One of the biggest mysteries of the Titanic was the story of Roger Bricoux, the 21-year-old French cello player that was part of the eight-piece Titanic orchestra. Even though Bricoux died alongside his fellow musicians on the night of the crash on April 15th, 1912, he wasn’t actually declared dead until the year 2000.
Thinking he had survived the disaster, the French Army even considered him a deserter when he didn’t appear to serve in WWI. The French Association of the Titanic tried to fix what appeared to be a terrible bureaucratic mishap and worked incessantly to clear Bricoux’s name and put him to rest, but they were only able to do this 88 years after the disaster when he was finally declared dead.
The Actress Who Survived and Wrote a Film to Tell Her Story
The Titanic had many famous personalities onboard, and one of them was Dorothy Gibson, an American silent film actress. As it turns out, Gibson was one of the lucky survivors, and after arriving in New York she immediately started filming "Saved From the Titanic", a film she both wrote and starred in.
Released in May 1912, only a month after the Titanic disaster, the film depicted the events of the night when it sank. Gibson wore the same clothes and shoes in the film as she did during the actual event. Sadly, in what was described as a great loss to the silent film era, the only known print of the film was destroyed in a fire in 1914.
Over 700 Third-class Passengers and Only Two Bathtubs
It was a known fact that, even though conditions were far better on the Titanic than on an average ship, third-class passengers still had it rough. In total, there were between 700 and 1,000 passengers in third class, and only two bathtubs!
Despite the fact that passengers could clean up in their cabins by using a washbin, it wasn't ideal for such a long trip, and having hundreds of people sharing two bathtubs was incredibly chaotic, to say the least.
The Titanic "Curse" Began With Its Construction
Some people say that the Titanic was cursed right from the start. During the ship's construction, eight workers lost their lives, and three of them remain unidentified to this day. Unfortunately, back in 1911, when the Titanic was built, the health and safety practices demanded in construction work today didn't exist, and so it became almost inevitable for people in the engineering and construction fields to have fatal accidents.
Of the eight men that passed away during the Titanic's construction were Samuel Scott, John Kelly, William Clarke, James Dobbin, and Robert Murphy. In 2012, a plaque in Belfast was unveiled in their honor. Since most of the shipyard workers came from Belfast, it seemed appropriate to memorialize the lives of these eight men in the heart of the city.
Major Newspapers Mistakenly Reported the Titanic Disaster
Obviously, every newspaper was in a race to publish the first headline of what was one of the biggest disasters in history, and in that rush, major news outlets like The World, The Daily Mail, and the Belfast Telegraph mistakenly reported there had been no fatalities. Unfortunately, this gave false hope to the passengers' families and loved ones.
Taking advantage of the time difference, American newspapers were able to gather more information and their headlines were much more accurate. As shown in the photo above, the New York Times published the story under the headline: "Titanic Sinks Four Hours After Hitting Iceberg; 866 Rescued by Carpathia, Probably 1,250 Perish; Ismay Safe, Mrs. Astor Maybe, Noted Names Missing."