109 Years Ago, an Albany Man Survived Sinking of Titanic

It's been 109 years since the sinking of the Titanic, but the first time I've ever tried to Google search "Albany, NY passengers on the Titanic," and what I found was pretty fascinating.

Every year in the middle of April, stories pop up regarding the sinking of the Titanic and basically I'm sucker for this kind of content.   Most times, the information that surfaces isn't terribly exciting; usually it's an anniversary or a special event where people can take a cruise on a replica or something like that.  Last week, I read that it was the 109th year anniversary of the sinking, but with no new interesting information, I decided to Google search some things on my own.

The first search I did was "Albany, NY passengers on the Titanic" and it took me to a Wikipedia page that listed all 2000 plus names.  It only took about :60 seconds of scrolling before a gentleman's name appeared with "Albany, New York USA" next to it.

His name was  Mr. Gilbert Milligan Tucker Jr., and he was on the Titanic. Not only did he survive, but he's credited with saving multiple lives as it began to sink.

According to the source, Gilbert's grandfather was the editor and founder of a very successful agriculture and farming magazine and it's pretty well documented that his family had money.  Gilbert himself was a graduate of Albany Academy and then Cornell University and later went on to work for the family business.

At age 32, he traveled to Europe to gather materials for farming purposes and while he was there, he met three ladies and he became interested in one of them, a woman by the name of margaret.   In the courting phase, he secured some first class tickets aboard the Titanic and was set to travel back the US with the three ladies according to Albany.edu.

Titanic.fandom.com stated that he "appointed himself as their unofficial escort (and) Tucker and the three ladies boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg, he occupied cabin C-53."

When the Titanic started to sink, he was credited with saving the lives of the three women he was on board with.   It is believed that Gilbert was aboard lifeboat No. 7, which was the first to put passengers in the water approximately one hour after it hit the iceberg.   Lifeboat No. 7 left with an estimated 28 passengers on board.  It had a capacity of 65.

According to Titanic.fandom.com, Gilbert would remain in contact with the women he helped save, but he ultimately would wed someone else.

Gilbert Tucker Jr., the Albany native who survived the Titanic, died in February of 1968 in California  He was 87-years-old.

His remains are in Albany's Rural Cemetery. 

Next year sometime in the middle of April, surely you'll see a story commemorating the 110 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  It will also mark 110 years since an Albany man not only survived the unsinkable Titanic, but is considered a bit of a hero as well.