Karl Behr was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Karl Behr, was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 30, 1885. His parents were Herman Behr and Grace Howell. Karl was educated at Lawrenceville School and later went to Yale. He was admitted to the bar in 1910. Behr was a tennis player and became a well-known lawn star in this professional sport. Playing on the United States Davis Cup team in 1907. Behr, with Beals C. Wright, was also runner-up in the 1907 Wimbledon men's doubles championship.
Titanic[]
Karl Behr boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a First Class passenger; he occupied cabin C-148 (Ticket 111369, £30). He had been pursuing Helen Monypeny Newsom, a friend of his sister. In fact, part of the reason he was on the Titanic was to continue his courtship of Miss Newsom. Mrs. Sallie Beckwith, Helen's mother, had been attempting to discourage the relationship and had taken Miss Newsom on a 'Grand Tour' of Europe to separate them for a time. It did not work as Behr invented a business trip to Europe and arranged to book passage on the Titanic for his return to America.
On the night of the of April 15, Behr joined the Beckwiths, Helen Newsom, and Edwin Kimball with his wife Susan on the starboard Boat Deck. Although Third Officer Pitman was in charge of loading Lifeboat 5, Bruce Ismay was also urging wary passengers into the boat. Mrs. Kimball stepped forward and asked if they could all go together, and Ismay replied, "Of course, madam, every one of you." As a result, Karl Behr and his friends were rescued in lifeboat 5.
Whilst returning to New York on the RMS Carpathia, Behr and some other survivors (Mr Frederic K. Seward - Chairman, Molly Brown, Mauritz Björnström-Steffansson, Frederic Oakley Spedden, Isaac Frauenthal and George Harder) formed a committee to honor the bravery of Captain Rostron and his crew. They would present the Captain with an inscribed silver cup and medals to each of the 320 crew members.
In March 1913, almost a year after the sinking, Karl and Helen Newsom were married. They had 4 children.
Movie Portrayals[]
A possible appearance of Behr in the 1997's film
The only movie portrayal of Karl Behr is in James Cameron's 1997 Movie. A passenger simply known as Yaley appeared in the 1997 film, most notably when he threw a clump of ice in the hands of Frederic Spedden roughly 10 minutes after the collision. He survived in lifeboat 5 and was called Yaley in the script. Karl Behr went to Yale University, so Yaley is probably Karl Behr.