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The Six: The Untold Story of Titanic’s Chinese Survivors
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August 14, 2025
Who knew there’d be more to learn about the Titanic. And you don’t need to take my word for it as I’m just at best an amateur level fan of history, but James Cameron whom while heard of the case of the Chinese passengers in third class, elected not to add them to the final cut of his pretty popular movie on the White Star Line’s most famous ship (until it sunk and then became infamous). He did, fortunately, lend his pen to the introduction of “The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors” (plus a lot more as we find out later on in the book). But it’s less that introduction that got my attention. I prefer “real” history, not speculation. As little hearsay as possible. If there is new and interesting information about the Titanic, hopefully it remains on point and fortunately, our author, Steven Schwankert, seems to agree: “The approach chosen for this book is to place known and verifiable facts at its center so that accurate conclusions may be drawn from new and existing research.” (Preface, all quotes are from the audiobook, transcribed by myself and thus I am responsible for any errors such as typos)
Perhaps it’s to introduce the reader to the tail end of the fine de siecle in USA, but as intriguing as the book’s main focus is, do expect a bit of “historical padding” to set the scene. I’m not a fan of starting reviews on a potential negative, but if you already have a pretty solid familiarity on the comings and goings of USA in the late 19th and very early 20th century and would rather jump to our cast of characters and the Titanic herself, you may need a wee bit of patience early on. In fact, by “early on” I’m referring to perhaps the first quarter of the book because while the camera shifts to China to talk about its history including that of Toi San, a location of note for our story, we still need to sit back with hands clasped to then hear a less than abbreviated history of 19th century merchant shipping AND then of the White Star Line itself before finally getting to the present day and by that, I mean 1912. Again, if you don’t’ know much about any of this, it’s well-written, but if you do, the padding cannot be ignored.
As things finally pick up, we learn something interesting: the last person rescued from the Titanic was not a beautiful woman blowing on a whistle, but most likely a man from Hong Kong, one of our Six. Could he have inspired that famous scene in the movie…? Once the focus moves to our cast from China, the “been there, done that” aspect of boats moves into uncharted territory. Here we learn, among other things, that racism was alive and well back then as it is today: in spite of the blame being pretty squarely on White Star, the media focuses on a small number of Asian passengers who managed to make it out alive and to add insult to injury, they after arriving in NYC were quickly shuttled (or maybe not “quickly” as they were one of the last groups to be taken off the RMS Carpathia) to their workplace, another boat, and quickly set for sail. Trauma piled on trauma!
That The Six holds true to its subtitle (“The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors”) is commendable, but I probably share a viewpoint in line with other readers: we’re pretty interested in the Titanic, its untimely demise drenched in hubris, and are always down for more until now unseen takes on it. Thus, it’s very cool to read about a half dozen passengers whom are quite unlike the others. But some amount of ennui sets in but not after the sinking and their activities following it, but rather the decades that follow—something our author makes a commendable attempt to dig into. It’s great that some went on to have families, start businesses (some failed), and otherwise kept on living in spite of obliterating the odds on one fateful night in 1912, but it makes for somewhat dull reading. Nevertheless, a commendable investigation.
But don’t fret. Ennui occurs but as does wonder. Our author and his team made some great finds, managed to track down odds and ends that painted the lives of individuals who did their best to live the American Dream in a time especially harsh towards Chinese. Thus, The Six provides a unique insight into the world’s most famous shipwreck and also shines a light on what came next for those history until now has mostly ignored. As the author notes in the conclusion, time moves on and time is short: it’s important to find the facts before facts turn to myth and even myth may soon become washed away by the sands of time.
Perhaps it’s to introduce the reader to the tail end of the fine de siecle in USA, but as intriguing as the book’s main focus is, do expect a bit of “historical padding” to set the scene. I’m not a fan of starting reviews on a potential negative, but if you already have a pretty solid familiarity on the comings and goings of USA in the late 19th and very early 20th century and would rather jump to our cast of characters and the Titanic herself, you may need a wee bit of patience early on. In fact, by “early on” I’m referring to perhaps the first quarter of the book because while the camera shifts to China to talk about its history including that of Toi San, a location of note for our story, we still need to sit back with hands clasped to then hear a less than abbreviated history of 19th century merchant shipping AND then of the White Star Line itself before finally getting to the present day and by that, I mean 1912. Again, if you don’t’ know much about any of this, it’s well-written, but if you do, the padding cannot be ignored.
