10 Incredible Ways People Faced Up To Their Own Death

7. Benjamin Guggenheim (1912)... Dressed In His Best Suit, Smoked Cigars And Drank Brandy As The Titanic Sank

Not so much a brave act - more just a cool way of dying. Yes, American business tycoon Benjamin Guggenheim went down with the Titanic - but he made sure he did so in style.

After ensuring that his mistress, French singer Leontine Aubart, and her maid Emma Sagesser had been placed on Lifeboat No 9 of the ship, Guggenheim quickly realised he would be saved even though he had whispered to the pair: "We will soon see each other again. It's just a repair. Tomorrow the Titanic will go again."

Returning to his cabin with his valet, Victor Giglio, the pair changed into their evening wear, walked up the Titanic's Grand Staircase and closed the door behind them, with Guggenheim remarking: "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen." Interestingly, he also asked a survivor to pass this message on to his wife: "Tell my wife, if it should happen that my secretary and I both go down, tell her I played the game out straight to the end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because Ben Guggenheim was a coward."

Retreating to the foyer of the Grand Staircase, Guggenheim and Giglio smoked expensive cigars and sipped brandy as the ship went down. Both drowned in the accident in 1912.

Guggenheim's final act was to write this message: "If anything should happen to me, tell my wife I've done my best in doing my duty." What a way to go.