When "Titanic" went down, at least 50 Bulgarians were among the 2228 people on board. The painful memory of their misfortune is still alive in the minds of their descendents in this country. 

According to "Lloyd's" list of casualties, the Bulgarians lost in the catastrophe are 38. Some researchers, however, think that the number of deaths is greater. Thus, for example, the monument erected to the victims of this disaster in the village of Goumoshtnik, near the town of Troyan, has the names of 8 native people engraved on it, and they are not on Lloyd's lists. It is supposed that about 15 Bulgarians survived, most of them choosing to stay in America for the rest of their lives. 

Both survivors and people who lost their lives have descendents and relatives living now in villages near the towns of Teteven, Troyan, Loukovit and Pleven (Central Northern Bulgaria).

Pensioner Hristo Zlatev from the village of Sennik, 76 years old, is a son of survivor Zlatyu Hristov. According to him, his father had given the following account of that  horrible April night of 1912: "Not long before midnight I was awaken by some dull bumping sound. It was as if something cut the tin and ironwork of the ship. Before I knew what was going on, water flooded in the hold. Frightened out of their senses, sleepy passengers were screaming in various languages..." 

Passengers in the hold broke the barred doors and rushed upstairs to the deck. The crowd there was panic-stricken. Mothers, carrying children in their arms, were shrieking. Young couples of lovers were hugging each other for the last time. And the orchestra was playing a waltz. 
Zlatyu made the sign of the cross and plunged in the ice-cold waters, succeeding to reach a life-boat. A fellow-villager, Penko Staikov, saved his skin in a similar way. 

Doncho Atanasov (left), whose father is 
one of the fatalities of "Titanic"; 
Hristo Zlatev (right), son of Zlatyu Hristov,
survivor.

In spite of their dreadful experience, both men would not give up their dream and, in fact, worked for their living in the United States for a long time thereafter. They returned home only 10 years later. 

Doncho Atanasov, today at the age of 86, from the same village of Sennik, was born 40 days after his father's death. His father got drowned after the boat he had managed to swim to, capsized. 

Both grandfathers of the former headmaster, 62-year-old Petko Chakarov, were drowned. These two men, who perished in the ocean, left two pregnant wives that gave birth to a boy and a girl - later married. And Petko Chakarov was born of this marriage. According to the retired principal's account "this sea tragedy revealed one aspect of the contribution of Bulgarian immigrants to America's prosperity in the beginning of this century. 

As a matter of fact, in those times thousands of Bulgarian people set on the long journey to the United State. There were specialized agencies in Bulgaria recruiting - from among the peasantry, miners, railway workers, etc.- candidates for employment in North America, then in need of labour force. The recruits were young people from all parts of the country, but mainly from the mountain areas, where arable land was insufficient to provide a living. Although of humble origin and educational background, many of them were successful and achieved the "American dream" owing to their peasant perseverance, common sense and inventiveness. There are reports of quite a few of cases of Bulgarian migrants in the U.S.A., who came back to fight for Bulgaria in the 1912-1918 wars. 

Today, 86 years after the catastrophe of "Titanic", the name of a Bulgarian emigrant is involved in the creation of the supermovie of the same name. This is Valentin Vassilev, a sculptor who migrated to the United States in 1994. He is the constructor of the 13-meter high model of "Titanic", as well as co-author of the two prop icebergs employed in the superproduction. As is known, the special effects in the picture were awarded with an individual "Oskar".