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Archibald Gracie
Archibald Gracie
Biological Information
Full name

Archibald Gracie IV

Gender

Male

Born

January 15, 1858

Death

December 4, 1912

Cause

Diabetes

Background Information
Romances

Constance Elise Schack (m. 1890, his death 1912)

Hometown

Mobile, Alabama, U.S.

Religion

Christianity

Titanic Statistics
Boarded

Southampton, England

Destination

New York, U.S.A.

Occupation

Passenger

Class

First-Class

Fate

Escaped on Collapsible B

Production
Classification

Historical character

Portrayal

Bernard Fox

Colonel Archibald Gracie IV was an American writer, amateur historian and real estate investor. He was a first-class passenger on the RMS Titanic and survived the sinking by climbing aboard the overturned Collapsible B lifeboat. However, his health suffered as a result of the trauma and he died only a few months later, becoming the first known survivor to die.

Aboard the Titanic[]

Gracie boarded the Titanic at Southampton on April 10, 1912 as a first-class passenger.

On the evening of Friday 12, one of his brandy sessions was interrupted by an incident involving Caledon Hockley's fiancée, Rose DeWitt Bukater. Rose had been discovered in a state of distress at the stern of the ship, in the presence of a third-class passenger, Jack Dawson. Jack was arrested on the assumption that he had been trying to rape Rose. However, Rose claimed that Jack had saved her when she had been trying to view the propellers, and had leaned too far over. Gracie expressed his view that women and technology made a poor combination. When Jack agreed with Rose's story, Gracie commended him for his heroism, and suggested to Cal that he be rewarded in some way. With encouragement from Rose, Cal invited Jack to dine with them the following evening.

On Saturday 13, he dined with a large party including Ismay, Andrews, Molly, Cal, Rose and Jack. Jack informed the table of how he had won his ticket in a game of poker. Perhaps in defense of gambling Gracie asserted that "all life is a game of luck". When Jack was challenged by Rose's mother Ruth on his unconventional lifestyle, he expressed his opinion that life is a gift and each day matters. Gracie voiced his hearty approval of Jack's words. After dinner Gracie retreated with the other men into the smoking room. He invited Jack to join them, but he declined.

On the night of Sunday 14, the ship collided with an iceberg and began to sink, and the crew started to load the lifeboats. Halfway through the evacuation Gracie was approached by a frantic Rose, who asked if there were any remaining lifeboats on the starboard side of the ship. Gracie replied that there weren't, but that there were some left towards the bow on the port side. He offered to escort Rose there, but she and Jack ran away before he could say anything more. In a deleted scene, we see that Gracie survived the sinking, being seen on the RMS Carpathia.

Behind the scenes[]

Colonel Gracie-1912

The real Archibald Gracie in 1912

In James Cameron's 1997 film, Titanic, Gracie was portrayed by Welsh actor Bernard Fox. Fox had previously portrayed lookout Frederick Fleet in the 1958 film A Night to Remember. The Gracie in the film speaks with an incongruous British accent, despite the fact that he came from Alabama.

The real Gracie wrote a book about the disaster, which became popular and remains in print to this day.

External links[]

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