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AldenCaldwell

Alden Caldwell at the age of 11 months, just a month after the Titanic disaster.

Alden Gates Caldwell was a infant passenger and survivor of the RMS Titanic, at only ten months old.

Early life[]

Alden Gates Calwell was born on June 10, 1911 in Bangkok in Moon Thai, the name that the people gave to a country named Siam, that was later known as Thailand.

His parents were American Presbyterian missionaries who taught at the Bangkok Christian College for Boys since late 1909, having traveled across the Pacific from America on their own boat for six weeks. They were Albert Caldwell and Sylvia Mae Harbaugh, married back in Colorado Springs, Colorado on the first of September that same year. They had met eachother in Park College in Parkville, Missouri.

Albert Caldwell was from Sanborn in Iowa and Sylvia stemmed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both christians, they shared ideals in doing beneficiary works and volunteered for helping the poor children in Bangkok with their education. They soon left their marital home in Biggsville, Illnois.

The plan was to work for the organisation for 7 years. However, after just two years, Sylvia was feeling unwell and the doctor thought the climate was too hot and humid for her to heal properly. She got worse when she gave life to Alden.

The couple decided to return to America, but they were resisted by the chairman of the Siam Mission Executive Committee. After Albert tried to reason with them, they finally admitted, but with objection. As they were released, their boss wrote a later to the Board of Presbyterian Missions in New York, to be ready for the arrival of the two Caldwells, so they could have a look at Sylvia, as they wanted to set up a trap for Alden’s parents to make them pay the expensive travel and coax them into re-take their duties for them.

On the journey home, they changed their course on the Pacific to go westward instead, sailing to Singapore and then cross the Indian Ocean on a German liner, which was faster. Alden’s mother had a weakness for sea travel. As they had passed through the Suez Channel to reach Naples in Italy, Sylvia rested for a while after having stood in l order to get tickets for the Carpathia with Albert, but she was too small for Sylvia and she had suffered enough, so they abandoned that idea. When they needed to get away as soon as possible to escape the cholera spread in Naples, they learned via an advertisment that a steamship called the Titanic would soon go on its inaugural voyage from Southampton to New York.

A journey through Europe led them via Paris to England. In London, Alden’s father wanted tickets but had to wait until the next day. Then, he finally had them and they felt blessed. The Titanic would be the perfect ship for Sylvia. Their boattrain left in the morning of April 10. Sylvia listened to her surprise that fellow passengers said that Titanic could survive any kind of disaster.

Aboard the Titanic[]

The family boarded the ship as Second Class passengers. Sylvia asked the baggage carrier boy about the status of the ship as an unsinkable ship and he confirmed that she really was.

On April 14, 1912, there was a service aboard the ship, in the Second Class Dining Saloon. During the day, Alden was fussy, and his parents handed him the keys to their trunk as a makeshift toy. They didn't realize that Alden lost the keys until Titanic came into contact with an iceberg. Albert did not notice untill the engines ceased. Then, he went up on deck to talk to a sailor but he assured him it was nothing. They went back to sleep, to be re-awakened by the crew moments later. An order came through from the captain via his stewards, that passengers should acquire their lifevests and appear on deck.

The Caldwells tried to get into their locked trunk to get Alden's coat out, but the keys were gone. The search for the keys proved fruitless and the Caldwells had to wrap Alden in a steamer rug. They also had to leave their savings, $100 in American gold pieces, in the trunk. They gave up and dressed in simple clothes while putting their feet forward to climb the staircase to the higher decks. From there, nothing noticable seemed of and the family socialised with fellow Second Class passengers. They saw how many felt the same way about the whole situation. Titanic would not sink. The order came to lower boats, but they didn’t leave with many occupants as passengers held back and weren’t willing to board. It was very cold so Sylvia instructed her husband to get more blankets. When he got back, a crewman, maybe an officer, told the passengers that they could also wait  at the enclosed Promenade on B-Deck to not endure the bitter Atlantic wind. Many followed his advice, including the Caldwell family. They were promised a spot in a lifeboat via the gangway door.

For some reason, they were forgotten and nothing came in terms of information. The passengers then took a route via the Third Class aft  part of the shipsomehow. The normal staircase had been blocked and now they had to get back up on crew ladders. Sylvia was helped up with a rope ladder and gave the baby to his dad. Soon, they were at A-Deck.

