Helene Ragnhild Østby was an American businesswoman. She was one of the passengers who travelled on the RMS Titanic on its Maiden Voyage in April 1912.
Early life[]
Helene Ragnhild Østby was born on November 30, 1889 in Providence, Rhode Island. She had four brothers and was the only daughter of the jeweler Engelhart Cornelius Østby and Lizzie May Webster. After 1906, she was included in all of her father's trips to Europe.
Titanic[]
In January 1912, she went with her father on vacation to Europe. They went to the southern parts of Europe and all the way down to Egypt. When they were in Nice, France, they heard that it was possible to return to America with the Titanic. They bought tickets and boarded in Cherbourg. They travelled together in First Class, but slept in separate cabins. Helene was in cabin B-36, her father in B-30.
On the night of April 14, Helene and her dad were making conversation with the Warren's in the First Class Reception Room on D-Deck. Around 10 P.M, they all retreated to their rooms when a stroll on deck was off the table after it turned out to be too frigid.
After the Titanic collided with an iceberg, she stepped out into the corridor outside her stateroom. Here, she met her father Engelhart and together with the Warren's, whom they had met in Egypt earlier that year, the four walked up to the Boat Deck.
They returned to their cabins for lifejackets, and Helene felt something was wrong. They managed to make it to lifeboat 5, but Engelhart soon went back to his cabin to pick up warmer clothes. Helene stayed behind and boarded lifeboat 5; She survived the shipwreck while her father died. His father's body was later found. Helene applied to White Star Line for compensation for all the damage and losses caused by the disaster.
Later life[]
After the sinking of the Titanic, she returned to Providence. In 1914 she, as well as her brother Harold and one of his daughters, became co-owners of their father's business – "Østby & Barton". In the same year, they went on a business trip to Germany. Harold and his daughter returned to America just before the outbreak of the war, while Østby remained behind. When war broke out, she first fled through Flanders, then made her way over to England and returned to the United States. Østby returned to Europe in 1930 and lived in Brussels for ten years. When World War II broke out, she left Brussels and fled to Lisbon. She lived here for three months before returning to Providence in 1941. She never again returned to Europe and lived in Providence for the rest of her life.
She never married. Toward the end of her life, she worked as a volunteer at Rhode Island Hospital. She passed away on May 15th, 1978 in Rhode Island. She was buried next to her father.
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