Mārīyā Al-Ba'qlīnī was a child passenger on Titanic.
Born in 21 September 1906 to Sulayman Al-Ba’qlini and Laţīfah Al-Haj Qurbān, Mārīyā was a native of Al Shwayr, Syria. Her father was a pharmacist and originated from Turkey. He was haunted by the Mohammedans in his native country and had fled to Syria to marry Laţīfah. From their marriage, five children were born, the first three in Syria. Mārīyā was the eldest and was followed by Ūwjīnīyā in 1908 and Hilānah in 1911.
The youngest one probably had been born without seeing her father yet. As he felt it wouldn’t be safe here in Syria as it fell under the Ottoman Empire, he made plans to make his own apothecary in the USA. With a neighbour, Najīb Qiyāmah, he left in late 1908, embarking on a ship to take them to America. Instead, they were in South America, spending a few months in San Cristóbal, Venezuela before reaching New York in June 1910. This is where he started to build up a life and business for his family.
In 1912, it was time for Sulayman to be reunited with his wife and children. He had finished the groundwork for the foundation of his pharmaceutical company and had saved enough money to bring his family over. As Najīb still had to get his young daughter Adāl married, he felt she should come over as it would be practical since she could brought items with her. Najib sent a letter to Mariya’s mother requesting that Adāl should take some traditional goods with them for themselves and also for him as he wanted better carpets and smokeware. Adāl could later be chaperoned on her forthcoming wedding by Laţīfah as her father would look for a husband from the United States. With all said and done, she was part of the group that now emigrated.
The journey would lead from Al Shwayr to Beirut harbor. They went to the big city by taking a ride on a sort of a coach with horses in front. A ship took the young child with her mother, sisters and neighbour to Marseilles in France. Mariya had run in a bit of trouble when they were there. She turned out to have been infected and carried conjunctivitis so it had to be healed before they would be allowed to go any further by French immigration police in order to prevent any spreading of diseases. This delay caused them to have to go on another ship.
Titanic[]
On the evening April 10, Mārīyā was in Cherbourg with the others. She was 5 years old when she stepped aboard the great ocean liner, Titanic. This was the next available ship and they all traveled in Third Class. Laţīfah, Adāl, Mārīyā, and her two sisters were all in one cabin.
They were all in their berths when, on the night of April 14, an iceberg ended the Maiden Voyage of Titanic abruptly as she came too close. It couldn't be prevented to have contact with the ice wall which was over 50 feet high, despite the best efforts of the officers trying to veer to port while running her engines to full astern. The damage was done to a large part of her starboard side, which had sustained small openings over a great length which caused water to flow into her belly at several points. The ship then stood still. Adāl and Laţīfah felt the hit.
On April 15, just after midnight, the lifeboats were being readied because the ship was deemed to not be unsinkable after all. The captain just got word from Thomas Andrews who calcluated she couldn’t stay afloat for too long. Meanwhile, the family readied the children to carry them with them as soon as they felt there was something off about the ship. It took a while but they did manage to get to the Boat Deck with still some lifeboats remaining.
When they were boarding a lifeboat, Mārīyā heard gunshots. She could still recall this detail later. There is uncertainty whether the neighbour's daughter and Mārīyā were in the same boat or if she was with Mārīyā 's mother. A version of the story says the mother and the teenager were seperated in the crowds. Nevertheless, they all survived. They got off board safely. At 2:20 A.M, the Titanic was finished. She broke and foundered. The family found themselves on the RMS Carpathia later, after having drifted on the ocean in a lifeboat. The ship would take them to New York, where she dropped off Titanic's former passengers on the 18th of April.
As Mārīyā's father was not at home and had no idea what had just occured, the women were received by her father's neighbour, Adāl Najīb Qiyāmah, who was now reunited with his daughter Adāl.
Later life[]
Living in the US, Mariyah’s name was changed to Marie Catherine Baclini, just like her parents and siblings, who underwent this process too. Having survived the sinking of the Titanic with all her realtives aboard, she was the only one of the three to not die young. It was Ūwjīnīyā, now named Eugenie, that suffered a brain disease and died in August that same year.
Two more siblings would be born in the USA. In January 1913, Marie's only brother David was born. Another sister was born in 1914. She was named Isabel.
In the 1930s, Marie had become a department store manager and was still living close to her family, not having gotten a partner. That was, until she met George C. Khanisur and married him on November 1, 1934. He was doing newspaper printing and was Syrian from origin. He had a child from his previous marriage, named Lillian after her mother. His marriage ended in divorce with his daughter also dieing within a year after being born. He did local military service in the 1930s when he was Marie’s husband. They became residents of Brooklyn, New York.
Together they had one child, a daughter called Joyce Galin. She was given to the family on August 30, 1937. Marie avoided the topic of Titanic throughout her further life. Her other, younger sister died of breast cancer in 1939.
George survived his wife. He had to part ways with her when she passed aged 75, on on 27 June 27, 1982. He became no less than 94 years old and lived until 1996.
Her daughter Joyce is still alive.