As the mighty Titanic crumbled beneath her feet, the daughter of a working-class family who had struck gold stepped up to fight for the lives of the people around her, regardless of their station. She had fought to help people her entire life and continued to do so until the day she died but it was on that night in 1912 that she became a legend. This is the remarkable story of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Early Days
Margaret Tobin, the name with which Molly Brown was born, entered the world in Hannibal, Missouri, on July 18, 1867. Her parents were John Tobin and Johanna Collins, both Irish Catholic immigrants who were on their second marriage after being widowed as young adults.
The family found friendship among people from a similar background in what was then a diverse community. Molly was one of six children in the Tobin family. She had two older half-sisters from her parents’ previous marriages, Catherine Bridget and Mary Ann, two older brothers, Daniel and Michael, and two younger siblings, William and Helen.
Labor Class
Molly's family was very much working class and they struggled for every penny. As did many of her siblings, Molly herself was forced to begin working in a local factory from the age of 13 to help keep the family afloat. The days were long and the pay was poor, but the family did what they needed to survive.
Although she suffered in the same way as most of her peers, Molly was lucky in some ways. The Tobins were progressive for the time and saw great importance in educating not only their sons but their daughters too. John and Johanna wanted to give every one of their offspring the best tools they could to make the most of their lives. So, when they weren’t working, the Tobin children, including Molly, were being encouraged to learn whatever they could to improve themselves and, hopefully, their futures.
Way Out West
Like many young Americans, Molly Brown dreamed of moving west. At the age of 18, along with her brother Daniel, her sister Mary Ann, and Mary Ann’s husband John, Milly moved to Leadville, Colorado, where she shared a two-room log cabin with Daniel and found a job in a local department store.
In Colorado, Molly saw miners and their families arrive from backgrounds similar to hers. Their hearts were filled with dreams of striking gold but most only found new hardships. When she wasn’t working, Molly helped out at local charities and soup kitchens.
Love Struck
Molly Brown wasn’t looking for love in Leadville, not unless it came in the form of a man with means who could help support her and improve the lives of her parents. So, when an enterprising, self-educated miner named James Joseph Brown caught her eye, Molly found herself in a difficult situation.
"I wanted a rich man,” Molly said. “But I loved Jim Brown. I thought about how I wanted comfort for my father and how I had determined to stay single until a man presented himself who could give to the tired older man the things I longed for him. Jim was as poor as we were and had no better chance. I struggled hard with myself in those days. I loved Jim, but he was poor.”
Heart Over Head
Despite Molly Brown’s internal struggle, knowing that if she married a poor man she might never be able to help her parents or lift her own life above the constant struggle she had always known, she had to follow her heart. “I decided that I'd be better off with a poor man whom I loved than with a wealthy one whose money had attracted me,” Molly finally admitted to herself, “so I married Jim Brown.”
Margaret Tobin and J.J. Brown were married in the Leadville Annunciation Church on September 1, 1886, and the life of Molly Brown began in earnest. One year later, they welcomed their first son, Lawrence, and their daughter, Helen, completed the family in 1889.
Gold!
J.J. and Molly Brown struggled for another seven years as husband and wife to each other and parents to two children. Their fortunes remained the same but they never gave up hope, even when the silver market crash made it look impossible for many of the Leadville community to ever achieve their dream of a more comfortable life.
J.J. had researched well, however, and in 1893 he struck gold after helping his employers, the Ibex Mining Company, uncover a substantial seam in their Little Jonny Mine. J.J. was rewarded with 12,500 shares of company stock and a seat on the board. Overnight, the Browns were millionaires.
Upwardly Mobile
A year after their windfall, the Brown family bought a Victorian mansion in Denver for $30,000. A few years later they built a summer house, Avoca Lodge, near Bear Creek. Molly began moving in elevated social circles and was made a charter member of the Denver Woman’s Club.
Keeping up with her new peers, Molly learned all she could about the arts and became fluent in several European languages. She threw society parties and co-founded a Denver branch of the Alliance Française. Despite her efforts, however, Molly was denied entry to the Sacred 36, Denver’s most exclusive social group run by Louise Sneed Hill, who Brown later called "the snobbiest woman in Denver".
