Page 6 - My FlipBook

making and even considered becoming a jeweler.

Eugene was still a schoolboy and had not decided on

a career quite yet. But now my boys were homesick.

They missed their lives in the United States. They

missed their family and friends. I understood their

homesickness, and I hated to see them suffer. I

decided to sail back to the United States.

On April 10, 1912, the three of us boarded the

Titanic in Southampton, England. Money was tight,

and I had to purchase three tickets, so we took third

class accommodations. Originally, we purchased

passage on the SS Philadelphia. Due to a coal strike,

the Philadelphia did not sail, and we were happy to

be offered berths on the Titanic, even if they were

third class accommodations.

Third class is also called steerage class.

Passengers’ cabins are so low in the ship, they are

near the cables that move the steering rudders. I felt

like steerage leaving my home. I felt very low. But my

6