Jack Thayer

John Borland Thayer III (December 24, 1894 – September 20, 1945) was a first-class passenger on who survived the ship's sinking. Aged 17 at the time, he was one of only a handful of passengers to survive jumping into the frigid ocean. He later wrote and privately published his recollection of the sinking.

Early life He was born into the Thayer family, a wealthy Boston Brahmin family. He was the son of John Borland Thayer II, a director and a second vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and his wife, Philadelphia socialite Marian Thayer.

Aboard Titanic

Seventeen-year-old Thayer had been traveling in Europe with his parents and a maid named Margaret Fleming. They boarded the at Cherbourg on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, to return to New York. Jack's stateroom, cabin C-70, adjoined his parents', C-68. Shortly after 11:40 p.m. on April 14, after the ship collided with the iceberg, he dressed and went to a deck on the port side to see what had happened. Finding nothing, he walked to the bow, where he could faintly make out ice on the forward well deck.

As the ship began listing more, the two men went ahead with attempting to jump off the side, intending to swim to safety. Long went first, jumping while facing the ship; he perished. Thayer launched himself from the rail, his back facing the ship, and pushing outward. Once in the water, Thayer was able to reach Collapsible B, one of the last lifeboats to be launched; it was also overturned as a large wave had swept it off the deck before it could be lowered into the water. He and other crew and passengers, including Junior Wireless Officer Harold Bride, Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, Chief Baker Charles Joughin, and Second Officer Charles Lightoller (who was the most senior surviving crew member), were able to keep the overturned boat steady for some hours. Thayer later recalled that the cries of hundreds of people in the water reminded him of the high-pitched hum of locusts in his native Pennsylvania.

During World War II, both of Thayer's sons enlisted in the armed services. Edward, a bomber pilot, was listed as missing and presumed dead after his plane was shot down in 1943 in the Pacific theatre. His body was never recovered. When the news reached Thayer, he became extremely depressed.

Thayer's mother Marian died on April 14, 1944, on the 32nd anniversary of Titanic collision and sinking. Her death seemed to push him even further into a downward spiral. Thayer died by apparent suicide on September 20, 1945.

His daughters Julie Vehr and Pauline Maguire said in an interview that Thayer struggled with his mental health (depression) and that their mother tried to get medical help for him. Oceanographer Robert Ballard used Thayer's account to help determine the final location of the shipwreck. The discovery helped prove that the ship had split in half before sinking. Thayer, among many other survivors, including crew members, reported it breaking into two pieces, but others reported it sinking in one piece, and the question remained unsettled until the wreck was found.

Thayer's account is sometimes included with fellow survivor Archibald Gracie IV's account of the sinking, in modern editions of Gracie's book Titanic: A Survivor's Story.

Portrayals Nicholas Young (1979) – S.O.S. Titanic; TV film Fred Lancaster (2011) – Curiosity: What Sank Titanic?; TV episode Ryan Hawley (2012) – Titanic; TV series Rhys Mannion (2025) – Titanic Sinks Tonight; TV miniseries