The Titanic Survivor Who Pretended to Be a Baron and Caused Controversy
I have been looking into the people who were on board the Titanic, and one story stood out. It was the story of Alfred Nourney, a young man whose actions still raise questions today.
He was born on the 26th of February 1892 in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, but he grew up in Germany. By 1912, at the age of just twenty years old, he seemed to want to be seen as something more. He travelled under the false title of “Baron Alfred von Drachstedt.” In April of 1912, he boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, he was initially a second-class passenger. He effectively upgraded himself after boarding, using his assumed identity.
On the night of the 14th of April 1912, he was playing cards in the first-class smoking room. When the ship hit the iceburg, he briefly checked what was going on but he returned to his game, perhaps not grasping the danger that was ahead. Soon after, he boarded Lifeboat 7 with very little issue. While others rowed the lifeboat away from Titanic, he reportedly stayed seated, smoking and even firing a pistol. It makes you wonder what he was feeling, was it shock, detachment, or something else entirely.
After he was rescued, his behaviour continued to attract attention, and he decided to slip away from the spotlight, and he returned to Europe. He later married and raising a family.
Do you think he surviving the only way he knew how, or does his behavour reveal something about human nature in moments of crisis?
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