Lost Children of the Titanic: Michael and Edmond Navratil

At approximately 11:40 pm, on April 14, 1912, Mr. Navratil placed his sons in the last remaining life boat leaving the Titanic. Their names were Michael, age 4, and Edmond, who was only 2. Michael remembers his father expressing his love for them and their mother (who was not present) and yearning for them to be reunited in America soon. Far from being traumatized by the immediate events, Michael said he enjoyed being "plopped" into the life boat, and remembers sitting next to the daughter of an American Banker, who had a small dog in her lap. Someone gave the brothers biscuits to munch as they waited to be rescued by The Carpathia in the unforgiving, frigid air of the North Atlantic.

Tragically, their father died along with 1507 others who could not find a life boat. He was found later in the high seas and buried in a Jewish Cemetary called Baron de Hirsch. The little boys were cared for by a kind lady named Margaret Hayes who spoke French. She later took them into her home when they reached New York. The papers went wild with the story, and dubbed them the "Titanic Orphans," as no one had come forth to claim kinship.

Their Mother, Marcelle, who was living in France, saw the headlines and quickly came to the United States to claim her babies. Apparently the father had boarded the Titanic under a fictional name, unbeknowst to Mrs. Navratil. She did not know her sons had survived one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century until she saw their pictures in the paper.

Michael Navratil lived to be in his nineties, and was present when some of the salvage excusions were preformed in the North Atlantic. Fifty-three children survived in the life boats that horrible night, while all too often their fathers and/or mothers perished in the dark, sullen cold of the sea.