As things finally pick up, we learn something interesting: the last person rescued from the Titanic was not a beautiful woman blowing on a whistle, but most likely a man from Hong Kong, one of our Six. Could he have inspired that famous scene in the movie…? Once the focus moves to our cast from China, the “been there, done that” aspect of boats moves into uncharted territory. Here we learn, among other things, that racism was alive and well back then as it is today: in spite of the blame being pretty squarely on White Star, the media focuses on a small number of Asian passengers who managed to make it out alive and to add insult to injury, they after arriving in NYC were quickly shuttled (or maybe not “quickly” as they were one of the last groups to be taken off the RMS Carpathia) to their workplace, another boat, and quickly set for sail. Trauma piled on trauma!
That The Six holds true to its subtitle (“The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors”) is commendable, but I probably share a viewpoint in line with other readers: we’re pretty interested in the Titanic, its untimely demise drenched in hubris, and are always down for more until now unseen takes on it. Thus, it’s very cool to read about a half dozen passengers whom are quite unlike the others. But some amount of ennui sets in but not after the sinking and their activities following it, but rather the decades that follow—something our author makes a commendable attempt to dig into. It’s great that some went on to have families, start businesses (some failed), and otherwise kept on living in spite of obliterating the odds on one fateful night in 1912, but it makes for somewhat dull reading. Nevertheless, a commendable investigation.
But don’t fret. Ennui occurs but as does wonder. Our author and his team made some great finds, managed to track down odds and ends that painted the lives of individuals who did their best to live the American Dream in a time especially harsh towards Chinese. Thus, The Six provides a unique insight into the world’s most famous shipwreck and also shines a light on what came next for those history until now has mostly ignored. As the author notes in the conclusion, time moves on and time is short: it’s important to find the facts before facts turn to myth and even myth may soon become washed away by the sands of time.
June 25, 2025
There were eight Chinese men aboard the titanic…six survived…this is their story…
The Six: The Untold Story of Titanic's Chinese Survivors by Steven Schwankert is a substory of the larger titanic tragedy while also looking at the world leading up it.
Fair warning, the first quarter of the book (about fifty pages) is setup for the titanic tragedy, covering elements such as the Chinese exclusion act, the history of the White Star Line (including earlier sunkings of the Atlantic and Republic), and reasons for Chinese migration due to problems locally…
All eight of the Chinese passengers (no women) were experienced seamen travelling to New York on behalf of their employer (another shipping line). They all had plans…most of which sunk with the titanic…but by some miracle a majority of them made it to lifeboats (or clinging to driftwood long enough to be rescued in one survivor’s case)…
Some decent coverage is given to daily life aboard the titanic (and the differences afforded to passenger classes), including a sample menu for the day of the sinking.
Accounts of the rescue and a subsequent government investigation (complete with transcribed testimonies) casts further light into mentions of the six Chinese survivors into the public record.
Afterwards…the six would go their own ways…some returning to their jobs or heading elsewhere…
Unfortunately one of the saddest elements is the unmarried widow from Nebraska…waiting in Cleveland…that never got to meet her would’ve husband because he was one of the two that didn’t make it…
Of course you’ll have to read the book to get all the stories…
Some very useful photos of the survivors, the disaster, and artifacts tied to them are also presented…
The Six: The Untold Story of Titanic's Chinese Survivors by Steven Schwankert is a substory of the larger titanic tragedy while also looking at the world leading up it.
Fair warning, the first quarter of the book (about fifty pages) is setup for the titanic tragedy, covering elements such as the Chinese exclusion act, the history of the White Star Line (including earlier sunkings of the Atlantic and Republic), and reasons for Chinese migration due to problems locally…
All eight of the Chinese passengers (no women) were experienced seamen travelling to New York on behalf of their employer (another shipping line). They all had plans…most of which sunk with the titanic…but by some miracle a majority of them made it to lifeboats (or clinging to driftwood long enough to be rescued in one survivor’s case)…
Some decent coverage is given to daily life aboard the titanic (and the differences afforded to passenger classes), including a sample menu for the day of the sinking.
Accounts of the rescue and a subsequent government investigation (complete with transcribed testimonies) casts further light into mentions of the six Chinese survivors into the public record.
Afterwards…the six would go their own ways…some returning to their jobs or heading elsewhere…
Unfortunately one of the saddest elements is the unmarried widow from Nebraska…waiting in Cleveland…that never got to meet her would’ve husband because he was one of the two that didn’t make it…
Of course you’ll have to read the book to get all the stories…
Some very useful photos of the survivors, the disaster, and artifacts tied to them are also presented…
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews