Meet the South Jersey Man that Traveled Aboard Titanic
Today is the 108th anniversary of the fateful disaster of 1912 involving a ship deemed "unsinkable" and an iceberg spotted too late.
The Titanic disaster is one that even 100+ years after it occurred still has a sort-of mystery surrounding it.
The ship, one of many vessels in the White Star Line, had embarked from Southhampton, England, for New York City on April 10th, 1912, with 2,435 passengers. Of that, only 705 would make it to the USA.
Over 1,500 people lost their lives to the sea that night. Among them was a South Jersey native. His name was Frederick Sutton.
Frederick Sutton was born in England, but came to the U.S. in the late 1800s. He ultimately ended up settling in what today is Haddonfield, Camden County. According to Encyclopedia Titanica, Sutton did pretty well for himself, making a fortune in multiple business ventures from coffee importing to holding leadership positions in multiple banks. The venture that led him to the southeastern most points of NJ, however, was his interest in real estate.
Reportedly, Frederick Sutton was one of the founding fathers of a little fishing town on one South Jersey beach. Today, we call that beach Wildwood.
Sutton was so invested in building up Wildwood that he held some important offices for multiple Wildwood-based companies of the early 1900s, including Wildwood Hotel Company and the North Wildwood Electric Company.
Frederick Sutton, Encyclopedia Titantica reports, originally had returned to England for medical reasons. He ultimately lost his life in Titanic's sinking on his way back to New Jersey. He was found and buried at Haddonfield Baptist Cemetary in Haddonfield, Camden County.
Read more about the passengers on the Titanic with NJ roots here.