Orphans of the Titanic
One of Titanic‘s most intriguing stories is the tale of the Navratil brothers, three- and two-year-old French boys traveling ins second class with their father. But this was no ordinary father/son trip. Their father, estranged from his wife, whom he suspected of infidelity, had kidnapped them during an Easter weekend visit. Instead of returning them to their mother, he boarded the Titanic under the name Charles Hoffman. Their father perished in the sinking but managed to get both boys in a lifeboat. The boys, now separated from their father and unable to speak English, were unable to help officials figure out their identities. They were the only ‘unclaimed’ child survivors from Titanic. They stayed with first-class passenger Margaret Hays until they could be identified. Back at home, Marcelle Navratil, their mother, recognized them from newspapers and hurried to America to claim her sons.