Michel Marcel Navratil Jr. (12 June 1908 – 30 January 2001) was a French philosophy professor who was one of the last survivors of the sinking of Titanic on 15 April 1912. He, along with his brother, Edmond (1910–1953), were known as the "Titanic Orphans", having been the only children rescued without a parent or guardian. He was three years old at the time of the disaster.
Early life ~
Michel Jr. was born on 12 June 1908 in Nice, France to Michel Navratil, a tailor and Slovak immigrant to France, and Marcella Caretto (Marcelle in French), an Italian, whom he had married in London, England on 26 May 1907. His younger brother, Edmond, was born on 4 March 1910.
The marriage was troubled, and in early 1912, his parents separated. The boys were put into temporary care, while judges decided who would get custody. They spent Easter Monday with their father, who did not return them at the end of the day. Michel, who was about to be served with a bankruptcy notice, decided to emigrate to the United States before the notice was served, taking the boys with him. After buying White Star Line tickets in Monte Carlo, they travelled to England where they boarded the RMS Titanic.
Aboard Titanic ~
Michel, Edmond, and their father boarded the Titanic at Southampton, England on 10 April 1912, as second-class passengers. For the journey, using a stolen passport, Navratil assumed the alias "Louis M. Hoffman", and the boys were booked as John and Fred. On board the ship, he led passengers to believe that he was a widower. He let the boys 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 the collision with the iceberg at 11:40 pm on 14 April 1912, Navratil and another man went into the cabin to wake his two sons up. Michel Sr. placed Michel and Edmond 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." Their father died in the sinking, and his body was recovered by the rescue ship, Mackay-Bennett. In his pocket was a revolver. Because of his assumed Jewish surname, he was buried in Baron de Hirsch Cemetery, Halifax, a Jewish cemetery in Nova Scotia.