Archibald Gracie IV

Archibald Gracie IV (born 17 January 1859 in Mobile, † December 4, 1912 in New York City ) was an American historian, businessman and writer. He survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, his book about the disaster became a bestseller and is applied today.

Life

Archibald Gracie comes from a wealthy Scottish- American family. His father, Archibald Gracie III, served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and died in 1864 during the siege of Petersburg. Gracie attended St. Paul 's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and learned afterwards at the United States Military Academy, which he left without a degree. He worked as a historian and was married to Constance Gracie (born Schack ), with whom he had a daughter. 1912 Gracie decided to travel to Europe, which he without his family, did, on board the RMS Oceanic. His return, he took up on the Titanic.

RMS Titanic

Archibald Gracie was the first class passengers than the Titanic struck on April 14, 1912 at 23:40 clock with an iceberg. While the ship sank, he helped until shortly before the fall at 2:20 clock Second Officer Charles Lightoller in filling the lifeboats. Then he swam to Collapsible B, the keel up floating in the water, and was able to save as. He reached with the other survivors New York aboard the RMS Carpathia.

After his return home, Gracie wrote one of the most extensive and most successful books about the disaster. His work " The Truth about the Titanic " was a bestseller and is today under the title "Titanic: A Survivor 's Story " laid.

Archibald Gracie suffered until his death from the effects of hypothermia after the sinking of the Titanic, as well as in psychological distress, he could not handle the disaster. He died a few months after the accident because of complications due to his diabetes.

In the later film adaptations of the ship's destruction was Archibald Gracie James Dyrenforth ( The last night of the Titanic, 1958) and Bernard Fox ( Titanic, 1997) shown.