Name |
Lifeboat from Titanic |
Lifeboat to Carpathia |
Confidence Level |
Youssef, Mrs Katarin | C? | C? | 2.06 |
Youssef, Miss Marianna | C? | C? | 2.06 |
Youssef, Master Makhkhul | ? | ? | 1.00 |
The Youssef family was also called the Joseph family in later documents, also Catherine, Mary Ann, and Michael. From Michael Joseph's obituary from the Titanic Commutator Vol. 15, No 2, written by researcher George Behe: "Mr. Joseph was only four years old when, along with his 24 year old mother Catherine and one year old sister Mary, he ended his visit to Syria and boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg in order to rejoin his father in the United States. Mother and children were asleep when Titanic collided with the iceberg. Catherine Joseph was awakened by the impact, and shortly thereafter stewards circulated among the third class passengers ordering them to get out of bed while at the same time insisting that nothing was seriously wrong with the ship. Mrs. Joseph got her children dressed, picked up little Mary and told Michael to hang onto her skirt tails as she started for the upper decks. The little boy did his best, but in the confusion he somehow lost his grip and became separated from his mother. At that point a man who Mr. Joseph later described as his “Guardian Angel” grabbed the little boy’s hand and hurried him through the crowd towards the upper decks. Catherine Joseph apparently saw her son vanish in the throng ahead of her, and she rushed along as best as she could with her infant daughter; by the time she reached the lifeboats, however, Michael was nowhere to be seen." According to his mother's account in the Detroit Free Press of April 20, 1912, Michael was separated from his mother, but in a different way: "Soon after we were told to get into a boat and I entered a boat with 24 other people. The boat was manned by five men and we were dropped into the water. It was very dark then, and there was a lot of excitement. Just as we rowed away from the ship, I heard a couple of pistol shots and the cries of those on the ship increased. I was badly frightened, and soon after that the boat was rowed from the ship's side, I dropped my boy Michael (Makhkhul) overboard accidentally. I thought surely he was drowned. One of the other women in the boat had my baby. After we had floated for several hours until about 8 o'clock in the morning, the boat was picked up. I still thought Michael was dead and I was nearly frantic When another boat was picked up, and I found that one of my people in it had picked up my boy from the water." This account is not internally consistent. Did another woman in whatever lifeboat she was in, have her baby? Or was he in another lifeboat? An account in the Toronto Star of April 20, 1912 appears to say that some men took her son up on deck without her. She was in a boat with a light but no water. There were four men and about twenty women and children. Taking all these accounts in total, we do see that four year old Makhkhul was separated from the rest of the family, but whether in the lifeboat or below deck we can't say. And what happened to him and what lifeboat he was in until he was reunited with them, we also can't say. 3rd Class passenger Shawneene Whabee claimed in a 1937 interview that the Youssef's were in the same lifeboat as she was. We think Whabee was possibly in lifeboat 12. As far as Katarin and sister Marianna.are concerned, they appear to be in a boat near some shots being fired. That could mean Collapsible C, where Hugh Woolner reported shots, or Collapsible D, or #14, where Lowe fired shots alongside the Titanic as the lifeboat went down. However, neither number of people in C or #14 is that close to what was said. D is closer than C. However, the Detroit Free Press account says Mrs. Youssef entered a lifeboat witth 24 people in it. She does say "When another boat was picked up", which implies neither Collapsbiles C or D, but possibly #12, which picked up a number of the survivors atop Collapsible B. And #12 was close enough to the shots Lowe fired at #14 to hear them. We do feel Collapsible C is the most likely for Katarin and sister Marianna. |