Reinhard Sudbrack…Saco farmer at Titanic disaster

(Rewritten by Eva Hallam Solberg from notes by Sudbrack plus an interview)

“One morning at breakfast, we were told that a ship had hit an iceberg and sunk during the night. The ‘unsinkable Titanic’ was on its maiden voyage. Soon we, too, were among the icebergs.”

Reinhard Sudbrack was 11 years old when his parents sent for him to join them in Saco, Montana, in 1912. They had journeyed to America from Germany three years earlier.

He rode with Herman Breipohl Sr., who had returned to Germany to bring his son, Herman Jr., back with him. They ended up in first-class cabins because the one which had been assigned was occupied with three women and babies when they came aboard.

“We became seasick after a storm at sea. When we felt better, we ordered roast goose to eat. For dessert we were served bananas, a delicacy we had never seen before. They were soft, and so we threw them away, thinking they were rotten!”

Read the rest of the story in "Looking Back Again: Life Stories from the Prairies of Montana"
Click here to order