Ida Livija Ilmakangas was a passenger on Titanic.
Background[]
Ida Livija Ilmakangas was born in Paavola, Oulu, Finland on November 14, 1884. Her father was Jaakko Olofsson Ilmakangas and her mother was Beata Sofia Ilmakangas. Both parents were natives of Paavola as well. On March 4, 1887, her only sibling was born, a sister named Pieta Sofia.
Growing up, Ida left Finland for America in October 1907, settling in New York. It was 1912 when she paid her motherland a visit to take her sister with her to America. Ida Lovisa and Pieta left Hanko on board the Polaris on April 3, 1912. Their tickets cost 269 Finnish marks. The Polaris made her way to Hull in England while docking at Copenhagen. Many Finns were onboard this ship and many of them would join the Maiden Voyage of Titanic. The SS Polaris reached on April 7. A train would take the passengers all the way to Southampton, whilst making a stop in London.
Titanic[]
Ida and Pieta were in Southampton on April 10, where Titanic took her passengers on board and started her first trip to New York. The Ilmakangas girls had booked accomodation in Third Class. Pieta was 27 years old at the time. After noon, the ship left the harbor to being the voyage to New York.
On April 14, late at night, Titanic had a collision with an iceberg, which caused enough damage to breach the hull and let seawater flow inside the ship. Over the course of the next 20 minutes, tons of water had already entered and the water level was rising fast.
On April 15, the captain knew that the ship couldn’t stay afloat and shortly after midnight, he gave the order to ready the lifeboats to being evacuating the passengers. Not even a third of the passengers were saved when Titanic went down at 2:20 A.M. Many people ended up in the freezing water.
Both sisters died in the sinking of the Titanic and their bodies were never recovered.
After her death[]
For the loss of her two daughters, mother Beata received £10 in compensation from the Daily Telegraph’s special fund on top of a £100 from another fund.