Two Titanic Passengers Poem by Sheena Blackhall

A Titanic Victim: J.J. ASTOR IV richest man in the world
NO.124 - MALE - ESTIMATED AGE 50 - LIGHT HAIR & MOUSTACHE.

CLOTHING - Blue serge suit; blue handkerchief with 'A.V.'; belt with gold buckle; brown boots with red rubber soles; brown flannel shirt; 'J.J.A.' on back of collar

EFFECTS - Gold watch; cuff links, gold with diamond; diamond ring with three stones; £225 in English notes; $2440 in notes; £5 in gold; 7s. in silver; 5 ten franc pieces; gold pencil; pocketbook.

FIRST CLASS. NAME- J.J. ASTOR IV

He helped his wife to safety on a lifeboat
And then stood smoking on the brig of that doomed ship
Sang-froid with bells on, a heroic man
Seven days later, his body was recovered
He had asked to join his pregnant wife in the lifeboat
Turned back by a First Officer Charles Lightoller.

Women & children first
He accepted his death like a stoic
Heroic to the end, on the starboard wing of the ship
Till the freezing water claimed him
Madeleine, his 18 year old wife, her maid & nurse survived

Astor was seen at the end, in the ocean, clinging to a raft
His feet were frozen, he was forced to release his hold.
No amount of wealth can outrun death
Four months later, Madeleine bore his son.


A Titanic Survivor: Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gordon
Cosmo's wife was a fashion designer
(Madame Lucile, a divorced woman)
He was an Olympic fencer

A sheriff near Maryculter
As a sportsman, a top ranked performer
He was also a pistol dueller

With his wife and her secretary
Theirs was a first class cabin
Expecting a trip exemplary

A doomed trip, on board the Titanic
The ship struck a fatal iceberg
Unstoppable sinking brought panic

Only twelve on one lifeboat, not killed
Duff-Gordon, the secretary, his wife
Twenty eight places not filled

Duff-Gordon was at the inquiry
He'd given one sailor a fiver
To gain a lifeboat's security

He stated the money was gifted
For the sailor to buy new clothes
But the press had him guilty, convicted

Of telling the crewmen to sail
Away from the drowning and dying
So the boat might not flounder or fail

Posterity won't know the answer
Only those at the sinking can tell
Duff-Gordon - survivor or chancer?