Adāl Naṣr Allāh was passenger on Titanic.
Adāl Hakīm was born to Habīb Hakīm and Attur Jaraysātī on March 19 1898. She came into this world in the town of Zahlah, near the Sannine Mountains of the Lebanon, which was still part of Syria at that time, within the Ottoman Empire. Before her, two brothers and a sister were born: The first was Ilyās in 1890, followed by Abraham and Mahībā in 1893 and 1896 respectively. She also had two younger siblings named Rashīd, born in 1901 and Mary, conceived in 1907.
In early 1912, Adāl at the age of 13 was made the bride of 32-year-old Niqūlā Khalīl Naṣr Allāh, a succesful businessman. She was introduced to him as he had been in the USA for four years and had returned in search of a partner. Mr. Allāh came from Zahlah in Syria as well and had a company named N.Nassar & Co. Wholesale Confectioners and Candy Makers in San Francisco. In the spring, Niqūlā wanted to go back to San Francisco and they needed to go on a ship from France to get there. For a while, they stayed in Paris.
Titanic[]
It was April 10 when they had made their way to the Cherbourg harbor in the evening, where an ocean liner would arrive to pick up many passengers along with the pair. They stand out as having been the only Syrians that could afford to be in Second Class. At the time, Adāl was already expecting.
On April 14, 20 minutes before midnight, an incident occurred that would later turn into one of the biggest tragedies in human history. As Titanic steamed through an icefield at large speed, she couldn’t get around an iceberg in time as it was spotted when it was only half a mile away. With engine in reverse and sharp turn to port, it wasn’t enough to clear the berg completely and her starboard side touched with the mass, which was as hard as rock. Great damage was inflicted on her hull below water level over a good length, which meant she had to cope with tons of water entering her compartmenets.
On April 15, moments after midnight, the situation had worsened and it looked bleak. The Captain knew what state his vessel was in and also knew what he had to do. The lifeboats were readied and the passengers were roused.
Mr. Allāh ensured that his wife was taken to a lifeboat. He could not come along and stepped back. This meant her survival but led to his death as he became one of the many victims from the disaster when Titanic sank, breaking apart and disappearing at 2:20 A.M, which left many poor souls struggling for their lives in the frigid waters.
After the sinking[]
The RMS Carpathia was on her way after Titanic had called out for help. The distress signal spurred the smaller steamer on to come as quickly as possible but she was not there before 4:00 A.M. It took another few hours to take all occupants of the lifeboats on board. Adāl’s borther Ilyās met her in New York when she got there with the Carpathia on April 18. Due to her serious phyisical condition due to the shock and exposure at the time of the catastrophe, Adāl was confined to her bed for many weeks. The cold had taken its toll on her. When she was released, Ilyas took her under his wing for a while but didn’t have the financial means to support her for much longer as he was only a s taylor.
Months later Ilyās had taken her to her sister Mahibah in Cleveland, Ohio and she stayed with her from now on. Some relief funds were still helping her. Fortunately for Adāl, Niquala’s death meant that Adal enherited a lot of expensive posessions from her late husband in August 1912 as his body was found by the Mackay-Bennett just a few days after the sinking.
Later life[]
On December 9, 1912, a son was born to her. But to great grievance, the child lived for only a few hours. After about two years, Ilyas took Adāl with him to Albuquerque in New Mexico. Here, Adāl met a new man that would become her husband. She married to Albert Ayoub Shamaley in January 1916 in the Immacolate Conception Church. They had a daughter named Selma Loruine in that same year.
Ilyās died in 1916. In 1917, the couple moved to El Paso in Texas, where Albert operatred the very succesful Shamaley Office Supllies & Cash Register Company. Four more children sprung from their bond. A son came in 1919: Ayoub Albert John. Lee Joseph was his younger brother in 1920. Her next child was another son but he lived for only 1 year as he succumbed to pneumonia. His name was Albert. Another daughter was born in 1927, named Anne.
Adāl now was named Adele, continued to live in El Paso and was a member of the St Patrick’s Cathedral.
She became a widow in 1969 on the day that Albert died. He was very old, 85, but he had a traffic accident involving three cars, earlier on July 30th, which got him injured. The accident is what ultimately led to his death.
Mrs. Adele Shamaley followed her husband in death only 5 months after sometime being hospitalised when her health deteriorated. She had a heart attack. Her grave is at Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso.