Unsinkable page 10

Unsinkable page 10 by ric Gustafson


At 9:30 am on April 10 1912, a boat train pulled out of Waterloo Station. Inside were more than a dozen men whose net financial worth was over 300 million dollars.
The number one American plutocrat was John Jacob Astor. He had a long narrow face and a aquiline nose. He was the great grandson of the first John Jacob Astor. The elder Astor emigrated to America in 1783 and amassed a fortune in the fur trade. By 1900, the family held title to real estate all over the world including the Astoria Hotel in New York City.
The younger Astor was ambitious and sometimes ruthless. He was an eccentric, tinkerer and inventor. In 1909, he divorced his wife Ava in order to marry 18 year old Madeline Force. Also on the train, was Benjamin Guggenheim. He was one of seven sons of Meyer Guggenheim. Guggenheim was involved in banking, mining and smelting. He was a soft spoken man. Also on the train, was Charles Hay. He was the President of the Grand Trunk Railway. Hays, a Canadian by birth, turned his company into a dominant railway around the Great Lakes. He was heading back to open a chain of Grand Trunk hotels.
One of the few women on the train that morning was Maggie Brown. Her husband James Joseph Brown owned a gold mine. They separated and she became a world traveler. She was coming back on the Titanic after spending the winter in Egypt with the Astors.


research help: ' Unsinkable' by Daniel Allen Butler


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric