Orphans of the Titanic: a touching story of rescuing brothers from a shipwreck

Toddlers Michelle and Edmond Navratil ended up on the Titanic by accident. Their father and mother separated. As the divorce proceedings continued, Michel Navratil, the eldest, decided that he definitely had to start a new life. Far from home.

The man obtained permission from his ex-wife Marcel to take the children (Michel and Edmond were then 2 and 4 years old) – supposedly for the Easter holidays. In fact, he and his sons boarded the Titanic, planning to build a life for themselves in the New World.

On board the Titanic, babies were registered under false names so that when the mother misses the children, the police do not follow them. “I remember looking along the hull – the ship looked great. My brother and I played on the foredeck and were happy to be there,” recalls Michel Jr.

The night the Titanic hit the iceberg, the brothers were sleeping in their bunks, when suddenly their father ran off with another man. Together they took the babies and ran to the lifeboats. Navratil senior put the children in the boat, but, alas, there was no place for him. Michel died in the freezing ocean waters, when his sons were the only children to escape from the Titanic without parents or guardians.

The two orphans caused a sensation in the media: they were the subject of articles in many countries. The main difficulty was that no one knew the names of the children, and they always answered questions with one word – “wee” (from French – “yes”).

Photos played a key role in the happy ending of this story. It was from the photographs printed in one of the newspapers that the inconsolable mother recognized her sons, even though she had no idea the boys were on the sunken liner.

Then, a stroke of luck brings Edmond and Michel home.

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Photo: Getty Images