Mustafà Nasr 'Almā was a passenger on the RMS Titanic.
Background[]
Mustafà Nasr 'Almā was a native of Tibnīn, part of Syria under the guise of the Ottomans. Now it’s the country of Lebanon. Mustafa was raised as a muslim. When he was older, he did agriculture while he was still in his elderly home.
In 1912, Mustafà planned to join certain relatives in America. Two fellow citizens, both cousins of Mustafa, had the same idea. They were Yūsuf Ahmad Waznah and Fatīmah Muslamānī. Yūsuf and Mustafà could guide Fatīmah. They could not leave a woman alone on a long journey such as that, so they went with her. For the three of them, Michigan City, Indiana was their destination.
The three of them had gone off to Beirut and boarded a ship to Marseilles. Declared fit to go after the French had done health checks on them, they went north.
Titanic[]
Mustafà, Yūsuf and Fatimah had made it to Cherbourg and were there at port, on April 10. RMS Titanic came over from England to await her new passengers. Once onboard, they had entrance to Third Class.
On April 14, the tide turned for Titanic. She hadn’t encountered many difficulties on her Maiden Voyage, but on the late night, there was an iceberg and she was headed straight for it, but it was realised too late, as the berg was difficult to spot due to the breaking of the waves around the base. This gave Titanic a problem. She couldn’t slow down enough nor turn tight in time. At the last moment, Titanic swung to port but a part of the iceberg underneath the waterline cut through the steel of Titanic on starboard side over a good length and left her with small incisions. These were still enough to cause a massive inflow of sea water.
On April 15 at midnight, the captain was on the bridge and spoke to Thomas Andrews. He was certain that nothing could be done to save Titanic. They had to get as many passengers of the ship as possible, so they told the crew to launch the lifeboats.
Mustafà and his cousins were on the Boat Deck at the late hour. Fatīmah was saved by finding a spot in a lifeboat. She had to tragically lose her cousins. They were forbidden by the crew from entering any lifeboat. Titanic broke and sank at 2:20 A.M. Mustafà and Yūsuf were victims of the sinking. Many of those still onboard on her last moments, were in the water and nobody could last very long in the frigid cold.
A few small ships were set out on assignment from the White Star Line to recover bodies, several days after the disaster. Mustafà was not among the ones that were found, nor was his cousin Yūsuf .
During one of her interviews Fatīmah brought forward that Mustafà and Yūsuf were shot by an officer but this remains something that needs more research.