :(

Bodies of identified first-class victims were embalmed and placed in coffins. All others were placed on ice and wrapped in body bags. Those who were too badly decomposed were buried at sea.

[minka1]

Marcusbr He did not need a coffin. Rose pushed that fucker down, he sank like a block of cement.

[minka1]

Because I am sure not too many people on this website know THIS part of history.

Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche (May 26, 1886 – April 15, 1912) was a Paris-educated Haitian engineer. He was the only black passenger on the ill-fated voyage of the RMS Titanic.[1][2][3][4] He put his pregnant French wife and their two daughters onto a lifeboat; they survived, but he did not.[1] Joseph's daughter, Louise Laroche (2 July 1910 - 28 January 1998) was one of the last remaining survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912.

Voyage
The family planned to leave France in late 1912, but Juliette discovered she was pregnant for a third time, and Joseph decided to bump up their travel arrangements so the child could be born in Haiti.
Joseph's mother purchased first class passage for the family aboard the liner La France. When he and his wife learned of the French Line's policy stipulated that children were required to remain in the nursery and were not permitted to dine with their parents. Disapproving of this policy, they exchanged their tickets for a second-class passage aboard the Titanic.[1][5][2]
The Titanic was too large for the harbour at Cherbourg, France, and White Star Line tenders transported the passengers boarding from Cherbourg out to the ship aboard the SS Nomadic.[3] The family boarded as second-class passengers on April 10, 1912.

Aboard Titanic[edit]
Shortly after the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Joseph woke Juliette and told her that the ship had suffered an accident. He put all of their valuables in his pockets, and he and his wife carried each of their sleeping daughters to the ship's deck. It is not known for sure which lifeboat Juliette and her daughters escaped in, although Juliette remembered a countess being in her lifeboat. There was a countess on board the ship, Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes, who escaped in lifeboat 8, so it is likely that Juliette, Simonne and Louise all escaped the ship on this lifeboat. Joseph died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.[4]
Later in the morning of April 15, Juliette and her daughters were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. Louise and her sister were hauled up to the its deck in burlap bags. On board the Carpathia, Juliette found it very hard to get linens which she could use as diapers for her children. Since there were none to spare, Juliette improvised and at the end of each meal she would sit on napkins, conceal them and make diapers out of them after returning to the cabin.[5] The Carpathia arrived in New York City, New York on 18th, but there was no one to meet Juliette and her daughters, so Juliette decided not to continue to Haiti, but instead return to her family in Villejuif, France. The family returned in May 1912, and it was there that Juliette gave birth to her son who she named Joseph, in honor of his father.[6]
Joseph died in the sinking of the Titanic; his body was never recovered. Juliette returned to Paris with their two daughters, and gave birth to their son, Joseph Lemercier Laroche.

Later years[edit]
In March 1995, Louise stepped aboard the Nomadic for the first time since 1912 when it carried her family to the Titanic from Cherbourg, France. Louise was joined by fellow Titanic survivor Millvina Dean.[7] That same year, Louise was present as the Titanic Historical Society dedicated a stone marker in Cherbourg commemorating Titanic passengers who sailed from its port.[7]
Louise Laroche died on 28 January 1998 at the age of 87. Her death left eight remaining survivors.

[darlingnikki88]

[QUOTE=minka1;4131513]Because I am sure not too many people on this website know THIS part of history.

THANKS for sharing this wonderful story, Minka!

[LadyCPlum]

Joseph's story is profiled in a book called "Women and Children First". Juliette was so afraid of losing another member of her family that she basically kept her daughters on extremely tight leashes. They did manage to gain some autonomy when married, but the younger one died before her older sister and baby brother. The 2nd-class passengers actually remember Joseph comporting himself in a very gentlemanly manner during the sinking, a great way of describing someone of African descent during that time period.

[LadyCPlum]

Originally Posted by minka1 ↗

Marcusbr He did not need a coffin. Rose pushed that fucker down, he sank like a block of cement.

I still don't know how Rose didn't get the skin ripped off her hand after she broke their frozen solid hands apart to let him go!

[nat906]

MV WILHEM GUSTLOFF
In January of 1945, this German ship was hit by three torpedoes in the Baltic Sea while participating in the evacuation of civilians, military personnel, and Nazi officials who were surrounded by the Red Army in East Prussia. After being hit in the starboard (right) side, the vessel sank in less than 45 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people were killed in the disaster, making it the largest known loss of life occurring during a single ship sinking in recorded maritime history.