Those who didn't sail on the Titanic

On Thursday, April 11, 1912 At 1:30 p.m. Titanic departed her anchorage off Roches Point near Queenstown, Ireland.

There were aboard at this point 2,228 persons – 1,320 passengers and 908 "working" crew. The figure of 2,228 was reached after minute examination of records and lists prepared by Titanic's owners and the official governmental bodies who investigated her loss.

The purpose of this project is to list below the known cancellations by passengers, transfers, and last-minute desertions by crew - resulting in non-embarkation. So far ( according to Encyclopedia Titanic), canceled bookings for more than 50 passengers have been authenticated, mainly in newspaper stories at the time of the disaster. Names of crew who deserted, failed to join or transferred prior to the voyage appear on a list compiled for the British Board of Trade.

Please link any Geni profiles to the names below, or expand the list where other passengers are known or found.

Related Projects

● RMS Titanic
● Titanic Deck Crew, Victualling & Restaraunt Staff, Orchestra and other employees
● Titanic Crew - Engineering Department
● Titanic Passengers - First Class
● Titanic Passengers - Second Class
● Titanic Passengers - Third Class
● Titanic Passengers and Crew: Further developments

---

Getting Involved

Feel free to follow, request to collaborate

To join the project use the request link under "actions" at the top right of the page.

Visit

Geni's Project Plaza

Working with Projects

Wicked Wiki

Geni Wikitext, Unicode and images which gives a great deal of assistance.

See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!

‘’’Help: Cheatsheet’’’

---

List of Passengers who "missed the boat"

Sources for some -

[1] - Titanic seamen who failed to join or deserted

[2] - At Queenstown, in addition to the names of 115 adults and five children who boarded, there also appear on the list names of 18 people who did not use the tickets they had purchased for passage aboard Titanic.

[3] Passengers who cancelled bookings

A

Adelman - Mr. and Mrs. [3]

Anderson Mr. and Mrs. [3]

B

Robert Bacon US Secretary of State [3]

Ambassador Robert Bacon and his family booked passage aboard Titanic. The United States ambassador to France, Mr. Robert Bacon, had reserved passage aboard Titanic for himself, his wife and daughter. But their departure was delayed by the tardy arrival of the new ambassador, Myron T. Hendrick. The Bacon family sailed April 20 on the maiden voyage of the S.S. France – an event saddened by Titanic's loss. Wife and Daughter

Rev. Henry S Besbitt

Rev. Henry S. Nesbitt, his wife and five children had planned to sail to New York aboard the Majestic. When this ship's sailing was canceled by the coal strike, Thomas Cook's Paris agents assured the Nesbitts that the new ship Titanic would take her passengers on her April 10th maiden voyage. Arriving at London, the Rev. Nesbitt unexpectedly learned of a serious illness that had befallen Mrs. Nesbitt's father.

Edward W Bill Mr. and Mrs. [3]

Mrs. Bill had a dream of Titanic being wrecked; they sailed on Celtic instead.

David ("Davy") Blair WIKI (1874-1955)

David ("Davy") Blair had come over from Oceanic to join Titanic at Belfast as second officer. Perhaps because the White Star Line wished him to have the experience of serving aboard a liner it was rumoured he would one day command, the company's management through its marine superintendent – had Olympic chief officer Henry Tingle Wilde transferred to the newer vessel. Blair did serve aboard during the trip from Belfast, but when Wilde joined Titanic at Southampton a disappointed Blair returned to Ocean.

C Blake [1]

Failed to Join

Mrs. Florence Bond, and maid [3]

F T Bowman [1]

Failed to Join

B Brewer [1]

Deserted

W Burrows [1]

Left by Consent

C

Nora Callaghan

Ticket number not used 364853, 18 Spinster - from the village of Addergoole. Records of the Celtic, show Callaghan boarding that ship on April 12, 1912, just one day after the Titanic left Queenstown.

Frank Carlson, [3]

Driving to Cherbourg, his car broke down and he missed the boat. However, his name remained on passenger list.

