Attachment #3 Ship Manifest for Olympic (Radovs) and Finland (Mandibergs)

ATTACHMENT #3

SHIP MANIFEST FOR OLYMPIC (RADOVS) AND FINLAND (MANDIBERGS)

Discussed in conversations of Bertha Blau, Jack Thompson and Alan Mandiberg.

Radov Chronicles © Joel Levin SHIP MANIFEST FOR OLYMPIC (RADOVS & CAROLS) AND FINLAND (MANDIBERGS)

The Radovs

Radovs came to the United States in 1908, 1911 and 1922. It is unclear what passage was booked for the first two trips, with only limited family members making the initial voyages. In 1908, Joe Radov and Raful Carl, with his older children Morris and Minnie, came. In 1911, Joe Radov returned for his wife, Cirka (Sarah), and two children, Sam and Gus, as well as his sister, Ida, to help care for the children should one need to be left at Ellis Island for quarantine.

In 1922, when most of the Radovs arrived, it was aboard the R.M.S. Olympic. The passage (described further in Attachment 17, A76‐79), which began in Russia and Bucharest, departed from Cherbourg, France on the coast of Normandy. Luba Radov gave birth on ship, mid‐Atlantic, to Anna. The vessel itself, the Olympic, was the sister ship to the Titanic on the White Star Line. The earlier trip in 1911 by the Mandibergs was made on the U.S.S. Finland, a ship that, at least after some re‐chartering, joined the White Star Line in 1909. Like the occasionally troubled Finland, the Olympic could be a dangerous carrier. It collided with the H.M.S. Hawke, but unlike the most famous ship of the White Star Line, the Titanic, it did not sink altogether.

The Olympic in New York in 1911 on her maiden voyage.

Radov Chronicles © Joel Levin Radov Olympic Ship Manifest

Radov Chronicles © Joel Levin

The Carols

While any number of Radovs are missing, there seems to be too many Carols easily to account for. (The Carols were related through Menya, married to Raful, whose maiden name was Radov or Radovskaia, and the oldest daughter of Jacob and Sheindel). Here, shown arriving on the R.M.S. Olympic were 6 Careisteins, with some readily identifiable as family, some more difficult. Menya (Mania), Bill (Berl), Lena (Leia), and Muni (Haim) are easy, although their ages are clearly incorrect. More problematic is Hana and Samuel. Whether they are nephews, nieces, cousins, a married couple or others in the family who had taken this opportunity to escape is uncertain.

R.M.S. Olympic at Sea

Missing from the Carol count is Raful and his daughter Minnie and son Morris, all of whom come over (it seems) in 1908, but not on any locatable ship.

Radov Chronicles © Joel Levin

32. Careistein, Samuel Roumania 19y View View View Ekatistanis,

Radov Chronicles © Joel Levin

A number of Mandibergs came to America in 1911, probably on two ships, one of which was the S.S. Finland. Because of Ellis Island’s mediocre record‐keeping, spelling irregularities and unknown names of married women, the complete list is not known. As for the Finland, it was built as a passenger steamship in Philadelphia in 1902, but chartered by the U.S. Army in June 1917 to carry troops to Europe. It accommodated 342 first‐class passengers, 194 second‐class and 626 third‐class. (What degree of luxury the Mandibergs enjoyed is a mystery). Shown below is the Finland in its balmy civilian days and then after being torpedoed by the German submarine, U‐93, off the French coast.

Even before the war, despite some glory in taking the American Olympic Team to Stockholm in 1912, the Finland was a troubled ship, in 1908 colliding with and sinking the Greek ship, the S.S. Epirus and in 1910 ramming and sinking the Baltique. She was finally scrapped in 1928.

The S.S. Finland as a passenger ship and later after it sustained submarine torpedo damage.

The Second‐Class Smoking Lounge on the Finland. It is a location that, given some unfortunate early family habits, would hardly be surprising if it served as the family gathering place.

Despite problems in spelling and location, likely the Mandibergs took two ships from different North Sea ports in 1911 and met up in New York. Those on the Finland left from Antwerp, spelled their name “Mandeberg” and listed themselves as being from Kiev. Those on the Kursk (Kypck) arrived 25 days later (December 1 verses December 26, 1911), spelling their name “Mandebarg.” They departed from Libau (now Liepāja, a city in present day Latvia, but then in Russia) and listed their home as Spoderety, Russia, a name that has completely disappeared from sight. However, given the people involved and the later evidence, the family linked up. The Kursk was built in 1911 in the United Kingdom. It originally flew the flag of the Russian Empire, and later that of the Soviet Union. It seemed to have a desultory and undistinguished history. (The ocean liner should not be confused with the Russian submarine, the Kursk, which famously sank as a result of a fuel explosion in the year 2000, burying all 118 sailors aboard at sea).

The Kursk in Alicante, Spain in 1936 unloading Military Supplies to the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.