Eino Viljami Panula

File:Panula eino.jpg

Eino Viljami Panula

Eino Viljami Panula (March 10 1911–April 15 1912) was a young Finnish boy who died during the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

He was traveling with his mother, Maria Emilia Panula (nee Ojala), and four older brothers, Ernesti Arnold (born 18 May, 1895), Jaakko Arvid (born 8 December, 1897), Juha Niilo (born 1 September, 1904), and Urho Abraham (born 25 April, 1909). A sixth brother, born between Jaakko and Juha, had drowned in an accident in Finland. The family was heading to Coal Center, Pennsylvania to join their father, Juha. All six members perished in the disaster.

Eino's body was the fourth recovered by the ship Mackay Bennett, and the only member of his family whose body was recovered. The description read:

NO. 4 - MALE - ESTIMATED AGE, 2 - HAIR, FAIR. CLOTHING - Grey coat with fur on collar and cuffs; brown serge frock; petticoat; flannel garment; pink woolen singlet brown shoes and stockings. No marks whatever. Probably third class.

Before 2002 (when he was identified through DNA testing) he was known simply as "The Unknown Child." The sailors aboard the Mackay-Bennett, who were very upset by the discovery of the unknown boy's body, paid for the monument and he was buried on 4 May, 1912 with a copper pendant placed in his coffin by recovery sailors that read "Our Babe." The body, initially identified as that of a child around two years old, was believed to be that of either Gösta Pålsson and Eugene Rice, two other toddlers who perished in the disaster.

The grave of Eino Viljami Panula in Fairview Cemetary.

The American PBS television series Secrets of the Dead played a key role in the 2002 discovery of Panula's identity when they featured the story of the unknown Titanic victim on an episode and traced the child's DNA to a Finnish woman by the name of Magda Schleifer whose grandmother's sister was Maria Emilia Panula.

Panula came to be a symbol of all the children lost in the disaster. He is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and his shoes are on display at the Maritime Museum in the same city.

References/External links

• Geller, Judith B. Titanic: Women and Children First. 1st ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 1998.
• Encyclopedia Titanica: Master Eino Viljam Panula
• Titanic Passengers: The Panulas
• Helsingin Sanomat: International Edition
• Secrets of the Dead
• Ostrobothnian Odysseys
• BBC News Item
• Titanic and Other White Star Line Ships