The Mexican on the Titanic: a story that waited 100 years to be told

published March 8 2023

Although the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was a global tragedy, it wasn’t until 2012 — 100 years later — that there was a Mexican “vision” of the most famous shipwreck of the 20th century.

The new awareness that the ill-fated vessel had carried a Mexican politician, who was said to have saved a woman’s life, suddenly made this a Mexican story. And Mexicans love tall tales and legends.

But is this story a tall tale?

What has been verified without doubt is that Manuel Uruchurtu Ramírez did indeed die on the Titanic. However, whether or not the heroic story of him saving a woman’s life was true quickly became the focus of controversy after his story was revealed in a book published in 2012.

Uruchurtu was born in June 1872 in Hermosillo, Sonora, to a well-to-do family.  As a young man, he traveled to Mexico City to study law at what is now the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

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