How 11 Titanic Passengers Represented In James Cameron’s Film Looked Like

The sinking of the Titanic was a tragedy of which, out of a total of 2,200 people, only 700 survived. More than one film has been made about this catastrophe, but the most striking and memorable was the 1997 film directed by James Cameron. Viewers were captivated by its mesmerizing special effects, a moving romantic story and, of course, complex and interesting characters.

we, from awesome.clubwe delved deep into the story and decided to find out what the passengers and crew members of the Titanic, which James Cameron portrayed in his film, looked like in real life.

Margaret Brown, who in the film lent Jack her son’s suit for dinner with the aristocrats, was actually a passenger on the Titanic. A philanthropist, public figure and activist, Brown was always thinking of others. Margaret helped passengers into the lifeboats, refusing to save herself until the last moment. After that, she even argued with the boat driver, convincing him to return to the accident site and save the people who were drowning.

When the survivors were rescued by the ocean liner Carpathia, Margaret made lists of survivors and looked for food and blankets for the victims. She even organized a committee to raise funds and provide psychological assistance to survivors of the disaster. In recognition of her efforts, Margaret was awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honor and was nicknamed “the unsinkable” Molly Brown.

The Titanic was commanded by Edward Smith, 62, who grew up in a family of common workers and dropped out of school at age 12 to enlist in the Royal Naval Reserve. Smith was the most experienced captain in the company. White Star Line, with over 40 years of experience. The voyage on the Titanic would be the captain’s last before his retirement.

At that time, it was believed that floating ice did not pose a great danger. And in 1907, the future captain of the Titanic even said in an interview that he couldn’t imagine a situation “in which a modern ship could sink.” There is controversy over what the last moments of Edward Smith’s life were like, but some witnesses claim that the captain left a hero.

Joseph Bruce Ismay was president and director of the company White Star Line🇧🇷 Eager to outdo the competition, Ismay decided to create an unparalleled luxury ship, so he had the number of lifeboats on the Titanic reduced from 48 to 16.

After being rescued from the sinking ship, Ismay was criticized by the press for leaving the Titanic when there were still women and children on board. And although an official investigation proved that Ismay helped many passengers and took a vacant seat on the last boat, he lived to the end of his days with the stigma of a coward.

Ismay’s negative image continues to be used invariably in cinematography. And the James Cameron film was no exception. When a consultant to the director on the Titanic story asked to reconsider this role, he was told that the script would not be changed under any circumstances. Also, the audience wanted to see precisely this character.

Thomas Andrews was the builder of the Titanic and was present on the ship’s maiden voyage to oversee its operation. After the collision with the iceberg, Andrews was one of the few who knew of the inevitable sinking of the ocean liner.

He convinced passengers (who resisted) to get on the boats, searched the cabins, asking people to put on life jackets and come up on deck. Andrews did not survive. He was last seen just before the Titanic completely submerged. Andrews even threw lounge chairs off the deck in hopes that people in the water could use them as rafts.

William Murdoch had 16 years of experience at sea and was First Mate on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. He was the duty officer on the day of the tragedy and tried to avoid the collision, but the iceberg was noticed too late and, 37 seconds after its discovery, the accident occurred.

The complex and ambiguous image of Murdoch in Cameron’s film caused the outrage of his nephew and the inhabitants of the officer’s hometown. The film’s creators personally went to the former crewman’s homeland and apologized to his family members, as well as making a cash donation to boost the William Murdoch Memorial Prize.

Frederick Fleet, with his colleague, was the watchman on the night of the tragedy and the first to notice the iceberg. Later, when giving his testimony to the American and British commissions on the investigation of the disaster, Fleet said that if binoculars had been given to observers on that trip, the iceberg would have been noticed in advance.

However, some experts believe that even with binoculars, lookouts would still not be able to locate the iceberg in time, given the conditions at night. Fleet was assigned as a rower in the same boat as the “unsinkable” Molly Brown and survived.

Charles Lightoller was the second mate on the Titanic. As the ocean liner began to sink, the officer jumped off the ship, miraculously avoiding being sucked into the ventilation shaft. He climbed into an overturned collapsible raft, in which, in addition to him, there were 29 other people. Lightoller instructed them on how to balance the boat so it wouldn’t sink. Not all were able to wait for the ship that would rescue them at dawn: some simply sank from exhaustion.

Lightoller was the highest-ranking survivor and, after the disaster, offered significant improvements to passenger ship transport. He insisted that the number of lifeboats be increased, recommended training in their use, as well as establishing 24-hour radio communication with each vessel and transmitting constant signals over hazardous areas regarding weather conditions.

Colonel Archibald Gracie was an amateur writer and historian who traveled on the Titanic as a first-class passenger. When the collision occurred, he helped second First Mate Lightoller load the women and children onto the boats. After the ship sank, he escaped in an overturned collapsible dinghy. Upon her return to New York, Gracie began writing a book about her voyage on the Titanic, which has become a valuable source of information for historians and disaster researchers.

The colonel’s health was severely impaired by hypothermia, and eight months after the tragedy he died from complications from diabetes. The sinking of the Titanic left permanent marks on Gracie, and the colonel’s last words were: “We have to put them in the boats. We need to put everyone in the boats.”

On the day of the tragedy, the Titanic’s radio operator, Jack Phillips, was inundated with telegrams from passengers, as the radio transmitter had been broken the day before. Weary, Phillips failed to relay to the captain some warnings from nearby ships about the iceberg. Phillips didn’t even hear the last message from the nearest ship, which could have helped avoid the collision, as his fellow radio operator didn’t mark the warning as “important”.

When the accident occurred, the captain ordered radio operators to send a distress signal. And Jack Phillips didn’t stop broadcasting the warnings until the radio room was flooded and the transmitter went silent. Phillips couldn’t save himself. Harold Bride, who worked with Jack, recalled: “I felt a great respect for him to see him standing there, persisting in his work, while everyone else was in despair. I will never allow myself to forget the work Phillips did in those last terrible fifteen minutes.”

The scene in the film, in which an elderly couple embrace during the sinking of the Titanic, is etched in our memory. These touching characters were inspired by real people: Ida and Isidor Straus. The spouses were so attached to each other that when the businessman and politician Isidor was away for work, he and his wife exchanged letters daily.

The Titanic’s officer, given the couple’s advanced age, was willing to allow them both to board the lifeboat, but Isidor refused, deciding to share the tragic fate of the other men on the ship. He tried to get his wife into the boat, but Ida didn’t want to leave her husband. “We lived together for many years. Wherever you go, I go,” Ida told her husband. The elderly couple were last seen sitting on sun loungers on one of the ship’s decks.

The scene in the film in which, despite the panic over the sinking of the Titanic, the orchestra continues to play, left many people moved. The episode is inspired by a true story. Wallace Hartley was the conductor of the orchestra on the ocean liner, and after the iceberg collided, he and other musicians began playing compositions to keep passengers calm.

Many witnesses said that the orchestra continued to play until the ship sank. None of the musicians survived. Strapped to Hartley’s body, found by rescuers, was his violin, with his fiancée’s inscription on the reverse: “To Maria’s Wallace, on the occasion of our engagement.”

Which of these stories touched you the most? Comment!