Henry Percy McAdam

Henry McAdam (left) with Robert Haundwhitch (sitting) and William Ediths III (right) in 1898.

### Aliases

Percy McAdam
H.P. McAdam
Captain McAdam

### Relatives

† Alfred Henry McAdam (father)
† Heidi Vera McAdam (mother)
† Dorothy McAdam (daughter)
Betty Cavendish (Aunt-in-law)
Unnamed brother-in-law

### Occupation

Writer (1873-1914)
Medic (1916)

## Biographical information

### Marital status

† Paula Eustice Cavendish-McAdam (married 1899)

## Overview

Henry Percy McAdam (10th August 1875 - 21st November 1916, age 41) was a fictional first class passenger of Titanic Voyage 2023 played by justnormalpizza. While banned from the TVRPG Discord server, he still managed to participate in the roleplay. Henry is a german author, and survives the sinking of the Titanic.

## Before Titanic

Henry Percy McAdam (\*Percy McAdam) was born as an only-child on the 10th August 1875 in Hamburg, Germany, in a fairly sized log cabin. His father, Alfred Henry McAdam (1836-1877) was a middle-class british sailor who died in an accident in the chain locker on the SS Soverign when Percy was barely two, being raised by his mother Heidi Vera McAdam (1839-1906) and being taught some british by his paternal uncle Reginald Barker McAdam (1833-1891). He eventually decided that the british language was much easier to learn to read and write, and mainly spoke in that language. By the age of nine he was going to school, which was slightly below the average age for the time. In school, he would sell crackers for 5 cents each, and surprisingly that allowed him enough money to buy his mother a book to read, and she was very impressed. Later in school, Percy met his longtime friends Robert Lawrence Haundwhitch (1878-1912) – whose father owned a hotel in New York, and William Ediths, III (1875-1912) – a very rich lad. On occasion, they ran into William’s friend John Jacob Astor IV, who was slightly older than them, but enjoyed teaching the three a lot of things. In his teenhood, his mother noticed that in his spare time he would write stories, which she shared with her neighbors. In the 1890s, he began to write novels about a character, the “Yippy” Eddie Arrington, a young irish lad who spent his time running around ships, roaming free without supervision, and even helping stop a war from going into full force. His books sold good, but due to him speaking hardly any german, he couldn’t sell that many. Eventually, though, some English-speaking Germans were beginning to buy his books.

Eventually, he moved from Frankfurt to Oxford, in England, in 1896. In Oxford, a very exquisite city, Percy was much more successful and had much better luck. In fact, Percy’s books were all time best-sellers, with some high ranking officials reading them. He did try to learn some German, but gave up when he couldn’t figure out how to pronounce the SZ letter. In 1899, while on vacation in Bristol, he fell in love with a barmaid, Ms. Paula Eustice Cavendish (1876-1900). The two were passionate, around the same age, had many of the same traits and hobbies, and thus they were married in Cambridge in a grand chapel (despite the outcries from Paula’s aunt, Betty, whom nearly crashed the wedding). They bought a manor and Percy even had his own carriage and valet by this point, when he learned Paula was with a child - a baby girl. But, alas, Paulette died in childbirth, so the baby, Dorothy (1900-1979), would spend most of her time at her grandmother’s (at least, until she died and had to be transported to Paula’s brother) due to the depression Percy would have from the loss of his love, Paula. He was also a very antisocial person who probably could not handle a child, always resorting to his room, writing dozens, if not hundreds of books every five years.

## Titanic

Percy would write another novel about Eddie Arrington in 1911 - one where he stopped a war of mass destruction at the last second by befriending the president, William Taft. The president's military advisor, Mj. Archibald Butt, was so impressed by reading the latest edition (thanks to friend Francis Millet) so much that he recommended the books to President Taft himself. Percy was currently visiting the Ashmolean Museum with his longtime friend William Ediths III, and his daughter, when he heard the news via telegraph that President Taft wanted a suprise novel written - any genre, any length. He immediatley looked to find the quickest ship to America to get the book to the president. He decided to go all out, aboard the RMS Titanic, the largest ship ever made. As he approached the ship on April 10, 1912, he felt a sharp sense not to celebrate, and felt that these glorious festivities may actually be a bad omen.

