Colonel Archibald Gracie IV was an American writer, real estate investor, and survivor of the sinking of the Titanic. Gracie was a member of the prominent Gracie family, which had built the famed Gracie Mansion, currently the residence of the mayor of New York City. He wrote two books, The Truth About Chickamauga and The Truth About the Titanic, a detailed account of the sinking from a survivor's perspective. Gracie's health suffered as a result of the ordeal, and he passed away less than eight months later, his dying words being "We must get them all into the boats." John B.Thayer was 17 at the time he escaped from death in the sinking of the Titanic.