Reformer
From a young age, Molly was encouraged by her family to be an educated and independent thinker and she was not afraid to stand up for what she felt was right. As demonstrated in her work with the Denver Woman’s Club, Molly was a big believer in trying to improve women's lives by continuing education and philanthropy, she was also a supporter of social reform.
To this end, Molly ran for election to the Colorado State Senate in 1901. For reasons lost to history, Molly’s political ambitions were never given their full chance as she withdrew from the race before her election day arrived.
No Support
Molly’s withdrawal from the Senate race may have come as a result of her husband’s feelings toward women in the public sphere. A common male view of the time was that a woman’s name should only appear in newspapers on three occasions during her life - her birth, her marriage, and her death.
It was a view that J.J. Brown supported, so his wife’s insistence on generating column inches between their marriage and her death was an uncomfortable pill to swallow. As it happened, he hadn’t seen anything yet.
World Tour
Whatever differences they had at home, Molly and J.J. Brown were determined to make the most of their newfound wealth by traveling the world together. In 1902, they embarked on a journey that would take them through Ireland, France, Russia, Japan, and India.
Molly’s language skills must have come to great use as the Browns toured the world. It seemed their union could stay strong so long as they focuses on indulging their shared passions rather than getting stuck on their differing beliefs.
Travel Journal
As Molly and J.J. Brown traveled, Molly put down on paper her discoveries and thoughts about the places they visited and the cultures they found among the different people of the world.
The Indian caste system, a deep-rooted system of class division that affected all parts of life in many areas of the vast sub-continent, was a source of particular fascination to the American socialite and she dedicated much of her time to describing what she learned of it in her writings.
Amicable Split
Travel may have helped preserve the marriage of J.J and Molly Brown, but it couldn't keep them together forever. In 1909, after being married for 23 years, the Browns signed a private separation agreement.
Molly was given a cash settlement as well as ownership of their Denver mansion on Pennsylvania Street and their summer home, Avoca Lodge. She was also granted a $700 monthly allowance, the equivalent of more than $20,000 each month today. Whatever Molly chose to do with the rest of her life, she would never lack financial means.
No Decree Nisi
While Molly and J.J. Brown remained separated for the rest of their lives, they seemed to have ended their relationship on good terms and remained close and supportive of each other’s well-being until J.J.’s death in 1922. Technically, the Browns also remained married.
The private separation agreement they had both signed was not a divorce, simply a document detailing how the family finances and estate would be divided. Even in 2022, a full century later, this would be a modern and progressive arrangement, but it seemed to suit the Browns’ needs at the time.
RMS Titanic
When the White Star Line launched the biggest and grandest luxury liner the world had ever seen, people from across Europe flocked to be aboard its maiden voyage from Southampton in the UK to New York City in the USA. There were dozens of reasons people wanted to be aboard the Titanic: to enjoy the luxury; to be seen; to take advantage of “guaranteed” safe passage on an “unsinkable ship”.
Molly Brown’s reason was a little different. At the start of 1912, Molly was in Paris with her daughter when she received news that her oldest grandchild was seriously ill in America. She booked a ticket on the first liner bound to New York, it just happened to be the Titanic.
Disaster!
At 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, one of the Titanic’s lookouts spotted an iceberg dead ahead of the ship and raised the alarm. The crew made evasive maneuvers but it was too late to change the course of the gigantic liner. The icy rock ripped along the starboard side of the vessel compromising five of its watertight chambers and dooming the ship, and its passengers, to a terrible fate.
The ship’s bow sank so deep that its stern was raised almost vertical, creating the image of a great metal skyscraper in the North Atlantic Ocean. At 2:20 am on April 15, 1912, the “unsinkable” Titanic slipped beneath the waves.
Six Warnings
The story of a vigilant lookout being overwhelmed with horror when they saw an unexpected iceberg in the ship’s path is an evocative one, and it’s not entirely untrue, but the appearance of the deadly obstacle shouldn’t have been quite as much of a shock as this suggests.
