Tag Archives: Lebanese

Stories of Lebanese on the Titanic – Part 4: Two Men from Toula & Zahle

For part 1, click here. Part 2, click here. Part 3, click here.

Toula is a small town in the Batroun region which had only one person aboard the Titanic, named Fahim el Zeanny. Seeing as his name is difficult for foreigners to pronounce, it was changed in Cherbourg to Fahim Kini before it changed, yet again, once he got to New York, to Philip el Zeanny.

Philip left Toula at the age of 23, leaving in Marseille his wife whom he married 4 months prior so he can settle down and start his own business in Cincinnati before she follows him. Philip wrote down what he went through on the Titanic.

Philip, 2 years before his death.

On the night the ship hit the iceberg, he was fast asleep. One of the passengers woke him up hastily and told him what was happening. So Philip started panicking, as was everyone around him. He then ran to the deck where, still panicking because of what he had heard moments ago, he got into a rescue boat. The officer, though, forced him off and threatened him with his gun, saying: women only.

Philip then used the chaos around deck to his favor and got into a second rescue boat. That same officer, however, saw him and forced him off again. Moments later, Philip got past that officer and hid under the seating flanks of one of the boats. That boat was lowered into the water. It only had two men who couldn’t row it away from the ship fast enough with more than twenty women on it. So Philip made his presence known and helped them take the boat away from the Titanic.

Then they waited and watched as the ship sank. The shrieks coming from the passengers who were thrown in the water were deafening.  Philip urged them go back but no one agreed. More lives could have been saved. As he looked around his rescue boat, Philip was apalled by one woman who brought her pet dog with her. The dog was big enough for another person to take its place.

Once the Carpathia arrived, the woman said sternly to Philip, whom she thought shouldn’t have been on board with them, to help her carry the dog as she got on the Carpathia. Philip refused, telling her that the souls of people are more important than those of animals.

Philip ended up passing away on 1927, fifteen years later, leaving a family of four children behind.

The descendants of Philip

On the other side of Lebanon, Zahle had the only Lebanese passenger not in third class. Nqoula Nasrallah and his wife, Adele, were both second class passengers. Nqoula left Zahle at the age of 28, to go to San Francisco where his uncle had started a successful movie franchise.

Seeking the fame and fortune that his uncle had already found, Nqoula took his wife and got on the Titanic. On the night the ship sank, Nqoula got his wife on a rescue boat while he jumped into the water and started swimming away, hoping like other swimmers, that the vests they were wearing would keep them afloat until the rescue boats arrived. His hope was out of place.

As Adele’s rescue boat moved away from the ship, she saw her husband swimming away. So she stood up and started shouting with every bit of strength she had for him to come on board. But amid all the chaos of all the people in the water around her, Nqoula never heard her. He kept swimming and swimming until he could swim no more.

On April 24 th, 1912, the MacKay-Bennett found Nqoula’s body which was thought to belong to the millionaire John Jacob Astor. The following description of the body was given:

Nqoula’s mother, Wardeh, was devastated by the untimely passing of her son. So she went out on Zahle’s very cold winters outside and sat, as snow piled up on her, so she can have a taste of what her son went through in the freezing water of the Atlantic. Wardeh’s granddaughter Emily told how her grandmother used to go outside and put her hands in a frozen pond just so she can feel closer to her son.

Adele was pregnant when she was rescued. She gave birth to a baby boy on December 9th, 1912. The boy died soon afterwards. Adele remarried and had a family of four children. She died on January 20th, 1970.

Part 5 will be coming tomorrow.

Stories of Lebanese on the Titanic – Part 3: The People of Kfarmishki

For part 1, click here. For part 2, click here.

Out of all the Lebanese villages that sent its sons and daughters to America on the Titanic, Kfarmishki has the highest death toll at 13, out of the 14 people that wanted to reach Ontario, Canada where most of the town’s expats reside.

Out of the 13 people that kfarmishki lost, only one body was recovered. Everyone else was lost, never to be seen again or given a proper burial. The abyss of the Atlantic became their final resting place.

Of those whose bodies were never found, there’s Assaf el Saykali who left his newly pregnant wife in order to find a way around the poverty in his hometown. Another is Mansour el Hajj, who left his 3 year old daughter and wife, only to be taken in by the sea.

The only body that was recovered through the MacKay-Bennett belonged to Mansour Nawfal, a man in his late twenties who had left his hometown searching for a better life all by himself. Almost none of the people of Kfarmishki know about him. The MacKay-Bennett’s crew wrote his name as Mansour Sovel on the medical form they filled upon collecting him on April 24th, 1912.

The only survivor from Kfarmishki was a woman named Zad Assaf, who is more commonly known as Mariana Assaf. The name discrepancy arose when she was rescued and asked for her name. Being illiterate, she couldn’t inform the personnel of her proper name so on the lists of survivors, she became known as Mariana.

Zad was born in 1867 and got married in her hometown before leaving it and her two sons to follow her husband to Ontario. In 1912, she returned to Lebanon to see her sons and got on the Titanic, via Cherbourg in France, to go back to her husband. Her sons would soon follow her. It was a good thing they weren’t on the Titanic with her.

While being interviewed on April 24th, 1912, a traumatized Zad told the story of what happened on the day Titanic sank. She said when the ship first hit the iceberg, none of the passengers she was with, most of whom were Lebanese, got afraid. They had called it a night and went to bed. The lack of fear was due to them not knowing the gravity of the situation. It had been kept under wraps for as long as the crew could do so. Some of the Lebanese, however, wanted to go on deck to see what was happening. They were told nothing was wrong and no one felt any danger. So they stayed in their rooms.

