What do you know about Mormons on the Titanic?
Irene Corbett was a Mormon woman from Utah who traveled to London for advanced midwifery training, despite opposition from her husband and counsel from Church president Joseph F. Smith to stay home with her family. In April 1912, she boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second-class passenger. She died when the ship sank, leaving three young children behind.
Nearly a century later, Apostle Quentin L. Cook used Irene’s story in General Conference, saying it was believed she gave up her chance at a lifeboat to care for injured passengers. The source for that claim turns out to be a family story told by a grandson who was born long after her death, with no surviving witness placing Irene there.
Then there are the six Mormon missionaries who supposedly escaped the Titanic after a providential change of plans. Contemporary records tell a rather different story: the missionaries sailed from Liverpool on the Mauretania, and the surviving evidence gives little reason to believe they were ever booked on the Titanic at all.
This week on What Do You Know Wednesday, Hannah tells Jess how two Mormon stories became attached to the most famous shipwreck in history—and what happens when family lore, faith-promoting storytelling, and historical fact begin to blur together.
Bennett, R. E., & Jensen, J. L. (2007). “Nearer, My God, to Thee”: The sinking of the Titanic. In C. Doxey, R. C. Freeman, R. N. Holzapfel, & D. A. Wright (Eds.), Regional studies in Latter-day Saint Church history: The British Isles (pp. 109–127). Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University.https://rsc.byu.edu/regional-studies-latter-day-saint-church-history-british-isles/nearer-my-god-thee-sinking-titanic
Cook, Q. L. (2011, October). The songs they could not sing. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-songs-they-could-not-sing
From the mission field. (1912, April 18). Millennial Star, 74, 254. The Church of Jesus Christ
Sonne, C. B. (1988). A man named Alma: The world of Alma Sonne. Horizon Publishers. history.churchofjesuschrist.org
The sinking of the world’s greatest liner. (1912, April 18). Millennial Star, 74, 250. The Church of Jesus Christ
Contemporary Utah newspaper coverage used throughout the episode.
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