Bākhūs Rafūl-Būlus was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Bākhūs Rafūl-Būlus (Baccos Raffoul) was a Syrian who was born in Sar’al, Lebanon around 1891 in Sar’al, which is now part of the Lebanon but back then it was under Ottoman rule in Syria.Bākhūs was the son of a Manīrah whose last name is unknown as well as the identify of her husband.
In later life, Bākhūs had a wife. Her identity is missing as well. Two sons had sprung from their marriage. The first was Rashīd in 1908, born before Sa'īd in 1910. but, again the identity of his wife is not known. Bākhūs was a helper on a farm and in 1912 it was time for him to go to his mother and uncle, who had a home in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
He undertook the journey for his emigration with two women who both had kids. They were Sultānah Rizq Būlus and Kātrīn Rizq Yūsuf. Likely they were related, they were from the same village as well. They were taken over to France by a freighter from Beirut. The port of Marseilles was the first stop from Beirut. After health inspections which were compulsory for all migrants from the Middle East, they were allowed to go further north to the city where the large steamer would wait for them to board.
Titanic[]
On April 10, it was time for passengers of the Titanic in Cherbourg, to set aboard a tender to get onto the ship. Bakhus had a ticket for Third Class like the others.
Even as a new ship, the route to New York should have been like routine for the commanding crew of the Titanic. It didn't turn out to be the case. On the night of April 14, after everything had gone so swimmingly, fate would turn for the worst for many of the Syrian passengers, their dreams and hopes of reachign America would soon end up at the bottom of the Atlantic oceans. It was 23:39 A.M when the lookouts rang the alarm bell. They spotted an iceberg that had been invisible until they were only half a mile away. First Officer Murdoch responded by turning the ship to port and putting the engines in reverse. That couldn't slow down Titanic enough or get her cleared from the iceberg entirely. A collision followed on the starboard side. Gashes appeared in her hull and steel plates buckled. With that, the Titanic was taking on water. The captain woke up from impact.
On April 15, just after midnight, the captain made a decision. As it turned out that Titanic would not be salvaged as her damage was too big, he gave the order to get the lifeboats ready.
What Bākhūs did that night, was still blurry. What we do know is that his close acquaintences or relatives, Kātrīn Yūsuf and her children, were up on the Boat Deck at late night. They all survived. Bākhūs Rafūl-Būlus ultimately became a victim when she disappeared beneath the waves at 2:20 A.M. As a man, Bākhūs had lesser chances and opportunies. Yet, Sultānah, her son and daughter were also lost after Titanic sank. Many passengers and crew died in the cold waters after the sinking.
The White Star Line later sent out ships to Titanic's wreck site to recover bodies, but Bākhūs wasn’t among those that were found.