Mr Robert Williams Daniel

Mr Robert Williams Daniel, 27, was born 11 September 1884 in Richmond, Virginia, the son of James R. V. Daniel and Hallie Williams.

Robert Daniel boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger (ticket number 113804, £30 10s). He was on his way to Philidelphia, PA. He was probably rescued in lifeboat 3 although in the book The Sinking of the Titanic Daniel is reported jumped into the water with the Wideners and was picked up by a lifeboat.

Robert Daniel, a Philadelphia passenger, told of terrible scenes at this period of the disaster. He said men fought and bit and struck one another like madmen, and exhibited wounds upon his face to prove the assertion. Mr Daniel said that he was picked up naked from the ice-cold water and almost perished from exposure before he was rescued. He and others told how the Titanic's bow was completely torn away by the impact with the berg.

"George D. Widener and Harry Elkins Widener were among those who jumped at the last minute. So did Robert Williams Daniel. The three of them went down together. Daniel struck out, lashing the water with his arms until he had made a point far distant from the sinking monster of the sea. Later he was picked up by one of the passing life-boats.

While aboard the rescue ship Carpathia, he met fellow Titanic survivor Mrs Lucien P. Smith, who's husband perished during the disaster.

Mr Daniel was married two more times and later became a member of the state senate for Virginia. He died on 20 December 1940, aged 56.

References and Sources

Commonwealth of Virginia Certificate of Death
Unidentified Newspaper (Richmond, Virginia), 21 December 1940, Obituary
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279]).
Walter Lord (1986) The Night Lives On: Thoughts, Theories and Revelations about the Titanic. London, Penguin. ISBN 0 140 27900 8
Logan Marshall (1912) The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters

Related Articles and Documents

		ROBERT W. DANIEL PASSPORT PICTURE 1916
	Worcester Evening Gazette  (1912)	GAZETTE STAFF MAN ON CARPATHIA'S PIER
	Washington Times  (1912)	J. J. ASTOR ACTED BRAVELY, DECLARE MANY WHO SAW HIM
	Washington Times  (1912)	WIDENER WAS HEROIC TO END, SAYS FRIEND
	New York Times  (1912)	MRS. ASTOR IS ILL, BUT NOT CRITICALLY
	The Times  (1912)	OTHER STATEMENTS BY SURVIVORS
	Washington Times  (1912)	SURVIVOR TELLS OF THE HEROISM OF CLARENCE MOORE
	New York Times  (1912)	GIRL SURVIVOR HAS PRAISE FOR ISMAY
	New-York Tribune  (1912)	CAME TO SEE COL. GRACIE
	New York Herald  (1914)	TITANIC SURVIVORS KEEP THEIR WEDDING QUIET
	(1915)	ROBERT DANIEL
	New York Times  (1923)	MRS. ELOISE HUGHES SMITH REWEDS
	New York Times  (1923)	R. W. DANIEL WED TO MRS. CAMPBELL
	New York Times  (1929)	R. W. DANIEL MARRIES MRS. C. B. CHRISTIAN
	New York Times  (1940)	ROBERT W. DANIEL, EX-BANKER HERE, 56