SS City of Rome – Tuscarawas County Stories

Before the Titanic: John E. Joss and the City of Rome

Image of the SS City of Rome striking an iceberg in 1899 from the New York Journal newspaper. (Source: loc.gov)

Thirteen years before the Titanic disaster, a New Philadelphia jeweler survived a terrifying North Atlantic iceberg collision. In April 1912, as the world reeled from the news of the Titanic disaster, John Ernest Joss (1873–1961) came forward to share a chillingly similar experience from thirteen years earlier. A prominent jeweler and optometrist in New Philadelphia,Continue reading “Before the Titanic: John E. Joss and the City of Rome”