A Titanic Loss For New Jersey

When the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic in 1912 resulting in the death of an estimated 1,500 people, it was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. The unimaginable event shocked the world and continues to intrigue readers today.

The catastrophe had terrible consequences, both personal and economic, for New Jersey. It impacted the lives of hundreds of people with ties to the state - entrepreneurs whose businesses and factories provided thousands of jobs; investors who built stunning vacation resorts there and an ever-expanding network of railroads to reach them, and tycoons who erected opulent mansions by the ocean or in the verdant Pinelands to escape city life and entertain the crème de la crème of high society. Several of the richest people in the world were aboard the Titanic. They were shadowed by a cadre of professional gamblers and thieves anxious to separate them from their money. Among the passengers was a bogus baron and a bona fide countess; a movie star and a phenom of the opera; a famous clothing designer and a chic fashion model; prominent artists and authors; famed aviators and race car drivers ... even a desperate kidnapper on the lam. These and others influenced the shape of things to come in New Jersey by living or dying when an enormous iceberg abruptly ended their voyage. On the flip side, there were countless financially strapped immigrants yearning for a better life in New Jersey. Some lived to achieve their aspirations; most did not when the "unsinkable" luxury liner, a heralded "floating palace," plummeted to the frigid ocean floor.

These are their stories.