On the morning of April 14, 1912, Alfred Rush, a third-class passenger aboard the RMS Titanic, traveling from Southampton to New York, awoke to celebrate his 17th birthday.

Less than 24 hours later, the young man would descend to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, along with over 1,500 fellow passengers.

In the 113 years since Rush's tragic death, experts have reportedly studied his case extensively, concluding that it might have been entirely avoidable had he received a different birthday gift that year.

The young man had boarded the doomed ship at the behest of his parents, a financially struggling couple who hoped America would offer their son a better future. Rush's older brother was already residing in Detroit, Michigan, having moved to the States a few years earlier.

Together with a group of family friends, he was placed in the Titanic's lowest decks, as his parents could only afford him a third-class ticket.

The Titanic sunk on 14 April, 1912 (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

For his birthday, however, the other members of his travel group pooled their resources to buy him something special.

When the big day arrived, Rush was presented with a pair of long trousers, which, in the 1900s, signified that a teenager was now considered a man.

Later that night, after the ship collided with an iceberg and the Titanic started to fill with water, the men were separated from the women and children.

Due to the inadequate number of lifeboats on the ship, Captain Edward Smith ordered his officers to 'load the women and children in and lower away', leaving the men behind.

In the chaos of the disaster, however, this resulted in several lifeboats being launched with many seats unoccupied.

One of Rush's family friends, a nine-year-old boy named Frank Goldsmith, was placed into a lifeboat alongside his mother.

Rush refused to get into one of the lifeboats (Ralph White/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Rush, on the other hand, wearing his long trousers, reportedly waited at the sidelines despite being just 17, telling the devastated pair: "No! I'm staying here with the men."

Mrs. Goldsmith later recounted to the Bay City Tribune on April 24 that she believed Rush and her husband would 'manage to escape on another boat or raft'.

According to The Mail, he remained on the top deck throughout the night, ultimately going down with the ship. His body was never recovered.

As a result, many followers of Rush's story have noted the possibility that he might have lived a long, healthy life if he hadn't received long trousers - an 'indicator of his manhood' - on the day the ship sank.