F Carter [1]

Failed to join

J Coffey [1]

Deserted

John Concannon

Ticket No. 382654 not used, 22, Carpenter

Bridget Courtney

Ticket No. 365653 not used , 25, Housekeeper

Margaret Courtney

Child of Margaret

Norman Carlyle Craig (1868-1919) [3]

Scottish MP and King’s Counsel who had originally booked passage aboard the Titanic for her maiden voyage to America. He had decided to make the trip “for a blow of fresh air.” After the Titanic sank, some assumed he had been aboard or transferred to another ship for safe passage, but he never made the trip. He said “I suddenly decided not to sail, I cannot tell you why; there was simply no reason for it.” “I had no mysterious premonitions or visions of any kind nor did I dream of any disaster.” “But I do know that, at practically the last moment, I did not want to go.”
WIKI Norman Carlisle Craig (1868-1919)

D

S P Davies [3]

Of Winnipeg, Manitoba; canceled because illness forced him to take an earlier ship.

W W Dawes [1]

Discharged

P Dawkins [1]

Failed to join

E di Napoli [1]

Failed to join

Joseph Donon

Famous French chef of the period - hired by Mr. Frick as part of his household staff and had booked passage for him to return with the couple to the United States. Donon went on to be the celebrated chef to Florence Vanderbilt Twombly, a granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)

Novelist, then 40; - had planned to sail on the Titanic

Mary Dunne

Ticket No. 366984 not used, 33, Spinster

Frank Dwan

Ticket No. 336439 not used, 65, General Labourer

E

Miss Annie Eastman, [3]

P Ettlinger [1]

Discharged

F

B Fish [1]

Failed to Join

R Fisher [1]

Discharged

Delia Forhan

Ticket No. 386588 not used, 25, Spinster

Alfred Franks, [3]

Birmingham [England] Daily Gazette, 16 April 1912 Changed his mind after booking. A few days before 10 April, took a ship from Liverpool instead.

Adelaide Howard Frick nee Childs

Sprained her ankle while on a cruise in southern Europe, causing the couple to remain in Europe to seek medical attention.

Henry Clay Frick

The American steel magnate engaged a suite in February 1912 but canceled when Mrs. Frick sprained her ankle during a Mediterranean cruise. J. P. Morgan took over the booking but canceled when business interests lengthened his stay abroad. The booking was then assumed by Mr. and Mrs. J. Horace Harding, but the couple was able to get an earlier sailing date aboard Mauritania.

G

Margaret Gilligan

Ticket No. 43131 not used; 19, Spinster

James Martin Gray

Reverend James M. Gray was a pastor in the Reformed Episcopal Church, a Bible scholar, editor and hymn writer, and the president of Moody Bible Institute. Reverend Gray was scheduled to preach at the graduating class ceremony of the institute and was about to head from England back to America, to do so. However, a friend, Reverend Harold, urged him to remain in England and return to America instead aboard the Titanic on her maiden voyage. Gray refused because he felt duty bound to be at the institute to preach to the graduates. He took an earlier steamship to America a week before the Titanic sank.
WIKI - James Martin Gray (1851 - 1935)

H

Hanan Mr. and Mrs

J. Horace Harding - Mr. and Mrs. [3]

Horace Harding, a New York financier, took over the cancelled suite of J P Morgan, but he and his wife were able to get an earlier sailing date aboard a Cunard ship, the Mauritania.

George Hart [3]

Thomas Hart

Ship's fireman Thomas Hart, whose name appears on the sailing list. Signing aboard at Southampton on April 6 with the rest of the "black gang" was a man who produced a Certificate of Continuous Discharge that bore Hart's name. The man was listed as "lost" and Hart's grieving mother began to make arrangements for her supposedly-drowned son's memorial service. One can scarcely imagine her shock and joy when, on May 8, her son walked into their Southampton home. Hart, it seems, had gotten drunk after signing for the voyage. His discharge book had been stolen and used by another to sign aboard. Following the theft, Hart walked about Southampton in a confused state, too ashamed to return home. Expediency finally overcame fear and shame. It was never determined who stole Hart's book, used it, and was lost.

