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Albina Bassani was an Italian First Class passenger travelling aboard Titanic, as the maid of Emma Bucknell.

Early life[]

Albina Bassani was born in around 1880 in Arsiè, Belluno, Italy. Her parents were Antonio Bassani (1851-1920), a pianoforte maker, and Pierina Fusianto.

She was married to Mr. Gaspare Bertoccini in Rome, and they had two children. He died early in 1906. There is little known about the man.

She came in the employment as a maid to Emma Bucknell in mid-1911. She was a wealthy 59-year-old woman from Philadelphia.

Titanic[]

Some time before April 1912, she accompanied her employer to Europe. When they were both returning home to Philadelphia, they took voyage on the new ship in First Class. Albina Bassani and Emma Bucknell boarded Titanic in Cherbourg to take cabin D-15. Albina was 32 years old at the time.

On the night of April 14, she had helped Mrs. Bucknell to get comfortable in her bed around 10:30 P.M. Well over an hour later, she heard a scraping noise when the ship hit an iceberg. Albina and Emma made their way to the Boat Deck and safely boarded the starboard lifeboat 8, which was amongst the first five boats to leave the sinking ship.

After arriving in New York on Carpathia, she and Emma Bucknell went their separate ways.

Later life[]

She wanted to file a claim against White Star Line, holding them responsible for all the valuable stuff she lost in the sinking. She believed the value to be $2890. It is unclear if this was ever handled and solved in a way that satisfied her. At least $100 dollars were given to her by the Red Cross. By that time she had found a job as a maid for Major Harris of Fort Greble.

Bassani was remarried to Augusto Papetti on October 9, 1915. They had one child: a daughter named Bruna Isabel. She was born in 1920 on the 28th of August. But they became estranged and divorced.

Albina would go on to marry again, but divorced once more and remarried. She also lost contact with her daughter.

Albina Bassani died on July 23, 1960 in Nahant, Massachusetts and was buried in Melrose Cemetery, Brockton, Massachusetts.