Ida Sofia Strandberg was a passenger on Titanic.
Background[]
Ida Sofia Strandberg was a native of the Finnish Aland Islands. She was born in Finström on November 22, 1889. Her parents were sailor Johan Gustav Strandberg and Beata Sofia Rusk, who both originated from Finström. Ida had two elder brothers and a younger sister. Father Johan Gustav already had a first child with another woman, Helena Lovisa Gustaftytär. Their son was Johan Theodor, born on December 30, 1879, but with great grief they had to lose him after just over 2 weeks. He died on January 16, 1880. It became even more tragic when Helena passed away in December that same year. Thus Johan was remarried to Beata. Ida's three surviving siblings were: another Johan Theodor, born on October 19, 1884, Gustave Conrad, born on April 17, 1888 and Gustaf Saida Augusta, who was born on August 26, 1894.
Before heading for America, Ida had worked as a maid in various households in her home parish. Her brother Gustave Konrad had left home, heading for New York in 1907. In 1912, Ida Strandberg made her way from The Aland Islands to Gothenburg, Sweden, where she boarded the Calypso bound for Hull on April 5. Her destination was New York.
Titanic[]
On April 10, Ida left England behind as Titanic steamed away from the Southampton harbor to proceed on her Maiden Voyage. At the time of the voyage, she was 22 years old and she was in Third Class.
On April 14, disaster was imminent as Titanic encountered an iceberg, which she couldn’t get past without damaging her hull. The result was a few crevices under the water line which allowed water in. As Captain Smith caught the news he investigated and he came to the conclusion that the ship wouldn’t stay afloat for more than a few hours. Upon this, he started the evacuation on April 15 shortly after midnight.
Ida Sofia Strandberg died when the Titanic submerged completely. They would not find her body later. Her mother was paid £50 in compensation by the English Committee. This was later doubled to make it a total of £100 because Ida’s brother had paid for the tickets and could not send his money over to Beata.