Malkolm Joakim Johnson was a passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Malkolm Joakim Johnson was a native of Klevshult, Åker, Småland, Sweden. He was born on March 20, 1879. His father was Johannes Nilsson and his mother was Anna Katrina Svensdotter. Johannes Nilsson was a homesteader and innkeeper in Klevshult, Åkers parish.
Malkolm was a twin with his sister Augusta Wilhelmina. He had 5 elder siblings. The first children of the family were the twin pair Malkolm and Anton, they were born in 1871. Two years later another son, Anders Wilhelm was born, followed by a daughter, Emma Lovisa in 1875. Malkolm had another sister in 1877, Albertina. He had one younger sister, Beda Helena, who was born on 6 May 1881.
On September 17, 1883, the family suffered a tragic death. It was father Johannes who died of nervous fever aged 47. The family had moved to Björnaryd sometime between Beda Helena's birth in 1881 and Johannes' death.
On May 25, 1885, his mother Anna Katrina remarried Isak Leonard Jonsson from Harfall. On November 26, 1889, more horrible adversity for the family as the youngest daughter Beda Helena, only 8 years old, died from an unknown illness.
On 30 August 1902, his sister Albertina was heavily pregnant when she married Corporal Gustav Adolf Johansson from Åker Prästgård, and son Karl Torsten Folke was born on 19 September. Again they were struck with grief as on January 21, 1904, Albertina died during childbirth.
Emigration and further life[]
On August 27, 1898, the ship The Lucania arrived at Ellis Island, New York from Liverpool. On board was the nineteen-year-old Malkolm, whose last name was Johansson at the time. He had $10 with him and was on this his first visit to America on his way to New Britain where he evidently had an acquaintance.
On March 24, 1906, he returned to America, now listed with the surname Johnson, apparently after visiting home. This time he traveled with The Cedric from Liverpool and was on his way to Minneapolis, where his brother Anton lived.
Malkolm ran a concrete paving plant in Minneapolis and lived at 814 7th Street. He had visited his home in Sweden, in Björnaryd in Småland where his mother Anna Katrina and stepfather Isak lived. He had planned to buy the ancestral estate of Björnaryd, but his plans failed, leading Malkolm to become discouraged and in a bad mood. He immediately wanted to return to Minneapolis and he took the money he had intended to use for the purchase of a farm with him.
On March 28, 1912, he sat in the evening with his brother Wilhelm and gave him some of his earnings before leaving Sweden.
Titanic []
On April 10, Titanic would leave the Southampton port after 12 o’clock. Malkolm was onboard just then, having bought a ticket for Third Class. On board the Titanic, Malkolm was in the company of Gustaf Joel Johansson and shared a cabin with Oskar Hedman. He was unmarried and 33 years old at the time.
At the collision with the iceberg on April 14, 1912, he and Oskar Hedman woke up and went up on deck. Oskar later said that they probably wouldn't have bothered if it hadn't been for the commotion that started a few minutes later.
On April 15, shortly after midnigth, the evacuation was started. During the sinking, Malkolm put on a life belt, but ended up in the water and froze to death. The body was recovered by Mackay-Bennett and given number 37. On 23 April his body was reported as identified in American newspapers.
After Malkolm's death[]
Malkolm's brother Wilhelm wrote to the Foreign Ministry to demand compensation after he had found out his brother was a victim of the Titanic’s demise. Two days later, he received the answer that as a sibling he had no right to receive compensation, but that his mother and stepfather could apply for compensation. But Wilhelm, who had not forgotten the amount that Malkolm had sewn into the socks, wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the matter:
"I want to write to you with a few requests, it is so that my brother Malkolm Johansson was involved in the Titanic accident and he is among those who perished and as we saw in the newspapers that they found his body and that he is to be buried in Halifax, but it is his belongings that I want to make a request whether you would not be willing to undertake to get them right... He had all his securities on him and a lot of cash sewn into his socks around 8 000 kroner... then he had a bill set for Minneapolis, it is for 4,250 kroner."
The Foreign Ministry asked the consulate in New York to investigate the matter. There they wrote to the White Star Line and also the consulate in Montreal. The White Star Line was not heard from for a while, and therefore the Swedish consul wrote a letter directly to the top manager in New York, Mr. Franklin. A visit to the shipping company's office and several nudges were required before, after about four months, an answer finally came:
"A very careful examination of the clothing was made without result, but the stockings did not accompany the 'Mackay-Bennett' in, as was the case with many other bodies, as there is usually nothing distinguished about such (i.e. stockings) in identification. On the 'Mackay-Bennett' every item of clothing was carefully examined, even the linings of jackets and waistcoats being torn open in search of hidden valuables and papers. The bodies were guarded until they were stripped and when the examination of articles was made, this was done by the doctor, the purser, and our undertaker. We hardly think it possible that anything in a person's stockings could have been overlooked, and we can only suppose that Mr. Johansson made some diversion of his money when he changed his stockings."
Since Malkolm was otherwise well dressed and had boots on, it was strange that the socks would be missing, but according to White Star Line it was therefore impossible that he would have had money in the socks. Neither the consulates nor the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm could do more about the matter and what actually happened to Malkolm's valuable socks is an unsolved mystery.
The belongings he had been carrying were sent home to his parents. On January 22, 1913, they also received back the check for $1,200 and the cash he had, after deducting for expenses from the $165 it had been at the beginning.
His parents received SEK 875:52 (£48) from the charity fund and on 22 December 1914 a further SEK 1,908 (£75) in damages. Brother Wilhelm received SEK 456 (£25) from the road unit fund.