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."

The reader will immediately notice that, although the Gracie account claims that Col. Astor's body was indeed recovered in a crushed condition, there is no suggestion at all that the body was blackened by soot as if from a falling funnel. The present author believes that the 'extra' detail about the soot was just an imaginative addition to Gracie's account that was tacked onto it by researchers who felt a need to 'pin down' the exact cause of Colonel Astor's death.

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.

Although the above three accounts differ slightly in certain particulars, all three of them seem to confirm the fact that Colonel Astor's body was not crushed, soot-blackened or disfigured in a manner suggesting that he had been killed by either a falling boiler or a falling funnel. Quite the opposite, in fact.

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.

1. Butler, Daniel, "Unsinkable: The Full Story of RMS Titanic," Stackpole Books, 1998. Page 136.

The author would like to express his grateful thanks to Mac Smith for drawing his attention to the Gracie account of Colonel Astor's crushed body.