Colonel John Jacob Astor IV was born in Rhinebeck, New York on July 13th, 1864 the son of William Astor and great-grandson of John Jacob Astor the fur trader. Astor was educated at St. Paul's School, Concord and later went to Harvard. After a period of travelling abroad (1888-91) he returned to the United States to manage the family fortune. He had homes at 840 Fifth Avenue, New York and at Ferncliff , Rhinebeck, New York.
In 1894 Astor wrote a semi-scientific novel A Journey in Other Worlds . During his life he also developed several mechanical devices including a bicycle brake (1898), helped to develop the turbine engine, and invented a pneumatic road-improver.
In 1897 Astor built the Astoria Hotel, New York adjoining the Waldorf Hotel which had been built by William Waldorf Astor, his cousin. The new complex became known as the Waldorf-Astoria. Astor's real-estate interest included two other hotels, the Hotel St. Regis (1905) and the Knickerbocker (1906).
He became Colonel-staff to General Levi P. Morton and in 1898, at the time of the Spanish-American War, was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the US volunteers. He placed his yacht Nourmahal at the disposal of the U.S. government and equipped a mountain battery of artillery for use against the Spanish.
On 1 May 1891 Astor was married to Ava, daughter of Edward Shippen Willing of Philadelphia . Together they had a son and one daughter. However, in 1909 Astor divorced Ava and, two years later, married eighteen-year-old Madeleine Force (who was a year younger than his son Vincent).
Public opinion was divided concerning the respectability of Astor's actions, and the newlyweds decided to winter abroad in order to let the gossip die down at home. Mr and Mrs Astor travelled to Egypt and Paris and, in the spring of 1912, decided to return to America as First Class passengers on board the brand new Titanic .
Public opinion was divided concerning the respectability of Astor's actions, and the newlyweds decided to winter abroad in order to let the gossip die down at home. Mr and Mrs Astor travelled to Egypt and Paris and, in the spring of 1912, decided to return to America as First Class passengers on board the brand new Titanic .
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They boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with Colonel Astor's manservant Mr Victor Robbins , Mrs Astor's maid Miss Rosalie Bidois , Miss Caroline Louise Endres Mrs Astor's private nurse and their pet Airedale Kitty. Their ticket was PC 17757 which cost £224 10s 6d. They occupied cabins C-62-64.
After the accident Astor left his suite to investigate, he quickly returned and reported to his wife that the ship had struck ice. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious.
Later, when the first class passengers had begun to congregate on the boat deck , the Astors sat on the mechanical horses in the gymnasium. They wore their lifebelts but Colonel Astor had found another and cut the lining with a pen knife to show his wife what it was made of.
Even as the boats were loaded Astor appeared unperturbed, he ridiculed the idea of trading the solid decks of the Titanic for a small lifeboat 'we are safer here than in that little boat' . He had changed his mind by 1:45 when Second Officer Charles Lightoller arrived on A deck to finish loading Lifeboat 4 . Astor helped his wife to climb through the windows of the enclosed promenade and then asked if he might join her, being as she was in 'a delicate condition'. Lightoller told him that no men could enter until all the women had been loaded. Astor stood back and just asked Lightoller which boat it was. After boat 4 was lowered at 1:55 Astor stood alone while others tried to free the remaining collapsible boats.
The Two Deaths of John Jacob Astor
For many years it has been 'common knowledge' among Titanic researchers that Colonel John Jacob Astor lost his life when the Titanic's forward funnel crashed down on top of him as he struggled in the sea next to the sinking liner. This belief is based on the claim that Mr. Astor's body was badly crushed and impregnated with soot when it was recovered by the Mackay Bennett a few days after the disaster [e.g. see note #1.]
But is this claim accurate?
