Unsinkable Evidence

Genetic testing disproves one woman’s claims to have been a survivor of the Titanic disaster.

Written byJef Akst

| 3 min read

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ANDZREJ KRAUZE

On a trip to her father’s childhood home in Chesterville, Ontario, in May 2012, forensic scientist Tracy Oost of Laurentian University jumped at the chance to visit an old farmstead formerly owned by the Allison family, which lost three members in the RMS Titanic catastrophe. Oost had long been fascinated by the story of the “unsinkable” ship and, in particular, the research that followed its sinking. “Really, it’s the first mass disaster that was ever investigated to the depth that we investigate mass disasters now,” says Oost, who in 2001 oversaw the exhumation of graves at a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to identify Titanic victims believed to be buried there.

For many years, the Allison family has been considered one of the lingering mysteries ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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