The crew of the Titanic had received no less than six warnings from other ships passing through the area. Captain Edward Smith had ignored them all, instructing the crew to continue the voyage at full speed. This was not uncommon practice at the time as icebergs were generally considered to be minor hazards that were unlikely to cause major problems, even in a direct hit. In 1907, Captain Smith himself had said he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."
Huge Toll
2,224 people were aboard the Titanic as it steamed through the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean, only 706 survived the journey. With over 1,500 casualties, the sinking of the Titanic was the deadliest disaster involving a single ship ever to have occurred. Even today, it still represents the deadliest peacetime sinking of a passenger ship.
The overwhelming majority of those who perished were second or third-class passengers housed mainly on the lower decks of the great liner. Just 25 percent of the ship’s third-class passengers survived the disaster.
Crisis Communication
Molly Brown was believed to be of great comfort to a number of passengers from all backgrounds. Thanks to her fluency in multiple languages she was able to communicate information and offer comfort to passengers from several countries.
Many of these non-English speakers may have suffered additional distress and confusion had someone like Molly not been around to translate and chat with them as the panic of the situation escalated. This simple act of assistance would not be the only time Molly tried to help her fellow passengers as the tragic hours of that night passed.
Deadly Delay
What’s your first instinct upon hearing a fire alarm today? That it’s a drill, a test, or a fault? Nobody expects an actual fire unless they can see smoke or smell burning. That’s exactly what happened with the lifeboats on the Titanic
It took an entire hour between the catastrophic collision and the first lifeboat being launched and the delay was partially caused by passengers assuming the alarm was a drill and choosing to remain in the warmth of the ship’s interior. Worse still, as there had never been a drill on the voyage, there was little understanding of what to do once people did acknowledge the evacuation was real.
Not Enough
The delay and confusion in launching the Titanic’s lifeboats meant there wasn’t enough time to ensure they were all used to their full potential. Many were launched at far below capacity and two of the collapsable boats simply floated away empty as the Atlantic waters covered the ship’s deck.
This added to an already existing issue, the Titanic was never fitted with enough lifeboats to hold every member of passenger and crew on board. It wasn’t even close. Even if every lifeboat space available had been filled, there would only have been room for about half the people trying to escape the stricken liner.
Number Six
Molly Brown was one of the passengers fortunate enough to find themselves floating in the relative safety of a lifeboat as the giant ship dipped into the black waters of the Atlantic, though accounts suggest she had to be physically pulled into the boat as she tried to help more passengers into other boats.
Lifeboat No.6 was to be Molly Brown’s escape vessel, along with 27 other people. The boat’s capacity was 65, meaning 38 more souls could have been saved from their terrible fate that cold April night, if only procedures had been followed correctly.
Turn Back!
After reaching a safe distance and quiet waters, Molly Brown sat in her lifeboat and saw the empty spaces around her. She immediately began demanding they turn back and try to collect more passengers from the water around the sinking Titanic.
Quartermaster Robert Hichens was the senior officer in the lifeboat and he refused to follow Molly’s wishes. He was afraid that turning back would either cause Lifeboat No.6 to be sucked under when its liner finally sank, or that it would be overwhelmed by swimmers trying to clamber aboard.
Brave Molly Brown
Molly Brown argued passionately with Quartermaster Robert Hichens about the need to do what they could to save more lives, but the crewman was unmoved. It’s reported that Molly went so far as to grab an oar and try to paddle the boat back towards the grim scene herself.
Molly was also heard to say she would throw the Quartermaster overboard if he did not see reason and agree to help the people drowning in the freezing waters just a short distance from where Lifeboat No. 6 was drifting. It is unknown who won the argument in the end, but it is believed this heroic stance was a large factor in putting Molly Brown’s name into the history books.
Lost Captain
One person who wasn’t to be rescued from the sinking Titanic, by Molly Brown or anyone else, was Captain Edward Smith, the man ultimately responsible for the safety of every person who boarded the ill-fated vessel. Maritime tradition dictated that, in the event of a ship could not be saved, the Captain should do what they could to save as many lives as possible before finally going down with their ship.
As the Titanic’s demise became inevitable, Captain Smith is reported to have turned to his officers and issued this final statement. “Well boys, do your best for the women and children, and look out for yourselves.” He was last seen on the ship’s bridge, just moments before it plunged under the water.
