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Millvina Dean, the youngest passenger on the Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage, was just 9 weeks old when the ship collided with an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912. She survived along with her mother, Etta Dean, and older brother, but her father, Bertram Frank Dean, perished along with more than 1,500 other passengers and crew. Millvina Dean passed away in 2009 at the age of 97. Here are some fascinating facts about the Titanic’s last living survivor.
1. A coal strike led Millvina Dean’s family to board the Titanic.
Dean’s parents had initially planned to leave their home in Southampton, England, and start a new life in the United States. They were set to take a different White Star Line ship, intending to open a tobacco shop with relatives in Wichita, Kansas. However, a coal strike in February 1912 disrupted the shipping schedules, forcing the Deans onto the Titanic instead. As a result, the family boarded the newest and most luxurious ocean liner in third-class accommodations.
2. Millvina Dean’s father might have been the reason she survived.
While in their cabin on one of the Titanic’s lower decks, Dean’s father felt the ship strike the iceberg. After looking into what had happened, he returned to the cabin and told his wife to wake the children, dress them, and go up to the deck. Eventually, her mother and 2-year-old brother made it safely to a lifeboat, while Titanic crew members lowered Millvina to them in a canvas mail bag. Her father stayed behind, possibly planning to board a lifeboat later, but he didn’t survive. His body, if ever recovered, was never identified.
3. Baby Millvina became a celebrity on her return journey.
Following the Titanic disaster, the Deans abandoned their plans to settle in Wichita. The White Star Line provided them passage back to England aboard the RMS Adriatic—likely the ship they were originally meant to take instead of the Titanic. During the voyage, Millvina became a little celebrity, drawing constant attention from fellow passengers. They were amazed that such a young baby had survived such a horrific event. People stood in line to hold her, and photos of her with her mother and brother were taken and published in newspapers. According to the Daily Mirror:
“[She] was the pet of the liner during the voyage, and so keen was the rivalry between women to nurse this lovable mite of humanity that one of the officers decreed that first- and second-class passengers might hold her in turn for no more than 10 minutes.”
4. Millvina Dean worked as a cartographer during World War II.
Millvina Dean spent much of her life in the Southampton area. During World War II, she worked as a cartographer in the British government’s map office in London, creating maps for the British army. After the war, she returned to Southampton and spent another 20 years working in an engineering office before retiring.
5. Millvina Dean refused to watch James Cameron’s ‘Titanic.’
In her later years, Millvina Dean made public appearances related to the Titanic disaster, but she didn’t care for dramatizations of the event. She believed the sinking was a tragedy that tore families apart, and turning it into entertainment felt wrong to her. After watching A Night to Remember, the 1958 film based on Walter Lord’s nonfiction bestseller about the Titanic’s doomed voyage, she had nightmares. She declined invitations to attend the premieres of James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) and his 3D documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss (2003).
Years later, the Belfast, British, and International Titanic Societies established the Millvina Fund to help cover the costs of Dean’s healthcare. Major figures connected to the Titanic, including Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Celine Dion, along with Sony Music, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount Pictures, contributed to the fund—despite Millvina’s decision not to see the movie.
