Out of the 1,500 plus people that died on the night of the crash, only 300 bodies were recovered. Among them was a child’s body that was recovered from the water five days after the ship sank. Strangely, the little boy was mistakenly identified three times, and it took nearly 100 years to finally discover who he was after his shoes were donated to a museum and they ran DNA testing.
After being known as the “unknown child” of the Titanic for almost a century, the boy was identified as Sidney Goodwin. It was such a tragic moment for the rescuers that found him, that they decided to bury the little boy in a grave that would forever memorialize the 1,000-plus children that died that night. Even though his name is now known, Goodwin’s family decided to leave his headstone as it was, reading “unknown child”, in honor of all the children that were never found or identified.
Out of the 1,500 People That Died, Only Four Were First-Class Women
Out of the more than 1,500 people that lost their lives the night of the sinking, only four of them were women from the first-class section. The number is quite astounding considering that, in the third class, 89 women died. And so did 387 men.
This may have been due to the fact that third-class passengers were confined to the bottom part of the ship, while first-class were on the top decks. Therefore, when it came to boarding the lifeboats, first-class passengers were much closer and had direct access. Also, women and children were urged to board the lifeboats before anybody else, which would explain the very low death toll of first-class women.
The Woman That Refused to Leave Her Dog Behind
One of the four first-class women to survive was Ann Elizabeth Isham. Shockingly, the reason Isham didn't survive that night was that she refused to leave her pet dog behind. According to reports, Isham had already boarded a lifeboat that was ready to set sail when she suddenly realized she wasn't allowed to take her Great Dane with her. She immediately jumped out of the boat and stayed behind with her dog.
Once the ship had gone down and an official search party was scavenging the waters looking for survivors, they found a woman with her arms wrapped around a large dog; there was speculation that this was Ann Isham, but it was never confirmed.
The "Unsinkable" Molly Brown
One of the most famous survivors of the Titanic was a woman called Margaret Tobin, better known as Molly Brown. She became known as the "unsinkable" Molly Brown, and after surviving the crash, she went on to become a passionate philanthropist and activist.
Brown was a very vocal supporter of the suffrage movement and a major help to the Red Cross during WWI. She even ran for U.S. Senate, though unsuccessfully. Her character was portrayed by the beloved Kathy Bates in James Cameron's "Titanic".
The "Lucky Japanese Boy"
Of the nearly 700 survivors of the Titanic, only one was Japanese. His name was Masabumi Hosono and he became known around the world as the "Lucky Japanese Boy". However, he was quickly called a coward after there were rumors that he had boarded a lifeboat dressed as a woman so they would let him on first. Even though there was no proof of this, Hosono was extensively ostracized back in Japan and called dishonorable by his fellow countrymen.
Interestingly, upon the release of the 1997 film "Titanic", Hosono's family decided to publish a letter he had written to his wife in which he explained that he had been ready to go down with the ship until, at the very last minute, a member of the ship's crew shouted there was room on a lifeboat for two more people, and he got onboard next to another man.