Washington A. Roebling II: The Racing Pioneer Lost on Titanic at Just 31

Washington A. Roebling II: The Racing Pioneer Lost on Titanic at Just 31

I have been learning about some of the people who were on board the Titanic, and I came across Washington Augustus Roebling II. He was born on the 25th of March 1881 in Trenton, New Jersey, into a family known for engineering and industry. His grandfather, John A. Roebling, had a connection to one of America’s most famous bridges, the Brooklyn Bridge.

He attended the Hill School in Pennsylvania, where he was good at athletics, before joining the family wire-rope business. But he did not stay there. He was attracted to the excitement of the new and rapidly developing world of automotives. By 1909, he helped reorganise the struggling Walter Automobile Company, which became the Mercer Automobile Company. As general manager, he worked with French designer Étienne Planche and personally tested cars, even racing them.

In early 1912, he travelled through Europe with friends, driving across Italy and France. When the time came to return home, they boarded Titanic as first-class passengers. During the disaster, he was seen helping women from the Bonnell and Wick families into a lifeboat, calmly reassuring them they would soon be reunited.

He sadly did not survive, and his body was never recovered. His family briefly hoped he had been saved. He was only thirty-one, a man of ambition and energy, caught at the height of his life.

I wonder, in those final moments, was he still believing everything would be alright, or did he simply choose calm for the sake of others?