Photo: Nancy Benecki-Hawkins | The Jersey Journal

Robert John Hopkins was one of the lesser-known heroes on the Titanic. He died in 1943 at the age of 77 and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Holy Name Cemetery, in Jersey City, NJ.  Last Saturday, his descendants gathered to dedicate a black granite tombstone at his gravesite, 73 years after his death.

Able seaman Hopkins, a rigger by trade, and fireman Fred Barrett were assigned to Lifeboat 13 on the night of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15th, 1912. When the lifeboat was lowered, it drifted beneath Lifeboat 15, which was being lowered directly on top of them. Hopkins and Barrett jumped up and used their pocket knives to cut away the lifeboat falls which were holding their boat in the way of the lifeboat being lowered. They are credited with saving the lives of the more than 100 passengers in the two boats.

One of the passengers in Lifeboat 13 was Madeline Astor, the wife of John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking. John Jacob Astor was believed to be the richest man aboard the Titanic and one of the richest men in the world at the time. Mrs. Astor had been the 18-year-old socialite Madeleine Talmage Force when she married the 47-year-old Astor in 1911. They were returning from an extended honeymoon when they boarded the Titanic. According to the Hudson Dispatch in 1943, “Later Mrs. Astor presented [Hopkins] with a purse for being instrumental in saving her life.”