Aboard the Titanic, he began to write a novel for Taft in which the liner was capsized by a rogue wave, titled 'A Titanic Adventure'. He used the printing room to make copies and give them out to readers like Ismay himself. During the voyage, he befriended First class passengers Archibald Gracie and Margaret Brown, the three shared a common enemy; Charlotte Cardeza. Henry was once smacked with her purse. At first he continued socialization with Brown, Gracie, and later Edith Corse Evans. But later, he found himself socializing with Second Class passengers Charles Daniels Raymond, Oliver M.T. Whitmore, Nicholas Black, and Lucile Springer - specifically Charles in particular. They explored much of the ship during the voyage. When the iceberg struck the ship, Henry was in the First Class Smoking Room. He gathered his friends, and they split off into seperate lifeboats - only Lucile and Henry managed to escape. Lucile escaped in an aft lifeboat and Henry escaped in Boat 2, and threw his novel into the water. After being rescued by Carpathia, he had a brief coma for two days. After waking up, he had realized that, albeit a drenched one, a copy of his book still remained. Henry was incredibly upset.

## Aftermath

After the death of Maj. Butt, Henry and President Taft remained acquaintances, but Taft decided to tell Percy not to publish the novel. However, after the presidential election of 1912, President Wilson asked for it to be published, and it was in 1914. However, Henry's health wasn't perfect. In late 1913, he had gotten dysentery, but managed to survive and get better. While on vacation with his daughter in Canada in May 1914, the ship he was travelling on, the RMS Empress of Ireland, sank in the St. Lawrence River on May 29. Of 1,012 that died, Henry and his daughter were not among them. After Titanic, he immediatley went on deck after he heard a noise, and saw that the Storstrad seemed to be holding up much better than the Titanic. The two jumped aboard from the lower promenades of the Empress.

A year later, in May 1915, he and Dorothy were aboard the RMS Lusitania headed back towards England after vacation in America. Henry had been nervous of the Germans and, after Paula's brother was pro-German in World War I, took care of Dorothy until the war ended; because he did not agree. Unfortunately, a German U-Boat sent one (possibly two) torpedoes at the RMS Lusitania, causing it to sink in 18 minutes. Henry had tried to find Dorothy in the crowd, but lost his grip and slipped off the ship into the sea, later being picked up by a lifeboat. Dorothy had gotten into a lifeboat, but it had snapped and shattered against the hull, spilling its occupants into the sea, killing her and many others.

After the death of Dorothy, Henry slipped into a deep depression and published many memoirs in February of 1916. During his depression, his health declined as he often went several days without meals. Several times during 1916, he had dysentery, smallpox and high fever. and At the height of World War One, he became a medic and stationed himself aboard the HMHS Britannic. Still haunted by the Titanic, Empress of Ireland, and Lusitania, his days aboard the ship were either him praying that the ship wouldn't sink, or praying that it would. He attempted suicide once. Eventually, in November of that year, the HMHS Britannic struck a mine. Henry was sent to acquire bread for the lifeboats, but the ship was sinking too fast. On his way back from the galley, he discovered the Dining saloon submerged with no route up but through the Engine rooms. Upon climbing a catwalk, it collapsed under him, and he fell. During the fall, his leg was snapped and it was impossible for him to climb back up. After the room flooded, he was drowned, one of only 31 people to die during the sinking of the Britannic. His memoirs, however, were published. His last memoir "Symphonies of Sorrow" was published 28 October 1916, and the first memoir "Whateth Become of Me?" was published 2 February 1916.