Laṭīfah Al-Ba'qlīnī was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Laţīfah Al-Haj Qurbān was born on May 18, 1888 in Al Shwayr, Syria which is now part of Lebanon. On 21 November 1905, she made the promise to Sulayman Dāwūd al-Ba'qlīnī who was also from her village. Together, they initially had three children: Mārīyā was the first to arrive in 1906. Next was Ūwjīnīyā in 1908 and Hilānah was their third daughter, born in 1911. Her husband worked in the pharmacy and was a christian, Turkish from origin and had fled from the mohammedans in Turkey as they had become genocidal towards those with other beliefs.
As Syria was still part of the Ottoman Empire, he felt that it would be safer to establish themselves elsewhere. He dreamed of bigger things and have his own drugstore, so Sulayman migrated to the United States in 1909 together with his close neighbour Najīb Qiyamah. They were supposed to settle in New York but went to San Cristóbal, Venezuela for a couple of years first, before being on American soil on 7 June 1910.
Meanwhile, Najīb had a daughter in Syria, the young Adāl Najib Qiyāmah that still had to be given a husband. In 1912, it was time for Sulayman to bring over the rest of his family, whereas Najīb wanted to send fo Adāl. Her father had written the Al-Ba'qlīnī’s back in Syria so they would be extra prepared and bring her with them on their journey with an assignment for Adāl to bring all sorts of goods from the homeland that they would need to America, where Adāl could be married. Sulayman agreed to make Laṭīfah Adāl's chaperone.
From Al Shwayr, the group made their travel to Beirut, probably in a wagon which was pulled along by horses. In Beirut harbor, a ship lay waiting for them to take them to Southern France.
They were not originally scheduled to travel on the Titanic but Mārīyā had developed a pink-eye and they had to abandon plans to board their original ship in Cherbourg, until it cleared up, as the French customs in Marseilles were strict about that as they wanted to prevent contagion.
Titanic[]
It was April 10, in the evening when the Syrians were in Cherbourg to set off on the Maiden Voyage of Titanic, in Third Class. She, her girls and the neighbor’s daughter were in one cabin.
On the night of April 14, the Titanic had gotten in trouble as an iceberg appeared directly on her course and was apparently not visible before she was half a mile away. She was too close to veer around it in time, even with the engines reversed. The Titanic made a last turn to port but her starboard side still hit the berg under the waterline, which meant small crevices appeared on her hull and she started to take on water. The collision disturbed the sleep of Laṭīfah and Adāl.
On April 15, Laṭīfah and Adāl felt that there was a disturbance and that problems could occur. The captain had already known the ship was going to sinking and had ordered for evacuation shortly after midnight. The women went out to see if they could go to the upper decks. It wasn’t easy for steerage to move up, but the 5 Syrians managed to after Mārīyā, Ūwjīnīyā and Hilānah were dressed. Adāl needed to return to the cabin for a moment so the women were seperated. It’s possible that they met eachother again at the Boat Deck, but it isn’t sure, nor is it known if they all were in the same lifeboat, but, unlike many other groups, all of them were saved.
Laṭīfah and her children were in one of the later boat. The end of Titanic drew near and sank at 2:20 A.M. Many passengers were left in the cold water to struggle for what was not a long time. Over 1500 people died that night. Mrs. Al-Ba'qlīnī and her daughters had to wait for anyone to get them off the open ocean. A rescue ship appeared on the horizon which first fired flares and then reached the wreck site at 4:00 A.M. I took several hours for all survivors to be onboard this ship, the RMS Carpathia, which made her way to New York when she was done. Adāl and Laṭīfah were together by then.
After a stormy voyage, she docked in the large city. Adāl’s father had to pick them up as Laṭīfah’s husband was not around at the time and didn’t have a clue what had just happened a couple of days earlier.
Later life[]
Living in New York for all of their life, the pair changed their names. They would now be adressed as Salomon and Latify Baclini. Being fortunate enough to survive the sinking of the Titanic with her three children and succeeding in bringing over the neighbour’s daughter to chapperone her at her wedding, the good times for Latify lasted months, until she had one of her daughters ill. In August, meningitis was established by Eugenie (Ūwjīnīyā). This ultimately killed her.
Still, two more children would be delivered to Latify and Salomon. In January 1913, she had her first son, which they named David. David had a younger sister in March 1914, who they named Isabel. Between 1915 and 1920, her husband changed profession to sell dry-goods. There might have been some issues regarding pharmaceutical liscensing.
In 1939 there was more sorrow as Helene Barbara (Hilanah) succumbed to breast cancer. Marie Catherine (Mārīyā did survive, along with her other siblings, they lived into the 1980’s and beyond.
Titanic was never a happy topic for Latify Baclini and for good reason, so she never spoke of it. Latify passed away on May 10, 1962 and was laid to rest with her husband, who she had survived by roughly 10 years as his passing came in 1952. Their grave is at Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Bronx, New York.