A Haveling [1]

Transferred

Milton Snavely Hershey and his wife - Catherine Elizabeth "Kitty" Sweeney

The Hershey Community Archives has a $300 check Hershey wrote to the White Star Line in December 1911, believed to be a 10 percent deposit toward his stateroom, according to archivist Tammy L. Hamilton. Business back home apparently intervened, and he and his wife instead caught a ship that was sailing earlier, the German liner Amerika. The Amerika would earn its own footnote in the disaster, as one of several ships to send the Titanic warnings of ice in its path.

Colonel J Warren Hitchens [3]

Canceled the Titanic booking (could not get suitable accommodation).and sailed aboard Rotterdam instead.

F Holden [1]

Deserted

Rev. J Stuart Holden [3]

Vicar of St. Paul's, Portman Square, London. His wife became ill, causing him to change his travel plans
Blessed is he who misses the boat

J

Dr. J C Jenkins [3]

Mary Jordan [2]

Ticket No. 30944 not used - 19, Spinster

Annie Jordan [2]

Ticket No. 364854 not used, 25, Spinster - developed a rash that kept her from traveling

K

Frank Kind, [3]

Booked from Amsterdam, saw accommodation plan at Paris, canceled. Transferred to NDL Washington, departed 7 April 1912

P Kilford [1]

Left sick

Frank Kind

Philadelphia jeweller, rebooked aboard the North German Lloyd liner Washington, which departed April 7 from Cherbourg.

L

Charles Lancaster, [3]

Head of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce)

Arthur Lawrence, [3]

Was booked for cabin E-37

Carlton P. Lewis (? Charlton; ?Charles T.) Mr. and Mrs. [3]

Were booked for cabin D-32

M

Archbishop Thomas J. Madden [3]

of Liverpool

A Manby A[1]

Failed to join

Guglielmo Marconi

The Italian inventor, wireless telegraphy pioneer and winner of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics was offered free passage on Titanic but had taken the Lusitania three days earlier. As his daughter Degna later explained, he had paperwork to do and preferred the public stenographer aboard that vessel.

Martin Mary [2]

Ticket No. 367167 not used, 19, Spinster

Mr. A Melody, [3]

W J Mewe [1]

Failed to join

Hon. J Conan Middleton [3]

John Pierpont Morgan [3]

Owner of International Mercantile Marine, parent company of the White Star Line, cancelled his booking aboard Titanic at the last moment. Morgan attended the ship’s launching in 1911 and had a personal suite on board with his own private promenade deck and a bath equipped with specially designed cigar holders. He was reportedly booked on the maiden voyage but instead remained at the French resort of Aix to enjoy his morning massages and sulphur baths.

John R Mott

Mott was an influential evangelist and longtime YMCA official, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. He and a colleague were supposedly offered free passage on the Titanic by a White Star Line official interested in their work but declined and instead took the more humble liner Lapland.

N

Rev. Henry Nesbitt's, wife and 5 children [3]

Re-booked 10 April 1912 Titanic departure to 6 April 1912 Carmania departure because of family emergency.

Norman Maxwell, [3]

From Boston. Changed to Oceanic

O

James V O'Brien [3]

Planned to sail for America from Queenstown aboard Titanic. Sixty years later, on her 100th birthday in 1972, Mrs. O'Brien recalled how their business lasted longer than expected and she and her husband switched to a later ship.

Mrs. James V O'Brien [3]

Wife of above

O'Brien [2]

Ticket No. 30979 not used - 21, Farmer

Denis O'Connell Pat [2]

Ticket No. 334912, not used 17, General Labourer

Michael O'Sullivan [2]

Ticket no. 366715, not used; 23, Farmer

P

V Penney [1]

Deserted

Miss Maude Powell

c\Changed her mind and remained a bit longer in England. She had been medical missionary in Peking, China for six years. She sent a letter to her American friends advising them of her change in plans, but somehow the letter had gone astray, and they believed her lost. U. S. immigration records confirm she ultimately sailed from Southampton aboard the Kronprinz Wilhelm on July 3, 1912, arriving in New York one week later

Mr. C C Puffer, [3]

R

Mrs. Elizabeth Walker Roberts, and maid [3]

Charles Ross [3]

Charles Ross sailed aboard the Carmania three days before Titanic's maiden voyage.