Despite a wide-ranging search for the original report that Mr. Astor's body was crushed and blackened by soot from a falling funnel, only one account has come to light which partially supports this contention. Page 31 of Archibald Gracie's "The Truth About the Titanic" contains the following statement:
- "From the fact that I never saw Colonel Astor on the Boat Deck later, and also because his body, when found, was crushed (according to the statement of one who saw it at Halifax, Mr. Harry K. White, of Boston, Mr. Edward A. Kent's brother-in-law, my schoolmate and friend from boyhood), I am of the opinion that he met his fate on the ship when the boilers tore through it, as described later."
Despite Archibald Gracie's claim that Colonel Astor's body was crushed, however, the present author has succeeded in uncovering several previously-unknown eyewitness accounts which cast serious doubt on the claim that Colonel Astor's body was badly damaged during the sinking of the Titanic.
Let us examine these accounts.
- Gerald Ross (an electrician on the Mackay Bennett) said: "I saw the recovery of Col. Astor's body. Like the others it was floating buoyed by a lifebelt. Both arms extended upwards. The face was swollen, one jaw was injured. His body was clothed in a business suit and tan shoes. His watch, a costly thing, studded with diamonds, was dangling from his pocket. It had stopped at 3:20. Practically all the other watches on bodies we recovered had stopped at 2:10. His watch chain was of platinum and so were the settings of the rings he wore."
- John Snow (the undertaker who served on board the Mackay Bennett) made the following observation: "Colonel Astor's body was in an excellent state of preservation. It was clad in full evening dress. Col. Astor's handsome gold watch was dangling from the chain out of one of his pockets as though he had looked at it just before he took the final plunge. There was $2,500 in cash in his pocket."
- Captain Richard Roberts (the commander of the Astor yacht) was the first to view the body of his employer when it was brought to Halifax. The features, he said, were unharmed, the face being only slightly discolored by water. When the body was recovered it was in ordinary garments, on which were Col. Astor's initials, and by this means as well as by certain documents in his pockets he was identified. He also carried considerable cash. Col. Astor was also wearing a belt with a gold buckle that had been in the family for years.
The above three interviews make it very clear that Titanic researchers cannot afford to take 'common knowledge' for granted; these interviews prove that serious researchers must regard undocumented secondary sources with a great deal of caution and should instead rely on primary sources of information as often as they possibly can. If this cautionary advice is not acted upon, it is quite possible for well-meaning researchers to expend a great deal of time and energy discussing the fine points of historical events that never occurred in the first place.
Notes
1. Butler, Daniel, "Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic," Stackpole Books, 1998. Page 136.
http://home.comcast.net/~georgebehe/titanic/page12.htm
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MRS. ASTOR IS ILL, BUT NOT CRITICALLY
New York Times - Saturday 20 April 1912
Alarming Reports as to Her Condition Formally Denied by Secretary
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VINCENT ASTOR STILL HOPES
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Mrs. Henry B. Harris Slowly Regaining Her Strength
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Robert W. Daniel Receives Friends at His Hotel
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At the home of Mrs. John Jacob Astor, 840 Fifth Avenue, it was announced last night that, while Mrs. Astor was ill as a result of the experience through which she had passed, her condition was not critical, as had been reported. No alarm was felt by her relatives and friends, it was said. Interviews had been sought by so many during the day that this statement was finally issued by William Dobbyn, who was Col. Astor's secretary:
Mrs. Astor is very ill and under the care of a physician. It will be impossible for her to be interviewed or to give out any statement.
Vincent Astor, son of Col. Astor, also refused to discuss the foundering of the Titanic, and devoted most of his time yesterday to interviewing survivors, in the hope that he might obtain some further information about his father.
In fact, he has refused steadfastly to believe that all chance that his father may have been rescued is gone, and is hoping against hope that he may have been picked up by some other craft. He obtained little news that was comforting, however, and was greatly depressed last night.
One of those whom Vincent Astor interviewed yesterday was Robert Williams Daniel, a banker of Philadelphia and Richmond, who is stopping at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. Astor went to the hotel during the afternoon, accompanied by Mr. Dobbyn. He had heard, he said, that Mr. Daniel had seen his father on the Titanic not long before the giant ship foundered.
