Orsen Sirayanian was a passenger on the Titanic.
Background[]
Orsen Sirayanian was given life in a village in Kiği, which was an administrative district of Erzerum, Armenian Turkey just before or after 1890.
The economic conditions, the Turkish persecution of the Christian minorities, and the sporadic massacres of the Armenians at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century compelled many to leave their towns seeking a better life in North America.
In 1912, Orsen, now a grown young man and a farmer, had set his sights on Brantford in Ontario, Canada for similar reasons as fellow Armenian emigrants. He had the christian faith too. To get to Canada, he had to walk many miles with 4 others from Kiği. They were Nishan Krikorian, Davit Vartanian, Mampriededer Zakarian and Haroutioun Zakarian. They had similar goals and must have befriended Orson.
Their journey led to the land of Trebizond, in Northern Turkey at the Black Sea. A ship could transport them from there. The vessel reached Southern France. Disembarking at Marseilles, Orsen and the others took their stay after likely having been screened for health problems, as was the procedure with migrants from outside Western Europe. There was an Armenian from Kiği, who had a hotel in Marseilles and the 5 men could stay there. Having rested enough, they proceeded to the north of France, where a ship would be coming at a harbor.
Titanic[]
On April 10, Titanic came to Cherbourg in the evening. Orsen and his fellow Armenians were ready to get onboard via a tender, as the ship was too large to get closer to port. Orsen and his compagnians were housed in small, cramped Third Class quarters.
The men had no idea what was yet to unfold. Four days later into the voyage, on the night of April 14, Titanic made excellent time. She was near her maximum speed when the lookouts were shook by the sight of a large mass, that quickly was recognized as an iceberg. Why the men couldnt’ see it sooner, remains unknown, but the fine conditions and moonless night might have contributed to that. The First Officer took action and made her turn to port while slowing her down, but this failed to get Titanic past the iceberg safely. Her starboard side made contact with the wall of ice, which made dents and small crevices in the hull below sea level. The water came rushing into the ship as a result.
Around midnight on the 15th of April, as the Captain and ship designer both had investigated the inflow of water, they came to realise this ship could not make it through. The captain then gathered his deck crew and ordered them to prepare the lifeboats. They had to evacuate as many passengers as they could
Nishan Krikorian and Davit Vartanian were lucky enough to get off the ship alive. The others from Kiği, inlcuidng Arsen, didn’t. Titanic could only stay afloat for so long, splitting in two around 2:18 A.M and disappearing into the depths 2 minutes later. Well over a thousand people were still on her decks when that happened, of which many couldn’t withstand the cold as they landed in the water as Titanic sank away from them, dieing in a horrible way.
Several days later, the White Star Line did their best to get the bodies of the deceased back and had chartered several vessels to search the wreck site. Arsen however was lost to the sea.