Sleiman Khalīl Attala was a passenger on the RMS Titanic.
Background[]
Born as Sulayman Khalīl Atta-Allāh, he had a Syrian background. He was the son of George Kahlīl. The place he came from Kafr Mishkī, where he was born in 1885 in what is now Lebanon. He migrated to Ottawa in Canada and his profession was that of a journalist and a merchant. He had later naturalised his name to Sleiman Khalīl Attala.
He was back in Kafr Mishkī, Syria from 1909 to 1912. After those three years, he felt it was time to head back to Ottawa. From Syria, he made a large journey to the North of France. Many other Syrians from Kafr Mishkī went to Cherbourg and had a business or family member there, so he started his journey with fellow merchant Mariyam Assāf Khalīl as he was related to her. She was his aunt, the cousin of his father George. Mariyam and Sleiman would also have Assāf Jirjis Tu'mah Al-Sayqalī alongside them, another young man like Sleiman and related to them.
The journey would first lead to Beirut, as that was their first crossing to the South of France. In Marseilles, all the migrants had to be examined for any potential diseases to prevent contagion. Sleiman, Mariyam and Assaf were allowed to go further along with various others. While they were there, they had heard of the Titanic. With that in mind, they left to go north.
Titanic[]
Sleiman Attala was among the crowd that had gathered to be taken to the Titanic on a special tender, as the liner lay for anchor in the harbor of Cherbourg which wasn’t deep enough for Titanic to be moored. It was April 10 in the evening when he left for his on this gigantic steamer. His tickets got him passage in Third Class.
On April 14, at late night, Titanic’s people saw an overturn from what was a pleasant voyage for most, into a nightmare. As the ship was well on course for New York, she navigated an icefield at a good speed. Suddenly, her lookouts spotted an iceberg in front of the bow less than half a mile away. In a hurry, the ship was turned to port and the engines were put in reverse, but there was no time for the Titanic to get by the iceberg unscathed. Her starboard side made a brush against the hard obstacle with cut parts of her hull. These fissures became a big problem as the water gushed into the ship at a fast rate.
On April 15, the captain, Edward Smith, saw what was going on. With the analysis of shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, he figured that the Titanic was not unsinkable as was claimed, but could only stay afloat for over 2 hours from now on. He let the crew prepare the lifeboats for evacuating as many passengers as possible just after midnight. While Mariyam was on the Boat Deck at late night, she could be taken to Collapsible C and flee from the sinking ship. As Titanic settled by the head, all but her last two lifeboats were launched safely. They floated off when she made a sudden dive. At 2:20 A.M, the ship was lost forever.
Mr. Sleiman Attala was unfortunately one of many victims of this well-known maritime disaster just like Assāf. A body was never found of either of the two. Mariyam however later said in an interview that her two cousins were shot by an Officer when they tried to reach a lifeboat.