Fifteen Passengers Bound for Wilkes-Barre Never Made It Ashore

While the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, is remembered as a global tragedy, few people in the Poconos and Northeast Pennsylvania realize just how close to home this disaster truly struck. The icy waters of the North Atlantic claimed lives that were meant to build new beginnings right here in our region—and one victim had just designed one of NEPA’s most iconic landmarks.

The Wilkes-Barre Connection

Among the 1,500 passengers and crew who perished when the “unsinkable” ship met its doom, at least 15 were bound for Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania—just a short drive from the Poconos region. These weren’t wealthy first-class passengers whose names filled newspaper headlines. They were working-class immigrants traveling in third class, clutching tickets that cost them their life savings, dreaming of opportunity in America’s coal country.

The passenger logs tell a heartbreaking story: Charles Thomas, a small storekeeper; Mrs. Alexander Thomas and her infant son; Anthony Yosbik; Joseph and Peter Simon; and Brenton Harry—all destined for Wilkes-Barre, all lost to the sea. Their families crowded the White Star Line ticket office in Wilkes-Barre, desperately scanning survivor lists that would never include their loved ones’ names.

Among the victims was a large group of Lebanese immigrants from Hardin, Syria (modern-day Lebanon), including the Samaan family—Hanna, his father Hanna, and brother Youssef. All three young men, traveling as third-class passengers, were headed to join relatives and friends in the thriving Lebanese community in Wilkes-Barre. None survived.

The Engineer Who Designed a NEPA Icon

Perhaps the most poignant local connection belongs to William Hull Botsford, a 25-year-old civil engineer whose body was never recovered from the Atlantic. Botsford had traveled to England in February 1912 to study European engineering techniques. Just before boarding the Titanic for his return voyage, he received thrilling news: his design for the Nicholson Viaduct—also known as the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct—had been approved by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

This magnificent concrete arch bridge in Nicholson, Wayne County, would have been Botsford’s crowning achievement. At 2,375 feet long and 240 feet high, it remains one of the largest concrete structures of its kind in the world. Today, thousands of travelers drive beneath it on Interstate 81, unaware they’re passing under a monument to a young engineer whose genius built it but who never lived to see it completed.

Botsford, traveling in second class, reportedly helped crew members during the evacuation, using his training as a skilled fire and rescue team member to assist others to safety. He ensured others made it to lifeboats, but he did not survive the night.

Stories of Survival and Loss

Not all the NEPA-bound passengers perished. The Titanic disaster produced both heroes and survivors with local ties. Some passengers helped shepherd women and children to the lifeboats. Others, through luck or determination, found themselves pulled from the freezing water by the rescue ship Carpathia.

The three Titanic survivors who eventually made their way to the area are buried in a Hanover Township cemetery near Wilkes-Barre—a quiet memorial to those who escaped history’s most famous maritime disaster only to live out their lives in the shadow of the Wyoming Valley.

The Poconos Connection

While no direct evidence exists of passengers specifically from Monroe, Pike, or Carbon counties aboard the Titanic, the proximity makes the tragedy feel remarkably close to home. In 1912, the Poconos region was already emerging as a vacation destination for wealthy New Yorkers and Philadelphians—the same cities that sent first-class passengers to the Titanic. The railroad networks that brought tourists to the Poconos were the same lines that would have brought Titanic passengers to their new homes in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Delaware and Hudson Canal, which ran through Wayne and Pike counties, connected the region to the same immigrant streams that filled the Titanic’s third-class cabins. Coal mining operations throughout Lackawanna and Luzerne counties drew immigrants from across Europe—the same populations represented in steerage.

Had the Titanic completed its voyage, some of those 15 Wilkes-Barre-bound passengers might have eventually made their way to jobs in the Poconos’ growing resort industry or found work on the region’s farms and in its small towns.

Visit These Local Connections:

• Tunkhannock Viaduct (Nicholson Bridge), Nicholson, Wayne County – View William Hull Botsford’s engineering masterpiece from the viewing area off Route 11
• Luzerne County Historical Society, Wilkes-Barre – Hosts occasional exhibits on local Titanic connections
• Hanover Township Cemeteries – Final resting place of three Titanic survivors with NEPA connections

A Regional Tragedy Remembered

In 2012, on the 100th anniversary of the sinking, the Luzerne County Historical Society unveiled an exhibit documenting the local connections to the disaster. Descendants of Titanic passengers—including Mae Thomas, whose father, sister, and niece were aboard, and Dolores Borek Elias, whose grandparents, great aunt, and uncle were passengers—shared their families’ stories of loss and survival.

Dr. William V. Lewis Jr., Pennsylvania’s Historical and Museum Commissioner, published “Stories of the Wilkes-Barre Titanic Passengers,” meticulously documenting each local connection. His research revealed that the disaster’s impact rippled through NEPA communities for generations, leaving families forever marked by the night the unsinkable ship went down.

Why It Still Matters

Today, more than 110 years after the Titanic sank, its NEPA connections serve as a powerful reminder that world-changing events often have deeply local impacts. The disaster that captured global attention claimed lives meant to be lived right here—in our neighborhoods, our churches, our communities.

The next time you cross the Nicholson Viaduct on I-81, remember William Hull Botsford, whose brilliance designed the bridge but whose promising career ended in the icy North Atlantic. When you visit Wilkes-Barre, think of the 15 passengers who never got to call it home. And when you explore the historic communities of the Poconos and NEPA, remember that this region’s story is woven into the fabric of one of history’s most tragic and enduring tales.

The Titanic’s victims weren’t just names in a passenger log or statistics in a history book. They were neighbors we never got to meet, lives that were meant to be lived alongside ours, dreams that were supposed to come true in the mountains and valleys of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

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The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, and sank at 2:20 AM on April 15, 1912. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died.