Photograph of Frank Goldschmidt – one of the victims of the Titanic disaster

Photograph of Frank Goldschmidt – one of the victims of the Titanic disaster

Early photograph of Frank Goldschmidt, who perished in the Titanic disaster on April 15, 1912 – mounted on a hard backing as a memorial, with a handwritten note: Frank Goldsmith perished in the Titanic disaster, April 15, 1912. Frank was one of the victims in the tragedy that gained global attention thanks to his son, Frank Jr., who was also aboard the ship, survived, and later documented the disaster's moments.

Frank Goldschmidt was born in Tonbridge, England. In 1901, he married Emily (née Brown). Between 1908 and 1911, Emily’s parents and several of her siblings emigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit, Michigan. After the death of their youngest son, Frank and Emily decided to emigrate and join her family in Detroit. They boarded the Titanic as third-class passengers headed for New York, along with their son Frank Goldschmidt Jr., some of their friends, and two of Frank Sr.’s friends, Thomas Theobald and Alfred Rush.

When the disaster struck, after the ship collided with the iceberg late on the night of April 14, the family tried to escape along with Theobald and Alfred Rush toward the front of the ship’s deck, where a group of crew members was allowing women and children to pass. Frank Jr., who was 10 years old at the time, later recounted: “My mother and I were allowed through the gate, and the crewman in charge reached out to grab Alfred Rush’s arm to pull him through, thinking that the young man wasn’t much older than me, as he wasn’t very tall for his age. But Alfred pulled his arm away from the sailor and proudly said, ‘No! I’m staying here with the men.’ At 16, he died a hero.” Theobald gave Emily his wedding ring, asking her to deliver it to his wife if he didn’t survive. Frank Jr. recalled: “My father bent down, patted me on the shoulder, and said, ‘Goodbye, Frankie, I’ll see you later.’ He didn’t, and perhaps he knew he wouldn’t.” Frank Sr., Theobald, and Alfred Rush all perished in the sinking; of the three, only Theobald’s body was recovered.

Young Frank Goldschmidt and his mother were rescued by the RMS Carpathia in C Collapsible and reached New York. As he grew older, Frank Jr. still held out hope for his father’s survival. It took him months to accept that his father had truly died, and for years, he would tell himself: “I think another ship must have picked him up, and one day he’ll walk through that door and say, ‘Hello, Frankie.’” During World War II, Frank Jr. served as a civilian photographer for the U.S. Army Air Force. He later published an autobiography titled Echoes in the Night: Memories of a Titanic Survivor in 1991 – the only book on the Titanic sinking written by a third-class passenger. Frank Jr. passed away at his home in 1982, at the age of 79. A few months after his death, on April 15, the anniversary of the sinking, his ashes were scattered over the North Atlantic, above the site where the Titanic sank. In 1994, the documentary Titanic: The Complete Story was released, featuring Goldschmidt’s memories.

For the full story of Frank Goldschmidt Jr., and the description of the tragedy that befell his father, as he recounted in 1977  see here

Size: 19x12 cm. The photograph itself: 13x8.5 cm. Light stains on the edges of the cardboard. Good condition.