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Danes on board the Titanic


By Sune Christian Pedersen

14 Danes set out to cross the Atlantic on 10th April 1912 on board the newly built gigantic ship, the Titanic.


They had been able to read about the ship and all its splendour at the Danish agent of White Star Line, Joachim Prahl. The marketing was clearly directed towards workers, artisans, and farmers who wanted to try their fortune in America and learn the new techniques that had been developed there. "If you possess the necessary patience and willingness to learn, it will not take long before you realize that you are doing twice as much work in a day than you did at home without exerting yourself more", the agent promised in his brochures.

Only second and third class tickets were sold in Denmark, but that was not so bad because "the democratic times in which we live require that the steamship companies do their utmost to give of their very best to the third class passengers". There would be clean tablecloths, a piano in the common room, and even common bathrooms, "a convenience which clearly demonstrates the extraordinary attention that White Star Line pays to their third class passengers".

Jacob Christian Milling
48-year-old locomotive superintendent with the Danish Railways, Jacob Christian Milling, was one of the 14 Danes on board the Titanic. He was going to America to study modern engine constructions and travelled on 2nd class. On the date of departure, the 10th of April, he sent a postcard from Southampton to his wife: "Dear Augusta. This is the last you will hear from me from this side. I may send you a wireless if it is not too expensive. I am staying at the Railway Hotel. It is not cheap, but convenient. From my window I can see the ship in the dock. How are the old folks? Give my regards to them and the children. Best wishes to all of you from Jacob."

He sent the "wireless" on 14th April, a telegram with the coded message ABANAPAS which in translation meant "I am fine, calm weather, ship excellent, having fun, good travel company, lovely journey". A certain Miss Edwina Trout later said that Malling had talked enthusiastically about the telegram at the dinner table: "Imagine – I am in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles away, and in a few hours my wife has got my greeting". The very same evening at 23.40 hrs Titanic hit the iceberg. Milling met Trout during the next hours, broken-hearted by the thought of "my poor wife whom I just sent a telegram saying that all is well". Later she saw him descend into a lifeboat wearing a life jacket and in good spirits.

Malling’s dead body was found and taken to Halifax from where it was shipped to Copenhagen by the ship C.F. Tietgen of the Scandinavia-America Line. He was buried in Assistens Cemetaryon 3rd June 1912.

The Danish Survivors
Only two Danes survived the disaster: 45-year-old Jenny Hansen and 19-year-old Carla Jensen. Carla Jensen later related her personal expenses vividly on Danish radio. Besides Milling the casualties were: Hans Christensen Givard, Martin Ponesell, Claus Peter Hansen, Henrik Juul Hansen, Henry Damsgaard Hansen, Hans Peder Jensen, Niels Peder Jensen, Svend Lauritz Lensen, Marius Petersen, Einer Windeløv, and Charles Valdemar Jensen; most of them young men who wanted to try their fortune in the United States.


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