Altogether, it seems that not too much has been written about all the Finnish passengers who sailed on the R.M.S. Titanic that fateful April, back in 1912. One might ask, how may of them were on board? That's practically impossible to confirm because of the carelessness of authorities at Southampton, who had to write down the names of immigrants. One cannot help get the feeling that if a "foreign" name - other than that of Anglo origin - was too complicated to spell or pronounce, it was written incorrectly or simply left out of the passenger list. And, at the time many of the steerage passengers did not speak much English, if any, to correct things.

If we take a close look at the passenger list, many Finnish names are real hard to recognise, making it all the more frustrating to try and find the right one among other Scandinavians. 8 Finns travelled 2nd class, of whom 4 were saved. In 3rd class, or steerage, there were supposedly at least 55 Finns and Finnish-Americans, of whom only a staggering 16 made it to safety on the Carpathia, the first steamer rushing to the rescue. We must note, however, that the American Titanic specialist Walter Lord, estimates that there may well have been around 78 Finns on board; that's also the amount which the `New York Sun' mentioned back in April 1912.

Like everywhere else on the huge Atlantic liner that night of 14 April 1912, there were numerous personal tragedies amongst the Finns. It is interesting to take a look at some of these cases, as the fate of the Finns on the Titanic is rarely written about and it may give some interesting background, especially when it comes to the steerage passengers.

SOME SAD MEMORIES.

Mrs Elin Hakkarainen (then 24 years old), who was immigrating to the States from Finland's capital Helsinki via Southampton, recalled her story in the 'Yankee Magazine' in September, '87. The story goes something like this:

She had been married just a couple of months before her American journey with Mr Pekka Hakkarainen (28). On the night of Titanic's encounter with the iceberg, the couple had just returned to their cabin, when they felt a strong vibration, hearing a scratching noise. Pekka jumped up from his bed, saying: "I'll go out and see, what's going on." Elin, being all too sleepy, didn't take much notice. She fell asleep again, but friends from Finland awoke her again to take her to the deck. It was at that time she noticed Pekka still hadn't returned from his reconnaissance, and when Elin tried to stand up, she noticed the ship was listing badly.

At once, she snatched her handbag and life preserver, hurrying to the corridor. All the corridor gates were locked, but, at last, she noticed a steward coming to collect a group of steerage passengers, guiding them to the boat deck. Elin almost fell between a lifeboat and the ship but a staff member grabbed her and lifted Elin into one of the last boats. She was still looking for her husband and shouted several times from the boat being lowered: "Pekka, Pekka! I'm here, this way!" But she never saw Pekka again. All she got was $125 for the loss of her loved one plus baggage.

Another story, reminiscent of that of the large British Goodwin family, also travelling in steerage, was that of the big Finnish Panula family. A most tragic account, the father Mr John Panula, had left Finland before, and was waiting for the rest of the family to immigrate to Coal Centre, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where John had recently renovated a nice house. Mr Panula got the news of the Titanic's sinking only on the 21st of April, hearing that all of the family had gone down with the ship. For one week John was left to speculate whether, if any of his family had survived.