Zad Assaf's house in Kfarmishki.

As time went by and the ship didn’t move, their minds started racing and thinking about what the crew could be hiding from them. Some had started to think about the possibility that the ship might be sinking. Suddenly, one of the passengers shouted that the ship is sinking fast. That was then the chaos began and people started running frantically to the deck of the ship, not caring how they got there as long as they did.

Zad said her mind went numb. The only thing she was able to think about back then was to get to the deck where first class passengers had already been. She got to there with a man from her hometown named Elias Tannous Nasrallah, a 22 year old who had left his wife in Kfarmishki. He was going to Ontario to provide for her. As he neared the rescue boats, Elias tried to reason with an officer there to let him on. The officer wouldn’t let him. The chaos that ensued and Elias still pleading for his life got the officer to hold his gun at Elias and shoot him in the chest, killing him instantly, saying: women and children go first.

Shocked by what happened to Elias, Zad froze in her spot. She couldn’t move. The shock of the ship sinking was just made worse by seeing the man from her hometown murdered right in front of her. Without her being aware of it, a navy officer pushed her into a boat full of women and a few men. The boat was then lowered to the water and the men started rowing away as the ocean engulfed Titanic.

Some of the survivors had said the music band kept playing until the very last moments. Zad wasn’t aware of that. She was still in shock. She was among the last people to be lowered off the ship, an hour and thirty minutes after impact. Stranded at sea, they stayed there for hours, freezing in the cold. Six hours after leaving Titanic, the ship Carpathia came to their rescue. The only thing she was able to remember was them offering her warm clothes.

Once she got to New York, she was admitted to the hospital for observation. Once discharged, people from the area helped her get to Ontario where she met her husband. Her sons soon followed her. One of them later on went to Sao Paolo where he lived to be over 105 years old.

Elias Nasrallah’s wife got remarried in Kfarmishki after getting the news that her husband has passed away.

Stay tuned for part 4 tomorrow.

Some Lebanese Reactions to the Samir Geagea Assassination Attempt

Some people appall me.

I never for a moment thought people could make fun of a person narrowly escaping death. That is until Samir Geagea escaped an assassination attempt.

You’d think people would be more considerate. After all, I’m pretty sure if any one of those ridiculing the whole thing were in Geagea’s shoes, they probably wouldn’t have died because of the shots they would have dodged, they would have died because of the panic they’d be going through afterwards.

Instead, they’re busy manufacturing their own version of the story to conform with their sick, twisted, demented, useless, silly fantasy.

For some, Samir and Sethrida Geagea are just bored people in their fortress who decided to come up with a scenario to keep themselves entertained. Yes because entertainment can only come in 10 inch bullets and advanced sniper riffles.

For others, Samir Geagea is the new Neo from The Matrix, working his way around bullets as if they were nothing. They even created a meme for it. Some people just have way too much free time. And way too little courtesy.

Simply disrespectful and not even funny

For others, Geagea came up with his own assassination attempt because he’s politically bankrupt, whose followers are “idiots” (I’m quoting) without high-school diplomas. Yes because the argument is so flawless that I can’t fathom addressing the impeccable structure of it, you BS-holder you!

Others are seeing this as a pattern of Geagea’s lies, which started in 1990, wishing the bullet had hit its target. They would know about lies, I’m sure.

I’d like to see what those same people would have done if their leader was subject to Geagea’s assassination attempt. Odds are they wouldn’t be this humorous. But no, their leader would never be subject to an assassination attempt because he knows with whom to strike “protective” alliances.

So seriously, spare us your useless humor, your ridiculous attitude and your flawless logic. At the end of the day, what can you expect from people whose political reference is the Socrates of modern day logic?

And in case they still think it was a play, perhaps their very own minister Marwan Charbel describing the whole thing as a serious affair would be enough. Who am I kidding? It will never be enough.

Ridiculous people will forever be ridiculous. Glad to know the only way an assassination attempt could be considered as such by some people is for an explosion to happen and for the victim to lose a few limbs. But hold on, their leader doesn’t even consider those who went through such an ordeal as worthy of any recognition. And some of them were relieved Geagea hadn’t went down that road – not for humanitarian purposes, but because it would be a nuisance to have to deal with.

There’s a line between being critical and being downright retarded. You are strutting the retarded side magnificently… and to conclude it Lebanese-ly: TFEH!

Jhony Maalouf: A Lebanese Contestant on French Singing Show: The Voice (La Plus Belle Voix)

Johny Maalouf is a Lebanese contestant who recently made it to the second round of the newly launched French version of the American TV Show The Voice, La Plus Belle Voix, airing on TF1. Leave it to the French to make a two letter title a whole phrase.

The premise of the show consists of three phases: a blind audition where the contestant sings with the judges having their chairs turned away from him (this is the phase Jhony got past). The second phase is called the battle phase where contestants face off in duets and the third phase is the live performances show, which is judged according to audience voting.

Jhony still has a long way to go and it’s our duty as Lebanese to support him. He’s actually quite good, although he seemed very nervous (and justifiably so).

Good luck to Mr. Maalouf on his future progression on “La Plus Belle Voix.”

Lebanese Memes: When It Rains in Lebanon

Just spend a rainy day in and you know this is the only thing people talk about – until the storm blows through. Then another one comes and the talk starts again.

Who needs meteorologists when you have Lebanese friends?