So who were the Trojans on the Titanic?

Twenty-eight-year-old Bridget “Bertha” Moran and her brother Daniel were traveling from Ireland. Bridget worked in a shirt factory, had come to Troy around 1905, and lived with four of her siblings: Ellen, Frances, Daniel, and Thomas. They lived on River Street. All the ladies were collar workers. Bertha’s dad died, and she and Daniel were in Ireland to collect their inheritance, travelling third class.

Daniel carried their inheritance throughout the voyage. Along with Bertha and Daniel was a friend, Patrick Ryan, and another passenger, Margaret Madigan.

According to one source, “On the night of the sinking, Bridget had been awakened by a jolt and was further roused by a commotion outside her cabin. Her brother Daniel soon arrived, telling her that the ship had struck an iceberg and was in trouble, and that she had no time to dress. Throwing a coat over her nightclothes, she made her way with the rest of her party to the communal areas but found difficulties getting near the lifeboats, and she related how crewmen barred their access to higher decks.

“With a ‘women and children first’ rule being applied with access to even the vicinity of the lifeboats, Bridget’s brother and Patrick Ryan were prevented from going to A-deck, from where the aft starboard lifeboats were being loaded, and instead they had to bid their farewells somewhere in the third class areas of the ship, perhaps the aft well-deck. Brother and sister said their farewells, and Daniel asked Bridget not to fear for him.” Her brother saved her:

“I would have drowned on the Titanic, too, had it not been for Dan. The ship’s officers and crew ordered that all third-class passengers keep back. Dan fought his way through them, carrying me with him. He had a furious fight before he got me into a lifeboat. Then he took his place among the men on the deck. That was the last I saw of him. We had expected to have four thousand dollars apiece. Now the money is all gone and the worst of it, Dan’s gone, too.” – The Evening News, 16 May 1912

Daniel did not make it, and the thousands he had on him were lost. She was paid $500 compensation. Their friend Patrick, who also died, was never recovered. Margaret (Maggie) survived, settled in Troy, and got married.

Survivor Mantūrah Būlus Mūsà Franjīyah, a Syrian in third class, was headed for Troy, where she already had numerous family members and friends, including a sister (or sister-in-law). The husband of her niece, a dry goods merchant in Troy, brought her to Troy on 21 April.

Edward. Ryan boarded as a third-class passenger. His destination was the home of his sister, Bridget Welch, in Troy. He had been listed as a general laborer, but gave his occupation as chauffeur later.

Apparently, his survival was seedy.

“Edward Ryan, a Tipperary man, told me at the hospital of a remarkable leap for life he made with a fainting woman in his arms. Ryan was helping to load the boats on the promenade deck. When this woman, a first cabin passenger, became hysterical and fainted. It had been his turn to enter the boat, now being lowered. Ryan seized her and jumped into the boat after the officer in charge had ordered it lowered. Fortunately, he landed in the boat without injury either to the woman or himself, after dropping a distance of more than twenty feet. – Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 23 April 1912”

“Edward Ryan told his story to his sister, Mrs. Welch. He said he was the very last man to climb into the last lifeboat to leave the doomed Titanic. He did not have on a lifebelt. He told Mrs. Welch of having rescued a girl after the ship sank. She was on the ship when the waters closed over it and was struggling about in the water among the ice when he reached far out, grasped her by the arm, and dragged her to the lifeboat in which he had been assigned to an oar. He said he could recall little else at this time of what transpired on board the ship during its last hours. – Knickerbocker Press, 22 April 1912.”

However, in a letter to his parents dated 6 May 1912, he admitted to covering his head with a towel like a shawl and briskly walking into a lifeboat, unnoticed by the crew.

“I stood on the Titanic and kept cool, although she was sinking fast. She had gone down about forty feet by now. The last boat was about being rowed away when I thought in a second if I could only pass out [i.e., get into the boat] I’d be all right. I had a towel round my neck. I just threw this over my head and left it hang in the back. I wore my waterproof overcoat. I then walked very stiff past the officers, who had declared they’d shoot the first man that dare pass out. They didn’t notice me. They thought I was a woman. I grasped a girl who was standing by in despair, and jumped with her thirty feet into the boat.”

He came to Troy with Bertha Moran.

Frederick Blainey Shellard, 55, was a Third Class Passenger. He was on his way to Troy when he died. His wife and children (excluding his daughter Emily) already crossed the Atlantic aboard the Philadelphia, leaving Britain on 10 August 1907. The family settled in Troy.

In the end, the fates of Titanic passengers linked to Troy reflect the broader human story of the disaster: a blend of hope and loss, influenced by class, circumstance, and chance. Their stories, though fewer, deserve as much recognition as those of more famous victims. They show how one event can send ripples outward, affecting communities far from where the Titanic sank.

Got History? Don is the author of a dozen books about his hometown. You can reach him at drittner@aol.com

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