In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. the White Star ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg en route to New York City and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Survivors were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia and brought to their berth at Pier 54 on the rainy evening of April 18.
On that very spot today, a fanciful waterfront development juts out into the Hudson River, a place called Little Island which opened in 2021. This recreational oasis will draw thousands of people, New Yorkers and tourists alike, this spring and summer.
But on the southern side of Little Island, peering out of the water, are dozens of wooden posts – these are the remains of the former Pier 54.
And it was on this pier, on April 18, 1912, that survivors of the Titanic disembarked and touched land.
This is the story of the places that figured into the aftermath and the story of how New York memorialized those lost to the tragedy.
And in the end we return to Little Island and to the ghost of Pier 54, the place where this disaster became reality for most people. Where survivors were greeted with joy and where many hundreds of people faced the reality that their loved ones were never coming home.
Visit our website for images and more information.
FURTHER READING:
A short history of New York City’s various Titanic memorials
The doctor, the heiress and the accidental nanny: New York women who survived the Titanic
A haunting look inside the Lusitania
FURTHER LISTENING:
Chelsea Piers: New York City in the Age of the Ocean Liner
The Complicated History of the Waldorf-Astoria
How Chelsea Became A Neighborhood
Support the Bowery Boys Podcast on Patreon
Scott Joplin in New York: A Ragtime Mystery
Walt Whitman in New York and Brooklyn
Taxi Driver (Bowery Boys Movie Club)
#281 The Treasures of Downtown Brooklyn
#280 House of Mystery: The Story of the Collyer Brothers
#279 A New Year in Old New York: From Times Square to Chinatown
#278 Newark vs. LaGuardia: The Tale of Two Airports
#277 The New York Comedy Scene: A Marvelous History
#276 Murder on Bond Street: Who Killed Dr. Burdell?
#275 Return to Tin Pan Alley: Saving American Music History
#274 Ghost Stories of Hell's Kitchen
#273 Peter Stuyvesant and the Fall of New Amsterdam
#272 Life in New Amsterdam
#271 Counter Culture: Diners, Automats, and Luncheonettes in New York
#270 Heaven on the Hudson: A History of Riverside Park
#269 Harry Houdini and the Golden Age of Magic in New York
#268 The Astonishing Saga of the Atlantic Cable
#267 Broadway: The Story of a Street
#266 New York City during the Revolutionary War (1776-1783)
#265 Absolutely Flawless: A History of Drag in New York City
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra