Were children really separated from parents & left to drown?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — A Night to Remember
TheGoforth — 9 years ago(December 10, 2016 07:02 AM)
There's a scene where a waiter sees a little boy crying for his mother on the ship as its taking the last plunge, and he comforts him. Are there any stories of abandoned children who died in that tragedy, because I can't imagine how a child would be left to fend for itself in such a scenario.
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palisade-1 — 9 years ago(December 10, 2016 01:39 PM)
Children did get separated from their parents due to the confusion. The cases we know of involved first class passengers, and those children were not "abandoned," but nevertheless the unintentional separation resulted in tragedy for the Allison family. The Allisons, a Canadian couple, had two young children and were traveling with a nursemaid for their baby, Trevor. The maid took the baby and went in a lifeboat without telling the parents, and they spent the rest of the time in a frantic search for him (and her). This resulted in both the Allisons and their older child, Loraine, being lost in the sinking. Another case involved an older child (IIRC, it was Ruth Becker, but I might be mistaken as to which survivor told this story) whose mother and sibling were loaded into a lifeboat and when Ruth went to get in with them, the officer stopped her and told her the boat was full. She was around 11 or 12. She had enough presence of mind to immediately go in search of another lifeboat and ask to get in. It was one of the last lifeboats to be lowered.
It's likely, though, that children and parents were unintentionally separated during the confusion after all the boats were gone, and all the family was lost so we never heard details of such cases. This subplot in the film highlights the tragedy of such cases. Considering how many second and third class children perished, it's quite probable something similar happened; after all, small children are regularly lost (temporarily) in stores and malls; they dart away to look at something and then are nowhere to be seen.
Here's a story about the Allison family and a claimant who maintained she was actually the descendant of the lost Loraine:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10581757/Lost-child-of-the-Titanic-and-the-fraud-that-haunted-her-family.html
Edited to fix link -
TheGoforth — 9 years ago(December 11, 2016 04:44 AM)
Thank you for the post. The Allison story is a heartbreak. In honour of all the lost children of the Titanic, let me post Christ's famous sentiment:
"Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.