Alden’s dad had met up with stokers in the early days of the voyage, making them photograph him while he shoveled coal. One of these men was there on A-Deck and recognized Albert. He proceeded to warn him that the coal holds were filling up with water fast and that Titanic could not last. The Caldwells started to see the bigger picture and apprehended the grime outlook of the situation.A lifeboat was coming down to A-Deck. The stokers halted the boat and the Caldwells got on too, as, because Sylvia was ill and couldn't hold Alden, Albert was encouraged by the crew to get aboard a lifeboat in order to hold the baby. Thus, in later life, Alden was credited with saving his father's life.

The young baby Alden and his parents escaped the Titanic on lifeboat 13. Alden was carried into lifeboat 13 to be given to Second Class passenger Hilda Mary Slayter, who was forced into the boat. The child had fallen asleep while in Miss Slayters arms. All the occupants of lifeboat 13 had a scare, as they were sprinkled by water. The crew tried to get away from the water but had drifted into the spot where lifeboat 15 would soon land. They nearly were flattened by this boat and the ones on the Boat Deck responsible for lowering had not heard their cries. Lead Stoker Frederick Barrett and sailor Robert Hopkins, made sure the ropes were all cut and the boat set free, as her lowering mechanism had gotten stuck by paint, as Alden’s dad later recalled vividly.

Alden was crying when he awoke, as his feet were very cold. Although she had no experience with children, Miss Slayter soon thought of this possibility and asked fellow Second Class passenger, Lawrence Beesley, to take a look at it and sure enough, when the baby’s toes were wrapped up by him, he was calm again.

Titanic made a lot of noise as her submerging came at 2:20 A.M. In her last minutes, she rose up from the water with just her stern, the lights flickered, to go out and with explosions, she broke and was engulfed by the sea. Her sinking led to a lot of victims, who were facing hypothermia. This sight of their liner meeting her end and the other people perishing had stayed with Alden’s parents for a long time. The sounds of those struggling swimmers too.

They had rowed for several hours and were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, the vessel they had met in Naples many days ago. She was on her return from New York but had hastened to Titanic’s position when her wireless operaters had called for help. The family was one of the fortunate few families to survive the Titanic as a whole, whereas most wives would leave their husband behind.

Carpathia was moored off at April 18 in New York. The pesky Presbyterian Board had an ambulance at the ready to be looking at Sylvia’s phyiscal state, in a bid to blackmail them as she was found to be healthy. With the help of a friend, who they had not expected to meet there,  they escaped their cheap tactics and went on to live in Biggsville.

Later life[]

As Alden had come into this world on foreign soil, there would not be a birth certificate and had therefore no proof of his son’s american citizenship. Alden was no longer their only child, when in 1914, the pair welcomed another son, named Reginald Malton.

Albert and Sylvia split up in 1930. They both found themselves a new partner in later life. Alden was a young man in his late teens, during that time. In 1934, he finished the trajectory of the Unvierstiy of Illnois succesfully, to obtain a Masters Degree in chemical engineering succesfully. Alden was later contracted by the Leigh-Portland Cement Company and remained loyal to them, being part of the corpoation for 33 years. All the while, he had no official partner in his personal life.

Alden graduated from the University of Illinois, class of 1934, and received a Masters Degree in chemical engineering. He never married and lived most of his life in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was a chemical engineer and worked for the Leigh-Portland Cement Company for almost 33 years. He spent much time trying to prove his citizenship status in preparation for his retirement in order to receive social security benefits.

The attention he got with his connection of Titanic was too much for him, as well as having to wear the predicate of being his dad’s savior. Perhaps that is why his father later told his story with more stress on the help of the stokers. Alden didn’t have the traumas like his parents yet as he was just an infant. Titanic as a subject could not get his interest as he never really had lived through it for it he had been too young. However, he didn't have the emotional struggles like his parents had.

His father had died in 1976. With him no longer there, Alden retreated to Largo in Florida in 1977. During the funeral, he met fellow Titanic survivor Frank Aks. They were born just a few days apart and Frank was believed to be the youngest Titanic survivor, untill Alden clarified that he had sprung 3 days later than Frank. It was later made official that Millvina Dean was the youngest. In his further life, Alden's favorite passtimes were golfing and fishing. His place of residence were dependent on season. During winter, he stayed in Florida because of the tropical climate. At summer, you could find him in a cottage at Stone Lake, Wisconsin. Alden was a man that was looked back upon as very solitary. The contact with neighbours was scarce.

Alden lived till December 18, 1992. He had become 81 years old when he passed away in Largo. His grave is at East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington, Indiana.

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