Charity Collection
Lifeboat No.6 was picked up by the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia which arrived on the scene two hours after the Titanic finally sank. Together with around 710 other survivors, Molly Brown was taken to safety on the shores of New York. Soon after boarding the new liner, Molly noticed the devastating circumstances of her fellow survivors, especially the second and third-class passengers, some of whom had lost everything.
Molly organized a “survivors committee” with her fellow first-class passengers and, by the time the ship reached port, had collected $10,000 to help the less fortunate buy necessities and comforts. Some of the committee members even acted as impromptu counselors for the other rescued passengers.
Self-Titled
After Molly Brown arrived in New York, she was interviewed by journalists eager to hear her story. How had she survived when so many didn’t? What did she do that was different? What could she tell them about surviving the unthinkable horrors that occurred when the “unsinkable” sank?
According to legend, the American socialite simply shrugged her shoulders and uttered the phrase, “Typical Brown luck. We’re unsinkable.” As a result of that off-the-cuff quip, plain old Margaret Brown from Hannibal, Missouri, became known the world over as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”.
Or Not?
The story that Molly Brown gave her own headline to the press is a nice one, it paints a strong, likable character with a bit of good old American sass that readers can latch on to, but what if it isn’t true?
An alternate theory suggests the phrase was actually first created by Polly Pry, the writer of “Town Topics”, a gossip column in Denver, Colorado. According to the Newport Herald, Polly Pry “unfeelingly referred to [Molly] as ‘the unsinkable Mrs. Brown.” Not that Molly cared. “Not a bit,” The Newport Herald wrote, “she sent the clipping [back] to her Colorado friends, and the laugh was on the rude Town Topics.”
Delayed Naming
Whatever the truth behind the origins of Molly Brown’s “unsinkable” nickname, it is likely she never heard herself described in such a way. While Molly lived another 20 years after the disaster which took the lives of so many other people, she didn’t start being referred to as The Unsinkable Molly Brown until after her death.
In fact, most of the millionaire survivor’s friends and acquaintances generally called her “Maggie”. It was only in her obituary that the full title we know her as today was first printed. The phrase was later cemented in legend when a 1960 Broadway musical based on her life and a 1964 film adaptation were both titled The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Heroine of the Titanic
While Molly Brown’s famous nickname might not have originated in her lifetime, she did become famous thanks to her survival, and the tales which came from it. “After being brined, salted, and pickled in mid-ocean I am now high and dry,” Molly wrote to her daughter.
“I have had flowers, letters, telegrams-people until I am befuddled. They are petitioning Congress to give me a medal.” Molly was humbled by the experience and she found the whole thing quite baffling. “If I must call a specialist to examine my head,” her letter continued, “it is due to the title of Heroine of the Titanic.”
Celebrity Campaigner
When World War I began, Molly dropped out of her election race to work with the American Committee for Devastated France and help rebuild areas behind the front line as well as offer assistance to wounded French and American soldiers. Molly received the French Légion d'Honneur for her philanthropy and activism.
Memorial Maker
Despite her fame and status as a hero, Molly Brown was not allowed to give testimony at the Congressional hearings regarding the Titanic disaster because it was 1912 and she was a woman. In response, Molly published her account in the newspapers instead.
The confident socialite also continued to work with the ship’s survivors committee and helped campaign for a memorial to those killed to be erected in Washington D.C. As she had shown, at every moment from the deck of the Titanic to Lifeboat No.6 and her time on the Carpathia, Molly was always thinking about how to help those who had been less fortunate than herself on that terrible night in April 1912.
Lasting Legacy
The incredible story of The Unsinkable Molly Brown has been told many times and in many ways since she arrived In New York as one of the survivors of the world’s most infamous shipping disaster, In 1940 her character was included in a fictional radio broadcast series based around the ship’s voyage.
In 1960, Molly’s name was given to a Broadway play that was adapted by Hollywood for cinemas four years later. Most famously to modern audiences, Molly Brown was given a notable place in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, in which she was brought to life by legendary actor Kathy Bates. Quite rightly, the legend of The Unsinkable Molly Brown has never been forgotten.