Michel Marcel Navratil
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| Born | June 12, 1908 Nice, France |
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| Died | April 18, 2001 Nice, France |
| Parents | Michel Navratil and Marcelle Caretto |
Michel Marcel Navratil (12 June 1908-18 April 2001) was a passenger on the RMS Titanic. Until his death in 2001, he was the last remaining male survivor of the Titanic. He and his brother, Edmond, were dubbed the The Titanic Orphans, as they were the only children rescued without a parent or guardian.
[edit] R.M.S. Titanic
His parents, Michel and Marcelle separated in early 1912. Their father had visitation with them Easter weekend, but when their mother went to collect them, they were gone. Their father planned to take the boys to America, and used an alias, Louis Hoffman. To other passengers, Michel was known as Lolo.
Although his father rarely let the boys out of his sight, at one point during the voyage, he allowed a Swiss girl, Bertha Lehmann, to watch them. In an interview, Michel Jr. recalled "A magnificent ship!...I remember looking down the length of the hull - the ship looked splended. My brother and I played on the forward deck and were thrilled to be there. One morning, my father, my brother, and I were eating eggs in the second-class dinning room. The sea was stunning. My feeling was one of total and utter well-being." [1]
Michel and his brother were placed by their father, in Collapsible D, the last lifeboat launched. Michel Jr. remembers 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." [2] During the night, Michel was fed cookies by first-class passenger Hugh Woolner. [3] The two boys were hauled up in burlap sacks aboard the RMS Carpathia. They spoke no English, and only simple toddler French, and could not identify themselves. First-class passenger Margaret Hays cared for the boys at her home until their mother could be contacted. Marcelle recognized her sons from newspaper ads about them, and the boys and their mother were reunited on 16 May 1912 and returned back to Nice aboard the RMS Oceanic.
[edit] After the Titanic
Michel went on to earn a professor of psychology doctorate, and married one of his fellow students. Navratil was portrayed in the 1979 film S.O.S. Titanic. The last living male survivor, in 1987, he returned to the U.S. for the first time since 1912 to mark the 75th anniversary of the sinking. He lived out the rest of his days in Montpellier, France, near Nice, where he died in 2001. His younger brother, Edmond, worked as interior decorator and then became an architect and builder. He fought for the French Army during World War II, and was captured and made a prisoner-of-war. Although he escaped, his health suffered and he died in 1953. [4]
Michel Jr's daughter, Elizabeth, wrote a book, Les enfants du Titanic (called Survivors in English) about the experiences of her father, grandfather and uncle.
