sentences:  Of the four children, only Jack accompanied his parents on the ill-fated vessel.As a 17-year old at the time, he survived by jumping into the freezing water and swimming to an overturned lifeboat just as the ship went under.After leaving the University of Pennsylvania in 1881, Thayer entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad as a clerk in the Empire Line office, remaining in that position for about eighteen months, when he was transferred to the general freight department.