Submersible pilot’s wife descended from Titanic victims
Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush, who is the pilot of the missing Titanic submersible, is a descendant of passengers who died on the Titanic in 1912.
According to a BBC news report, Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus – two first-class passengers who were onboard the Titanic when it sank.
The Strauses were among the Titanic’s richest passengers. Isidor and his brother Nathan were co-owners of Macy’s department store.
Survivors recalled seeing Isidor refuse a seat on a lifeboat until all women and children had got on.
Ida, his wife of 40 years, refused to go without her husband. The two were reportedly seen in an embrace as the ship went down.
A fictionalised version of this scene was depicted in the 1997 film, showing a couple hugging each other in bed as the water rises around them.
Rush is also the communications director at OceanGate and has been on three expeditions to the Titanic wreck, her LinkedIn page says.
