Carl Edgar Asplund was a child passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Carl Edgar Asplund was born as the son of Carl Oscar Vilhelm Gustaffson Asplund and Selma Johannesson. He was a twin to his only sister Lililan Gertrud Asplund. Both were born on the 21st of October 1906, 5 months after the marriage between father Carl Oscar and Selma. Carl had elder brothers: Filip Oscar and Clarence Gustaf Hugo, respectively born in 1898 and 1902.
In 1907, the whole family had to go to Sweden, as Carl Edgar’s grandfather from father’s side had died and their grandmother was now alone and someone had to take care off the will and the estate business.
The family lived on the farm for a few years. On March 19, 1909, Carl had a younger brother. He was officially named Edvin Rojj, but everyone called him Felix. Carl’s older brother Fillip became ever more unhappy in what was a foreign land to him. He didn’t feel at home. All kids apart from Felix were natives of Worchester and had grown up so far in the USA. Filip threatened to eventually travel alone if they didn't go together to Worcester in the US again. Carl therefore weighed the options as America could provide well for his own job as a wire labourer and they would re-employ him. Another benefit was the edcation for his sons. So he sold the farm and now the whole family could afford to go together, to the great joy of Filip.
Family of Carl Oscar and Selma had been living in Worchester for many years and he reached out to them to tell them of the news.
Titanic[]
Carl, his sister, brothers, mother and father traveled all the way down to Southampton, where it turned out the Titanic was the ship they would embark on for their voyage to America. On April 10, just after noon, the mighty steamship left the piers with the family on board in Third Class. Their cabin was in the aft part of the ship.
On the night of April 14, Carl’s mother was awoken by a sudden vibration that felt like a heavy shudder. She was worried and woke her husband. After they went out to see if there was anything, they saw other Third Class passengers taking on lifebelts but the stewards took them off again, saying that there was nothing to fear and the steamer would resume its trip very shortly.
Father Carl didn’t think it was that simple and said that they still better go to the higher decks. First, they needed to wake the children and find their own lifebelts. As they rushed their kids out of bed and got them dressed, the stewards had finally realised that they should evacuate and they gave the family an extra lifejacket as there were only 4 in their cabin. The Asplunds then moved up to the Boat Deck.
Having arrived there, there wasn’t much they could do and they stood there. However, at some point Carl’s brother Felix was hauled into a nearby lifeboat followed by his sister. Then, his mother Selma was pushed by his father to take the lifeboat as well as he was not allowed in himself and their young ones shouldn’t be left alone. She didn’t want to leave him but knew what she had to do so he took a place. The three left the ship in lifeboat 10.
Carl, his father and brothers stayed behind to see their loved ones leave and try to find their own lifeboat. Titanic sank at 2:20 A.M. They all perished in the disaster, only his father’s body was recovered many days later.