The "Titanic Orphans"
Michel and Edmond Navratil, Titantic survivors known as the "Titanic Orphans", April 22, 1912. Michel was almost four and Edmond was two years old.
Their parents, Michel and Marcella Caretto Navratil were separated and Marcella was granted full custody of the boys. The children spend Easter weekend with their father and when Marcella went to pick them up, they were gone. The father had booked passage to America on the Titanic using the assumed name, Louis Hoffman and the boys were registered under their nicknames, "Lola and Momon".
After the Titanic hit the iceberg, Mr. Navratil placed his two sons in "Collapsible D", the last lifeboat to be launched. Later Michel claimed to remember his father telling him, "My child, when your mother comes for you, as she surely will, tell her that I loved her dearly and still do. Tell her I expected her to follow us, so that we might all live happily together in the peace and freedom of the New World."
The boys were just toddlers and spoke no English, so they could not identify themselves. Their photos were published in numerous newspapers around the world and as a result, their mother was located. They were reunited in New York City on May 16, 1912 and they returned to France on the Oceanic.
Michel died in 2001 at the age of 92 and his brother, Edmond died in 1953 at the age of 43.
Original black and white photo from the Bain collection at the Library of Congress.
The "Titanic Orphans"
Michel and Edmond Navratil, Titantic survivors known as the "Titanic Orphans", April 22, 1912. Michel was almost four and Edmond was two years old.
Their parents, Michel and Marcella Caretto Navratil were separated and Marcella was granted full custody of the boys. The children spend Easter weekend with their father and when Marcella went to pick them up, they were gone. The father had booked passage to America on the Titanic using the assumed name, Louis Hoffman and the boys were registered under their nicknames, "Lola and Momon".
After the Titanic hit the iceberg, Mr. Navratil placed his two sons in "Collapsible D", the last lifeboat to be launched. Later Michel claimed to remember his father telling him, "My child, when your mother comes for you, as she surely will, tell her that I loved her dearly and still do. Tell her I expected her to follow us, so that we might all live happily together in the peace and freedom of the New World."
The boys were just toddlers and spoke no English, so they could not identify themselves. Their photos were published in numerous newspapers around the world and as a result, their mother was located. They were reunited in New York City on May 16, 1912 and they returned to France on the Oceanic.
Michel died in 2001 at the age of 92 and his brother, Edmond died in 1953 at the age of 43.
Original black and white photo from the Bain collection at the Library of Congress.