1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:01,760 Speaker 1: In a few weeks it's going to be the one 2 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: hundred and thirteenth anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Now, 3 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: the thing is, people are still fascinated with the story 4 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: and still intrigued by the backstories of the ship, the 5 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,520 Speaker 1: seven hundred and ten people who managed to survive, and 6 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: the more than sixteen hundred who were lost in the 7 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: twenty six degree water of the North Atlantic. There are 8 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,079 Speaker 1: so many stories, but one of the most interesting is 9 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: the tale of two tiny boys who were the only 10 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: children to survive without their parents. I'm Patty Steele, kidnapped 11 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: by their own father, only to lose him on that 12 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 1: frigid April night. That's next on the backstory. We're back 13 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: with the backstory. In the early part of the nineteen hundreds, 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: the divorce rate in the United States was point seven 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: out of one thousand marriages and point two out of 16 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: one thousand in France. Today in the US it's four 17 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: times as high. In France, ten times higher teen twelve. 18 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: Divorce was incredibly rare and considered socially unacceptable. That brings 19 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: us to the story of two very small French boys 20 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: who had just survived their parents' divorce. Michelle Junior and 21 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: Edmund Navtil were only four and two years old. Their father, 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: Michelle Senior, was looking for a better life as a 23 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: divorced man. His reputation had taken a hit, Plus he 24 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: missed his little guys terribly. His ex wife, Marcel, had 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: custody of the children, but she agreed to let her 26 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: husband take them to spend time with him over Easter. 27 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: This was his chance. Like a lot of European immigrants, 28 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: he wanted to search for a better life in America. 29 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: He decides to book passage on a ship under false 30 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: names so the French police won't catch up with him. 31 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: His plan probably would have worked. It was easy to 32 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: disappear to a new place in those days. But the 33 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: problem is he booked second class tickets on the RMS Titanic. 34 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: Seemed daring and pretty excite to launch into a new 35 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: life aboard the maiden voyage of the most talked about 36 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: ship in the world until four days into that trip. Again, 37 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: Michelle Junior was only four, but he later remembered the 38 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: first few days as being a wonderful journey. Said Michel. 39 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,680 Speaker 1: I remember looking down the length of the hull. The 40 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: ship looked splendid. My little brother and I played on 41 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: the forward deck and were thrilled to be there. But 42 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: on April fourteenth, just before midnight, the ship hit an 43 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: enormous iceberg. One survivor said it looked like a mountain 44 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: above water, even though seven eighths of the iceberg is 45 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: actually below the water line. It took two hours and 46 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: forty minutes for the ship to fully slip beneath the 47 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: ocean and plunge more than twelve thousand feet to the bottom. 48 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: In the meantime, people were scrambling to survive. Michelle Junior 49 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: remembers his dad coming back into the cabin with another man. 50 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: They bundled up the tiny boys and carried them down 51 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: to the life boats. All the intrigue of the kidnapping 52 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: of Michelle's Senior's sons was nothing compared to what they 53 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: were about to face. The little guys got a last 54 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: glimpse of their father as he dropped them into the lifeboat. 55 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: Years later, Michele Junior said, the last thing their father 56 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: said to him as a lifeboat was about to be 57 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: lowered into the icy water, was my child, when your 58 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: mother comes for you, as she surely will tell her 59 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: that I loved her dearly and still do tell her. 60 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: I expected her to follow us so that we might 61 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: all live happily together in the peace and freedom of 62 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: the new world. Nice words, But he had changed all 63 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: their names to travel across the ocean. So Michele Navertiel 64 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: Senor perished in the frigid ocean at the age of 65 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: thirty one. His little boys were the only children to 66 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: survive the disaster without their parents or a guardian by 67 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: their side. They suddenly became media darlings as much as 68 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: you could in the days before radio or television. No 69 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: one knew who they were, since they traveled under the 70 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: false names their dad had given them. Oddly, four year 71 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: old Michelle Junior was ticketed under the name Lewis and 72 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: two year old Edmund was booked as Lola. The press 73 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: called them the Titanic orphans. Reports said they answered any 74 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: question from the French consul with a simple WII that 75 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: means yes, because they were very distracted by the new 76 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: toy boats. They had been given brilliant toy boats for 77 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: kids who had just survived a shipping disaster. Okay, while 78 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 1: authorites tried to track down any family, the boys stayed 79 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: at the home of another survivor on New York City's 80 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: Upper West Side. She came from a wealthy family, and 81 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: her father spoke with reporters. They asked if the boys 82 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: could be identified by tracking their tickets. Her father snottily replied, 83 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: I have never traveled second cabin or steerage. I only 84 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: traveled first class, so I don't know anything about such matters. 85 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: That comment really showed the class divide in those days. 86 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: Their survival rates aboard the Titanic also really highlight the 87 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: difference of the three hundred twenty four first class travelers 88 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: two hundred one survived, but only one hundred eighty one 89 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,479 Speaker 1: of the seven hundred and eight third class travelers made 90 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: it off the ship alive. Even Michelle Junior realized that fact, 91 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: saying later, there were vast differences of people's wealth on 92 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: the ship, and I knew later that if we hadn't 93 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: been in at least second class, we'd have died. Meanwhile, 94 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: back in France, Marcel was frantically searching for her sons. 95 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: She realized that Michelle Senior had disappeared with their little boys, 96 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: but she had no idea where they were or that 97 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 1: they had been on the Titanic newspaper articles about the 98 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: boys in the United States had photographs of them. Finally, 99 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 1: as those stories got published in Europe about a month later, 100 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: marcell spotted one of the articles with a photograph of 101 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: her little boys. She confirmed their identities with the authorities, 102 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: and she immediately climbed aboard a ship That's Brave and 103 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: made her way to America to fetch Michelle, Junior and 104 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: Edmund in New York City. The families sailed back to France, 105 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: where the so called Titanic Orphans would spend the rest 106 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: of their lives. Michelle lived to be the oldest surviving 107 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,160 Speaker 1: male of the infamous shipwreck, passing on in two thousand 108 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: and one at the age of ninety two. Little brother 109 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: Edmund had died back in nineteen fifty three, not the 110 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: new life their father had hoped for. Hope you're enjoying 111 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: the backstory with Patty Steele, Follow or subscribe for free 112 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: to get new episodes delivered automatically. And by the way, 113 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: feel free to DM me if you have a story 114 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele 115 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The 116 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: Backstory is a production of iHeart Media, Premiere Networks, the 117 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 1: Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is 118 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes 119 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to 120 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at 121 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks 122 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces 123 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: of history you didn't know you needed to know.