Michael Peter Yūsuf was a child passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Michael Peter Yūsuf was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA to Peter Joseph, a former Syrian who originally was named Buṭrus Yūsuf and his wife Kātrīn Rizq, who was not naturalised yet. Their marriage came in 1904. They were immigrants and in the 1900’s, both parents had moved to Detroit and met eachother there, where their love began. Their boy Michael came into this world on May 11, 1907.
Michael’s mother was Syrian from origin as well. Both parents came from Sar’al, which is now part of the Lebanon but back then fell under the autorithy of the large Ottoman Empire. Kātrīn had a physical condition. She coped with tuberculosis.
Another problem was the fact that Peter just lost his job, causing the family to live in poverty. As Mr. Joseph tried to find new employment, he sent his wife and son to Sar’al in 1909, so that they could visit relatives and Kātrīn could bask in the Syrian climate to maybe see if she could heal a little bit better from her disease while relatives could help with raising Michael, while also being pregnant with a new child. Michael’s name in Sar’al was Shafiq. They stayed with Kātrīns mother. Without the father, a daughter was born in Syria named Nabīhah, who was delivered in September 1909.
By April 1912, their financial situation had improved and Peter had found work back in America so he called for his family to come back. Kātrīn planned her return to Detroit. They might have had company along their way, as they had a relative and neighbour named Sultānah Būlus. She had two children named Nūr Al-'Ayn and Akar. They were joined by Bākhūs Rafūl-Būlus, also from Sar’al. This group boarded a freighter at Beirut to reach Marseilles in the South of France. Many migrants received special health checks here.
Titanic[]
Having crossed through the whole of France, the Yūsuf family was at the harbor of Cherbourg on the evening of April 10, where a tender was taking them to the largest liner the world ever saw: RMS Titanic. Michael, his mother and sister had a cabin for themselves: number #69 on F-Deck. They were Third Class passengers.
On April 14, at late night, Titanic unknowingly was heading toward an iceberg until they spotted it when it was too close to prevent Titanic from hitting it. The starboard side brushed against the ice wall underneath the water line. The iceberg made creaks and gaps and water flowed straight through. Titanic, was now fatally wounded and the sea poured in at a fast rate.
The impact got the passengers near cabin #69 all excited. The stewards tried to calm them down.
On April 15, just after midnight, it was 20 minutes since the collision when the ship’s captain, Edward John Smith, had taken a look at the lowest decks of the ship and found disturbing sights. The designer of the vessel, Thomas Andrews, informed him that they couldn’t stay afloat. Upon hearing that, Captain Smith started the evacuation and readied the boats. The stewards in Michael’s part of Third Class had also changed their mind and now said there was danger.
On the sign that they had to take themselves up to the Boat Deck with lifebelts, Kātrīn bundled her two children into warm clothes and headed towards the higher decks. It is presumed that she and her children were guided towards the Boat Deck along with some other Syrians. In the confusion, he lost track of his mother and they were apart. A mystery man saw his confusion, grabbed his hand and led him to a lifeboat, which was believed to be Collapsible D. His mother and sister were most likely saved by boarding Collapsible C.
Titanic couldn’t last much longer after that and she finally sank at 2:20 A.M, taking 1503 souls with her. Among the dead were many of the Sar’al people that had accompanied Michael and his family.
After the sinking[]
After the sinking Michael saw a great number of icebergs in the water, a scene that haunted him for the rest of his life. He had to wait a few hours for rescue to come. It was a a passenger liner from the Cunard Line that had immediately altered her course to come to Titanic’s assistance, although she was too far off to help before she went down. The ship, RMS Carpathia, reached Titanic’s wreck site at 4:00 A.M. Then, she was patiently waiting for the lifeboats and the occupants.
When they were aboard Carpathia, mother and son were reunited and she was as happy as she could ever be. Though surviving a fatal disaster, the family still had their difficulties. After the rescue ship was in New York on April 18, Michael and his sister had measles but they were treated in Saint Vincent Hospital with their mother who had suffered from shock and exposure in the bittter cold. She received money from charity and relief funds as she had lost all her bagage as well.
Later life[]
It must have been tough already for the still young Michael to live through and witness the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic and survive it, but the trauma was not over for the Joseph family. When back in Detroit, all sorts of grim events took place. The family underwent a lot of hurt and grief. The first heartbreak came in 1913, when a brother was born to Michael in February. The boy had to be let go in August. His name was Anthony.
The next calamity came soon. His sister Nabīhah, now named Mary Ann, became a victim of a horrible fire in March 1914. On that day, their parents and MIchael had left for church and thought it would be okay to let Mary sleep back at home with a heater on that would keep her warm. However, this ended all in a huge debacle when Mary’s clothes caught fire from the stove. The appartment was soon burning too and Mary’s shrieks were heard by the neighbour in his grocery below. He wasted no time to come upstairs, kicking open the doors to beat out the flames barehanded while sweeping away a burning garment, but it was too late. While carrying the injured young child to his place, he called for an ambulance and police. When her parents came back, Kātrīn, now named Catharina, fainted from hearing what had happened. The young child was taken to hospital and mom and dad followed as soon as they could. They stayed with Mary but her injuries were too severe. She couldn’t be saved and died after midnight. Michael had now lost two siblings but it wouldn’t end there.
Another sister came into the family in March 1915. She was named Sadie. In July 1915, Kātrīn passed away. It’s not known if the childbirth caused her death, but it was ascribed to the tuberculosis she had battled throughout her life. Sadie was not meant to live long either. She died in November.
He now only had his father left. Michael lost him in 1926. On March 24, a heart attack ended Peter's life, while he was only 42 years old. After losing his father, Michael went to live with an uncle and aunt who had migrated from Syria as well. They were Harry and Rose Joseph and lived in Warren.
Adversity couldn’t stop the young Michael. He was dubbed ‘The Miracle Child’ by the church school of Saint Peter and Paul where he was taught. The nuns nicknamed him Ty. He didn’t like to talk about Titanic even when grown up.
Michael became a self-made man, who made his living as a delivery driver. He worked for a Ginger Ale company named ‘Verner’s Soft Drink Company’ and delivered the refreshments in his truck from a young age. In 1930 he was still with his uncle and aunt.
Next to a career, Michael also found a much younger woman for himself, Catherina Ann Rouhanna, who was born in 1917. She had a Syrian background too. They put a ring on their finger on April 7, 1937 and went to live in Detroit. Catherina brought forth a son in 1938. He was Peter Michael. The marriage produced three more children after that. Anthony Paul was the second son in 1941, followed by their only daughter Liela Catherina. Louis Richard was the last in 1945.
He remained loyal for 24 years to Verner’s Soft Drink Company, from where he retired in 1967. He was always a citizen of Detroit. Michael Peter Joseph’s life ended on May 18, 1991, he died at the age of 84 in the hospital of Warren. The cause of his death was a stroke. His wife lived a further 7 years till her passing on May 3, 1998.
Son Louis and daughter Liela Chaterina lived the longest, Louis until 2013 and Liela was alive till 2016. Louis took pride in his father’s history with the Titanic which became a hobby for him. He was an avid collector of memorabilia that was linked to the famous ocean liner and her demise.