Pat Ryan [2]

Ticket No. 371110 not used, General Labourer - adult

S

James Scanlon [2]

Ticket No. 36309 not used, Farm labourer

Edgar Selwyn

Broadway and Hollywood producer who founded Goldwyn Pictures in 1916 chose to stay in England to review an early draft of a friend’s novel. Because the draft wasn’t ready for Selwyn to review until April 19, 1912, Selwyn cancelled his April 10 Titanic departure that he had planned with another Broadway producer, Henry Harris, and his wife, Irene Harris. Henry perished, but Irene survived by boarding a lifeboat.

J Shaw [1]

Deserted

W Sims [1]

Left by Consult

A Slade [1]

Deserted

Thoa. Slade [1]

Deserted

D Slade [1]

Deserted

Rev J S Wardell Stafford [3]

Fraternal Delegate of the Wesleyan Church of Great Britain

T

Pat Thomas [2]

Ticket No. 358573 not used, 26, General Labourer

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Thompson, and son Harold [3]

The Thompson family had to cancel their Titanic trip when their son was badly hurt while playing.

Mr. and Mrs. George H Turner [3]

James Tyndon [2]

Ticket No. 35850 not used, Farm labourer

V

Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt

The 34-year-old multimillionaire sportsman, an heir to the Vanderbilt shipping and railroad empire, was returning from a trip to Europe and canceled his passage on the Titanic so late that some early newspaper accounts listed him as being on board. Vanderbilt lived on to become one the most celebrated casualties of the Lusitania sinking three years later.

George Washington II Vanderbilt [3]

Mr. George W. Vanderbilt and his wife Edith. Someone in his or her family objected to their sailing aboard the new ship, "because so many things can go wrong on a maiden voyage." They canceled on April 91 . Their luggage, in the charge of one of their servants, Edwin Wheeler, had already been sent to Southampton and placed aboard. There was no time to remove the luggage. Wheeler, booked as a second-class passenger, stayed aboard and was lost.

Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt nee Dresser

Wife of above

Baron Moritz von Bethmann

In 1912, Baron Moritz von Bethmann, scion of a famous German banking family, was traveling the world with two friends. After arriving in Chicago, he told local newspapers three days after the Titanic’s sinking that he and his traveling companions had considered taking the Titanic but didn’t want to wait for it to sail. Bethmann and his friends settled their disagreement on which ship to take by flipping a coin. That coin toss landed them on an earlier ship and permitted Bethmann to join his family’s Frankfurt bank a year later.

W

Mr. A J White, [3]

Miss Ada Wilkinson, [3]

J Clifford Wilson [3]

Canceled his Titanic bookings and sailed aboard Rotterdam instead. Could not get the accommodations they wanted; Re-booked on the Rotterdam

Mrs J Clifford Wilson [3]

The family canceled their Titanic bookings and sailed aboard Rotterdam instead.

Dorothy Wilson [3]

The family canceled their Titanic bookings and sailed aboard Rotterdam instead.

Edith Wilson [3]

The family canceled their Titanic bookings and sailed aboard Rotterdam instead.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank PWood, [3]

Booked for cabin D-32

---

Sources and references

• Encyclopedia Titanic
• Listverse - PATRICK WEIDINGER DECEMBER 9, 2011
• Ancestry - 12 People Who Missed Their Trip on the Titanic
• Ancestry 8 People Who Were Supposed to Sail on the Titanic…But Didn’t
• Smithsonian - Seven Famous People Who Missed the Titanic
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Titanic's 'Just Missed It Club' an elite group

this project is in History Link