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Before the Titanic
Before setting sail on the RMS Titanic, Molly Brown was a world traveler. During the year of 1912, Margaret Brown was traveling in Egypt with John Jacob Astor, a very wealthy man of his time, and his wife Madeline. The two were a very controversial couple of their time. Margaret was also traveling with her twenty two year old daughter Helen. After touring Egypt they all resided to France where Margaret’s trip was cut short at the request of her son Lawrence, whose own son had fallen ill.

A Passenger on Board
She booked her ticket on the next available ship heading back to the United States, which so happened to be the Titanic, however her daughter did not accompany her back. Being a very wealthy woman, she booked a first class ticket which cost approximately 870 pounds, or 4,350 dollars in 1912. In present time that is an astounding 50,000 dollars for a first class ticket. Being among one of the many wealthy passengers on board, Margaret was sailing with several people she was already acquainted with. In fact, she had even sailed with the ship’s captain, Edward J. Smith, on two other occasions, and had the honor of eating dinner with him once before. On the night of April 14th, the Titanic struck an iceberg, and although many passengers were unaware the ship had even struck anything, Margaret was thrown from her bed while reading a book. After being told to head to the upper deck she dressed accordingly for the cold Atlantic air, as she wore seven pairs of wool stockings to keep her legs warm. As the ship was sinking she refused to get into a boat until all the women and children on the first class deck were safely in a life boat, until she was put into lifeboat No. 6. The boat was at half capacity when it hit the water and the officer in the boat deemed the situation hopeless,not wanting to even row the boat away from the sinking ship. Margaret took charge convincing her lifeboat to forget about their wealth and their status and to go back and save passengers in the water.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Margaret brown got her title the “unsinkable molly brown” because of her heroic actions during the sinking of the Titanic, and her continued acts of selflessness afterwards. There were approximately 2,200 passengers on board and only approximately 700 survivors, meaning over 1500 people died that night. The death rate could have been even higher if it weren’t for Margaret, as she was one of few boats to go back for passengers. Her work did not stop that night, as she was a part of the creation of the survivors committee while on board the rescue ship, the Carpathia. She was also elected the chair of the committee and presented the Silver Loving Cup to all the crew aboard the Carpathia after arriving safely to New York. The Unsinkable Molly Brown became her most famous title after she passed away.