Brooklynites & the Titanic

On April 14, 1912, the ocean liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and sank at approximately 2:20 a.m. on the morning of the 15th. The ship did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,208 passengers and crew members. The exact totals vary from source to source, but according to https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic/, 1,500 died, and 700 survived. 

No other tragic accident has the grip on collective memory and imagination as the loss of the Titanic does. The story was epochal from the moment the news first broke–with sadly erroneous information that all passengers had survived.

The Titanic was sailing on its maiden voyage, and many of the world's wealthiest people were passengers. Their stories have become lore. John Jacob Astor politely asked to join his young wife, Madeline, on a half-empty lifeboat. He was refused and did not protest. Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet dressed in their best and declared they were ready to "go down like gentlemen." The elderly Isidor Strauss refused a seat on a lifeboat, and his wife, Ada, refused to leave him.

Of course, there are many, many more people whose names have not become synonymous with the Titanic. Every passenger and crew member had a story, and most never made the newspapers. 

Here is an article from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that mentions several prominent Brooklnites on the ship.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 16, 1912

 Karl Behr was born in Brooklyn in 1885. He was a well-known tennis player. In the spring of 1912, he was courting a young woman named Helen Monypeny Newsom (strong Rose DeWitt Bukater vibe here). Helen was a friend of his sister's. Helen's mother whisked Helen away on a European trip to try and break the couple up. For their return trip, the family boarded the Titanic at Southampton. Behr surprised them by later boarding at Cherbourg, France. As the lifeboats began to launch, Behr was on deck in a group of friends, along with Helen. Bruce Ismay was nearby, urging the reluctant to get in the boats. One of the women asked if the men in their group could get into the boat. Ismay agreed, and so the twenty-seven-year-old Behr was saved. Their lifeboat, number five, was the second boat launched. Panic had not yet set in; many passengers believed they'd be back on the ship shortly.

In 1913, Behr and Helen married in New York City. They had four children: three sons and one daughter.

Mrs. F.J. Swift was Margaret Welles Swift. She was born in Bath, Steuben, New York, and her husband, Fred Joel Swift, was from Herkimer. Margaret earned a law degree from NYU, and Fred was also a lawyer, although he became a successful real estate broker in Manhattan. The pair were married in Brooklyn and lived there in 1900, but they later moved to Nyack. In 1907, Fred died of appendicitis. In 1912, Margaret traveled to Europe with friends. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a First Class passenger. In an interview she gave to the New York Herald on April 19, she said they didn't realize how much danger they were in. A steward knocked on her cabin door and told her and her friend and cabinmate to go up to the deck. They followed the order, though many others didn't, and escaped in lifeboat 8. 

Mr. & Mrs. Harder were George and Dorothy. George was born in Brooklyn in 1886 and Dorothy in New York City in 1890. George was a realtor, and he was wealthy. George and Dorothy were married on January 9 and went to Europe on a three-month honeymoon. For the trip home, they booked first-class passage on the Titanic. When the ship struck the iceberg, George went to investigate the noise. He told Dorothy they had to get in the lifeboats when he returned. Because it was so early in the sinking, George was able to board with Dorothy, though he later found it hard to deal with the stigma of surviving when so many women and children died. He and Dorothy had two daughters before Dorothy's early death in 1926 from kidney disease. George went on to remarry. Both he and Dorothy are interred in Brooklyn's Green-wood cemetery.

Wyckoff Van Derhoef, who lived on Joralomon Street in Brooklyn Heights with his wife and 23-year-old twin sons, did not survive the sinking.

from the New York Tribune, April 17, 1912.

Van Derhoef was born in Brooklyn in May 1850. On his father's side, he was descended from one of New York's oldest Dutch families, and on his mother's side, he was Irish. As a young man, he began working as a clerk for the Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company, and by 1912, he was its largest shareholder. Van Derhoef married Laura Newell on April 19, 1888, which means he died four days before their 24th wedding anniversary. The twins, Marshall and Newell, were born the following March. 

In the spring of 1912, Van Derhoef traveled to Europe on business, and to visit his sister in Belfast. Belfast is where the Titanic was built, and she sailed for Southampton from there. Some contemporary reports say Van Derhoef boarded the Titanic in Belfast, the sole paying passenger to do so, but over time, this has become less certain. 

Nothing has been reported about how the end came for Wyckoff Van Derhoeff that night. But it seems likely he had not yet gone to bed. His body was recovered, and he was wearing evening dress, and black boots. He had his watch on him, his glasses, and $62 in a case. He is buried in Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, very near the Harders. Laura, his wife, remained in Brooklyn. She never remarried. 

Grave of Wyckoff Van Derhoef in Green-wood Cemetery

Washington Augustus Roebling was born and raised in New Jersey. But he has a Brooklyn connection–he was the grandson of John Roebling, who designed the Brooklyn Bridge. After John Roebling's death, his son, Washington Augustus Roebling, a civil engineer, oversaw the bridge's construction in partnership with his wife Emily. Washington Augustus, named after his uncle, was 31 years old when he boarded the Titanic at Southampton on his way home after traveling through Europe. The night of the sinking, he and the friend he was traveling with alerted several ladies they were friendly with to the danger, escorting them to the lifeboats and reassuring them they'd be back on the ship soon. Neither attempted to board a lifeboat. His body was never identified.