Titanic's Most Shameful Couples: Adultery & Pregnant Teens

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Imagine hearing the cries and screams of horror from people who you know will surely sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, as you sit safely in a lifeboat. Now imagine being in that lifeboat, with death all around you, and having one concern on your mind, and it is... “I’ll never be able to wear all of my new clothes from Paris! They sank with the Titanic!”

If you were Dorothy Gibson, you wouldn’t have to imagine it. That’s one of the many selfish thoughts that went through her head as 1,500 people were in the midst of losing their lives while she made her way safely onto a lifeboat that was never even loaded to full capacity.

In our modern times, many of us can’t help but to think of James Cameron’s Titanic film when we think of the actual 1912 sinking. Its big names and big budget special effects certainly made it a spectacle for the eye to remember. Yet, Titanic historians (and survivors when they were alive) preferred the 1958 film called A Night To Remember for its historical authenticity. It is often called the first Titanic movie, but it’s not.

The FIRST Titanic movie was called Saved From The Titanic and it was released in May of 1912 - just FOUR WEEKS after the disaster occurred. And its star was our Dorothy Gibson - the girl who was so sad about losing her brand new Parisian fashions in the wee morning hours of April 15, 1912.

Dorothy’s story has it all - sexual affairs, crazy court cases, a man in a night gown, and a stay in a Nazi concentration camp.

This is the story of one of the most self-absorbed first class passengers who boarded the Titanic. Silent film actress Dorothy Gibson. And she was a total hot mess.

In a scene from John Cameron's Titanic movie, Rose told Jack the backstory on John Jacob Astor and and his very young bride. She called it a scandal. Rose was right. This was a scandal. It wasn’t normal for John Jacob Astor’s time and it certainly WAS a scandal that he had an 18 year old wife. The scandal was only compounded by the fact that he had rather recently been divorced from his wife of nearly 20 years who had bore him 2 children. And she was in with the in crowd of New York’s high society. So this union between John Jacob Astor and Madeleine - the new, younger Mrs. Astor - was definitely giving the people something to talk about in 1912. And it’s giving us something to talk about today.

In the immediate days after the Titanic sank, there was a frenzy amongst the relatives of its passengers to get information about their loved ones - hoping that ones THEY knew beat the odds and were among the survivors. Incorrect headlines had been printed, reflecting that people who had in fact died were alive. People like John Jacob Astor and Isador and Ida Straus. There was even uncertainty about who had even boarded the ship to begin with. One of those people whose name was surrounded by uncertainty was Benjamin Guggenheim. Several newspapers wrote articles questioning whether he and his wife had booked passage on the Titanic. It turned out that Benjamin did board the Titanic. His wife did not. That might have made the trip rather uncomfortable for his mistress!

We know that James Cameron’s Titanic story revolves around the love story of a fictional couple. But, what was the inspiration for The Heart of The Ocean and who was wearing it? Well, the movie’s design is based on the Hope Diamond. The magnificent 45 carat stone was extracted from a mine in India and has a history similar to the one that Cal described in the Titanic movie - though its real history is much more extensive.

But there was a man on the Titanic, a second class passenger, who gave a young woman a similar necklace. It was actually a deep blue, oblong sapphire that graced the neck of his sweetheart. And sources say that this couple’s story laid the groundwork for the Heart of The Ocean to make its way into the script of Titanic. It’s a fascinating and scandalous story.

His name was Henry Samuel Morley. Her name was Kate Florence Phillips. They were both from England and boarded the Titanic in Southampton. But if you look at the Titanic passenger lists, you won’t see either of those names. You WILL see Mr. & Mrs. Henry Marshall. That… was them. And they had a secret.

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