Mr Neshan Krekorian, 25, was born 12 May 1886,1 in the village of Keghi, in what was then Turkish occupied Armenia.2 He was a Christian, and after Turkish Muslims renewed an ongoing vendetta against Christians, Krekorian and several of his compatriots, Mampré Zakarian, Arsen Siraganian, Haroutioun Zakarian and David Vartanian decided to flee the country and emigrate to Canada. He was heading for the home of Mr Paul Martin, 108 Princess Street, Hamilton, Ontario.
One source (AH) suggests that Krekorian did not have a ticket on Titanic, and had to bribe a travel agent in Marseilles to get aboard, although the contract ticket list indicates that he held ticket number 2654 which cost £7, 4s, 7d. Either way, he boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg as a third class passenger . Krekorian later complained about being "cooped up like a chicken" in their third class cabin (E-57 on F-Deck).
On the evening of April 14, Krekorian played cards, and around 11 o'clock kicked off his shoes and crawled into his bunk with his clothes on. He felt a draught and noticed his porthole was open. When he went to close it, he noticed ice floes in the water. "Even though it was the first time in my life I had seen icebergs, I didn't think much of it because they were barely noticeable," he said later.
Once the iceberg hit, Krekorian managed to make his way up to A-Deck just as lifeboat 10 was being jerked down the Port side, ran down the deck, made a leap for it, and landed in the boat. Able Seaman Frank Evans later testified that Krekorian "deliberately jumped in and saved himself." Some sources state he escaped dressed as a womoan, this is most likely typical of the prejudice shown towards some 'foreigners' that survived.
Krekorian survived, but caught pneumonia. He was hospitalized in New York, and when he finally made it to his destination in Brantford, Ontario, was in hospital again for a couple of weeks.
In 1918 he moved to St. Catherines, Ontario, he married Persape Vartanian (1898-1985)3 on 12 July 1924, and they had three children: Alice (1925-2016), George Dennis (1926-2014) and Angeline (1930-2021).
Krekorian worked all his life on a General Motors Automobile Assembly line.
The Titanic was his first and only time on a ship. Whenever he went anywhere near a large body of water, his daughter said, "his face betrayed his thoughts, He would gaze at the water, and instantly you knew he was reliving that night."
He died in St. Catherine's on 21 May 1978 aged 92, and is buried at Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. His widow Persape died in 1985.
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