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
(Sault Ste. Marie Evening News)
Many families on both sides of the Atlantic have stories of relatives who might have been aboard the Titanic but, fortunately for future generations, missed the boat. Though only a small percentage of such tales may have much basis in reality, they are part of a long tradition.
In fact, within days of the disaster, newspapers were already remarking on the phenomenon. “ ‘JUST MISSED IT’ CLUB FORMED WITH 6,904 MEMBERS,” Michigan’s Sault Ste. Marie Evening News headlined an April 20, 1912 story, five days after the sinking. Later it quoted one Percival Slathersome, a presumably fictional artist, as saying, “I count it lucky that I didn’t have the price to go abroad this year. If all of us who ‘just missed it’ had got aboard the Titanic she would have sunk at the Liverpool dock from the overload.”
By the time Ohio’s Lima Daily News weighed in, on April 26, the club seems to have grown considerably. “Up to the present time the count shows that just 118,337 people escaped death because they missed the Titanic or changed their minds a moment before sailing time,” the newspaper observed.
Comments (72)
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One of the most famous religious figures of the 20th century to miss the journey on the Titanic was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá http://www.brightwind.org/faith-and-science/2012-the-titanic-and-abdul-baha/
Posted by ray on February 10,2013 | 07:00 PM
you do realize Marconi stole Tesla's invention and his patents were overruled.
Posted by on February 9,2013 | 04:21 AM
wow
Posted by on February 7,2013 | 11:29 AM
You other commenters seriously need to spell-check.
Posted by Catherine on January 30,2013 | 05:36 AM
history of titanic is reallay sorrowful.i also miss it
Posted by nurul azom on January 27,2013 | 03:57 AM
why was the ice burge thier
Posted by christian on January 25,2013 | 01:06 PM
My great aunt was in England at the time of the Titanic sailing and she knew many on board the ship, who wanted her to travel back with them. Allegedly her luggage was on board, but she was not. She was the Executive Secretary of the Art Students League of NYC for 40 years as well as Asst. Secr. of the Architectural League/Guild of NYC and died in 1934 - if memory serves me correctly. She was also an artist who painted mostly seascapes on the coast of Massachusetts. Her grandfather Edmund Shaw Simpson was the Actor/Manager of the old Park Theatre in NYC for 40+ years, bringing talent (Barrymores, etc.) from England to the United States; his portrait hangs in the Museum of the City of NY; he died in 1849; her father was an Episcopal priest in Newark, NJ, Bloomington,IL and later in Oakland, CA.
Posted by Stephen Brockmann on January 14,2013 | 10:46 PM
Thank God that he missed the Voyage and thanks to his friend who advice him not to board.
Posted by Paul Nwaubani on January 12,2013 | 05:26 AM
I work for one of Henry Clay Frick's descendants, one of the best bosses I've ever had. I'm very glad he and his wife didn't make that journey!
Posted by Esmeralda on January 11,2013 | 09:31 AM
oh these facts are awesome in my opinoin.
Posted by on January 10,2013 | 07:12 PM
Titanic was a great ship it's very intresting hestery titanic it's really great ship.i lov tath..........
Posted by rahul reddy on November 26,2012 | 10:51 AM
Too bad about Frick.
Posted by Linda on November 25,2012 | 08:52 PM
$300 was 10% for a first class passage for 2. Very expensive for 100 years ago. That would be what today? $50,000? 100,000? The Titanic notwithstanding, first class ship passage was a very civilized way to travel. Of course everything was more civilized back then.
Posted by Linda on November 25,2012 | 08:45 PM
In the book "How Photography Revealed and Shaped an Extraordinary life" Lincoln Thru the Lens,by Martin Sandler. He shows a morgue photo of John Wilkes Booth from National Archives. Is this a valid photo?
Posted by Dr. Walter v. Powell on November 23,2012 | 02:36 PM
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