Charlotte Drake Cardoza--or Cardeza, as she seems more properly known--was the wife of a Philadelphia millionaire. She came on board with 14 trunks, 4 suitcases, 3 crates of baggage, her son, Thomas, his valet, Gustave Lesneur, and her own maid, Anna Ward. They booked into Suite B51 (NOT 54), a three room complex with its own promenade, located on B deck’s port side. They paid $4,350 for it.
Mrs. Cardeza and her son survived, along with her maid and his valet.
After the ship sank, Mrs. Cardeza made a claim against White Star for 36,575 pounds, 2 shillings ($177,352.75). In the face of death, this seems cruel and her claim was extravegant. Other passengers, however, made claims too, including Willam Carter for 1 Renault automobile ($5,000), Hokam Bjornstrom-Stefffanson for a Blondel painting ($100,000), Annie May Stengel for a copy of Science and Health ($5), and, of course, the United States Government for lost mail ($41.04).
Her obit ran Taken from the NEW YORK TIMES, Wednesday, August 2, 1939
MRS. J. W. CARDEZA, TITANIC SURVIVOR
Noted Yachtswoman and a Big Game Hunter of Early 90's Dies in Germantown
ACTIVE IN PHILANTHROPY
Twice Circumnavigated World in Own Yacht--Daughter of Late Thomas Drake
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1--
"Mrs. Charlotte Drake Martinez Cardeza, one of the survivors of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg in the Atlantic, died today at her home, Montebello, in Germantown. Illness had confined her to her home for the last four years.
Mrs. Cardeza was a noted yachtswoman and big game hunter and a member of one of Philadelphia's most prominent families. She once skippered the Eleanor, an ocean-going yacht, in stormy Caribbean waters. She was famed in the early Nineties as one of the few women big game hunters of that time.
Ordered over the side of the sinking Titanic on its maiden trip, Mrs. Cardeza refused to leave until an officer had made a place for her son, Thomas D. M. Cardeza, who was accompanying her. The family lost $30,000 in jewels in the disaster.
Mrs. Cardeza was the widow of James W. M. Cardeza, Philadelphia attorney, and the daughter of the late Thomas Drake, banker and industrialist.
In between her game hunting expeditions to Africa and Asia, Mrs. Cardeza twice circumnavigated the world on her yacht. She still found time to take part in society and social work and private charities were recipients of generous gifts from her. A patroness of the arts, she visited art galleries throughout the world in her extensive travels.
She is survived by her son, who lives at 305 West Chestnut Hill Avenue. He is a director of the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company and the Zoological Society of Philadelphia and is on the board of several city hospitals. He is a noted huntsman and philanthropist.
Mrs. Cardeza had made her home at Montebello for 75 years. A brownstone castle-like wall with turreted towers surrounds the grounds.
Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at Christ Church and St. Michael's, Germantown, with burial in West Laurel Hill Cemetery."
Fate in the musical: Mrs. Cardoza lives.
Original Cardoza:
Becky Ann Baker
Current Cardoza: Caitlin Clarke