Benjamin Guggenheim boarded the Titanic alongside his secretary Victor Giglio, his mistress Léontine Aubart, and several staff members. When the ship struck the iceberg, Benjamin immediately started helping women and children find their way to the lifeboats.
Many stewards later remembered him moving through the chaos with remarkable calm, repeatedly saying “Women first” and offering “great assistance” to the officers as they loaded Boats 7 and 5. The New York Times shared an account from an assistant steward describing Guggenheim’s final hours: helping passengers into lifeboats, turning down a life preserver, and insisting he would not leave while women still remained aboard.
Once it was clear the Titanic was sinking, Benjamin returned to his cabin with Victor Giglio, changed into evening wear, and prepared himself. Survivor Rose Amélie Icard noted that he dressed “to die,” even placing a rose in his buttonhole. Benjamin told a steward,
“We’ve dressed up in our best and are ready to go down like gentlemen.”
He then sent a message to his wife:
“If anything should happen to me, tell my wife in New York that I’ve done my best in doing my duty.”
Witnesses saw Benjamin and Victor walk calmly back onto the deck, still helping women and children into the lifeboats.
Another steward remembered Benjamin’s final words:
“Tell my family I played the game straight to the end and that no woman was left on board this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward. Tell her that my last thoughts will be of her and our girls.”
He reportedly lit a cigar, stepped back onto the boat deck, and kept assisting until the ship lost power and began its final descent. Benjamin and Victor perished in the sinking, forever remembered as men who chose duty, dignity, and self-sacrifice in the face of catastrophe.