My realative on Titanic

According to all available information and indirect evidence, my great-great-great-grandfather Stanislav Jan Englert, who worked there as a waiter, was also on the Titanic. I write "circumstantial evidence" on purpose, because he was not officially listed on the list of passengers or passengers, as was his friend Karel Stanke. Englert originally served as a train steward in a second-class dining car on the Bohumín-Vienna line, he allegedly got to work on the largest ocean liner of his time thanks to a letter sent to him by his brother from Hamburg. "Come at once," Englert read tremblingly. “Good waiters wanted for British, Spanish, French and American ships. It's an excellent opportunity", quotes Englert's brother. "It was a big moment when we first raised the Titanic's anchors", I quote Englert as saying. "It wasn't the first ship I worked on, but no other ship could match the Titanic."

Who was Stanislav Jan Englert? For a long time, my grandmother and my parents could not find an answer to this question, but then we found out according to the birth certificates that he could be our great-ancestor from our grandmother's side. Our relative was born on May 5. 1888 in Lipnik, Biala District in Poland, but then changed his citizenship from Polish to Czech. He first worked as a steward on trains, then became a waiter.Subsequently, he found a girlfriend originally from Germany, Josefa Kovářová, née Holaňová, who married him and kept his surname. On 18.5. In 1925, they were both admitted to the association of the city of Opava. However, Josefa was originally married to Josef Kovář and they had a little girl together, Anna Kovářová. As soon as Anna grew up, she married Jaromír Hrubeš, after whom she took the surname Hrubešová. Their marriage gave birth to Jarmila Hrubešová, who made a living as a seamstress. After a few years, František Křiva asked her to marry him, he made a living as a business guide. My great-grandmother took the surname of František Křivová and together they gave birth to my grandmother Jarmila Křivová. Grandma found a boyfriend, Antonín Žirovnický, then they got married and had my mother, Dana Žirovnická. My mother met my father Vítězslav Stratil and married him. Their relationship gave birth to me, Tereza Stratilová.

It was just 15 minutes before midnight when the ship shook violently. There was dancing on the floor at that moment, I was passing out glasses of liquor on a tray. Only overturned cups and broken glass could be guessed at what awaits us in the next few minutes. There was a moment of panic, but then the naval officers came and explained that it was only a small collision with an iceberg, and the fun continued undisturbed. Only the staff, who saw the sailors running around the deck, sensed that something really serious had happened", said Englert in an interview with Seniortip. After a while, it was said to the stewards that the ship is sinking. From that moment on, the grandfather did not move with his friends from the deck, and they were able to calculate that the few lifeboats would barely be enough for the women and children. After the first people started boarding the lifeboats, the fight for places on the boats began. The great-great-great-grandfather and his friends threw life belts over the railing, and Englert took with him a little girl who was running helplessly through the crowd. There were reportedly nine of them in the water. In order not to be torn apart by the sea, they tied strips of cloth torn from their aprons and swam as far as possible from the disaster. In the morning, a white light appeared in front of the castaways. It was a sure sign that the ship 'Carpathia' was coming. Half-frozen, she pulled them aboard. All nine men and the child were safe. After this event, the great-great-grandfather did not want to return to the sea. As a waiter, he didn't go any further than to a Yugoslav spa.