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"Croatians" and Italians on the Titanic On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York. At that time, she was the largest and most luxurious ship ever built. At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, she struck an iceberg about 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada. Croatians on the Titanic (Extract from the Croatian Information Centre, Zagreb, based on the publication by Ivana Ivancic, ’Titanic’, Hrvatska Rijec, Sarajevo, March 29, 1998, p.26.) The glamour of the premieres of the movie blockbuster ‘Titanic’ took place in Zagreb on March 13.1998. A party was thrown for the representatives of Croatia’s high society, including the diplomatic corps and numerous politicians, in the luxurious Intercontinental Hotel. However, it seems that this - we could say bizarre and decadent glamour - also indicates that the majority of those on the Titanic were practically abandoned. The story of Titanic also reanimates the story of the differences between rich and poor. The story about the lower class passengers on the Titanic, who were stopped in realising their ‘American dream’, is also a story about 30 Croatian passengers. ‘Search for a Better Life’. Most of the Croats worked on the Titanic as stokers and a small number of them came on board to get to America, ‘the land of prosperity’. Most of them were originally from the Croatian regions of Lika and Posavina (Sava Valley region). One of them was Ivan Jalsevac from Topolovac, near the town of Sisak. He managed to escape the jaws of the Big Blue. His family still keeps written details of his memory on that fatal night. Ivan, who always spoke about that night to his family, died in 1945. The disaster affected his life as he witnessed the death of his friends, visions which haunted him for life. His nephew told us the stories: "My uncle told me that a strong crash awakened him. That was the moment when the Titanic hit the iceberg. Everyone was shocked at first, but after a few minutes, when the passengers and crew realised what had happened, panic ran rampant. Passengers, suddenly facing the possibility of ending their lives in the cold Atlantic Ocean, were petrified. The lower deck passengers were not allowed to come out. The ship’s staff locked all the exits from the lower decks. There was no room for lower class passengers to be saved. They were crossed out automatically for a rescue. A terrible noise was heard from the deck of the ship and the occasional gun shot, probably to make some order among the panic stricken mass.
"My uncle and two of his friends, Drazen and Stankovic [ed: possibly Istrian], tried to save as many women and children as possible. That was their last meeting alive. Ivan Jalsevac never saw his friends again. He managed to escape through to the main deck and to jump into the cold Atlantic. That was his only chance out alive. In the cold ocean, next to the sinking Titanic was one of the lifeboats full of women and children. He reached for it and thankfully the women helped and took him into the boat because the sailors showed no interest in saving him. "They managed to paddle to the ‘Carpathia’ steam boat that took on most of the survivors of the catastrophe. There were twenty Croat sailors from Dalmatia working on the Carpathia. "The White Star Line Company, which owned the Titanic, decorated survivors and presented them an ironic award - free life passes to travel with the company. The ones who were reimbursed were mostly the rich and second class, excluding the third class - including Croats.
Croatians on the Titanic
Italians on the Titanic From Corriere della Sera, Friday, April 19, 1912 [translation]: London, 17 April, night Italians aboard the Titanic numbered more than 50: two restaurant's directors L. Gatti, 36 years, and F. Scavino, two superintendents, Giuseppe Bochet, from Savoy and Nannini: 17 waiters, 17 assistants some butlers, besides more than a dozen of waiters transferred from Olympic to Titanic at the last moment, and of those the names are unknown. Here are the names of the waiters and of the assistants belonging to Titanic's crew: Luigi Zarracchi, 26 years; F. Nannini 42; Montello; Pompeo Piazza 30; Roberto Urbino of 22; Ernesto valvassori 37; N. Bazzi 33; E. Ratti 23; C. Casali of 32; Gino Sesia of 34; G. Basilico 25; R. Vioni 32; V. Gilardini 31; V. Banfi 25; E. Poggi 26; E. De Napoli 24; L. Crovetto 17; Antonio Allaria 22; Battista Bernardi 22; Luigi Piatti of 17; Giovanni Saccaggi 24; Abele Rigozzi 22; G. De Martino 20; brothers A. and G. Peracchi, the first of 20 and the second of 18 years; G. Donati 19 years old; A. Pedrini 21; P. Rousseau, from savoy, of 49; G. Sachero 20; G. Monteverde 23; L. Desvernini 20; C. Levy 30; F. Bertoldi 24; F. Salussoli 25; E. Testoni 24; C. Sirtori, Angelo Rotta of 23; N. Bazzi, V. Pirotti, Giovanni Ferretti, Rinaldo Ricaldone of 24, G. De Marsico. Italians colony in London is in consternation. Most of the shipwrecked were employed from year in the better hotels and restaurants of the city. Their family are afflicted, in anguish. A sad case is that one of the 22 years old waiter Urbino, that left unwillingly the very young wife that was pregnant and about to have the baby, last week. The poor woman gave birth to a baby boy today. The relatives have charitably hid the terrible disaster from her. Many of the waiters aboard the Titanic have wives and children in London, we hope that they were saved. The prominent men of the colony are thinking about a subscription for their families. I have phoned to the White Star office in Southampton and learned that among the survivors picked by Carpathia there is the twenty years old waiter A. Peracchi [sic]. The fate of the others is unknown, but the fact that one is saved makes hope for the others. We are waiting anxiously for new lists of the survivors. Among the crew there are no other italians. There is no italian name on the list, apart that one of a fireman John Podista, that from the news is an American citizen, but native of Italy. Among the italian's passengers, in the last list sent from Carpathia there is only the name of Emilio Portalupi.[...] The Watery Grave
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This page compliments of Franco Aitala and Marisa Ciceran Created Sunday, July
22, 2001; Last updated:
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 |
