Seven Famous People Who Missed the Titanic
The notables who planned to sail on the fateful voyage included a world-famous novelist, a radio pioneer and America’s biggest tycoons
- By Greg Daugherty
- Smithsonian magazine, March 2012
(©APIC)
The sinking of the Titanic claimed some 1,500 lives, among them a gallery of early 20th-century A-list celebrities. Captains of industry John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim both went down with the ship, as did Macy’s co-owner Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida, who refused to leave his side. The popular American mystery writer Jacques Futrelle, the American painter and sculptor Francis Millet, and Maj. Archibald Butt, friend and aide to then-President William Howard Taft, were lost as well.
But for all the boldface names among the Titanic’s victims, many more might have been aboard, but for the vagaries of fate. Among them were:
The novelist, then 40, considered returning from his first European holiday aboard the Titanic; an English publisher talked him out of the plan, persuading the writer that taking another ship would be less expensive.
Dreiser was at sea aboard the liner Kroonland when he heard the news. He recalled his reaction the following year in his memoir, A Traveler at Forty: “To think of a ship as immense as the Titanic, new and bright, sinking in endless fathoms of water. And the two thousand passengers routed like rats from their berths only to float helplessly in miles of water, praying and crying!”
Comments (86)
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I felt disturbed when I read about the titanic voyage but I therefore show my condolences to all the familes that victimized and those the incidence befell them.I love u all n God bless you in abundance but remember with him all things are possible
Posted by emmanuel owolabi on May 13,2013 | 12:07 PM
Here’s yet another candidate for our list: Charles Jourjon. While not a well-known name in the U.S., he was a co-founder and head of the Éclair Film Company and a major figure in early French cinema. According to at least one report, he had a reservation on the Titanic but missed the ship and ended up crossing on the French liner Savoie. An interesting coincidence is that one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster, the silent film actress Dorothy Gibson, was under contract to Éclair’s U.S. studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Within days of her return she was starring as herself in a heavily fictionalized film called “Saved from the Titanic.” Released just a month after the sinking, it was the first movie about the Titanic and the only one to star a survivor. Unfortunately no copies of the film are believed to have survived.
Posted by Greg Daugherty on May 10,2013 | 05:01 PM
The article says "The man behind the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Syrup, and the Pennsylvania city that bears his name…." Hershey is not a city. In fact, technically there is no such place as Hershey. The town generally known as Hershey, PA is just part of Derry Township, PA.
Posted by John Harvey on April 26,2013 | 12:39 PM
I READ THE HISTORY AB0UT TITANIC......I FEEL REALY SAD ABOUT IT........:(
Posted by umaima ali on April 23,2013 | 12:06 PM
This website did not help me at all GET RID OF THIS WERBITE THIS WEBSITE SUCKS
Posted by Candis Anderson on April 17,2013 | 09:46 AM
sank on the day of my dads b-day
Posted by amamnjot on April 15,2013 | 04:53 PM
101yrs after the tragedy of the RMS TITANIC remain fresh in our memories, expecially when one watches the titanic movie. One can do nothing but to apreciate d effort of those who explore d story
Posted by shehu usman aliyu on April 13,2013 | 05:52 PM
How fortunate that for some odd reason these people had the intestinal fortitude to not go on the 'TITANIC'Boy What Luck,for them WOW!!!!!!!!
Posted by Lavada Farris on April 12,2013 | 09:42 AM
Marconi should've sent Tesla a thank you for getting credit of saving lives. Poor Tesla gets so overlooked in history. He invented most of the important inventions and others stole it and took credit. It would've been karma had Marconi actually took the Titanic.
Posted by Megan on March 24,2013 | 11:31 PM
There's an old blues song called "Farewell Titanic" that tells the story of African American boxing champ Jack Johnson being REFUSED passage on the Titanic due to his race. If this story is true, why wasn' he included on the list of famous people who missed that fateful voyage?
Posted by Chris Ring on March 14,2013 | 12:10 AM
Your web site is amazing! Thank you.
Posted by Jane McCalla on March 2,2013 | 06:51 PM
I love the Titanic it was a interesting story. I feel so bad for the people who died.
Posted by Aspen laFlam on March 2,2013 | 02:37 PM
Well, here's one woman included (probably the harpist!), from http://lso.co.uk/: "On 28 March 1912, the LSO [London Symphony Orchestra] embarked on a famous three-week tour to the United States of America and Canada, the first British orchestra to visit those distant shores. Legend has it that the LSO narrowly avoided sailing on the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic. The tour started a week early due to the rescheduling of some of the concerts - no doubt an inconvenience at the time, but because of this new travel plans had to be made. Tickets for the Titanic were exchanged for the SS Baltic. The tour was conducted by Artur Nikisch who, with his band of ninety-nine men and one woman, travelled across North America in a special eight-car Pullman train. Visits were made to New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Des Moines, Madison, Milwaukee, Oxford OH, Cincinnati, Toledo, Detroit, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston and Providence."
Posted by on March 1,2013 | 08:13 PM
I read somewhere that Harry Vardon, the greatest English golfer ever, also was scheduled to travel on the Titanic and cancelled late.
Posted by Mark on February 13,2013 | 01:11 AM
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