LUCK, BRAVERY AND TRAGEDY
THE ASTORS
John Jacob Astor IV (47) and his 19-year-old wife Madeleine were the wealthiest couple aboard , and among the richest in the world. Astor, an American business magnate, was believed to be worth more than $80 million when he went down with the ship. The couple had cut short an extended honeymoon across Europe and Egypt – a trip taken to escape the gossip surrounding their 28-year age gap and marriage – after Madeleine had fallen pregnant. Wanting the child to be born in America, they had booked passage home on . Madeleine was safely conveyed onto a lifeboat and later remarked how many of the men left on board didn’t seem to be alarmed at thebaby.
