When you see Titanic . . .

     

. . . remember Annie Funk. 

James Cameron's spectacular movie, Titanic, has been a gigantic success at the box-office, with sales of $500 million. Kate Winslet plays the lead role of Rose DeWitt Bukater, a 17-year-old, upper-class American, unhappily engaged to a stifling aristocract. On the ship she falls in love with a free-spirited steerege passenger, Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Romance turns to action, suspense and tragedy when the Titanic sinks. But Cameron ignored the dramatic real-life story of Annie C. Funk, a Mennonite missionary also on board the ill-fated ship.

Annie Funk served as a missionary in the Central Province of India from 1906 to 1912. Her home congregation, the Hereford General Conference Mennonite Church in Bally, Pennsylvania had nurtured her interest in missions from the time she was a child. After several stateside assignments, she volunteered to go overseas. Annie gave an unqualified testimony of her trust in God's care when she answered a friend who feared for her safety on her first transatlantic voyage: "Our heavenly Father is as near to us on sea as on land. My trust is in Him. I have no fear."

  

Annie's work included the founding and management of a school for girls in Janjgir, India, which was later named in her memory. Her work there was interrupted one day by a telegram, which urged her to come home to as soon as possible, and that her passage was paid. She was not told that her mother was close to death. Annie quickly made travel plans. In her final letter, written somewhere "Near Suez," she worried about what the French would charge for her "excess baggage" on the overland route from Versailles to London. She estimated it would take three more weeks to get back home to Butter Valley, "if the weather and strikes do not prevent" it. When she arrived in Southampton, England, she learned that her ship, the S.S. Havorford, would be delayed by a coal strike. She was guided to another ship-a new one called the Titanic. Some were saying this was a modern marvel that "God, himself couldn't sink." Though it cost more, Annie was assured that passage on the Titanic would get her home in record time. She boarded as a second class passenger.

The Titanic was the White Star Line's proudest accomplishment. No cost had been spared. It was the largest, fastest, most luxurious ship ever built. This highly acclaimed, maiden voyage would break all transatlantic speed records. Many luminaries were aboard-in first class accommodations, of course. The ship's captain, Edward J. Smith was to retire after he docked in New York Harbor. "So far," he had said, his career as a ship's captain "had been uneventful." That was about to change. The Titanic steamed out of Southampton's dock at noon on April 10, 1912.

Near midnight, four days later the ship struck an iceberg, in spite of repeated warnings. The "unsinkable" dream ship began to sink into the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. As elaborately as the ship had been furnished, sadly, it lacked an essential safety feature--sufficient lifeboats for all 2, 207 passengers. It was immediately evident that many would not be saved. What about Annie? An unconfirmed report has it that Annie Funk, already seated in a lifeboat, gave up her seat to another woman-a mother with children. Whether true or not, those who knew her said, "That would be just like Annie." Annie, along with 1500 others, perished in the greatest catastrophe yet known. The mighty Titanic was no more. The date was April 15, 1912.

James Cameron's film made $500 million in box-office sales. But he neglected to tell the priceless story of a Mennonite woman who gave herself to the people of Janjgir, India--and perhaps, died in the place of another woman on the Titanic.

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(For more on Annie Funk, see Mennonite Encyclopedia, vol. V, p. 891; John Ruth, Maintaining the Right Fellowship [ Scottdale, 1984] pp. 412-414; Russell Krabill, "They Found Annie Funk's Resting Place," Mennonite Weekly Review, Jan. 19, 1986; Christena Duerksen, "A Missionary on the Titanic," Mennonite Life, Jan 1957, pp. 44-46.)

For more on the Titanic follow this link to Encylcopedia Britannica's special exhibit.