Assorted eyewitness accounts relaying the last moments in the life of millionaire investor John Jacob Astor IV (born 1864) and his gallantry in refusing a place in the lifeboats. According to Mrs. Churchill Candee (born Helen Churchill Hungerford, 1859 – 1949) and Second-Class passenger Hilda Slater (1882 – 1965) he lived up to the expected standards of the day:
“I saw Colonel John Jacob Astor hand his young wife into a boat tenderly and then ask an officer whether or not he might also go. When permission was refused he stepped back and coolly took out his cigarette case.”
“‘Good bye, dearie’ he called gaily, as he lighted his cigarette and leaned over the rail, ‘I’ll join you later.'”
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