Over 200,000 Titanic Records with Information on Dead and Survivors Published Online
More than 200,000 Titanic records with information on survivors as well as dead have been published online to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the most famous maritime disaster on 15 April.
The documents will be free to access until 31 May at the Ancestry.co.uk website which collected the records. Ancestry.co.uk is a subscription-based family history website.
The records include the official passenger list detailing the names, ages and occupations of the ill-fated passengers who lost their lives during the maiden journey of the RMS Titanic. It also contains the nationalities, positions and addresses of more than 900 crew members of the ship.
The online collection includes the last will and testament of Titanic's captain, Edward J Smith, along with the will of other wealthy passengers like Benjamin Guggenheim and John Jacob Astor.
The online access is available for over 329 coroner inquest files and documents of 330 bodies recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.
Scanned images of grave headstones of 121 passengers and the passenger list of the rescue vessel Carparthia are also part of the free access.
"Over the generations, many families may have heard rumours that they had an ancestor aboard the Titanic, or even lost the evidence proving it," the Press Association reported Miriam Silverman, Ancestry.co.uk content manager, as saying.
"We're very pleased to be able to offer access to these valuable records for free, enabling thousands to uncover the story of their ancestor's tragic voyage," Silverman added.
The National Records of Scotland discovered an original letter written by a Scottish engineer as he prepared to board the Titanic, the PA reported.
Robert Douglas Norman, 28, was on a trip to Vancouver and had a second class ticket. His body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean.
"This is a rare find which has provided an incredible insight into the life of a young Scot who died in one of the biggest and most famous disasters in history. Its timely discovery highlights the fascinating work of the National Records of Scotland and the rich heritage of Scotland's people and their lives," PA quoted Fiona Hyslop, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, as saying.
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