In 1892, Gustaf Elg, his wife Maria Sofia and family emigrated to the US,
on the Inman Lines "City of New York".
(see http://elgfamily.blogspot.com/2013/10/blacksmiths-going-west-part-2-new.html ).
City of New York was designed to be the largest and fastest liner on the Atlantic, built by J & G Thomson of Clydebank, Scotland. When she entered service in August 1888, she was the first twin screw express liner and while she did not achieve the westbound Blue Riband, she ultimately held the eastbound record from August 1892 to May 1893 at a speed of 20.11 knots.
New York had lost one funnel in a rebuild in 1901.
Fast forward to April 10, 1912:
On 10 April 1912, New York, as she was now known, was berthed
in Southampton beside Oceanic. The three-inch steel hawsers that secured her
were torn from their moorings when the much larger Titanic (leaving port to
begin her ill-fated maiden voyage to New York City) passed by, creating a
suction effect. A collision was narrowly avoided when Titanic's captain, Edward
Smith, ordered the port propeller to reverse, turning the larger liner while a
nearby tugboat towed New York in the opposite direction.
and somehow survived her sinking.
Of course, if captain Smith had failed to avoid colliding with New York, her departure would have been delayed while the ship was inspected for possible damage. And she would not have been on time for that fateful encounter with an iceberg off Newfoundland..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_New_York_(1888)
There is another possible family connection to the Titanic. My grandfather´s second cousin Sigfrid Elg emigrated to the US in 1912. According to family tradition, he was booked on the Titanic´s maiden voyage, but was delayed and had to travel on another ship from Oslo, Norway. His departure from Sweden is actually recorded on April 4, six days before Titanic´s departure, but that may not have given him enough time to travel to Southampton.
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