Ramon Artagaveytia was a survivor of the SS America fire and a victim of the RMS Titanic.
Early Life[]
Ramon Artagaveytia was born on July 14th, 1840, in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was the son of Ramon Fermin Artagaveytia and Maria Josefa Marcisa Gomez y Calvo.
Ramon was born to a family steeped in the history of the sea, according to family legend, just before his death, his grandfather gave Ramon's father an oar, dedicated with the words:
'Knowing how to use it, you will never be hungry. Your ancestors have always survived thanks to the sea. This is your destiny. Follow it!'
SS America (1863)[]
On December 24th, 1871, Ramon survived the fire and sinking of the ship SS America, close to the shore of Punta Espinillo, Uruguay. Newspapers reported that the America had been racing another ship into Montevideo harbor and high boiler pressures had led to a fire. There were 114 first class, 20 second class and 30 "popular" class. Only 65 passengers survived. Ramon escaped by jumping into the sea and swimming for his life. Many of the passengers were horribly burned, and the episode left Ramon emotionally scarred.
RMS Titanic[]
He boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg on April 10th, 1912. His cabin number remains a mystery as it was never designated on the stateroom assignment list found in the pocket of steward Herbert Cave whose body was later recovered and little is known about Mr. Artagaveytia during the voyage.
On the night of the sinking, Artagaveytia was observed on deck with two fellow Uruguayan passengers, Francisco Mauro Carrau and his nephew, Jose Pedro Carrau. This was related by second class passenger (and survivor) Julian Padro y Manent who later said that the three men laughed at his taking the situation seriously. When he announced that he was leaving the ship, Artagaveytia and the Carrau jokingly advised him that it was foolish for him to enter a lifeboat and that he would only catch a cold from being on the open sea in a lifeboat. The accuracy of the above account must be doubted when compared with the very different version of the attitudes and confidence of the Carrau brothers from the memoirs of first-class passenger Elmer Zebley Taylor. Although Mr. Taylor does not mention Mr. Artagaveytia by name in his account, the description of the Carrau brothers is in direct contradiction from Mr. Padro y Manent's version:
'About halfway up the flight (on the way up to the boat deck), there were two gentlemen, one on either side, leaning against the balustrade and, from outward appearance, looked more dead than alive. We Taylor and his wife Juliet, had been introduced to these two fine looking men by a mutual friend on the platform in Waterloo Station. They were from Buenos Aires, Argentina. They could not speak English and we could not speak Spanish. As we casually met day by day, we would all speak our native language, smile and pass along, none of us understanding what the other one said. At this meeting, we repeated the usual salutations, shook hands and assured them there was no danger, smiled and proceeded on our way, to carry the fear they exhibited on their faces for the remainder of my life. How terrifying it must have been to those who did not have faith in the wonderful engineering skill displayed in building this massive unsinkable steamer...'
Mr. Taylor, who later escaped the Titanic with his wife, in Lifeboat 5, clearly states that the Carraus were not joking about the situation and were quite alarmed - quite the opposite of what Mr. Padro y Manent said.
Mr. Artagaveytia and the Carraus were lost in the sinking. About a week following the disaster, Mr. Artagaveytia's body was pulled from the North Atlantic by the CS Mackay-Bennett, the recovery vessel-chartered byte White Star Line to search the scene of the wreck for victims. His entry was logged in:
His body was forwarded to New York and from there was shipped to Montevideo, Uruguay under the auspices of the Uruguayan Consul in New York, Alfred Metz Green. He was buried in the Cemeterio Central, in Montevideo on June 18th, 1912.
The bodies of the Carraus were never found.