September 3rd, 1889 - April 3rd, 1972

She is a Virgo.

Onboard The Titanic:
Maria Josefa Perez de Soto Y Vallejo married Victor Peñasco Y Castellana in December of 1911 and they followed the custom of wealthy couples to take a long honeymoon travelling across Europe. Maria was accompanied by her maid, Fermina Oliva Y Ocaña. They made a spontaneous decision one night in Paris to buy tickets aboard the Titanic. Fermina had a uneasy feeling though and Victor's mother had begged them to travel where they wanted, but not to take a boat. Victor was a nephew of King Alfonso XIII's prime minister, José Canalejas and he had a considerable fortune.

It is calculated that the 18 month long honeymoon cost somewhere in the region of €700,000 by 2012 prices. Few families could match his wealth, Maria's was one of them. The combined fortune of the couple was estimated to be in the region of an astonishing €1 billion. They decided to leave Victor's butler in Paris so he could send a series of postcards to Victor's mother so she would not be concerned over their voyage.

April 14th-15th, 1912:
The couple and Fermina boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10th, 1912. They settled into their cabins and on the Sunday evening after their evening meal they chatted with their friends José Pedro Carrau and Francisco from Argentina and Uruguay before they returned to their cabin to rest. Fermina was working on a corset before retiring. She observed that as she stretched out on her bed with her tasks complete she felt an unusual vibration. Her concerns were increased when a few minutes later the ship stopped and the engines shutdown. She resolved to knock on Victor and Maria's cabin. Maria was already asleep and Victor was unbuttoning his jacket. There were four night shift room stewards on duty and very few people in the passageway. The staff ensured them there was nothing to worry about but Fermina and the now awoke Maria were anxious so Victor decided to go up to the boat deck to investigate.

When he arrived on the boat deck, he saw that sailors were rushing to remove the tarpaulins from the lifeboats. When he discovered the ship had hit an iceberg he grew alarmed and rushed back o C-Deck, bursting into the cabin and telling Maria and Fermina "It is sinking! It is sinking!" At that same moment the Room Stewards entered the corridor and began to rouse passengers with circumspect calm. Fermina recounted she took her picture of Saint Joseph and placed it under her lifebelt and they ascended the grand staircase in the increasing thong of passengers, passing through the first class lobby and arriving indirectly in front of lifeboat 8. They were right next to the ship's band who were playing upbeat music having just moved from the first class dining room to the boat deck. Maria realized she had left her jewellery in the cabin and Victor returned to retrieve them. The two women sheltered together alongside lifeboat 8 as a slight list started to become noticeable. Victor returned just a little before 12:25 AM and Charles Lightoller gave the order to began boarding women and children into the lifeboats. Maria realized the order would mean that her and Victor would be separated and he attempted to calm her but she hugged him sobbing.

Maria clutched even tighter to Victor as he told her goodbye. "Pepita, may you be very happy." he soothed and stepped back into the crowd. Fermina realised that she was alone and frantically called for Victor. As she did so, Captain Smith called out for anymore women to board the lifeboat. With no response forthcoming, the decent began. Fermina would return and already seeing the boat descending started screaming frantically. The men on the deck threw her a meter down, "like a sack of straw" she remembered. Later, The Countess of Rothes recounted how Maria started to sob uncontrollably in the lifeboat, crying out Victor's name. Lucy, who had taken the tiller of the boat, passed control to her cousin and took the heartbroken Maria in her arms. Lucy tried the best as she could to distract her from the sounds of those dying in the sea.

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
Without a body, Victor couldn't be declared officially dead for another 20 years. This would prevent her from claiming Victor's inheritance or remarry until she was 43. The Peñasco Family made the decision to purchase a corpse. Fermina "identified" one of the bodies that had been recovered and Halifax and Canada issued a death certificate.

Maria remarried in 1919 to Baron Rio Tovia and had 3 children. She lived until 1972 and died at the age of 83. Fermina lived to be 98.

Sources:
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
www.bulldogz.org

Rest In Peace Maria Soto.