Frank Philips Aks

Frank Philip Aks was born on June 7th, 1911 in London. He was one of the last survivors of the sinking of the *Titanic*. Right after the disaster, he received the nickname, the “Baby of the Titanic” although he wasn't the youngest, that was Millvina Dean, who was 9 weeks only when aboard the ship.

He was the first child of the Jewish couple Sam Aks and Leah Rosen, who married in 1910. Her mother is of Polish origin. Forced into a precarious life in the poor neighborhoods of the British capital, his parents decided to emigrate to Virginia in the United States in the hope of a better future. In January 1912, Sam Aks, not having the means to take his wife and young son with him, embarked alone on the *Cymric* to migrate and settle in the United States where he managed to earn his living as a tailor.

In a few months, Sam Aks manages to raise enough money to allow his family to cross the Atlantic and come to find him in Norfolk, Virginia. On April 10, 1912, in Southampton, Leah boarded the RMS Titanic as a Third Class passenger with Frank, then ten months old. Aboard the new White Star Line liner, mother and son share a cabin to themselves.

## *Titanic* disaster

On the evening of April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink. Leah, probably woken up by a steward or other passengers, tries to reach the Boat Deck with Frank but runs into the very large crowd standing, waiting in the Third Class passenger stairway. Blocked, she is seen by sailors who, understanding her distress, form a human ladder and manage to hoist her up to Second Class. From there, she reached to the Boat Deck with her child. Waiting to be able to climb on a canoe, Leah finds herself alongside Madeleine Astor who, herself five months pregnant, takes off and wraps her shawl around Frank to protect him from the cold. It was precisely around this time 1:35 A.M., that lifeboat 11, completely full, began its descent. A man tries to board it at the last moment but is turned away by the crew members.

Mad with rage, he grabs Frank and throws him into the boat. The child is caught in the flight by a passenger whose identity is not clearly established. It could be Argene Del Carlo, a Second Class Italian passenger who was pregnant at the time, or else Elyzabeth Nye, also a Second Class British passenger. Leah Aks rushes to the canoe to try to retrieve her son but is in turn repelled. In a state of shock, she is picked up by Selena Cook another second-class passenger. The two women manage to board lifeboat 13 which was almost crushed by lifeboat 15 during its descent. There they meet Ruth Becker, who will prove to be an important moral support for Leah. Around 2:18 A.M. she sees the RMS *Titanic* break in two, and the ship slips beneath the waves at 2:20 A.M.

Lifeboat 11 reached the RMS *Carpathia* around 7 A.M. Frank is hoisted aboard the liner using a bucket. The passenger who picked him up, probably Argene Del Carlo, then claims that it is her son. Lifeboat 13 would have arrived about half an hour earlier. On the *Carpathia*, Leah Aks frantically searches for her child for nearly two days. Mad with pain, she refuses to eat and gradually weakens despite the moral support given to her by Selena Cook, who continues to watch over her.

On April 17, Leah thinks she recognizes, while she is on the bridge with Selena, the cries of her child. She sees, a few meters from her, a survivor of the shipwreck holding a baby in her arms. Approaching, she grabs the arm of the passenger in question and recognizes her son. Frank then reaches for his mother. Leah tries to convince Argene Del Carlo to return her child to her but the latter refuses, declaring that Frank is "a godsend" and that she must take care of him as if he were her son. A quarrel breaks out between the two women which attracts the attention of the passengers, each taking sides with one of the passengers.

The conflict escalates but there is no resolve, and then Leah Aks decides to call on Arthur Rostron, the captain of the *Carpathia*. The latter then brings the two women together in his quarters and asks them to provide irrefutable proof of identification of the child. Leah manages to prove her filiation with Frank by evoking a birthmark that the child would have on the chest and by affirming that this one would have been circumcised. Faced with these arguments, Rostron decides to return the baby to its mother. The Carpathia finally docked in New York on April 18, 1912. Leah Aks left to join her husband in Virginia. The latter, learning of the sinking of the *Titanic*, would have fainted and would have suffered a concussion. Recovered from their injuries, the family reunites and settles permanently in Norfolk.

## Further life

Frank Aks had two siblings after the sinking: His sister was very unique: Her mother had named her after the vessel that saved her and her son's life: Sarah Carpathia Aks was born in 1913. In 1915 he got a brother in Harry Aks. Sam Aks gave up his job as a tailor and worked as a car salesman before opening his own garage. Frank himself did not finish high school and first worked as an auto mechanic before taking over his father's garage and becoming a car salesman.

He met Marie Miller in 1932 and married her. The couple had two daughters: Barbara and Joyce Aks.

As he was only a baby, he doesn't remember the *Titanic* as a personal tragedy but as an event he took great interest in. In 1953 he was at the premiere of the movie 'Titanic' with his mother, as guests of honor. Years later he and his mother were also guests of honor at the premiere of the 1958 Titanic movie, 'A Night to Remember'.

His mother Leah Aks died in 1967 at the age of 73. He lost his father three years later,

In 1970. Frank, for his part, devotes himself more fully to the *Titanic*. Like most long-living survivors of the shipwreck (such as Eva Hart, Michel Navratil, Ruth Becker, Millvina or even Bertram Dean), he attended many conferences on the subject.

As a member of the Titanic Historical Society, he had a large collection of artifacts from the White Star Line ship, although he wasn't fond of the idea that treasure hunters were retrieving items from the ship. He felt it was morally wrong.

Frank Philip Aks died in Norfolk, Virginia on July 15th, 1991 after a heart failure.