Emilio Ilario Giuseppe Portaluppi in the 1930's
Emilio Ilario Giuseppe Portaluppi was one of the last remaining Italian survivors of the sinking of the Titanic and one of only 14 male Second Class passengers to survive the disaster.
Emilio Ilario Gisueppe Portaluppi was born on October 15, 1881 at Arcisate, a village a few kilometers north of Varese in Italy. His father was Carlo Portaluppi and his mother was Giuseppina Perlatti.
Early life and career[]
He grew up working with stone, and did not hesitate to follow the path that was created by the hundreds of migrants from Valceresio.
Portaluppi sailed from Genoa and arrived in America on March 15, 1903. He went to Barre, Vermont (USA), an important city because of the granite in 1903. His technical and artistic talent led him to Milford, New Hampshire. Decritto was as a sculptor more than a stonemason. At some point he emerged at the Tonella & Sons Granite and Manufacturing Company, a company specializing in funerary monuments of all kinds, but was also specialized in paving and stone sculptures.
Shortly after arriving in Milford, he married Enrichetta Bessoni, a young woman from his hometown in Italy. It is a possibility that she made the trip to America with him. She gave birth to a daughter, Ines.
In 1910 Emilio and his wife separated. Mother and daughter returned to Italy.
With his reputation growing, he was hired to work on the symbolic reliefs for the New York Stock Exchange Building and on the restoration of the Astor’s Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. It was where he met John Jacob Astor IV and Madeleine, his wife. It seemed Emilio, who had just broken up with his wife, took a liking in Madeleine.
In April 1911 he traveled to Italy for family business.
Titanic[]
In the spring of 1912 on the return of the Astor's vacation to Egypt, Emilio was hired to create some statues for their Newport villa and on the restoration of the Astor’s Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. He was also hired to work on the symbolic reliefs for the New York Stock Exchange Building. It was through John Jacob Astor IV and Madeleine, his wife that he came to be on Titanic from a telegram they sent inviting him. Emilio accepted their invitation and was bought a Second Class ticket. He embarked at Cherbourg to return to America on the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic.
It is said Emilio had a crush on Madeleine Astor and there were even rumors of them having an affair together. However, none of these rumors were concrete or confirmed and Emilio never gave details on his “relationship” with Madeleine. He was 30 years old at the time. Since he knew the Astors well, he even sat at dinner with them in First Class despite him being in Second Cabin.
On the night of April 14 he went to bed early. He was awakened by a tremendous shock, caused by the collision with the iceberg, while Emilio thought it was perhaps a boiler explosion. Another thought that occured to him was that they already docked at the pier in New York. He went up on deck where he did not notice anything strange, but felt that something must have happened. He returned to his cabin, got dressed and went back on deck just as they lowered lifeboat 14.
How he survived the sinking and how he escaped the sinking ship, is not certain. Two different versions of his escape exist. In some interivew Portaluppi claimed to have fallen accidentally into the sea and have swum for at least two hours before being rescued by a lifeboat (many believe this to be lifeboat 14). But Portaluppi's description of the amount of passengers in the lifeboat doesn't tally to lifeboat 14. Thus making lifeboat 14 the plausible but also unlikely boat to have saved Portaluppi.
In another story he was diving from 20 feet into the water. After he had been swimming in the icy waters for some time, Lady Astor saw him from lifeboat 4 and pleaded the sailors to rescue him. This version being most likely since Lamp trimmer Hemming said that one of the swimmers picked up from the sea was a foreign passenger who spoke English well. This could very well have been Emilio Portaluppi who was an Italian that had lived in the U.S. for many years. Emilio had mentioned that there were about 35 on the lifeboat and that 2-3 had died after rescue. This tally fits the description of lifeboat 4. Portaluppi had also mentioned in his rather embellished, granted – accounts to his family that he claimed to have been saved from the water by the lifeboat that had Madeleine Astor in it, that is Boat 4.
Thus making lifeboat 4 the most likely one to have picked Portaluppi from the water. Regardless of what was true, the newspapers gave ample space to his story and put the emphasis on emotional trauma created by the sinking of the ship, the tragedy of hundreds of people floating in the water, the loss of life and the survivors in the boats who weren’t sure if they would be saved.
Later life[]
Following the tragedy, Portaluppi made a claim for the loss of a photograph of Garibaldi which he valued at no less than $ 3,000.
The fear of water did not stop him in 1914 to resume taking voyages when trying to return to Italy, where he took part in the Italian Army during the First World War.
In 1919 he was in the United States, in Passaic, New Jersey. He frequently travelled between the U.S. and Italy because of problems with citizenship and family. Every year on April 15, a big dinner was organized when they were invited by authorities and journalists.
In 1938 he worked for A. Farranda & Son in Woodside, New York. and lived in Brooklyn. He visited Italy many times and had two marriages. He made a last trip to Italy in 1965 at 85 on board the steamer SS Christopher Columbus.
This was the last one, after that, he permanently spent the last years in Arcisate beside his daughter and her family. Emilio Portaluppi was 90 years old when he died on June 18 , 1974.