Halīm Mubarīk was a child passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Halīm Mubarīk was the youngest son of the Syrian pair Jirjis Mubārik Bū Tannūs and Amīnāh Iskandar Nāsīf Abī Dāghir. They were married and lived in Hardīn, where Amīnah gave birth to two boys. His brother was Jirjis, who was born in 1904. Halīm was born on July 15, 1907. The country was later part of Lebanon and still is to this day. But back then, it was part of the Ottoman Empire.
His father Jirjis soon left for the United States with two of his brothers. In 1908, he was in Clearfield, Pennsylvania where he started a business in dry goods. He had one friend named Antūn Yazbak. He was also a migrant of Hardīn and was still single. By 1912, Jirjis felt that it was time for his family to come over and sent Antūn to Syria to search for a wife of his own while picking up Jirjis’ wife and children. Amīnah’s father had already arranged for Antūn to meet with Sīlānah, who was Amīnāh’s younger sister, who lived back in Hardīn. Antūn and Sīlānah found eachother approvable and wed. Not long after the wedding, the two took Amīnāh, Jirjis and Halīm with them on their honeymoon. The journey led them to Beirut, from where a ship took them to the South of France. In Marseilles, they heard of a ship of unimaginable size. This ship was going to sail out in April, but it was still March so the group visited several places in Southern France.
Titanic[]
Halīm and the others came aboard in Cherbourg on the 10th of April at the evening, after which the ship left for the Channel to stop in Queenstown next, after which she set course for New York. During the Maiden Voyage, Halīm was just 4 years old. The family had their accomodations in Third Class.
On April 14, the ship took a hit on her starboard side from an iceberg, which had appeared out of seemingly a haze. The Titanic couldn’t turn in time to avoid a collision. The damage on the hull was severe enough to let water through. Over time, the water inside the ship rose significantally. The impact of the berg woke up the family. When at first, stewards were acting like all was fine, they had no worried. But because the ship stood still for so long, an uneasy feeling had come over Amīnāh, Sīlānah and Antūn. They gathered, dressed Jirjis and Halīm quickly and took them by the hand. It was tough for them to get up to the higher decks with all the gates. Out on the open deck, the brought the young ones up a ladder.
Chaos ensued as the passengers became ever more desperate to take a chance at a lifeboat but the officers on one side of the ship were strict and held the men back. It's unknown which lifeboat Halīm was in, but he was together with his mother and brother and it was very late, not many boats were left. A weird story goes that Halīm was thrown in the water but he himself stated he was picked up and flung into a lifeboat. It could have been Collapsible C. It's not evident, but his aunt Sīlānah was likely rescued in another lifeboat. Antūn was the only one in the family that was lost. Titanic’s struggle was finished at 2:20 A.M, as the merciless sea took her down forever, taking many souls to her sea grave. Antūn’s body was never found.
After the sinking[]
As the survivors in the lifeboats waited for rescue, it came more than one and a half hour after Titanic’s demise. The RMS Carpathia had raced through the night to come tot Titanic’s assistance, but just found what was left of the wreck. The whole morning she spent gathering the people that had made it out of this disaster in one piece. Sīlānah, Amīnāh and the two boys were together again. When Carpathia was done taking occupants aboard, she headed in the direction of America, docking at New York harbor on the 18th of April.
The brothers of Antūn and the father of Amīnāh and Sīlānah received word of the Titanic disaster and got information about where their family might be now. They hurried their way to New York to meet them. The mother and children were hospitalised as to help them overcome their shock and exposure. Both Mubarīk children suffered from measles as well and the family was bound to stay in New York for a longer period than they wanted. When it was over, they went to the nearest train that would take them to Wilkes-Barre.
Later life[]
George finally saw his family again and their new life together in Clearfield started. New siblings were born into the family. Armenia, as his mother was now called, gave birth to three more boys and a daughter. As he was also naturalised, Halīm became Willliam. His younger brothers were Roy Joseph, born in 1916, followed by James in 1917 and Daniel in 1918. His sister was Arael, born in 1922.
William’s mother was found to have tuberculosis. With a lot of dread, she had to migrate again. Because of the conditions, she returned to Syria to live in Hardīn with other family in the hope of conquering the decease that way and go back to America one day. However she could not recover and her death came in 1922.
Other Syrian migrants had established themselves in Pennsylvania, where they had a daughter, Jennie Sarkis. She became William’s wife in 1933 on the 13th of January. Three children sprung from their bond. All of them were daughters. Loise Ann was was the first in 1933, her sisters following in 1940 and 1941: Rosie Marie and Jean. It is possible that Rosie didn’t survive her first year.
William managed a small business in Observatory near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Titanic seemingly was a painful topic for William. He rather wasn’t reminded of it and spoke seldom about what happened that night.
He died in 1975 on the 29th of August. He reached the age of 69. His grave can be found at the Christ our Redeemer Cemetery in Pittsburgh. His widow, just 7 years younger, had a long life, she was still alive in 2006. His daughter Jean was still as of 2010.