Kātrīn Yūsuf was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
She was born as Kātrīn Rizq in 1886 in Sar'al, Syria, which is now Lebanon. She was delivered to Thomas and Sada Rizq.
By the early 1900s, she had emigrated to America, to have Detroit, Michigan as her habitat. Here, she married Peter Joseph, a former Syrian who originally was named Buṭrus Yūsuf. They wed eachother in 1904. Kātrīn Yūsuf still carried the Syrian nationality after the wedding.
In 1907, the couple were residents of Detroit where they had a child, named Michael Peter. In September 1909 Kātrīn Yūsuf and her son were back in Syria when she was pregnant. Soon, she had a daughter named Nabīhah. She would later be adressed as Mary Anna. Michael was known in Syria as Shafīq. Word had it that they were a poor family after Peter lost his job and he had to sent them to their motherland so they could have a bit of aid from her relatives. They probably where probably also there for a visit or to live in the better climate, as Kātrīn had to deal with tuberculosis. Her husband stayed back in the USA and re-established himself with a job while he took care of the financial part.
In 1912, Kātrīn and her two kids were with her mother in Sar'al. Then, she received word from her husband that it was time for her to take them and return home. They had the money to do so. At the same time, she had a relative, who was her neighbour, who had the same plans. She was Sultānah Būlus, who also had young ones, waiting to see their father again. They were Nūr Al-'Ayn and Akar. The women were together on their journey. Also with them was Bākhūs Rafūl-Būlus. From the port of Beirut, the family sailed with a freighter, presumably with Sultānah and others from their village to the French harbor city of Marseilles. From there, they had to go north.
Titanic[]
On April 10, she was on the Titanic via a tender that got the passengers delivered on board the large ship that couldn’t moor in the port of Cherbourg itself, as the water wasn’t deep enough. The mighty new liner was waiting with her anchors dropped to receive a new load of passengers with a handful disembarking here. Then she continued her Maiden Voyage at the evening. Kātrīn and her children had a cabin in Third Class, which they shared with no one else. Their cabin was number #69 on F-Deck.
On the night of the 14th, Kātrīn was in her cabin with her children. At late night, the iceberg collision happened. Kātrīn only heard music from many decks above and she didn’t feel the impact but she definitely heard something. This moment of interruption caused excitement among the passengers in her vicinity but stewards tried to quiet them down again. This didn’t last long as soon the message changed and became more serious. They had to go get lifevests and move up to the higher deck.
They got there very late and in the tumult, she lost sight of her son Michael. The desolated child was luckily spotted and given a hand to get on a lifeboat while the worried mother and her daughter were in another boat. Michael was deemed to be in Collapsible D while Kātrīn and Mary were ascribed to have been rescued in Collapsible C.
Within half an hour after the lowering of these boats, the Titanic’s death was eminent. The stern rose out of the water, the ship broke and both ends went down completely at 2:20 A.M. Many passengers and crew perished that night as the majority of them ended up in the cold waters. The Yūsuf family was blessed to not be part of that, but woefully enough, many of their compagnians from the same village were.
After the sinking[]
When the Carpathia came in the early morning to see if she could help, her crew saw that Titanic was gone and gathered everyone that had made it off the ship alive. Most boats were taken aboard with all the former Titanic passengers. Onboard, the family was whole again, to the relief of Kātrīn who embraced her son in joy.
Though alive, the trouble for Kātrīn was not over. The Carpathia brought the poor survivors of the sinking to New York and they could feel mainland under their feet on April 18. Kātrīn was suffering and needed hospital care. Her children even more as they had contracted measles. All her bagage had gone down with the ship. Their were relief funds that helped her out with over a $100 in cash.
Later life[]
Kātrīn was soon back in Detroit and now officially Catherina Joseph. The hard side of life threw a lot at the Joseph family. Anthony was their second son, born in February 1913, yet he lasted only till August that year.
In March 1914, the couple was at church when a terrible fire ended the life of their own, now 4 year old child Mary Ann. They thought it would not be an issue to let her sleep in her crib without anyone watching over her when they left. It was a cold period and they had a stove lit. This had somehow gotten on Mary's clothes.
The neighbour, who was a grocer, rushed upstairs after he heard Mary shriek and he without regard for his own life tried to put the the fire out with his bare hands while Maria screamed of the pain. The brave man called for the emergancy centers but she could no longer be saved despite being rushed to the hospital. Catharina collapsed on the streets out of emotion when the police came to tell her and her husband of the gruesome fate that had befallen her young daughter when the pair had just returned from service and they hurtled themselves to the hospital, where there wasn’t any hope to save their daughter. After midnight, she was gone.
The bucket of misery that was poured out over the family by fate, was still not empty. In March 1915, she and her husband had a daughter named Sadie. However on June 19th of that same year, Catharina Rizk Joseph died from her tuberculosis. She is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Detroit.
After her death[]
Baby Sadie only lived a few more months before dying in November of that year. His father died 10 years later due to a heart condition, which is easy to imagine with the all heartsore he had to endure in short spans of time. Michael was now orphaned as a teenager. Thankfully, he was taken in by his aunt and uncle. He married and lived a long life and had 4 kids. He also gained a small bit of fame for being a Titanic survivor. He drove trucks for the same company for 24 years. He passed away in 1991 at the age of 84.