My Grandfather was supposed to be the violinist but did a gig and missed the boat

[lookingforGeorge]

Dear all,

I am desperate to find any information on my great great grandfather George Wicks. He was a violinist and Pianist and the family legend goes that he was supposed to be a second class passenger on the titanic in the band but got drunk at a gig in London the night before and missed his train to catch the boat. Had he caught it I would not be here now. But I know nothing of him. Can anyone help with my search.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

I think you're right to regard this as a 'family legend'. The Titanic had its full complement of musicians on board, all traveling on the same 2nd Class ticket and there is no evidence of any last-minute changes to the booking. But stories like this do sometimes have some grounding in truth, so maybe George had this experience in connection with another booking on a different ship - maybe even one that sank. If working as a ship's musician was his normal occupation you might want to look him up in the database on the Ellis Island website, which records all passenger and crew arrivals (with some info about each person - including occupation) in New York up until the mid 1920s.

There was, by the way, a George Wick (no 's') traveling on the Titanic in 1st Class. But he wasn't a musician and he didn't survive.