Survivor Stories: Michel and Edmond Navratil

Edmond and Michel Navratil 

Michel Navratil, Sr. born in Szered, Slowakia on August 13, 1880, and lived in Hungary.  As an adult, he moved to Nice, France in 1902 where he became a tailor. 

Michel Navratil Sr

He married an Italian girl Marcelle Caretto (born 1892) in London on May 26,1907. The records indicate that Marcelle already had one son when they married but there is no mention of him or his name before or since.  The couple settled in France and had two sons of their own, Michel Jr. and Edmond (nicknamed Lolo and Momon).   

By 1912 Michel's tailor business was in trouble financially. He also made claims that his wife Marcelle had been having an affair. The couple formally separated in early 1912.  The two younger boys lived with their mother full time and she shared custody with Michel. 


While Michel Jr, age four and Edmond, age two, were with Michel Sr. for visitation over Easter weekend, he made a decision that Marcelle would find an empty house when she came to pick up the boys at the end of the holiday.  He decided to never return them to their mother and he made plans with the help of a friend for the three of them to leave the country. 

After a gambling trip to a casino in Monte Carlo, Michel Navratil Sr. traveled to London with his two sons and took a room at the Charing Cross Hotel.  He carefully planned out their trip on a new ship called Titanic, purchased second class tickets (ticket No.230080, cost £26) to board the ship at Southampton.  


Since their real name of Navratil would be attached to their tickets and would also appear on the ship's passenger list, Michel didn't want to take any chances of being discovered by his wife before arriving at his destination.  He decided to purchase the tickets using the fake name of Lolo and Louis Hoffman for his sons and "Louis M. Hoffman" for himself.  It was the name of his friend who had helped him to steal his children and to leave France. 

He led his fellow passengers to believe "Mrs. Hoffman" was dead.  For the duration of the trip, he kept a very watchful eye on both boys. 

He did allow himself to relax at a card game on the ship one night, after he asked Bertha Lehmann, a Swiss lady who was going to play cards with his group if she would babysit the boys for a few hours. It was the only time the children were out of his sight.

On the night of April 14, 1912, after Titanic hit an iceberg, panic prevailed all over the ship. Michel Navratil Sr. saw that women and children were being put in the lifeboats first and he knew that he wouldn't make it into a lifeboat because many lifeboats being sent on their way half empty.  If his boys were going to survive, he knew they would have to be put on someone's lap.  


When he placed both Edmond and Michel in Lifeboat "D," he reportedly told Michel Jr.:

“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.”

It was the last time the boys would see their father.  

While on the Carpathia, there were no adults to claim them.  Recognizing a language barrier since both children spoke only French and no English, a Frenchwoman from first class, Mrs. Hays, came forward to take care of the boys for the rest of the voyage.  She took them to live at her home on West 83rd Street in New York, while the search went on looking for their family members. 

The picture was taken after arrival in New York and
circulated in newspapers

After arrival in New York, what happened on the Titanic was what sold newspapers.  Newsmen scouted for any newsworthy item they could find about the Titanic including the names of the dead, those looking for relatives, and stories relayed by survivors.   

The Navratil children were nicknamed "The Orphans Of The Titanic" by newspapers. Their story and photographs appeared several times in the hopes that someone would recognize their names or pictures.   

The headlines in the Evening World newspaper dated April 22, 1912, read: No Light Shed On the Mystery Identity Of Two Waifs Of The Sea.

If not for Mrs. Hays taking them in and for the extensive publicity surrounding the disaster, the boys might have gone unclaimed and placed in an orphanage.

 

On the other side of the world in France, their mother Marcelle Navratil was in great despair of what had become of her two young children.  One day while passing a newspaper stand, she just happened to see their pictures on the front page of a newspaper. 


On May 16, 1912, the White Star Line arranged for their ship Oceanic to transport Marcelle Navratil to New York to pick up her children and return them home to France.

Reunited with their mother, Michel Jr and
Edmond Navratil sit on her lap

 

Marcelle Caretto Navratil died in 1974 at age 82.

Michel Jr. (born in 1908) went to university, married another student in 1933 and earned his doctorate as a professor of psychology. He settled to live in Montpelier, a town near Nice' France.

In 1987, he came to the United States for the first time since 1912 to attend a celebration in Wilmington Delaware for the 75th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  

He holds the distinction of being the last male survivor of Titanic.  On August 27, 1996, he visited his father's grave for the first time in 84 years, joined by Charles Pellegrino, author of the book "Her Name Titanic." Pellegrino was also a scientist who had been with explorer Robert Ballard on the search for Titanic's wreck. Pellegrino's book recounts stories told by survivors, including the adult Michel of his experience as a four-year-old child aboard the Titanic.  

Michel shares a memory

The body of his father, Michel Navratil Sr. was found by the ship CS Mackay-Bennett, but it was not returned to France.  Because he was listed as a Jewish passenger named Louis Hoffman on the ship's manifest, he was buried in the Baron de Hirsh Jewish Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His tombstone marker was put in place with his correct name when his identity was learned in early 1913.

Michel Navratil Sr.

As a child of four years old, he had remarkable
"memories" of his time on Titanic

Michel Navratil Jr. died on January 30, 2001 at the age of 92. 

From Encyclopedia-Titanica

His brother, Edmond Navratil (born 1910) grew up to become an interior decorator, architect, and a builder.  He signed up to serve in the French army during World War Two where he was captured as a prisoner of war. He escaped but his health was never the same.  He died in 1953 at the age of 43.

Sources:  

Vintage  News  

Forensic Genealogy

Encyclopedia Titanica

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