Titanic survivors

Michel Marcel Navratil was born on June 12, 1908 in Nice, France to Michel Navratil, a tailor and Slovakian immigrant to France, and Marcelle Caretto, an Italian, who had married in London. Michel had a younger brother, Edmond Roger Navratil, who was born on March 5, 1910.

The marriage was troubled, and in early 1912, Michel and Marcelle separated. Marcelle was awarded full custody of their two children. Marcelle allowed her sons to stay with their father over the Easter weekend; however, when she went to collect them, they had disappeared. Michel had decided to emigrate to the United States and to take his children with him. After a brief stay in Monte Carlo, the three traveled to England where they boarded the RMS Titanic.

Michel, his brother, and his father boarded the RMS Titanic at Southampton, England on April 10, 1912, as second-class passengers. For the journey, the elder Navratil assumed the alias 'Louis M. Hoffman', and the boys were booked as 'Loto' and 'Louis'. On board the ship, Navratil led passengers to believe that he was a widower. He let his sons out of his sight only once, when he allowed a French-speaking woman, Bertha Lehmann, to watch them for a few hours while he played cards.

After Titanic's collision with an iceberg, at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, M. Navratil placed Michel and his brother in Collapsible D, the last lifeboat successfully launched from the ship. Michel, although not quite four years old at the time, later claimed to remember his father telling him: "My child, when your mother comes for you, as she surely will, tell her that I loved her dearly and still do. Tell her I expected her to follow us, so that we might all live happily together in the peace and freedom of the New World." The elder Navratil died during the sinking, and his body was recovered by the rescue ship, CS Mackay-Bennett. In his pocket was a revolver. Because of his assumed Jewish surname, Mr. Navratil was buried in Baron de Hirsch Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, in Nova Scotia.

While in Collapsible D, Michel was fed biscuits by first-class passenger Hugh Woolner. When the rescue ship RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene, Michel and his brother were hoisted to its deck in burlap sacks. Since the two children were toddlers and spoke no English, they could not identify themselves and were soon referred to as the Titanic Orphans. French-speaking first-class passenger Margaret Hays cared for the boys at her home until their mother could be located, which occurred as a result of newspaper articles including their pictures. Marcelle sailed to New York City, New York and was reunited with her sons on May 16, 1912. She took her children back to France aboard the RMS Oceanic.

Michel lived the remainder of his life in Montpellier, France. He died on January 30, 2001, at the age of 92.