Brooklyn Life, New York, April 27, 1912 

Alfred Nourney, 20, who went by the pseudonym Baron Alfred von Drachstedt, was a young man from Cologne, Germany, born in the Netherlands, who survived the sinking of the Titanic. 

Alfred purchased a fancy new wardrobe in Paris, including numerous suits, ties, shoes, dress shirts, an elaborate walking stick, and jewelry, among other items, to establish himself among his high-class fellow travelers. 

After boarding in Cherbourg, France, Alfred, was unimpressed with his second-class room. He persuaded the purser, stressing that he was a Baron, to transfer him to first-class (for a fee).  Alfred wrote a postcard home to his mother on April 11th, from Queenstown, Ireland, the last port before the Atlantic crossing, expressing his excitement at being a first-class passenger, telling her:

Dear Mother, I’m so happy being first class! I already know some nice people! A Diamondking! Mister Astor, one of the wealthiest Americans, is on board!
Thousand Kisses, Alfred

On the night of the sinking, Alfred sat playing bridge in the first-class smoking room with Henry Blank and William Greenfield. All three made it into lifeboat 7, the first to be launched, which carried only 26 passengers though it’s capacity was 65. Once the lifeboat was lowered, and the other men helped paddle away from the sinking ship, Alfred sat back and chain smoked, occasionally taking a break to shoot off his pistol, which he told other passengers he’d purchased for protection in the wild west.

When the lifeboat was rescued by the Carpathia, Alfred found a pile of blankets, meant to be shared between all those rescued, and promptly lay down upon the whole lot. The story goes that one young lady, finding him thus, pulled the top blanket from under him, sending him spinning to the floor, causing everyone around to applaud.

In interviews, once he was on land, Alfred became known for the stories he told of the sartorial losses he sustained. The real von Drachstedt’s claimed to have no knowledge of Nourney.

There are numerous stories on German websites claiming that Nourney’s family was rich, that they’d disowned him for impregnating a maid, that he was running away from Paris because of his fraudulent gambling. I have no idea how much is true, but he certainly wasn’t a Baron.