Mrs Maria Panula had sold their family farm in Yliharma, Western Finland to immigrate to America. The couple had previously lived in Michigan but had returned to Finland in 1910. On the Titanic, Master Ernesti (16) and Master Jaako (14) were placed in a bow cabin (reserved for single men), whereas Maria was placed in a family cabin in the stern along with the smaller children, Master Juha (7), Master Urho (2) and Master William (1). Sharing the cabin was Miss Sanni Riihivuori (22), who was travelling with the Panula's as their neighbour from home, as well as Miss Anna Turja (18), All of the Panula's were lost, as was Sanni Riihivuori. Miss Turja was saved and later recalled that one of the sons had come from the bow to them, shouting "wake up, everybody, the Titanic is sinking. Otherwise you'll soon find yourselves at the bottom of the ocean." During the chaos, Maria Panula lost contact with some of the children and Anna Turja found her sitting on the deck in a state of shock. Crying, she told how one of her children had already drowned in Finland - would they all have to die now?? Obviously none of their bodies were ever found. Anna managed to board one of the last lifeboats. In 2002, producers of the television series "Secrets of the Dead" contacted Magda Schleifer of Finland, whose grandmother's sister and her five sons had drowned when the Titanic sank. They requested a blood sample and were able to ascertain that the body interred at Halifax as the "Unknown Child" was the body of Eino Viljami Panula, who was 13 months old when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. He was one of the five brothers from Finland who died in the disaster, along with their mother. Eino's mother, Maria Emila Ojala, and her five sons were traveling to the United States to join her husband, John Panula, who was working in Pennsylvania when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. The family in Finland never knew that any family bodies had been found from the sinking. The family has decided that the boy's remains will stay in Halifax. "The child has been taken care of here, the memory has been kept alive, so why do some changes?" said Magda. In 2011, it was announced that further DNA tests had tied the remains to that of Sidney Goodwin who was traveling on the Titanic with his parents, Frederick and Augusta, and five siblings from England to Niagara Falls, N.Y. None of the bodies of the Goodwin family were ever recovered.

The Backstroms, Mrs Maria (33) and Mr Karl (32), had chosen to immigrate due to the relatively low wages in Finland. Both had visited the U.S. before. The couple were travelling together with the wife's two brothers, Johan and Anders Gustafsson, all came from Loviisa, on the Finnish South Coast. After losing Karl, Johan (28) and Anders (37), Maria didn't want to stay in America, but took her way back to Finland, where she arrived on May 9th.

Mr William Lahtinen (36) and Mrs Anna Lahtinen (26) were Finnish-Americans who had been visiting Northern Finland in order to assist their friend, Miss Lyyli Silven in immigrating to America. When the Titanic sank, Anna had first jumped into a lifeboat, but somehow decided not to leave the sinking liner, obviously because she wanted to stay with her husband. Miss Silven (18), however, got in a boat and was rescued. She later told that Anna Lahtinen had looked very nervous, while William had calmly smoked a cigar. Neither of the bodies were found. Interestingly enough, a passport application by William Lahtinen was found in 2007 by Jean Bremerton. In it he mentions his wife, Annie Amelia Lahtinen and daughter Martha Agnes Lahtinen (born 29 Sept 1907 in St Paul, Minneapolis. William stated that he was born at Whitassaari (sic) Finland, on 23 April 1876, and had arrived in the United States in June 1903 on board the Campania. He gave his occupation at the time as "Minister of Gospel", the application being lodged on 21 September 1911.

Mrs Hedvig Turkula (65) was rescued and told the `Finnish-American Newspaper' in New York she couldn't understand that "She, an old woman, was saved, while so many young women had gone down with the ship."

REASONS FOR BAD LUCK.

Which was the normal route from Finland to America? Most Finns first travelled to the city of Hanko, in the most Southern point of Finland, from there on to Hull, England. Some had not chosen to travel on the Titanic, but the famous coal strike in England at that time had changed their plans. To the question, Why so many Finns (and especially steerage passengers) died, one can find several reasons. Firstly , there never was any general alarm on the ship, to prevent possible panic. Therefore, there were obviously many 3rd class passengers sleeping until it was too late. Secondly, some of those who were informed in time didn't want to leave their baggage - many times everything that they owned. Also many of the gates dividing the ship between classes were locked and there was just no way out of the doomed Titanic. The story of the Finns was repeated many times over throughout the ship, children separated from parents, wife leaving husband behind and whole families trapped below deck as the ship went down.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Walter Lord: A Night To Remember

Klaus Goran-Wetterholm: Titanic

Jean Bremerton for her information about the Lahtinen family, additional correspondence with great grandchildren of Elin Hakkarainen. Updated 26 April 2011