Of the eight Chinese passengers, five survived by boarding lifeboats, four of them on the last lifeboat to leave the Titanic, Collapsible C. Collapsible C was the same lifeboat on which White Star chairman J. Bruce Ismay escaped. Faced with criticism about his legitimacy on the vessel, Ismay testified that the four Chinese men were “hiding” under the benches, maybe hoping to reinforce his own status as a gentleman. The sixth Chinese survivor was found floating on a door to which he had attached himself. Lifeboat 14 (the only one to return to the scene to look for survivors) was reluctant to pick him up because they thought he was a “Jap.” Fortunately, they did, as he helped to row the lifeboat to safety.

Efforts to uncover these men’s stories are underway, though after being shamed for surviving, many of them did not even share their stories with their own families. Luck of the Titanic is a tribute to the great place these men hold in history.

Author’s Further Note

The wonderful thing about writing a book about such an infamous historical event as the sinking of the Titanic is the bottomless well of information available. In the wake of the disaster, inquisitions were held. Scientists and engineers endeavored to understand what had gone wrong, so as to prevent future tragedies. Countries developed regulations. And newspapers reported on the events for years. In addition, people with curious minds did their own investigations, trying to understand exactly what had happened. Many are still investigating to this day. (There’s a highly informative discussion board at encyclopedia-titanica.org for anyone with questions about the Titanic.) Some things we will never know. Some questions will be answered in time.

The challenge of writing historical fiction lies in creating a fictional story within the confines of the historical record without doing too much damage in the process. Where I felt it was important, I used the names of actual passengers for my characters, mostly to invite the reader to discover their lives. Of course, some of the more well-known citizenry had to remain: Captain Smith, J. Bruce Ismay, the Duff-Gordons. The Titanic would just not be the Titanic without them. Additionally, Albert Ankeny Stewart was a real man with business interests in the Ringling Brothers Circus, a man named Crawford was his bedroom valet, and Bertha Chambers was a first-class passenger staying on E-Deck. Exploring these lesser-known characters was a way to honor their memories.

More often than not, I created entirely new characters to give me the flexibility to tell the story. May you enjoy each and every one of them (perhaps with the exception of Skeleton), but most importantly, may Luck of the Titanic provoke a discussion about which of these characters society considers “worthy” and which it does not.

Acknowledgments