The Titanic Coward

How J. Bruce Ismay, Chair of the White Star Line, Coped With Being the World’s Most Hated Man

J. Bruce Ismay, chairman of the White Star Line, the company that built the Titanic, died on the night that his ship hit the iceberg, April 14, 1912. He died again in his bedroom 25 years later. From the moment he jumped into a lifeboat along with the women and children, leaving 1,500 passengers behind to perish in the icy Atlantic, Ismay’s was a posthumous existence. His honor went down with the ship.

The details of the wreck were slow to filter through to the press offices. “Titanic Sinks Four Hours …