Tag Archives: Kathleen Minnix

Titanic Grim: 1 in 89 Survivors Committed Suicide

Kathleen Minnix recently posted at Book of Odds a grim statistic on Titanic survivors –1 in 89 ended up taking their lives. Some of the more notable suicides are Dr. Washington Dodge, Jack Thayer, and Titanic lookout Frederick Fleet. Dodge shot himself over a lawsuit in 1919, Thayer slashed his wrists and throat in 1945 over a son’s death in World War 11. Frederick Fleet died in 1965 by hanging himself on a clothes line. His wife had died in December and his brother-in-law had evicted from the house.

The earliest suicide was in 1912.  Annie Robinson, who had been a stewardess on Titanic, was aboard the Devonian on 10 October. The ship encountered heavy fog in Boston and she became agitated. Shortly after the fog horn sounded, she threw herself into the water and drowned. The last survivor suicide was on 11 Jul 1989 by Phyllis May Quick. She shot herself in the head at her home in Detroit.

A grim statistic indeed.