Mrs. Astor’s Lifejacket

One of the most famous names in Titanic history is Astor. John Jacob and his wife Madeleine were on board the ship on their way home to New York. Mr. Astor saw to it his young and pregnant wife was placed in a lifeboat, he lost his life. Carpathia’s senior Assistant to the doctor, Gottlieb Rencher, was at the gangway helping survivors aboard and brought Mrs. Astor into his office to rest where she took off the her lifejacket and it was left. For many years it was in the Rencher family who donated it to The Titanic Historical Society.