HEBRON — Author Mac Smith of Stockton Springs addressed the Hebron Historical Society recently about his book, “Mainers on the Titanic.”

He has spent nearly a decade investigating numerous sources to learn about those passengers with Maine connections. From many of the 1912 newspaper accounts of the sinking, as well as libraries and family descendants, he collected personal stories and presented more than a dozen specific and detailed accounts of Maine families or parties on the fateful voyage.

Many of them were wealthy businessmen returning from business ventures or family excursions. Col. John Jacob Astor, who had a summer estate in Bar Harbor, did not survive the sinking but his 18-year-old wife, Madelein, did.

The owner of the Titanic, J.P. Morgan, was not on the ship but he had a home on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine.

The exact number of Mainers may never be known because of the unrecovered remains of those lost and incomplete reporting at that time.

Mac Smith of Stockton Springs speaks to the Hebron Historical Society.