Sophie Rosa Martorell Benet

Female

Birth date: 1.1.1898 y.

Cabin: General Duties Medical Officers-27

Biography:

Born: January 1st, 1898 – Madrid, Spain
Nationality: Spanish-American

Sophie Rosa Martorell Benet was an 18-year-old Spanish-American socialite and later wartime nurse, known for surviving the RMS Titanic disaster in 1912 and for her service aboard the HMHS Britannic during the First World War.

Born into an affluent family in Madrid, Sophie was raised between Spain and New York, her father a textile merchant and her mother descended from Catalan nobility.

In early 1912, Sophie boarded the RMS Titanic with her siblings—Maria (17), Hugo (18), and Yunior (16)—as first-class passengers, bound for a new life in America. During the sinking on April 15, Sophie escaped in Lifeboat 4, one of the later boats launched from the port side. Her younger brother Yunior survived on Collapsible B, but tragically, Maria and Hugo were lost in the disaster.

The trauma of the Titanic left a lasting impression on Sophie. After the war broke out, she decided to be trained as a nurse. By 1915, she had joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve, volunteering her services despite being a foreign national.

In late 1916, Sophie boarded the HMHS Britannic, the Titanic’s sister ship, repurposed as a hospital vessel in the Mediterranean. The ship struck a mine in the Aegean Sea and sank on November 21, 1916. Sophie was among those aboard when it went down.

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