After reading about the Titanic disaster, one can only imagine the relief felt by those who cancelled their bookings. A few claimed they cancelled because they had a sense of foreboding, but most people cancelled out of necessity.
It was a time when people believed in omens and premonitions. There were 18 steerage passengers from Queenstown, Ireland who did not use their tickets. When interviewed by newspaper reporters in the aftermath, a few said they had a premonition that caused enough concern to change their plans.
Even though they cancelled, some of their names were still on the list of 115 passengers who boarded at Queenstown. This caused some confusion later when it came to identifying the dead and accurately reporting the names of the survivors.
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Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Bill cancelled after Mrs. Bill had a dream that the Titanic had wrecked. They booked passage on the Celtic.
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Whether or not it was good fortune, there were a few cabins that suddenly became available and went through numerous booking changes. Connecting Suites B-52, 54 and 56 were a case in point.
Originally cabin B-52 was booked by steel-magnate Henry Clay Frick and his wife in February 1912. But Mrs. Frick sprained her ankle while cruising the Mediterranean on the Adriatic, so the couple cancelled the plans.
J. P. Morgan, one of the shipping line's co-owners, took over the booking all three suites but he also cancelled when his business caused him to remain in Europe.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Horace Harding booked B-54 and B-56, but they were able to sail on the Mauretania because it was leaving sooner than Titanic.
J. Bruce Ismay, another co-owner, took over B-52, 54 and 56 and he was the final occupant.
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Miss Maude Powell already received her ticket, confirmed the booking, but cancelled her plans.
Miss Maude Powell, a medical missionary in Peking, China, sent a letter to friends that she was booked on Titanic's maiden voyage. But for some reason, she changed her mind and stayed in England. She did send another letter to her friends but the letter never arrived.
Consequently, her friends still thought she was on Titanic and believed she had died in the sinking since her name was not on the list of survivors.
Miss Maude Powell sailed on the Kronprinz Wilhelm on July 3, 1912 and arrived in New York on July 10, 1912.
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Mr. Robert Bacon, the US Ambassador to France, booked passage for his wife and daughter. However they were not able to travel because the new Ambassador to France, Mr. Myron T. Hendrick, had not arrived on time to allow the Bacon family to leave France. Consequently the Bacons sailed on the SS France on its successful maiden voyage on April 20, 1912.
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Several people cancelled their trip because they said they didn't like the location of their accommodations on the ship. Among them were Colonel J. Warren Hitchens, and Mr. and Mrs. J. Clifford Wilson and their daughters Dorothy and Edit.
A Philadelphia jeweler named Frank Kind changed his plans to sail on the SS Washington that left a few days earlier from Cherbourg.
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George Vanderbilt and his wife Edith were booked on Titanic's maiden voyage. A family member objected to sailing on the maiden voyage of any ship "because so many things can go wrong on a maiden voyage." So the couple deferred to their objections and cancelled their reservation on April 9, 1912 but by then, their luggage was already on the way to Southampton in the care of their servant Edwin Wheeler.
Surprisingly, the Vanderbilts did not cancel Edwin Wheeler's second class accommodations at the same time. Wheeler placed all of their luggage aboard but was not able to remove it before sailing time because he didn't learn until the last minute that his employers were not traveling. He stayed aboard and died in the sinking.
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Reverend Henry S. Nesbitt was on leave from his mission in India. He, his wife and five children traveled through the Mediterranean to France, and were booked to board the Majestic bound for New York. But the sailing was cancelled due to the coal strike. Their booking agent guaranteed passage for the Nesbitt family because another ship, the RMS Titanic, was providing accommodations for the Majestic's passengers to sail on April 10, 1912 from Southampton.
They had several days before their departure and they spent the time sightseeing in London. Then Reverend Nesbitt learned that his wife's father had become seriously ill at his home in Boston and the family needed earlier passage.
Even though the Cunard offices were closed for Good Friday, the Nesbitt family was able to book last minute passage on Cunard's Carmania, departing on April 6. They took the Cunard boat train to Liverpool, boarded the Carmania and arrived in New York on April 14, 1912. The next day the newspaper headlines were splashed with details of the Titanic disaster. The Nesbitt family counted themselves fortunate that the Carmania was leaving earlier than the Titanic and spared their lives.
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Sir Charles Ross booked on the Lusitania but the voyage was cancelled due to the coal strike. Not wanting to wait for the Titanic, Ross also booked on the Carmania and arrived safely in New York on April 14, 1912.
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Reverend J. Stuart Holden, vicar of St. Paul's Church in Portman Square London, was preparing to travel to America for a speaking engagement at Carnegie Hall for the Christian Conservation Congress, a six-day convention to begin on April 20, 1912.
On April 9, 1912, the day before departure, Reverend Holden cancelled his trip because his wife became very ill. He returned his ticket, but he kept the envelope as a souvenir. After the disaster, he framed it and on the matte of the frame, he wrote: "Who Redeemeth Thy Life From Destruction" from Psalm 103, verse 3.
Two other clergy were scheduled to attend the same convention but did not sail from England: Archbishop Thomas J. Madden of Liverpool and Reverend J. S. Wardell Stafford, a Fraternal Delegate of the Wesleyan Church of Great Britain.
Noted British author and son of a congregational minister, William Thomas Stead was booked in first class cabin C-87. He was requested by President William Howard Taft to speak at the same Christian Conservation Congress.
In 1886, William Thomas Stead published an article "How The Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor." Supposedly fictional, the story tells of a steamer that collides with another ship. Due to the shortage of lifeboats, many people died. He wrote at the end: "This is exactly what might take place and will take place if liners are sent to sea being short of lifeboats."
William Thomas Stead, age 62, was lost in the sinking.
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