Michel Marcel Navratil
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| Michel Navratil Jr. | |
 Michel, right, and his brother, Edmond, in a photograph taken to aid in their identification after the sinking
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| Born | 12 June 1908 Nice, France |
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| Died | 30 January 2001 (aged 92) Montpellier, France |
| Parents | Michel Navratil and Marcelle Caretto |
Michel Marcel Navratil (June 12, 1908 – January 30, 2001) was one of the last remaining survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. Michel, along with his brother, Edmond, were known as the Titanic Orphans having been the only children rescued without a parent or guardian.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Michel Marcel Navratil was born on June 12, 1908 in Nice, France to Michel Navratil, a tailor, and Marcelle Caretto. Michel had a younger brother, Edmond Roger Navratil, who was born on March 5, 1910.
In early 1912, Michel and Marcelle separated and Marcelle was awarded full custody of their two children. Marcelle allowed her sons to stay with their father over the Easter weekend, however, when she went to collect them, they had disappeared. Michel decided to emigrate to the United States and wanted to take his children with him. After a brief stay in Monte Carlo, Michel and his sons traveled to England where they boarded the RMS Titanic.
[edit] Aboard Titanic
Michel, his brother, and father, boarded the RMS Titanic at Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 as second-class passengers. Michel's father assumed the alias 'Louis M. Hoffman' and the boys were booked as 'Loto' and 'Louis'. While on board, Mr. Navratil led passengers to believe his wife was deceased, and only let his children out of his sight once, when he allowed a woman, Bertha Lehmann, to watch them for a few hours.[1]
After Titanic's collision with an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, Mr. Navratil placed Michel and his brother in Collapsible D, the last lifeboat launched. Michel, although not quite four years old at the time, later 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."[2] Mr. Navratil died during the sinking, and his body was recovered by the rescue ship, CS Mackay-Bennett. In his pocket was a revolver.[1] When the rescue ship RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene, Michel and his brother were hoisted to its deck in burlap sacks. Since Michel and his brother were toddlers and spoke no English, they could not identify themselves and were soon referred to as the Titanic Orphans. First-class passenger Margaret Hays cared for the boys at her home until their mother could be contacted. It was only after their mother, Marcelle, recognized her children from newspaper articles with their pictures, that she sailed to New York City, New York and was reunited with them on May 16, 1912.[2]
[edit] Career
Michel went to college and in 1933 married a fellow student. He went on to earn a doctorate and became a professor of philosophy. Throughout his lifetime, Michel maintained that his brush with death at such a young age coupled with the loss of his father, strongly influenced his thought process throughout the rest of his life.[3]
[edit] Later life and death
In 1987, Michel travelled to Wilmington, Delaware to mark the 75th anniversary of the sinking. It was his first time in the United States since 1912. The following year, Michel joined ten fellow survivors at a Titanic Historical Society convention in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1996, Michel joined fellow survivors Eleanor Shuman and Edith Haisman on a cruise to the location of Titanic's wreck where attempts were made to bring a large portion of the ship's hull to the surface. Before his flight back to France, Michel traveled to Nova Scotia to see the grave of his father for the first time.[4]
Michel lived the remainder of his life in Montpellier, France and it was there that he died at the age of 92 on January 30, 2001.
[edit] Notes
- Michel's brother, Edmond, worked as interior decorator and then became an architect and builder. He joined the French Army during World War II and became a prisoner-of-war. Although he escaped, his health had declined and he died in 1953 at the age of 43.[2][5]
- Michel's daughter, Élisabeth, an opera director, wrote a book, Les enfants du Titanic (literally "The Children of the Titanic"; called Survivors in English) about the experiences of her father, grandfather, and uncle[6].
[edit] References and Footnotes
- ^ a b Mr Michel Navratil - Titanic Biographies, Encyclopedia Titanica
- ^ a b c Master Michel Marcel Navratil - Titanic Biographies, Encyclopedia Titanica
- ^ Michel Navratil -- Titanic Survivor, 92. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
- ^ With Ship's Hull Back on the Ocean Floor, Titanic Buffs Return to New York
- ^ Master Edmond Roger Navratil. Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
- ^ "Survivors" by Elisabeth Navratil. The O'Brien Press Ltd. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
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