Mr. Daniel's story was that he had seen Col. Astor and Walter M. Clark, another of the Titanic's passengers who lost his life in the disaster, leaning against the rail, talking. The last boat had gone then, he said, and Mrs. Astor was safe. He ran up to Col. Astor and Mr. Clark and begged them to jump overboard, in the hope of being picked up by one of the boats.
"They refused to leave the ship," said Mr. Daniel, "and I left them standing there. What happened after that I hardly know myself. I had not taken time to dress and wore only a bathrobe. Under this I had slipped a life preserver. It didn't seem to me that we were sinking, but the waters seemed rising up over us. Finally, I jumped in and I was
struggling about among the ice cakes, fighting for my life, when I was rescued."
According to relatives who were with Mr. Daniel when Vincent Astor called upon him, Mr. Astor was greatly agitated, and showed plainly the effect of sleeples [sic] nights and mental anguish. He had told them, he said, that while Mrs. Astor was quite ill, she was in no danger.
Mr. Daniel seemed little the worse for his experience, and in the afternoon entertained a score or more of his friends at the Waldorf.
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VINCENT ASTOR STILL HOPES
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Mrs. Henry B. Harris Slowly Regaining Her Strength
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Robert W. Daniel Receives Friends at His Hotel
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At the home of Mrs. John Jacob Astor, 840 Fifth Avenue, it was announced last night that, while Mrs. Astor was ill as a result of the experience through which she had passed, her condition was not critical, as had been reported. No alarm was felt by her relatives and friends, it was said. Interviews had been sought by so many during the day that this statement was finally issued by William Dobbyn, who was Col. Astor's secretary:
Mrs. Astor is very ill and under the care of a physician. It will be impossible for her to be interviewed or to give out any statement.
Vincent Astor, son of Col. Astor, also refused to discuss the foundering of the Titanic, and devoted most of his time yesterday to interviewing survivors, in the hope that he might obtain some further information about his father.
In fact, he has refused steadfastly to believe that all chance that his father may have been rescued is gone, and is hoping against hope that he may have been picked up by some other craft. He obtained little news that was comforting, however, and was greatly depressed last night.
One of those whom Vincent Astor interviewed yesterday was Robert Williams Daniel, a banker of Philadelphia and Richmond, who is stopping at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. Astor went to the hotel during the afternoon, accompanied by Mr. Dobbyn. He had heard, he said, that Mr. Daniel had seen his father on the Titanic not long before the giant ship foundered.
Mr. Daniel's story was that he had seen Col. Astor and Walter M. Clark, another of the Titanic's passengers who lost his life in the disaster, leaning against the rail, talking. The last boat had gone then, he said, and Mrs. Astor was safe. He ran up to Col. Astor and Mr. Clark and begged them to jump overboard, in the hope of being picked up by one of the boats.
"They refused to leave the ship," said Mr. Daniel, "and I left them standing there. What happened after that I hardly know myself. I had not taken time to dress and wore only a bathrobe. Under this I had slipped a life preserver. It didn't seem to me that we were sinking, but the waters seemed rising up over us. Finally, I jumped in and I was
struggling about among the ice cakes, fighting for my life, when I was rescued."
Mr. Daniel said that he was positive the first officer of the Titanic committed suicide by sending a bullet in his brain before the ship foundered.
"I know it," he declared. "I was not more than ten feet away. I do not believe the stories that Capt. Smith ended his life. He stuck to his post to the last. He was a brave man.
"There were several shots fired, however. I saw one man discharge a revolver several times to frighten others away from a lifeboat and then got into it himself. In fact, I saw him afterwards in the very lifeboat that picked me up."
According to relatives who were with Mr. Daniel when Vincent Astor called upon him, Mr. Astor was greatly agitated, and showed plainly the effect of sleeples [sic] nights and mental anguish. He had told them, he said, that while Mrs. Astor was quite ill, she was in no danger.
Mr. Daniel seemed little the worse for his experience, and in the afternoon entertained a score or more of his friends at the Waldorf.
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